Home Value With Solar. The data on home values with solar is getting better simply due to the volume of transactions. Some perspective on the numbers though. The percentages are somewhat useless given that the home values are not the same across state lines. The total value is what you are looking for and it is directly correlated to the cost of electricity. San Francisco leads with $41k but the rest of the country is somewhere in the $10k range. That number is key because after the ITC and energy savings you enjoy while being in the home, you have the value left over. Solar buyers often run an ROI analysis, i.e. 7 year payback, but what they should really do is look at the ROI to premium value. Is anyone in solar selling on this?
SEIA Fights ITC. Insiders are telling me that SEIA is getting ready to deploy money into the ITC extension fight. I can’t be prouder of SEIA for allocating the limited resources in this way when they will likely be the lone trade group to do so with the support of many of you. Neither SEPA nor SETS have commented on the call to participate financially in the policy that pays their bills.
Bipolar Bifacial Exemption. It wasn’t expected to happen like this, the bifacial exemption was on the block but insiders thought it wouldn’t be seriously reviewed until the mid-term review of the 201 tariffs. This is the Trump times though and the bifacial exemption is officially gone. This means that the utility-scale developers that sought to get a premium output module without the 201 tariff are now back to square one. The winner is First Solar but in reality, they were sold out in the near future anyways which means we’re all losers. Here is my beef with this, the 180 turn in regulation cost companies millions of dollars and time they won’t get back. Engineering has to be redone, business plans, layouts and potentially even financing documentation.
Perry Ends His Stay. Rick Perry is coming to the end of his reign at the Department of Energy. He came into the administration looking to be the global head of business development for the US oil and gas industry and that looks to be the reason for his departure. Over the weekend Axios reported that Trump was putting the blame of the Ukraine call on his Energy secretary so the departure is somewhere between ‘get me out of here and make money lobbying’ and ‘you’re the fall guy and be a good soldier’. Who will be the next Energy secretary? Your guess is as good as mine, but since the secretary safeguards the US nuclear arsenal I hope someone gets the nod.
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Yann
Back Next Week. I’ve been slacking with the daily column, mostly because SPI and the day job have been taking on a lot of time building the industry’s most bankable and valuable racking company. If every installer started using Quick Mount PV products tomorrow, I promise to give you all the commentary you’d ever want! Until then, split duties will continue. (Speaking of, there’s no reason you’re not already using our products, they’re great and made in Walnut Creek!) Have a great weekend!
Survey. Yesterday you got a survey if you attended SPI. The message is simple, great show but you need the ITC so at least 5% of the profits should be contributed to the Defend the ITC fund. Let’s see how many of you we can get to fill out the survey!
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Yann
Silence From DC. Since my proposal this week for the SPI organizers to revert $500k of profits to the ITC extension organizing effort, I have heard from many of you but nobody with the power of the purse. The message was delivered and heard but the response is in the mail (or not). Look, this is a one in a million chance but I am hoping that doing the right thing becomes reality.
Smart Energy. There is a lot of logic in pricing the cost of carbon in everything that we buy but that’s not the way our economy works. We subsidize the entire economic value chain so that consumers get whatever they want. So a carbon tax makes sense, though politicians are unlikely to go for it but it seems to be the topic that DC wants to debate so we don't actually do anything tangible.
ITC Homework. What are you doing today to extend the ITC? Have you called your members’ office or visited the district office?
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Will Illinois Step Up Again. It’s been almost two years since we hosted SolarWakeup Live! Chicago where we talked about CEJA and the possibilities ahead. Now the legislature needs to do more work to keep the momentum going and solar will get its report card on the promises made on environmental justice, job training and collaboration with labor.
A Natural Bridge To Nowhere. I normally stay out of the natural gas debate focusing on solar instead. We don’t need gas to do poorly to prop solar up. Here’s the thing thou, the consumers are getting conned by regulators and utilities. Gas is a necessary evil currently but it’s not cheap. Monopolies get a free 30-year hedge on natural gas commodity pricing, land and resource benefits and a guaranteed return higher than any sponsor in solar gets. So I am glad to see that the MN PSC sees the downside of letting the utility saddle the consumers with another stranded asset.
Diversified Portfolio. Saudi Aramco is finalizing its plan for the much-awaited IPO. I’m interested to see what, if anything the S-1 says about renewable energy. I don’t think it will but you could see some vision of the future if Aramco does indeed include mentions of solar.
FERC Divided. FERC is a bipartisan commission, the two leaders of the Senate send their names to the White House for nominations. (If you need a lesson on how this works, watch West Wing episode S1E21) Anyways, this time the White House is planning on getting its ridiculous plans through FERC by leaving the Dem seat open. This could be bad, very bad.
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Yann