Thank You! ICYMI. I appreciate all the notes about the new day job. In case you missed it yesterday, I am moving to San Francisco and joining Quick Mount PV as President. For more information, see yesterday’s edition of SolarWakeup. Lastly, it would be a bad business of me to avoid offering our support in your residential company’s work. When it comes to quality and superior roof integration, nobody does it better than the team at QMPV. You know where to find me.
An IRS Victory, Well Done. SEIA has been working on this and staff was able to get it done. Much like the 1603 rules, the ITC will have a 5% hurdle in order to give developers additional time to complete a project beyond the deadline. The rule, known as commencing construction, was widely used across the solar market for ’1603’ modules to allow future projects to take advantage of this as well.
Lenders Want Solar Deals. The great team at kWh analytics is sharing some data about lenders interested and active in solar. Catching me off guard was the sheer number, almost 50 banks, that made it into the ‘solar landscape’ which explains the competitive cost of capital that is being found by project owners. One of the topics that we don’t talk much about is the installation methods in the underwriting process. While BNEF has the tier 1 list for modules, who ensures that the right products are being installed to install the systems on the ground or on the roof? The IEs are barely scratching the surface on that and given the 30-year lifespans being modeled, there should be a complete system analysis.
Honey Sweet Solar. I spoke with the CEO of Connexus Energy about this in detail but it is worth discussing again. Vegetation management is a line item for solar asset owners that can be more than a cost burden. Using native pollinators allow the option of adding beehives to your solar farm as the Connexus solar farm did in Minnesota. The honey can be sold to offset some of the vegetation costs and do good for the environment. Look into this concept for your next project, there are already companies targeting the solar market for this.
- SolarWakeup: IRS Regifts Utility-Scale Solar Four More Years Of 30% ITC
- SolarWakeup: kWh Analytics Launches Searchable Solar Financing Database
- Fast Company: This new solar farm combines clean energy and beehives
- PV-Tech: Thailand demands compensation over US solar tariffs – WTO
- Utility Dive: North Carolina regulators issue rare rebuke to Duke with rate denial
- ILSR: An Open Letter to California Energy Commissioners on the Rooftop Solar Mandate
- Reuters: Europe’s first solar panel recycling plant opens in France
- Renew Economy: Solar pushes mid-day electricity prices below zero in Queensland
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann