Eyes Wide Open. This is bigger than just Alabama. This is Michigan, Connecticut, and more. Solar net metering continues to be under attack and it’s threatening thousands of jobs and small businesses. Keep in mind that penetration is essentially negligible and provides more value to the grid than it costs. If we want major adoption of solar across the Country, solar needs to have a fair way to operate with market certainty.

Buildings Stay Open Longer Than Businesses. I agree that commercial solar will be majority 3rd party owned. It’s not because business owners don’t have access to tax equity, it has everything to do with the following. Ask a CEO if the business will be around 25 years from now, and they will be absolutely certain it will be. Ask that same CEO if they will still be in that building 25 years from now and a lot of hesitation comes across their face. Solar is a long term solution to power a building, not just the business within it and that is why the building itself is what should be underwritten in the transaction.

Pruitt Keeps Going. Here’s an unpopular opinion, I hope Pruitt sticks around. Yes, he is doing crazy stuff at the EPA and fighting science at every turn. But his non-political actions are keeping him on the front page and showing off his regulatory dismantling, to the dismay of the American people. If Pruitt goes, then so does the limelight. Who do you think will replace him? Do you think that person would do anything different on the policy front?

Press Releases Aren’t Under Oath. It may come as a shock to you but sometimes press releases aren’t everything they seem to be. I think it’s great that SunPower bought SolarWorld and First Solar is building another factory in Ohio. If you think that 201 is the reason that both of those events happened, then you need to stop trusting every press release. 201 is only a 4 year event and First Solar was exempt from it anyways. They could have built that factory anywhere in the world and doing so in Ohio had nothing to do with 201. On the other side, more complicated, is SunPower buying SolarWorld USA. For our view on why we think this happened, read here.

Enjoy Your Weekend. Will I see you in Minneapolis next week?

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Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Hawaii has rebalanced the relationship between utilities and their customers with a new law tying rate increases to performance data.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Hawaii has rebalanced the relationship between utilities and their customers with a new law tying rate increases to performance data.

According to Hawaii Public Radio, "The Hawaii Ratepayer Protection Act will require the Public Utilities Commission, the PUC, to develop incentives for local electric companies to modernize and manage costs.'

The law takes effect July 1st. The PUC will then be required to create an incentive framework by January 1, 2020.

SolarWakeup’s View:  To call Hawaii's solar situation "complicated" would be like calling World War II a "kefuffle." Ever since October 2015, when the PUC eliminated net metering precipitously (in the minds of many), the solar industry has struggled to re-find its identity. Hell, things in Hawaii were so bad that last year, the president of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association told an audience at Intersolar North America:

”I think people working in solar in Hawaii have reached the fifth stage of grief – acceptance – as many of us are looking at the impending death, for all intents and purposes, of the solar industry in the state,” he added.

He also added that a painful (he called it “nasty, brutish and long”) transition from net-metering to three stopgap programs that have slowed residential installations to a crawl. A law signed by Governor Daniel Ige, however, called the Hawaii Ratepayer Protection Act, could restart the business - at least that's the hope of residential companies already heavily invested in the solar industry like Sunrun (emphasis added). "Other state Legislatures and Commissions should take notice of Hawaii's efforts," said Anne Hoskins, chief policy officer of Sunrun. "The time to make these changes is now, before billions of dollars are spent in rebuilding our outdated electrical networks. Rooftop solar and home batteries are allowing users to choose a system that maximizes public benefits, not utility shareholder profits. Let’s keep giving people the freedom to create a brighter future.” Any legislation that can help alleviate the mindless fighting between utilities and solar users is music to my ears. Let's hope this new law can help the Aloha State return to its place as a leading residential solar state (and may this law, if it works, become a model for the rest of the country). More: Electricity Ratepayer Protection Act Signed Into Law (audio included) (HPR)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Schletter's bankruptcy just got more interesting to me, based on some public information a friend of mine shared with me.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Schletter's bankruptcy just got more interesting to me, based on some public information a friend of mine shared with me.

Did you know that Schletter had been sued by its employees in the Western District of North Carolina - the same one in which they have field bankruptcy - after one of their employees fell prey to a W-2 phishing scam that caused the sharing of all the employees' private information with some identity thieves?

Did you also know that in late March (full document below) the judge dismissed Schletter's attempts to dismiss the resulting employees' lawsuit and allowed it to go forward, with the looming prospect of treble damages hanging in the balance?

And then there's that pesky WARN Act thing.....

ch SolarWakeup’s View:  My theory yesterday was that Schletter's decision to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy was that it was largely attributable to the tariffs on solar modules, aluminium and steel. Turns out that may not be the whole story (or even the primary one). Check out the March 26 ruling by a judge in North Carolina concerning Schletter's legal liability in a W-2 phishing scam of which they became a victim. The good folks at Lexology have the details:

In that decision, called Curry v. Schletter Inc., Judge Martin Reidinger of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina handed the employees a big win: a favorable ruling on a treble damages claim brought under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-1.1. In 2016 a Schletter employee was reeled in by a phishing scam. The employee emailed criminals W-2 tax form information for all of the company’s then-current employees. That information included names, addresses, social security numbers, and wage information—all in an unencrypted file. After discovering the incident, Schletter notified the affected employees and offered 24 months of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. Unsatisfied with that response, the employees sued.

Unsurprisingly - and I saw that without even the hint of snark - Schletter moved to have the lawsuit dismissed. Again, I'll let the lawyers at Lexology explain it far better than I could:

First, Schletter said, it hadn’t “intentionally” communicated anything to the criminals. Instead, it argued, the employee who fell victim to the scam meant to transmit the information internally and for a legitimate purpose, and thus lacked the requisite intent. Second, Schletter argued that it had not disclosed the employees’ information to the “general public,” but only to the cyber-criminal. Third, Schletter pointed to the rule that section 75-1.1 does not generally apply to employer-employee disputes. According to Schletter the claim for treble damages—which arose only because of their employment relationship with Schletter—was barred by this so-called “employment exemption” to section 75-1.1.

What that decision did was open Schletter to treble damages six days after its German parent company had filed for insolvency (Germany's version of Chapter 11 bankruptcy). There would be no help coming from the parent to bail them out if the lawsuit went forward and a jury found in favor of the employees. In those circumstances, combined with the pressures from the tariffs, Schletter may have decided to file Chapter 11 in an attempt to get out from under the lawsuit. But according to court records, there's no indication the lawsuit over the phishing scam is going away. Moreover, Schletter may have opened itself up to another lawsuit when it failed to produce a WARN Act notification before suspending operations. A spokesman for the company says there are 120 employees in Shelby, North Carolina, which would make any attempt to close the headquarters without giving their employees 60 days notice of the closing. The spokesman did indicate there have been no layoffs yet - which I suppose could allow them to skirt the law for now - but if layoffs DO occur, the company has put itself in more legal jeopardy by not giving their employees the heads up. Stay tuned - this situation promises only to get more interesting as the process moves along. All I know is that my heart goes out to the 120 employees that will inevitably be affected by whatever the outcome in this tale is. They don't deserve to have their futures held hostage like this, no matter what the reason. Here is the March 26 ruling against Schletter's motion to dismiss its employees' lawsuit: [pdf-embedder url="http://www.solarwakeup.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Curry-Opinion.pdf"] More: A North Carolina Federal Court Allows a Treble Damages Claim in Employee Data-Breach Lawsuit (Lexology) Schletter U.S. Files For Chapter 11 Source: As Parent Company Struggles, Schletter Eyes Closing U.S. Operations We’re Happy For SolarWorld Employees – But That’s It Suniva Being Sold For Parts (Literally), Just Like We Said

The Official Schletter Update, Chapter 11. I get zero pleasure of writing these notes. I’ve been there myself, figuring out how to come up with a hail mary, worried about what to say to the team. You want them to stay focused on the task, not worry about their jobs, in the back of your mind worried that you may have to let them go. Solar is a cruel business, margins are tight but the gold mine remains unbelievably full and that is what keeps us going. Schletter has filed for chapter 11 protection in the US as it seeks a buyer for the global business. A spokesperson for Schletter says that they have interest from industry and financial investors alike. The cause for the protection is a bet into securing a pipeline which seems to imply that Schletter was doing project development to secure the sale without getting their margins crushed. We’ll Monday morning quarterback that decision and execution another day. In the meantime, let’s find these good folks new jobs so they can make a living in solar.

Fixing The Utility Monopoly. If there is ever a utility policy that reads as good as it sounds it is the legislation in Hawaii. Instead of getting paid to build stuff, regardless of how much value it creates, Hawaii will align utility revenues to consumer metrics including metrics in solar and storage. Utilities in the traditional rate base make money when things break, like after a hurricane in Florida. Replacing wood poles is a great business for those ‘investors’ when the consumer is the insurance and fuel hedge. Maybe we should consider Hawaii’s success as we craft new ways forward for Puerto Rico. On the other hand, what a difference compared to a year ago when NextEra looked like they were going to be the Hawaii electric company owner.

A Case Study For Buildings. RMI and energy consultants are posting about a project that brought a Colorado building closer to net zero. The interesting twist on this is that not only was the project feasible from a technical standpoint, it was also financed using commercial PACE assessments. As I wrote yesterday and we covered earlier, financing is not only a function of the interest rate, it is also a function of term length. Click above to see what rates and terms are available for project capital on solar projects.

Je Suis Désolé, Monsieur Trump. Macron got the last word in his visit to DC with his message to the joint session of Congress. Maybe it was the dandruff brushoff or something else that got Macron to provide a solid rebuke to Trump and Congress about climate change and transforming our economies to meet the challenge. Macron is not an ideologue on the environmental issue, he’s a financier that understands that productivity means creating and growing the sectors of the economy that mean a better future. It doesn’t hurt that the bipartisan support on this issue looks a whole lot better than coal and nuclear. This message was brought to you by the most nuclear powered nation on earth, France.

Midwest Solar Expo. Are you joining me in Minneapolis next week? I’ll be moderating a session on 201 tariffs with some great solar leaders, including longtime SolarWakeup friend, Tony Clifford, as well as hosting SolarWakeup Live! at MWSE with the CEO of Connexus Energy to talk about how a rural cooperative implements solar and storage in the Midwest. Not to late to jump on a plane and join us.

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Have a great day!
Yann