Fighting the Suniva Tariff Request. SEIA hosted a call yesterday to outline its opposition to the Suniva 201 petition. First, Suniva has to speak for the industry, in this case the segment of solar that manufacturers crystalline PV in the US. SEIA is stating that it does not, on the basis of Suniva’s market share being less than what has previously been accepted by the trade commission. Furthermore SEIA contends, rightfully, that a few manufacturing jobs are not worth saving at the cost of losing a trove of jobs in the downstream part of the market. What SEIA left out in my opinion was the cost to the consumers and taxpayers. For every penny that modules get more expensive, consumers end up with higher cost of energy, solar or otherwise. Solar drives the cost of energy down across the board and increasing that cost hurts hardworking American families. Moreover, the tax credit remains on the books. As we drive the price of systems up, taxpayers will end up giving higher credits than needed. Last tip to SEIA, let’s not use the phase loan guarantee and US solar manufacturing in the same sentence again.
All in on solar. Good things are happening in Nevada as the net metering bill continues to go through the Assembly. Having previously released the bill from any deadlines, the bill has been passed by committee overwhelmingly. Now, with an important negotiated change, net metering rates and caps have been outline for years to come.
The Energy Storage Road Show is happening, starting May 22nd in San Diego!
Lyndon Rive is out. Lyndon is leaving Tesla in June. It is surprising because no one was thinking about it but it doesn’t seem strange. What else would Lyndon have left to do at Tesla? Even if Elon goes full time to living on the moon or building tunnels in Los Angeles, Lyndon wouldn’t be the CEO of Tesla. Last year, I found a picture of 2007 SPI booths and one of them was Lyndon standing at SolarCity’s 10×20 booth pitching residential solar. Like the model or don’t, SolarCity changed the game in many ways. Best of luck to Lyndon.
- Greentech Media: SEIA Prepares for Battle Against Suniva’s Pending Solar Trade Case
- PV-Magazine: Nevada net metering breakthrough – Compromise struck in AB 405
- Venture Beat: Former SolarCity CEO will leave Tesla
- Renewable Energy World: Storage Scoop-up – Wärtsilä Acquires Greensmith Energy Management Systems
- SolarWakeup: Discussing How Monopolies May Need to Change To Allow For Solar To Compete
- Solar Power World: New guide outlines strategies to bring solar to low-income households
- CNN: China’s Xi positions himself as free trade and climate champion
- Bloomberg: Solar, Wind Industries Pitch Job Growth to New
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann