Here is how you can tell that solar is not quite mainstream yet. When Vivint Solar’s stock goes down 13% and the reaction is due to larger losses than expected. At the same time, installations and bookings grew. It is clear to me that the solar IPP model has not been understood quite yet. As SolarCity’s CFO used to say, we don’t view losses as a bad thing, we see them as the investment in assets we need to make. Meanwhile, SolarCity may be on plan to install 1GW of solar in 2015, just in time for the Buffalo manufacturing plant.

• Clean Technica: How & Why Utilities Make Solar Look Expensive
• Solar Love: SolarCity Could Install 1 GW Of Rooftop Solar In 2015
• Marketwatch: If more people go solar, what will happen to the grid?
• Renewable Energy World: From Finance to Customer Acquisition, Catalyst SunShot Finalists Compete to Launch Big
• SC Now: Duke Energy to offer customers more solar options, grow capacity
• Utility Dive: NV lawmaker wants PUC, not legislature, to have net metering reform authority
• PV-Magazine: Commercial rooftop sector gets unexpected budget boost
• Salt Lake Tribune: Proposed surcharge on Utahns with solar panels is back for Rocky Mountain Power customers

Opinions

• Motley Fool: Why Vivint Solar Inc’s Shares Plunged 13% Today

Have a great day!

Yann

In the past week, there has been a lot of coverage around the latest part of MIT’s Future of series. With this edition, MIT looked at the Future of Solar Energy. I haven’t read the report in detail but there has been some headline baiting from pieces of it. You can read the report for yourself here. I do think that you can get an idea of what the content has to say by the authors and advisory committee. In this case, it appears to be mostly academic with a few advisors from the sector, and I use sector very loosely. 

• Climate Central: MIT – ‘Massive’ Solar Expansion Critical for Climate
• Bloomberg: No Hydro? No Problem as California Plans to Run Off Solar
• Grist: People can’t get enough of Tesla’s new batteries
• Renew Economy: RET deal struck, but policy bastardry continues
• PV-Magazine: Clean energy from ‘most polluted place in Israel’
• Utility Dive: Solar protesters disrupt Duke shareholder meeting
• FastCo Exist: Forget Desert Solar Farms – We Can Get More Than Enough Solar Energy From Cities
• The Guardian: UK electricity grid holds back renewable energy, solar trade body warns

Opinions

• Breaking Energy: The Move From Contracted Assets to Managing Merchant Risk – Are You Ready to Capture the Upside?

Have a great day!

Yann