This is your SolarWakeup for February 19th, 2019

Shell Buys Sonnen. Shell is on a buying spree and they’re now getting into the home with the acquisition of Sonnen, the behind the meter energy storage company. This comes just a few weeks after buying Greenlots the EV charging company and less than a year since investing in Sonnen. Sonnen had raised about $180million in venture funding which makes the exit price all the more interesting. Can this part of the value chain attract the investments and exits that make the circular momentum gain traction? I see how this may very well be the case, especially on the heels of Sunrun’s victory in the ISO-NE capacity auction which creates additional revenue upside for our market that we have long been touting. Congrats to the Sonnen team, very happy for their success and look forward to seeing what’s next in their development. 

SolarWorld Price Revealed. In the annual filing from SunPower, their purchase price for SolarWorld assets were revealed. The consideration was $26million plus some contingencies. Not a bad deal for what once was worth north of a billion dollars. To put this in context, the sale of SunPower’s microinverter assets and IP to Enphase brought in $25million in cash plus 7.5million shares of the ENPH stock. Read it for yourself here, on page 4. 

Renewable Energy Gets Political. This is a pivotal moment in national politics. Now that the resolution for the Green New Deal has been released, the Senate Majority Leader wants to use it in attack politics. McConnell is looking to bring the bill to the floor and tie the Democrats to the bill by making them put their votes where their talking points have been. I think it’s a strong move by the Kentuckian except that I believe that it will backfire. Democrats are likely to vote for it and make their case to the people that more renewable energy is better than less. That working on rooftops installing solar is better than being in a coal mine and that taxpayer subsidies shouldn’t be used to extract oil and gas out of the ground. Yes, it is an ambitious goal but the American people seem to be for the bill when asked about the individual items in it. I’d venture to guess that some Republican Senators like Senator Gardner from Colorado may think about voting for it as well. This is where polling may intersect with politics. 

Big Money For Big EVs. Rivian, the seductive SUV and pickup truck company, has raised $700million for their vehicles. You can reserve one online, as they’ve adopted the Musk deposit capital raise plan as well. Interestingly, Amazon was a lead investor in the round which means that part of the pitch deck was a interchangeable delivery cab on the EV chassis. 

Tariffs Kill Manufacturing. REC Silicon, much like Hemlock before it, is telling the market that the multiple levels of tariffs make manufacturing silicon in the US difficult. The company is planning a 2 month ‘temporary shutdown’ of its Washington State plant at Moses Lake. Manufacturing in the US is hard enough, and when you put tariffs on top of that it becomes very difficult for companies to execute a business plan. I’m looking forward to seeing the market work itself out of this temporary problem, and I use temporary as a hopeful addition. 

NFL plus Solar. With consumer support of solar through the roof, especially when it’s on their roof, you will see companies doing major marketing deals with the largest consumer brands like the NFL. Powerhouse Solar is barnstorming the mid-atlantic and the midwest with their NFL partnerships as well as their amazing commercials, I’m a big fan of them! This marketing tactic is a bit out of the NRG playbook which may have mistimed the market’s ability to deliver mainstream solar to more homeowners than is possible today. 

Boston. Don’t forget. Get your tickets and join me at SolarWakeup Live! Boston on March 26th. You can also sponsor and support this free newsletter. 

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann