This is your SolarWakeup for August 24th, 2017

Dear Trade Commissioners. Yesterday I mentioned the 27 manufacturing companies that are trying to preserve existing solar manufacturing jobs in the US. Read their entire letter to the trade commission to understand where they are coming from and what they are fighting for. This is an important step for our industry, where competitors get together and fight for the common good.

Why Community Solar Matters. For me, I always saw Colorado as the birthplace for community solar but it seems like conception may have been in CO but the birthplace is in Minnesota. The local market in MN has been working to get a market going for a long time and has really found a win-win for everyone in the way that community solar is structured. Looking at large deposits, minimum number of customers, sufficient value in credits and enough size without making the sites massive. The best policies are those that are copied and the MN community solar policy is good for solar, consumers and even fair to utilities. Disintermediation of site and offtaker solves the greatest issue of all, credit.

Deregulating Monopolies, Customers Like It!  When European governments started opening up choice in retail energy providers, customers started shopping for value and customer service. There is no doubt that energy in the 21st century has entered an era where the problems that the monopoly was meant to solve no longer exist.

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann