Off-Grid Truths with Rebekah Carpenter: 25 Years of Solar, DIY Myths & Battery Reality

Send us a Text to Watts Up Solar Podcast!

Rebekah Carpenter didn’t just “get into” solar—she jumped on a plane to Mali to install an off-grid system after teaching herself the trade. Two decades later, she’s still providing results and calling BS where needed. We cover the early net-metering era, 48V throwbacks, the DIY wave, when batteries are smart (and when they’re just expensive), and the uncomfortable art of telling customers “this site won’t pencil.”

What We Cover

• The Mali leap: learning solar by doing
• Net metering 1.0 & spinning disks vs. today’s digital meters
• Inverters then vs. now (Trace, Sunny Boy, high-voltage strings)
• DIY solar: design gaps, failure modes, and true cost of “cheap”
• Shade, valleys, and how to say “no” with integrity
• Micros/optimizers: useful… but physics still wins
• Batteries for backup: expectations vs. reality
• The future: smaller, smarter, more grassroots—and more essential

Key Takeaways

• Mitigation isn’t magic: shaded panels are still shaded panels.
• Education beats upsell: right-sized systems + honest site calls save money.
• Resilience is a use case, not a vibe: batteries, loads, and behavior must align.

Links & Resources

• Finger Lakes Renewables (guest) — https://www.flenergy.com/
• S.E. Power Consulting (host) — https://sepowerconsulting.com/
• Watts Up Solar Podcast on YouTube —https://wattsupsolarpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
• Contact/Booking —https://calendly.com/emmitt-muckles-sepowerconsulting/podcast-recording-watts-up-in-solar-w-emmitt-muckle

Credits
Host: Emmitt  Muckles
Guest: Rebecca Carpenter
Producer: Watts Up Solar

Our Sponsor for this Episode is S.E. Power Consulting
S. E. Power Consulting offers Fractional Training Leadership—meaning you get expert-level training support when you need it, without the cost of a full-time hire.
Whether you’re scaling up or just getting organized, we help you train smarter, not harder.
Visit SEPowerConsulting.com to learn more.
S.E. Power Consulting—Fractional training. Full-time results.