What a great day at SolarWakeup Live! in Chicago yesterday. The interviews were great content and more than anything the audience was able to spend plenty of time doing solid networking. Have a great weekend!
Community Solar Goes Big. This isn’t data but its anecdotal from the event. Community solar in Illinois may have over 1GW of projects already in the queue but it may not add up with local zoning approvals so the 1GW could be overstating. That’s quite a bit more than the 150MW expected to be approved in the program.
Program Administrators. No word on the hiring date for the administrators but the RFP responses have been received and selection is underway. This is essentially the last step to get the program going.
Large Scale Issues. If you see a future for large scale solar in Illinois with $5 RECs, please send me your business model to understand.
Hire Local.I can’t overstate how important it is to understand the impact of hiring local labor and train a new workforce for your installations. Don’t be the solar group that hires the random Spencer’s solar company at the lowest cost possible. Make sure you give the newly trained solar folks a chance to get involved. This is vital to growing the solar market in Illinois going forward.

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

Welcome to SolarWakeup Live! Chicago Day. A great crowd of SolarWakeup readers are coming together to hear about the Illinois market and some of the market players that are putting money in play here. Thanks to all for the support. Make sure to subscribe to the SolarWakeup podcast on your Apple Podcast or favorite podcast app to catch the content when we release it.
Raising The Cost Of Solar. Much ado about nothing but let’s give you the insight. Jinko was first to announce a US plant after the 201 tariffs were finalized. With a small exemption cap for cell imports, it seems reasonable that Jinko would use the lowest cost of supply chain to feed the module plant in Jacksonville. Now that the cells from China have a new tariff (in addition to 201) Jinko has had to pivot to their Malaysian supply chain. All this does is increase the cost of modules made in the US. Why would we want that? Why wouldn’t we want US made modules to be as consumer friendly as possible?
Updating MA SMART. If you are paying attention to the MA process, it appears that the fight continues to center around the same issues. When I interviewed the SMART rules experts on Halloween last year, we had the same issues and the DPU still has not finalized the SMART regulations. It also appears that a bill that cleared the Senate last week is lacking momentum in the State House. I hope MA can come together on the issue of solar in the very near future.
Global Solar Modules. Back to the topic of increasing the cost of solar. Now that SQN has basically outlined the strategy to be a cell supplier to US module manufacturing and SunPower has acquired Solarworld USA, what are we really getting for 201 tariffs. A tariff that pays into the Treasury instead of creating pools of capital to drive more US assembly. At the end of the day, with the trade war continuing, we end up with modules at twice the price than they should be. What’s going on with a settlement around the AD/CVD and potentially the 201? Can we get somewhere now that we see how the market responds?

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Jinko Solar, being a public company, has to be as positive as possible. So when Reuters asked the Chinese module manufacturer whether the new round of tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration - 25% on modules and cells on top of the 30% the administration already imposed on all imported cells - my old friend Jeff Juger had a ready answer. He told the news service that the Jacksonville factory, which was originally supposed to double as the company's U.S. headquarters, will be producing modules by the fourth quarter based on cells manufactured in Malaysia, which may be true now. But sources close to the factory say the original plans involved cells manufactured in China. Trump's tariffs sent those plans into a tailspin, however, despite China being the most cost-effective source for the cells. Juger also told Reuters he hoped Trump's administration would exempt the Malyasian cells from the tariffs under the exemption plan included in the original tariff pronouncement. He maintains the Jinko factory in Malaysia is the only factory that produces the necessary cells and discussed how much the success of the Jacksonville factory could turn on getting the exemption, telling the news service:

The 2.5 gigawatt exemption gives us quite a bit of headroom to import tariff-free cells. If the government grants that exclusion request and lets us import these cells, it will allow us to further scale up the factory in Florida.

Therein, of course, lies the rub. It's worth noting that initially, the factory was going to be double the size than what it's currently projected to be and was supposed to support twice as many jobs. If the company doesn't get the exemption it's seeking, it's fair to ask when, if ever, the Jacksonville Jinko factory will be running at full capacity. For Jacksonville's sake, we hope Jinko gets the exemption. It would be shame if that much ballyhooed factory ends up being more of a whimper than a bang.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

A report from the Reno Gazette Journal brings the heartening news that the Tom Steyer backed Nevada ballot initiative to bring Nevada's RPS to 50% by 2030 likely has enough signatures to go to voters. As of Monday, organizers told the paper they had nearly double the number of signatures necessary to put the initiative on the ballot. Typically, ballot initiatives need to have at least double the actual number of signatures to account for ineligible signatures being thrown out by the certification body. The measure, backed by liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, would amend the Nevada Constitution to require electric suppliers provide at least 50 percent of their total electricity from renewable sources, like wind, solar and geothermal by the year 2030. Currently, only around 20% of Nevada's electricity is produced by renewable sources. As the spokesman for Nevadans For A Clean Energy Future said in a press release, referencing the 20% number:

For one of the sunniest states in the nation, that is not good enough. Currently, Nevada spends $700 million annually to import fossil fuels from out of state to power the grid.

The initiative is the latest attempt by the Silver State to get itself back into contention as one of the top solar states in the nation. Since unceremoniously ending net metering in 2015 - a policy blunder that the legislature has since reversed - Nevada has struggled to regain its place as a solar state. Gaining enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot is a big victory for Tom Steyer, who was actively supporting similar legislation in Michigan until a deal surrounding a controversial billion-dollar natural gas plant was signed. Both DTE Energy and Consumers Energy have pledged to be coal-free by 2040 and have at least 50% of their electricity generation come from renewable resources within the same timeframe. Recent polling suggests that if Steyer's measure gets on the ballot, Nevadans will pass it.