Holiday Schedule. Starting tomorrow I will be winding down for the holidays. You will still receive a newsletter most days as long as there is coverage but the column will be shortened or non-existent. I want to thank you for an amazing 2018, the support through my move to San Francisco and another year of engagement. The SolarWakeup Live! events have taken off and we are all advancing solar together through great conversations. As always I appreciate the relationships we have going and I’m always grateful to connect with you in person.
Would You Like This Apple? There is a place for several tech giants to take a leadership position in solar. Google went into it with Sunroof but other than that, the initiatives have remained focused on the supply of electricity. This article asks an interesting question of what it would look like if Apple took on the hard work of clean tech hardware by acquiring Tesla. I find the combination interesting and realistic.
Resi Solar Power. 2018 has been a great year for residential solar and this story about Freedom Forever is a sign of the sector. More importantly, companies that focused on making customers happy with high quality installs were able to grow drastically. On the other hand, bad installs led to bad reviews and declining sales. I’m excited to be part of this segment right now, moving beyond incentives and subsidies to grow the part of solar that consumers love to take part of.
Jim Rogers. Ten years ago, I had the pleasure of talking about solar to a group of Governors with Duke CEO, Jim Rogers. We weren’t quite on the same page on what solar could provide but he was respectful of this arrogant 25 year old’s comments. We gave our presentations and shared a few words afterwards and that was my interaction with Rogers. My condolences to Jim’s family and I leave you with these words, said after his retirement from Duke to EnergBiz in 2014. “I’d want the solar on the rooftop. I’d want to run that. I’d want the ability to deploy new technologies that lead to productivity gains to the use of electricity in homes and businesses. I would go after the monopoly that I see weakened over the last 25 years. My goal would be to take customers away from utilities as fast as I could, because I think they’re vulnerable. Regulations will not be changed fast enough to protect them. The business model will not be changed fast enough.”
- GreenBiz: What if Apple and Tesla joined forces to help us take down climate change?
- Think Progress: Washington, D.C. just passed a ‘groundbreaking’ new clean energy law
- SolarWakeup: Freedom Forever Doubles 2017 Revenues And Expects Banner 2019
- Charlotte Observer: Former Duke Energy CEO and Charlotte booster Jim Rogers has died
- Axios: Exclusive – Lime adds environmental policy vet Carol Browner
- SolarWakeup: New Window For North Carolina Solar Rebates Opens January 2
- Utility Dive: Capacity pricing changes – How each power market plans to account for resource adequacy
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann