SEIA Growing Support Through Diversity. Yesterday, SEIA announced an MOU with the HBCU action coalition to work to increase diversity in the solar industry. Solar does a good job of measuring its workforce statistics and this is a great way to acknowledge the need to improve on diversity. The broader piece is that solar is sometimes put into a rich suburban bucket and through community solar and low-income goals, SEIA is working to garner more support across the spectrum and that helps us all.
California Universities Go Solar. On the university topic, you may want to go back and see the story from Frank that the UC system is going all in on renewables. This isn’t a long-term goal either, this is 100% by 2025. You may recall my interview with UCLA great, Bill Walton, and our message to the PAC 12 attendees that universities should go all in on solar and do so quickly. Maybe they listened to us after all!
Argentina, Here’s The Thing. This doesn’t surprise me given that I had to deal with some projects in Brazil just a few years ago. In some markets, you have to make your investment decision based on the length of time that the current government is in power. Anything that overlaps multiple governments or has a longer-term payback, then you must be ready to gamble on stability in routinely unstable settings. That being said, when things don’t work, it’s a great time to take a jab and wait it out just like it happened in Brazil.
The Kids. Kids in Illinois get it. Solar is the future.
Hurricane Tested. We don’t have all the data yet but some installations are starting to look like they were engineered to withstand storms like Hurricane Florence. Having been involved in the installation of projects in North Carolina, I tend to be more worried about the flooding that is currently happening than the wind during the storm. While the storm water management plans for solar were difficult and thorough, the pictures I’ve seen may end up being worse than the code planned for. The Quartz report does highlight residential projects looking good after the storm.
Tickets. Have you gotten your ticket to SolarWakeup Live! yet? We are adding Thom Byrne, CEO of CleanCapital, to the agenda. This type of insight and learning can only be found at SolarWakeup events so get your ticket now at solarwakeuplive.com
- SolarWakeup: SEIA, HBCU To Partner With Aim Of Diversifying Solar Workforce
- Greentech Media: Financial Turmoil Puts Argentine Projects in Danger
- Chicago Tribune: ‘It’s the future … it’s really, really cool’ – Students spearhead solar panel effort
- Quartz: Resiliency in the face of hurricanes makes the case for renewables even stronger
- Utility Dive: SunPower soars after winning exemption from Trump solar tariffs
- SolarWakeup: (Stephen) Moore’s “Law” Fails When Facts Are Fake
- PV-Tech: Standard Solar to develop 38MW community solar pipeline in New York
- CNBC: From California to Texas, these are the US states leading the way in solar
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann