By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

In case you've been living under a rock, there are elections coming up in a little less than a month. In nine states, there are contested races for governor. If you've been wondering how your candidate stacks up on clean energy issues, national business group Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) launched online scorecards to help you out this election season. AEE will update candidates’ policy stands based on public statements and policy platforms adopted by Republican and Democratic nominees leading up to Election Day on Nov. 6. The project will be supported by targeted digital advertising in the nine states to help voters learn more about the energy policies of gubernatorial hopefuls. Tracking and reporting policy positions of election candidates is the latest step in a nearly yearlong effort to engage with gubernatorial candidates to discuss the positive economic benefits of advanced energy and offer policy ideas for expanding advanced energy markets in each state. AEE has reached out to every nominee in the nine states for roundtable meetings with member companies, has shared its policy priorities, and released new data on advanced energy jobs. Nationally, the advanced energy industry employs 3.4 million U.S. workers. “Ensuring that candidates for governor appreciate the benefits that advanced energy can bring to their states, namely economic development and good jobs, has been a key focus of Advanced Energy Economy this year,” said J.R. Tolbert, vice president, state policy, at AEE. “We have found the candidates to be receptive to our message and hearing from the companies working in their state, with the result that a bipartisan slate of gubernatorial candidates across the states has adopted at least one of our priority positions.” The following are summaries of what AEE found as they canvassed election candidates on both sides of the aisle concerning where they stood on a host of clean energy issues. For all of the races, Democrats tended to side with AEE's policy recommendations, while Republicans either opposed them or were silent on them (with a few exceptions, as you'll see below). Far be it from SolarWakeup to tell you how to vote, but the message is clear if you're interested at all in building a clean energy future. Judge for yourself from the information below - and then vote accordingly. SCORECARD SUMMARY

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It's been an article of faith among President Donald Trump supporters that he was going to - come hell or high water - "save" the coal industry. As part of that plan, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and his merry team have been working for months on a bailout plan that would use taxpayer money to support failing coal and nuclear plants. The solar industry has been living with this sword of Damocles this entire time, just waiting for the inevitable announcement of a policy that seemed set in stone. Well hold up - that stone may not quite be set yet, at least as far as Politico is concerned. According to insiders that spoke to the online news outlet on the condition of anonymity, the plan has run into opposition within the White House itself, specifically with members of the National Security Council and National Economic Council. Word is that President Trump hasn't officially weighed in against the proposal, but that he's willing to go along with his advisors who oppose the plan, at least for now (as Politico notes, President Trump has been known to change his mind and that it is possible the plan could come back as part of his re-election strategy in 2020). In a "too bad, so sad" moment, Politico reports that "the stalemate is frustrating the politically active coal mining companies that backed Trump’s presidential campaign and lobbied heavily for an economic lifeline for their industry." (By economic lifeline, they mean a taxpayer-funded bailout.) But as has been noted elsewhere, coal has been focusing its energies on fighting the wrong alternative. Solar and wind were never the monsters that were eating coal's lunch; that was the natural gas industry. And once you riled up the oil-and-gas industries against you, your bailout was all but finished. One has to feel a little sorry for West Virginia Congressional members, who took Trump at his word that he would do everything he could to "save" the coal industry. Politico discusses some of the hurt feelings that are now percolating after this most recent decisions to shelve the plan (at least temporarily):

“I’m trying to find the darn plan because I understand it’s gone from the Department of Energy over to the White House, and I don't know who in the White House would be sitting on it for whatever reason,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters last week.

This story could change at a moment's notice if Trump suddenly changes his mind or decides to break with his closest advisors. But for now, it seems like the plan to rescue uneconomical coal and nuke plants with a taxpayer funded bailout may not come to fruition.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

As the tax incentives begin to wind down, it's even more important than ever to be able to identify investors who can afford to take on sufficient tax equity to consummate solar projects. To do the due diligence to figure out who is currently interested in using equity to fund the project, however, can often increase costs and render deals undoable. Which is why having a company like kWh Analytics, a solar risk manager, do some portion of the work for you is such a boon. This morning, the company released its Solar Lendscape for Tax Equity, a free resource that profiles 28 tax equity investors. For developers looking to raise capital, the Solar Lendscape catalogs the industry’s most active debt and tax equity investors, including details on check size, target market segments, and product type. The industry’s first Solar Lendscape was released in June 2018 and initially focused exclusively on providers of debt. Following industry interest, kWh Analytics developed Solar Lendscape for Tax Equity to also include an overview of tax equity investors. Project development is known to be a complex engagement in which the rules and variables regularly change. One of the most important variables for a developer to track is the availability of capital. Leveraging their experience working with investors, kWh Analytics built a simple, free tool to help developers assess the investor landscape and find the right partner for their projects. “Solar Lendscape should prove a useful tool for developers trying to raise capital for their projects,” says Keith Martin, Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. “It was inevitable that someone would create an internet portal to help with that process.” Fast facts from the Solar Lendscape for Tax Equity:

• Most organizations are using partnerships as a preferred structure.
• Nearly a dozen investors are investing in community solar.
• There was an influx of new tax equity providers in 2017, following the extension of the investment tax credit in 2016.

Presented by Pfister Energy. Changing the way energy is generated and delivered. Pfister Energy is a leading turnkey design-build renewable energy solutions company. Servicing C&I, community and utility sectors for solar, storage and O&M. Visit pfisterenergy.com for more information.
Solar And Taxes. SEIA is updating its popular tax guide. If one thing is for sure, its that solar investments will require a knowledge of the tax benefits associated with it. The more solar grows the more people get to invest in the medium so this resource becomes more widely read across the market. Just look at the impact the market has had in New York, with NYSERDA’s CEO, Alicia Barton saying: “Hot off the presses, the 2018 NY Clean Energy Industry Report is a good news reality check we need. Headline: Bold climate action feeds new jobs and economic growth. NY added 5,600 new clean energy jobs last year alone. Check out the full report! @NYGovCuomo#Rev4NY”
Lynn Jurich On Leadership. As the CEO of Sunrun, Lynn Jurich has plenty on her plate and she said down with Inc. to pass along some knowledge. One of the things that has separated Sunrun in my opinion is the value it places on policy. Others have dabbled and smaller companies find it hard to make a real impact. There are few events that I attend where an Sunrunner is not in attendance. Engie has picked up their regulatory presence as well which is always helpful to legislative outreach. 
Helpful Tax Equity Info. The solar lendscape outlines the players of the capital stack most often found in solar project investments. Take a look at the 2nd edition of the lendscape showing you the 28 most prolific tax equity investors. Some folks that are applying to capital markets jobs will sound a whole lot smarter now and maybe navigate the annual Rancho Bernardo circus a bit easier. 
Millennials See Solar Future. It doesn’t really matter what Vice said about solar, millennials saw the headline on Vox and are now all in on solar. Just kidding, we already had 100% of young people on our side. Combined with some of the internet ready content like this one from the Years Project, shortens the political argument to a tangible bite size. 
Survey et al. Last chance to be included in the SolarWakeup Sentiment Survey. Please make sure to come to DC on Thursday for Vote Solar Equinox DC, because at the very least I want to make sure they keep me on the host committee for next year!

Have a great day!

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Have a great day!
Yann