A No Surprise Decision. The Trade Commission has accepted the Suniva petition for relief. It will render a decision by September 22nd and put it on the President’s desk by mid-November. I am not surprised, this is political, not logical. Hard to handicap where this goes from here.
No Soup For You. The ‘Taxpayer First’ budget was printed yesterday which outlines a Trump budget plan. For energy pros, it means big cuts to the offices that study and advance our sector. With a Congress that hasn’t passed a budget in many years, let’s not be surprised if that trend continues.
The Energy Storage Road Show is moving forward now scheduling the week of June 5th in Los Angeles!
Solar Plus Storage. Tucson Electric is apparently entering into a solar with storage PPA at some amazing headline prices. Whether that includes capacity payments is to be reported but my guess is that 4.5cents is not all in. On the other hand, storage is dropping its costs and solar plus storage PPAs are starting to make appearances.
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Yann
Solar Held Hostage. Extortion seems like the right word right now. SQN seems to be openly saying that if someone buys the Suniva assets for $55million, the petition will go away. Hopefully the words will be used to show that Suniva does not speak for the industry when it comes to determining the eligibility of the petition. Also, a better offer for shareholders is being proposed by a competing lender, Lion Capital. This means the Judge could have Suniva use someone other than SQN for debtor in possession lending and the petition could go away. Stay tuned.
Hard Day in Oregon. SolarWorld is giving itself some options by issuing WARN notices to employees in Hillsboro. That means the factory could close within 60 days and some 800 employees could be terminated. Hardware remains hard and consolidation in the module supply segment is bound to become reality.
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Yann
On my plane en route to San Diego, will dive a bit deeper into storage this week.
Swiss Have Spoken. A vote was taken in Switzerland on whether voters want to move the grid into a renewables future or build more nuclear power plants. Unlike the US, where nuclear is the most subsidized power source, the Swiss have voted to go towards solar, wind and hydro. I would presume that similar votes in the US would go the same route, people just prefer solar over other sources. As price of storage comes down, the opposition argument of ‘when the sun goes down’ will get quieter. In the meantime, keep laughing at ludicrous arguments that corporates should bail out nuclear power plants, ratepayers have been doing that long enough.
The DOE Study. DOE studies aren’t supposed to be predetermined, they are supposed to be based on science and data. That is why the industry is screaming foul about DOE’s current lack of interest in the information needed to complete the grid study correctly. Even Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is standing up and asking for the study to be done properly.
The Energy Storage Road Show is moving forward now scheduling the week of June 5th in Los Angeles!
So Much For Chinese Dumping. We often talk about Chinese dumping of modules, which I view with a grain of salt, plus I like cheap modules because they keep us all in business and lower costs for our customers. One of the things we overlook is just how big the Chinese market has been over the past few years, China is creating its own market so that manufacturers can get product out of inventory. So instead of complaining about China’s desire to make it up with volume, let’s thank them for creating the scale.
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Yann
Shortened summaries today, since it is Friday and who wants to read on a Friday. Enjoy your weekend! I’ll be in San Diego next week so stay tuned for a conversation on solar plus storage.
Now We Know. Want to know the impact of a protectionist policy that will protect no jobs? Look no further, IHS has the research.
The Curtailment Risk. Curtailment reductions on revenues for large scale projects were discussed much in recent years. Buyers would typically value the entire revenue stream but that looks like a new regulatory risk.
The Energy Storage Road Show is moving forward now scheduling the week of June 5th in Los Angeles!
Green Legos. When someone gives my kids a lego as a gift, it is hard for me to let them open and build it themselves. Now that Lego has reached its corporate goal on renewable energy, I’ll definitely take it from them.
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Yann