Sold Out! SolarWakeup Live! Boston is now sold out. If you were planning on buying a ticket, a waitlist is now online, first come, first served. Thank you to everyone for your support!
Grid Ops. I’m spending quite a bit of time talking with grid planners trying to understand what dispatchable solar assets, centralized and distributed, mean to a utility operation. Mainly, trying to ascertain what type of value is generated in addition to the value of energy and how to monetize the power. If you work at a utility and want to have this conversation, on a purely hypothetical basis, I want to talk to you and your colleagues. There is no doubt in my mind that all solar in the next decade will be dispatchable in some way with storage, just a matter of when and how it is executed.
$. Sunrun announced a new debt facility of $244.5million.
$$. Tesla is securitizing $340million in contracts.
$$$. Brookfield is refinancing $300million in Terraform debt.
$$$$. Hannon Armstrong is raising $164million in green bonds.
Show Me The $. That’s just what some of the news had about solar companies raising money for projects today, and it’s not everything. There is a desire and need to deploy capital into infrastructure and the scale is larger than most had expected a decade ago. Money available, projects needed. Except of course complicated distributed projects, that’s still a mess.
New EnergyWakeup Tomorrow. I had a fantastic conversation with Meghan Nutting today that will be released tomorrow during the day so make sure to subscribe to EnergyWakeup on your favorite podcast platform. Meghan has been working in solar for a decade, currently with Sunnova, and she is running for the State House in Colorado to represent downtown Denver. More on how you can get involved and help elect a solar leader coming soon.
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One Week Away! SolarWakeup Live! Boston is here, coming up next Tuesday the 31st. The goal of this event is to show that solar conferences don’t need to be big or fancy to create value. Much like this newsletter, the point was do it better. I look forward to your feedback and growing the Live! Series from here. I need your help though, I have 10 more tickets to sell and I want to fill the room for the speakers. Could you send this to 2 partners, colleagues or friends in the Boston area? Live! DC is coming up in 5 weeks too!
Role Of Monopoly. My view on the utility in the energy market continues to evolve every time I see a utility get a rate increase or put solar in its ratebase. At its core, utilities provide a wires and poles to energy service providers – generators and retailers. There can’t be any competition in wires because nobody wants two sets of poles on their street. Power plants and energy trading offer a great deal of value to consumers when there is competition. Let’s evaluate.
Reimagine The Utility. Responsibility to serve means more than making sure that the lights turn on when you flip the switch. This also means making sure that utilities are doing it in the best, most efficient way possible. Markets that don’t allow competition should study how it would look if they did allow it and how to make that transition. I’ve said it before, Connecticut and Texas don’t agree on much but they agree on this.
Ideal Role. We’ve seen this already, we see utilities creating largest solar asset portfolios in the market. More importantly, utilities are becoming diversified energy companies investing in and acquiring companies. There is room for growth here, however – look at Stem’s investors as an example. When the dealflow isn’t coming in properly, because energy startups tend to be under capitalized, utility corporate development groups don’t see many deals so they all pounce on the deals that have the attractiveness of having other utilities in them. Making utilities invest through other funds as LPs is one way to solve this or making themselves more visible in the market.
Customer’s Want Change. According to SEPA, there are 171 active community solar programs across the Country – room for more for sure. While 80% of all Americans want more solar, they want it for a variety of reasons. Some want it for cleaner air and cleaner water. Some want to benefit from the natural resources. Some want to make money. That’s why having options is so important.
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Why Did I Talk To SunPower’s CEO. In the latest podcast, I spoke with Tom Werner, SunPower’s CEO. I was curious about SunPower’s role in the 201 case. If you read the filings, they lead the SEIA filing and at the same time file their own responses. SunPower has been standing not only in their corner, but all of solar’s corner. They’ve been a part of policy fights, public and private, that help amongst other things their dealers compete in a bigger market.
Stion Owes $75mm. The State of Mississippi is contemplating a lawsuit against Stion to recoup its loan. A few years ago, the State loaned Stion $75mm to build a factory. This supplemented $225mm in venture capital investments that Stion received. Stion told reporters that they were hoping a buyer would keep the factory running - don’t hold your breath because nothing is worse for a solar manufacturer than a lack of bankability.
Subsidy Irony. Stion, a largely unkown company, made its way on many radar screens when I pointed out their support of the Suniva/SolarWorld 201 petition. You have to enjoy the irony - arguing for crystalling technology to be punished so they could have an unlevel playing field by saying that other Countries were giving too much money to manufacturers. Subisidies for jobs are part of the global economy. Stion was also given tax deductions, infrastructure and workforce training that all US companies enjoy that other Countries do not.
More On Hannity. Axios has published more information about Solar Powers America, which I had kept to myself because the message was better without the background. If you like palace intrigue, the article is here. This makes a good point that SolarWakeup is the best place to get news out because I support our industry I make my living in it. If you want to stay anonymous, there is a tips link on the front page of solarwakeup.com, use it often or call me to let me know about things you are working on.
Purpose Of 501(c)4. SPA is a 501(c)4 which means it’s a non-profit but has a mission that it supports. You may also know them as Super PACs because donor(s) can stay private and nobody will ever know who they are. Have a billionaire friend that wants to flood facebook with solar supporting news? Start a 501(c)4 and have yourself a field day. Not all advocacy groups are (c)4, some incorporate as a company and end the year without profit.
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Join Us in Boston 10/31. Tickets for SolarWakeup Live! Boston are available here, just $75 for four in-depth interviews about net metering, SMART, venture capital and startups.
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Interviewing SunPower CEO. Yesterday I interviewed Tom Werner, SunPower’s CEO, to talk about the 201 petition and how difficult it is to drive cost out of technology. I ask him about SunPower’s request to be excluded from the tariff. Tom questions how SunPower, which sells a premium product, could possible cause harm to modules that sell at a discount to SunPower. Listen to the full interview here.
Excluded But On Offensive. SunPower and First Solar are partners in 8point3 and compete head to head on utility projects. But when it comes to the 201 case, First Solar is excluded through “arcane” regulations and I asked Tom how he felt about that. I would have to ask First Solar, Tom said, about why First Solar would go on the offensive while being excluded.
Solar Powers America. The Hannity audio was actually a radio ad that has been running in South Carolina for a few weeks including on Hannity’s radio show. What isn’t on the youtube clip is the disclaimer that the ad was paid for by Solar Powers America, a 501(c)4 registered in Florida. I tracked down a few people behind the group which is focused on the message and not the messenger, which I will respect. The group is spending big money on pushing the ad out and we could see more with this strategy.
A Southern Strategy. Solar Powers America was formed by Solar industry executives across the Southeast to educate Southeastern states on the jobs and low cost electricity solar energy can deliver to small towns and rural communities. The falling cost of solar equipment has been the key driver of both affordable electricity and manufacturing employment in factories producing the steel foundation of solar farms throughout the country. Looking at it from a political perspective, Southern states have different politics and needed a different approach. The group has been focusing on outreach grassroots advocacy by highlighting the jobs created by solar. I well done effort in my opinion.
201 Pivot. The original intent of SPA was not the 201 case, it hadn’t been filed yet. The 201 petition unfairly impacts Southern states where tariffs can kill an entire market. Just look at South Carolina which is tight as it is, but a tariff would eliminate it altogether. With a focus on manufacturing jobs already in place, the pivot happened and Solar Powers America used its platform to educate America about jobs that could be lost if offshore hedge funds have their way.
Bezos Badass. Christening a wind farm while standing on top of it? Badass.
Boston Ticket Release. We just opened some more seats for SolarWakeup Live! Boston. This isn’t your typical solar conference, just 4 hours long and no panels. I am personally interviewing Senator Boncore about net metering legislation, Michael Judge from MA DOER about SMART and private sector players Daniel Hullah and Jon Abe. Tickets will not be available at the door but you can get them here.
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