Farmers For Solar. With the farmers across America getting hurt by the trade war even worse than the solar community, now is the time to help them farm a new crop, solar panels. This is obviously a more nuanced statement but solar developers and farmers have had a bond for over a decade as the two sectors align perfectly. Going back to the last ITC extension, California farmers played a central role to explain the value of solar to Kevin McCarthy and helped create a path to the extension. This time we need local political influence from the farming community to work with solar advocates to open up new markets. Across the midwest, there are viable solar markets were it not for bad local policies that monopolize the opportunity for the powerful corporations.
Political Statements. I’d like to see a Senate campaign make a case to lure independents and conservatives with solar. In Kentucky for example, why not showcase the success that solar has had in Texas or South Carolina and ask why solar isn’t prevalent in Kentucky creating job opportunities especially for those harmed by coal markets imploding. The ad campaign could even use the words of conservatives, like Rep Tom Massie (known for his attack on John Kerry’s Poli Sci degree), who is both a solar and EV owner.
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Yann
Mayors Of America, A New Pod. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mayor Rhodes-Conway of Madison, Wisconsin a few weeks ago. If I could interview every mayor in America, I would and this interview explains it. First, we get through 10x the content in 16 minutes and the Mayor knew what she wanted which was more solar. Give it a listen and leave a 5-star review!
Losing Solar’s Gains. I don’t know if anyone is winning the trade war but apparently, consumers, farmers and solar stock investors are going to be hoping for it to end soon. The treasury department labelled China a currency manipulator yesterday and the market didn’t like that, erasing some of the gains we talked about last week.
Rooftop Solar Is King. I wish we could call for solar on every house in America and more importantly find a way to put it on every warehouse while we’re at it. The benefits of distributed solar are incredible but it’s still a way too expensive to get it there. Not the hardware costs but the sales, marketing and financing costs are still way too high and we need a big initiative to get us there.
SC Is Key. The growth of solar in South Carolina is an important evolution for our industry. Combined with Florida, Texas and Georgia, the southeast could make a statement about what solar stands for politically. Solar stands with everyday, hard-working Americans that just want to generate their own electricity and not rely on the corporate monopoly anymore. That message resonates in South Carolina and I hope the growth ahead will get us into more limelight in the future.
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Solar In Coal Country. Coal is dying and that’s good for the environment but it’s bad for some hard-working Americans. What would it take to get solar going in Kentucky and West Virginia?
The Public Solar Cusp. Public solar companies had a good week last week and this week we will see more companies show earnings leading with Solaredge and Sunrun. We may be on the cusp of a breakout for these companies showing what may come out of the solar market and more solar companies look at the public market as an option.
Oil Exports, Thanks Solar. Last time the solar ITC got an extension it was paired with the oil export embargo being the lifted. The embargo was lifted in perpetuity but the ITC got 4 years. Fair? I think not.
IPP Going Private? As the CEO of Vistra publicly muses about taking the company private, I have to wonder if he’s having a hard time explaining the future of the company to his current investors. Vistra has been a leader in energy storage and adding some solar, you can only imagine that this is a big part of the future plan. If the investors can’t buy into the next era of the company maybe going private is the best thing for the CEO, because the investors may just find a CEO that focuses on the now instead.
NYT Writer Is Wrong. Many of you have already seen this but a contributing opinion writer to the NY Times basically said that Greta Thunberg’s activism is bad for democracy because she’s too young to actually ask politicians to do something.
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Low Cost Energy. These charts that show solar costs plummeting are always satisfying but they are also incredibly misleading and I would go as far as saying they are false. When it comes to coal and gas there is no cost for the societal costs around the emissions of the direct pollution or the costs to resources like water. Asia will be making a straight 180 especially with the massive increase of storage access and cost reduction. Those markets also price renewables with the right level of return to project sponsors.
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Yann