This is your SolarWakeup for August 16th, 2017

The 201 Hearing Thus Far, a New Player Chimes In. If you have never heard of Stion, a thin film solar manufacturer, you are not alone. Until yesterday, I had never heard their name but I was curious when I saw that they were testifying in favor of the 201 petition. Stion has raised nearly a quarter billion dollars and seems to have managed to spend it all given that they have fallen short on their property tax payments to property tax collectors. The Mississippi Development Authority has notified and amended the arrangement for the company that originally promised to create 1,000 jobs in MS. See, Stion isn’t against subsidies, they have taken grants including from DOE, they are against other companies receiving economic development. As Stion, Suniva and SolarWorld go through this process to attempt to kill the US solar market, I urge each company to think about their supply partners. Are their values and interests aligned with yours? Would their hopes hurt your bottom line? The market gives you the flexibility to choose what products you buy, choose wisely. I contacted Stion for comment yesterday. After receiving a template quote from Stion, I asked for a specific result that the company would like to see the ITC order. If and when I receive it, I will update you.

Uniting For Common Good. I am proud of what I saw yesterday. The largest crowd in ITC history according to the commission staff. Three overflow rooms at the hearing and positive stories about the jobs and impacts companies are creating in the US. Large and small companies from across America spoke about what the solar industry means to them and how harmful tariffs would hurt the fastest growing energy market with jobs paying well above national averages. We’ve had tariffs in the US for years on foreign modules. Solar manufacturers in the US weren’t alone in struggling with our fast moving market, that is part of growth. SunEdison even went bankrupt regardless of how cheap solar panels were. In our business, if you do not execute flawlessly, you will have troubles running your business. Regardless of the bumps we have faced, companies came to DC, with the help of SEIA, and spoke out. That is a maturing market.

Micro Product Wars. A video in the microinverter/optimizer market has created a bit of an internal fight. In short, Enphase made a video comparison of AC modules being installed versus SolarEdge and SolarEdge didn’t like it. They sued and asked for the video to be barred from marketing and the judge apparently said no. When I lead a PR and marketing team, bad stuff would happen and I felt like sometimes doing nothing was a lot more effective than being defensive or offensive. I wish someone would have said to SolarEdge, “Do you know how difficult it is to get people to watch a video on YouTube? It will never get mass market views.” Because then I would have never seen, cared or commented and you would get the last 60 seconds of your life back.

Opinion

 

Have a great day!

Yann