SunPower Goes Big On Storage. In exclusive pictures obtained by SolarWakeup, SunPower unveiled the addition of Sonnen and Tesla residential battery systems to their dealer product line. In San Diego for a dealer meeting, 150 installers represented by 500 people heard CEO Tom Werner go through their business offerings. SolarCity used to be SunPower dealers’ biggest competition but that is water under the bridge for SunPower at this point. Joining with both Tesla and Sonnen means that SunPower isn’t going to take a risk on supply chain. Slides showing the entire product line and storage offerings are inside the story.

The C&I Goldmine. Engie continues the buying spree adding Socore, the solar developer, to its roster. This comes just a few weeks after the acquisition of Infinity Renewables, the wind developer. Socore has been known for its C&I development adding community solar and other segments in recent years. The challenge for Engie going forward will be integrating the various companies into the umbrella and leveraging the capabilities across the value chain. Go back and listen to my interview with Engie’s VP of Innovation, Thierry Lepercq.

Let The Kids Save Us. Kids turning 18 and voting can’t come soon enough. Even on climate change, an issue that is polarizing in the polls, both sides of the millennial aisle believe that it’s happening. What our industry needs to do however, is stop talking about climate change. We need to change the conversation on solar energy, jobs and monopolies. Every question about energy, about job growth needs to show our talking point while explaining that incumbent market participants are against us and using consumer’s money to fight solar.

Storage Retrofits. Big news for residential solar as a private letter ruling comes out stating that storage can be added while qualifying for the ITC. This PLR is only for this one case but is often used across markets with similar situations but don’t rely on that PLR or my comments for tax advice! Homeowners will want to make sure they install proper hardware and software so only solar energy charges the batteries.

CO SEIA. Next Wednesday, I will be interviewing the team behind the nation’s first clean energy federal credit union at the Colorado SEIA conference. If you would like your company to partner with us and sponsor this episode, please reach out.

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Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: SunPower Corp. told a meeting of its authorized dealers, Monday afternoon in San Diego, that it would be adding two storage solutions to its Equinox home solar system. A spokesperson for SunPower said, "SunPower has been exploring storage offerings and capabilities for our residential customers. One example is our recent partnership with Sonnen. SunPower dealers can choose to work with Sonnen to offer residential customers the best storage and solar combination solutions to fit their specific energy needs."

While SunPower is awaiting a possible exemption from the tariffs, based on their claim that their IBC modules are significantly different than those competing with the U.S. manufacturers, the company can’t sit idly by hoping the tender mercies of the Trump Administration will help rescue their bottom line.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Researchers at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) report that the United States could produce 80% of its electricity needs with solar and wind power, as long as the nation commits to building the grid to accommodate them, including up to 12 hours of battery storage. Someone should tell Rick Perry and the president, because they seem to have missed a memo somewhere along the line.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Researchers at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) report that the United States could produce 80% of its electricity needs with solar and wind power, as long as the nation commits to building the grid to accommodate them, including up to 12 hours of battery storage. Someone should tell Rick Perry and the president, because they seem to have missed a memo somewhere along the line.

SolarWakeup’s View: Honestly, this isn’t news to anyone in the solar industry, is it? Or the wind industry? After all, employees wouldn't be flocking to an industry they didn't believe was sustainable. That much seems obvious. But what the scientific study does it get that news into the hands of a public that, as ThinkProgress reports, believed renewables could never produce more than 20% to 30% of the nation’s electricity. The key, of course, is electricity storage (the study focused an awful lot on batteries, but as well all know, that’s not the only storage technology out there). The solar industry has already shown that solar is cost competitive, and battery storage prices are coming down, too. One can quibble about whether they’re coming down fast enough, but no one can legitimately say they aren’t coming down at all. Let’s be blunt: The solar industry has shown the path forward to reaching the 80% mark laid down by UCI and is developing more sustainable ways to move electricity to the grid with bankable offtakers. Now we just need to force state and federal legislators to remove the regulatory obstacles—put in our way by the entrenched electricity-production interests—out of our way. Once that happens, the solar industry will lead the way to 80% because we’ve already shown we can.   More:  Geophysical constraints on the reliability of solar and wind power in the United States (UC Irvine) Solar and wind power alone could provide four fifths of U.S. power (Think Progress)

200,000 Americans lost their jobs, representing approximately $4 billion in lost wages from February to November 2002.

More American workers lost their jobs in 2002 to higher steel prices than the total number employed by the U.S. steel industry itself, proving once again the harsh law of unintended consequences.