The Cost Of Inaction. What happens when cost of solar goes up $20-$30/MWh? Does it slow development? Construction? Legal work? All the while reducing more work from the tax equity bankers and their consultants. This is part to the conversation we’re having about the ITC but some headlines in action.
Deeper On Shoals IP Case. In today’s deeper dive, there’s some messaging from the parties that I want to try to dissect having spoken to some folks close to it. Shoals won the IP case on their BLA eBOS system. Voltage is now prohibited to sell it without security being posted in the form of bonds. The alternative design is really irrelevant to this case. If Voltage releases another eBOS system, it’s kind of like saying a donkey is a replacement for a horse. A new product is a new product, doesn’t mean it’s the same thing, it’s just a new thing.
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Yann
Certainty And Security. This week Shoals won a long fought battle to protect its IP in the eBOS segment at the International Trade Commission. This underpins an important factor that I’ve heard over and over again from IPPs and EPCs alike, the value is in a good product but more importantly for the project execution, it’s the certainty of delivery with minimal risks. Shoals sits at that forefront of having a great product but also mitigated risk in upstream supply chain and delivery given its now expanded domestic manufacturing.
95% AI. Amazon is spending 95% of its time on AI says Jeff Bezos. And that’s a quote from a year ago. Building the compute that it needs for itself and selling the excess compute or enhancing its need by leveraging the needs of others. Yesterday, Meta’s stock popped 10% on the same premise of selling excess compute. The funny thing about excess compute or any compute for that matter is that it is meaningless if the power for the data center isn’t there. And the backup systems, i.e. batteries, aren’t available and working as designed. The entire GDP growth right now is based on power being available for this need, regardless of the growth rate. The value of that compute is many multiples over current wholesale and retail rates, data centers would still get built if electricity prices increased 2,3,4x from current levels and while that’s an interesting signal for our industry, it certainly sucks for the retail consumer.
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Yann
Partisan Agencies. In yesterday’s SCOTUS opinion re. Slaughter, the executive branch, i.e. the President, got the right (it seems) to fire commissioners of the FTC (or FERC) at their discretion. Any attempt by Congress seems to be seen by this Court as an unlawful infringement on presidential powers. The future seems to be one where a party wins the White House and then goes on to fire Commissioners across the agencies and then duke it out with the Senate as necessary to put in place their preferred people. Maybe the TVA is in play too?
More Chargers Please. Uber drivers love driving EVs but hate the lack of charging, interesting how the last few years have progressed in the electrification of miles driven. Can EV infrastructure become a profitable business?
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Yann
Last Week To Safe Harbor. But I want to talk about the ITC because DC is talking about it. A few weeks ago E&E News talked to some solar executives and asked whether the tax credit should be extended. Everyone here knows how I feel, and I want to know your thoughts, so please hit reply and tell me I’m crazy or why it should or should not be extended. I get the argument, every time we fight, there’s a cliff and we’ve promised to get off the credits. But also, we need and want the investors to have confidence that the solar industry can thrive without it, which we can. The end result is that off take agreements will be higher without the ITC and that causes inflation to consumers which sucks and could be the argument for it. Here’s what Senator Brian Schatz has to say, “As long as I’ve been around, [renewable developers] have been negotiating against themselves, and so I’m not going to let them do that.”
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Yann