Utility Ownership Fallacy. Utility ownership of behind the meter or community level assets reveals the flaw that is the 21st century business model. When it comes to building the most competitive and dynamic energy grid, it requires consumers to be at the center of the services that are provided. Not in a way that is secured by minimum bills or required contracts but by a provider showing the value proposition and actually delivering what was promised. Years from now there will be books written about how PG&E has been able to survive this long as an IOU through two bankruptcies, multiple criminal convictions and an ongoing search for executives. At the center of that story will be the regulatory capture in Sacramento.
Better Jobs. Part of the solar industry’s goal for the next decade is geographically dispersing the job opportunities. Of course the installations are spread around the Country but what about the office jobs? I’d be interested to see trade groups working with local economic development councils to find siting opportunities for solar companies in places that aren’t usually considered or are hard to find.
Plan For Big Solar. Every week passes and the realization comes that for the foreseeable future the limits to the growth in solar will be labor and materials. The pipeline appears endless, consumer demand growing in depth and geography and capital loves solar more each day. Trying to buy materials for a project in the next two quarters however, is far more complicated and unpredictable than ever before and it may get worse before it gets better. Next week, Enphase will report earnings and you may hear that they are sold out and raising margins simply due to fundamental economics of supply and demand.
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Yann
Finishing The Stimulus. DC is back to some standard back and forth. Dems offered a $1.9trillion stimulus and a gan of 10 Senators from the GOP countered with $600billion. If old DC is back, we’ll get a $1.2Trillion stimulus by next week. It does help that the very conservative GOP governor from West Virginia is calling for peak stimulus. One way to know that things are back to some norms, those ten GOP senators met with Biden yesterday and nobody called anyone any names, you probably didn’t even hear about it.
What To Do With TVA. The TVA continues to be the least responsive utility to the energy transition, operating more like a local municipal utility. Instead of seeing what large IOUs are doing, it keeps pushing anti-solar agendas even though it has access to the lowest cost solar in America. With Biden in the White House, I renew my call to nominate solar professionals to the board and I’ll be the first in line. The CEO of the TVA is the highest paid employee of the Federal Government, should be a job well suited for many in the industry.
The Dam Shoals Broke. Shoals going public last week was great for the industry because more than anything it said that you will be rewarded for sustainable revenues that are backed by defensible IP and a record of execution. The company is valued at over $6billion today and that’s because investors are all in on the market, not just the earnings of today. We’ll talk more about SPACs in the coming weeks but if your business is looking for more growth going into the upcoming decade, there’s more room to maneuver than ever before.
How To Invest. When markets have exits, the funnel goes wider. Solar and clean tech is going to enter a venture and angel investment boom to build these amazing companies. How we, as an industry, invest is going to make or break some of these companies. I’ve started to think about the role SolarWakeup can play in this, hosting demo days, scouting or even a syndicate of some sort. Your thoughts and feedback are welcome, especially if you’re a startup
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Have A Good Weekend. Plenty of news headlines to go back and catch up on from this week. Have a great weekend!
Don’t Miss. I visited with the team from GRNE Solar to talk about soft costs in solar. Catch the podcast here.
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