Heading Out West. After 12 years in solar while living in Florida, I am leaving the Sunshine State for San Francisco. For a decade, I joked that the only solar job in Florida was at the airport while we flew to other markets, for me, that destination was often the Bay Area. The family is packing up as I write this and we will be moved to the Bay in a few weeks. San Francisco is the center of the solar industry and a great many of you (the readers) are in the area which makes me look forward to this next chapter.
My Day Job. This may come as a surprise to you but I have a day job that is not SolarWakeup. Most recently I was the President of Conergy for the Americas before doing consulting for various companies and private equity firms. I am now joining the amazing team at Quick Mount PV as President. Quick Mount PV has been a great company in the solar industry for over a decade and I am humbled to join the team. This will be my first time working in residential solar in my solar career but it is an industry I have admired since the start. Putting solar on homes is as important as any work we do in solar and doing so with superior quality is at the center of it. Nobody puts forth that quality better than Quick Mount PV and that’s something I look forward to showing off across the industry. We’ll be hiring around the Country as well, mostly in sales, and it’s always a pleasure to work with more of you. You can find information about those jobs here. One of the great things about QMPV is the factory that makes many of the products you use every day right here in Walnut Creek, CA.
Aligning My Values With My Work. Little did I know when I launched SolarWakeup’s Solar Pledge that net metering would be at the center of the work I would be doing 4 years later. I have always been a staunch advocate for net metering and solar’s need to focus on putting solar on every home across America. Our policy work is only as strong as the public support for the solar industry which is at all-time high levels. Even President Obama used the growth of solar on homes in his State of the Union speeches citing the GTM stat. I’m excited to be aligned on this segment going forward. Amazing policies driving down the cost of solar for consumers paired with the democratization of solar to the local installers are how we make the solar industry one of the strongest industries in America and I’m excited to play a small role in this value chain.
Back To My Roots. Back to the roof. I spent a few years after graduating college engineering and designing roofing systems for a very large roofing contractor. I learned that there is no faster way to make someone pick up the phone in anger than for them to have a leak in their roof and the same is true for homeowners that install solar. For solar contractors that means they have to install using the best solar mounting systems available on the market. I look forward to traveling across the Country and meeting with many of you and understanding more about the residential solar market.
Not To Worry. SolarWakeup will continue as it has over the past 6 years. There may be days that the summaries are shorter but everything else remains the same. You will see news about my work since it overlaps with yours as well. As always, you can hit reply on any morning email and share your thoughts and comments with me.
- Greentech Media: How Vistra and FlexGen Made the Largest Battery in Texas Pencil Out
- Bloomberg: IRS Ruling on U.S. Credit Is an Unexpected Gift to Solar Developers
- Reuters: Renewable energy seeks demand, investment to survive Trump squeeze
- Yuba Net: CPUC Adopts Solar Programs to Invest in Disadvantaged Communities
- Think Progress: Trump stacks key renewable energy office with former Koch officials
- Greenville News: Will solar power expand? Industry backers take rate case to S.C. Supreme Court
- Utility Dive: Projected US renewables could accelerate power price volatility — what can grid operators do?
- MIT: Alphabet is in talks to spin out its molten-salt storage play
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann