Earnings season questions are coming. First up for every company: what has 232 done to your backlog? Are you ready to answer that before the election?
Toyo's Texas factory seeks a tariff waiver. The $200 million factory could earn big rebates on imports while it ramps. Will other manufacturers follow the same playbook?
Data centers are getting smaller. A hundred megawatts of servers fits in 10,000 square feet, and the real footprint is cooling and substations. Does that make energy storage the center of the whole story?
Utilities push back on data center funding. Data center companies offer to pay for transmission, but utilities want it in rate base, where they earn returns. Who's really driving up your power bill?
Permitting reform timing may have been botched. Abby and I think the bill is directionally good, but is it really a must-have right now?
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New Boots on the Ground is out. Most of this episode digs into the permit bill, and Abby and I have plenty to say about where it's headed. Have you listened yet? solarwakeup.com/boots
Permit bill could ride a spending package. Standalone passage looks very unlikely, but a year-end omnibus could carry it alongside tax extenders and maybe the ITC. What would Republicans want badly enough to make that trade?
FlexGen's One Touch Commissioning gets the spotlight. Building a digital twin in the lab means fewer surprises in the field. Is factory-built becoming the standard for storage, the way quality standards are driving for eBOS?
Earnings season kicks off around the 22nd. Nextracker usually goes first, and then we’ll get earnings for the 2ish weeks thereafter. It takes time to develop book closing processes but there are some strategic reasons to pick your dates.
Perovskites aren't commercial yet, but trade fears are. Tandem PV claims under 1% degradation and low-to-mid-thirties efficiency. Where would you put your factory dollars: TOPCon, HJT, or perovskites?
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New Boots on the Ground, out shortly. Please subscribe to Boots on your podcast app or YouTube, new episode drops this morning with all you need to know about the permitting reform process. This episode is supported by Cleantech Industry Resources, CIR.
Interest Rate Troubles. The 10-year was over 5.3% yesterday, making everything around us more expensive. Don’t lose sight of this.
RE+. I’ll be at RE+, Abby and I need a place to record our podcast if you have any location scouting for us, we’re all ears!
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New Boots on the Ground, now shorter. Abby and I trimmed the format down to make it more listener-friendly. Have you noticed the difference? solarwakeup.com/boots to get all the links.
Win and Fail? What is your win and fail from the last week in solar and storage?
Permitting Reform. Are you in or are you out? Because it’s not quite so clear even though trade groups what you to think so. Certainly environmental advocates are whipping votes against the bill, some are saying that utilities and data center companies could hate it and those that think they’ll be in charge post midterms want everyone to slow their horses. Meanwhile supporters are betting on this being the best deal that they can get and are looking to get it done regardless of opposition and who they have to cross. Question is, why were the groups ready to check their own home before making this the entire bet heading into the end of the year? Seems messy to me at best.
Wires. I’ve been in solar for a long time and it’s interesting what people have categorized as commodities versus value products. I will die on the hill that the most valuable attribute in product procurement is certainty of shipment and delivery. The products have largely been commoditized top to bottom, even those that shouldn’t be (most shouldn’t be). The one that is the most incredible is a low Capex item in wires and connectors. Failure rate is incredibly high if the quality is not there and could spell catastrophe for a site that experiences issues, why have we commoditized this?
RE+. I’ll be at RE+ and assume you will also. What should I see? Who should I meet? Where should Abby and I record podcast episodes? Should we interview anyone interesting?
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