Go West, Then Back East. Last week I told you about the end of my tenure as CEO of Quick Mount PV, by far the highlight of my career and a great sign that residential solar is a booming part of the market. Many of you have asked me what’s next and that answer will be clearer to me over the summer. What I do know about what’s next is that my family and I are moving back to Florida. We love California and loved being at the center of the solar industry. In a world where you live near your work, living in Walnut Creek was perfection. In a time of COVID, and flying cross-country is not feasible, we are choosing to live closer to family. So in a few weeks we will be trucking across the Country back to the Sunshine State. Over the coming weeks, I plan to spend as much time as possible talking to you about the market, what’s working, what’s not and look to identify the question about what’s next professionally. In the meantime, I want to help you in any way possible whether that is helping you refine your procurement strategy, connecting you with new capital sources or if you lost your job find a new one.
Full Survey Results. After 6 weekly tracking surveys over the past 8 weeks, the full result tabulation is available for review. You can see them here.
Early Stage Investments. Looking ahead beyond 2021, I realize that the reality of ITC sunset to 10% is possible. So I ask the many investors and IPPs on this distribution list, who is funding and taking a long term view on greenfield development for large scale solar. The strategy was a gold mine for many ten years ago, I want to hear from those with the thesis that it will be once again going forward.
Universities Divesting, Go Solar. The University of California board of regents is divesting the university system from fossil fuels. Not only is this good for the environment, it is good investment strategy. There is an important addition to the strategy in my opinion, universities need to follow with large scale solar procurement. I want to see every university in the Country entering into 100MW contracts.
In Your Neighborhood. The last survey showed big growth in building departments offering digital permitting and virtual inspections. Can you email me good and bad examples of how this is happening in your neighborhood? Tell me a city doing something innovative and we can spread the word.
- Los Angeles Times: UC becomes nation’s largest university to divest fully from fossil fuels
- CleanTechnica: US Southeast’s Solar Industry Doing Better Than Most, But Still Losing Many Jobs
- Greentech Media: Why (and How) the Solar Finance Market Is Changing in This Crisis
- Axios: Renewable energy will show “resilience” to coronavirus pandemic
- Utility Dive: As utilities tackle immediate COVID-19 impacts, analysts stress need to focus beyond the pandemic
- PV-Tech: COVID-19 ‘hurting but not halting’ renewables as IEA revises forecasts
- Washington Post: Oil companies drilling on federal land get break on royalties.
- PV-Magazine: Three signs that battery energy storage is mainstream today
Opinion
Best, Yann