Amazing Hypocrisy. A Chinese company complaining about Chinese aggressive path into solar module manufacturing? You’ve got to let that sink in for a minute to realize how pathetic the argument from Suniva and SolarWorld really is. SolarWorld was bailed out by Qatar which is not known as a friendly global actor. Meanwhile Suniva, which couldn’t survive with tens of millions in grants, had to be bailed out by Shunfeng, a CHINESE fund. It was only once management failed to run the business properly that the former CFO saw an opportunity to run a scam on the American people with the 201 filing. Trump is being played by these folks that have misled everyone on their way to this moment.
Label The Opposition. No matter the result of the trade case, solar will look back at its tactics and realize that it played flag football in a full contact sport. There was a level of purity that the good team wanted to maintain and that wasn’t the right way to go. Think about the logic of a bankrupt Chinese company with no money and no path to ever opening up again being given the same credibility in the process as 270,000 solar professionals. In politics, you either brand your opponent or they will brand you and solar made their impact of a bad decision the argument and not the poor messenger that was trying to destroy solar.
Shell Acquisition. A few weeks after BP made the investment into Lightsource, Shell is following suit and acquiring shares in Silicon Ranch. Much of the summaries written by reporters is to hyperbolize the impact this has on the energy markets, an oil company buying a solar company. All that is BS. This is about diversifying investments and revenue streams. It would be managerial malpractice for energy companies not to have exposure into solar and the associated interconnections to the electric grid.
PG&E Must Lead The Way. We may look back on this week in a few years and saw the regulatory start to shifting away from natural gas plants. The CPUC is asking PG&E to solicit energy storage instead of making a deal with Calpine. At the same time solar advocates are pushing Michigan regulators to review the DTE request to build a new gas plant. The fundamental argument I use against regulated gas is the subsidy given to the utilities by consumers. Unless the IOU takes the fuel cost risk, the consumers should be paid for the hedge on the fuel price. The value of that hedge needs to be included in the comparison to long term renewables contracts that have no fuel cost risk.
The Q&A You Wanted. You asked for it and you’ll get it. When SolarWakeup Live happens on January 31st, we should know what is going on with the 201 case. Many of you asked me to include a Q&A so that we can talk about the various issues in the solar industry and my thoughts on the state of the market. We also moved into a larger auditorium that can hold a few extra folks. If you email me, I’ll give you a 2 for 1 coupon code so that we can have a full theater and make the networking that much better. Tickets here.
- The Hill: Trump should fight for US solar against Chinese aggression
- Bloomberg: Shell Bolsters Renewables Bet With Stake in U.S. Solar Company
- Greentech Media: PG&E Must Solicit Energy Storage and DERs to Replace 3 Existing Gas Plants
- SolarWakeup: E033 – E-Mobility and Energy Storage with Mercedes Energy Americas CEO and Yann’s SolarWakeup Views
- PV-Tech: Top 10 module suppliers in 2017
- Grist: Coal’s death spiral, in 3 charts
- PV-Magazine: 2017 – Australia installs over 1 GW of small-scale PV in record-breaking year
- Solar industry: SMUD Removes Solar Surcharge From Customer Bills
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann