No Commentary. Energy is going to be on the agenda in the next White House and the next Congress. Energy is where the money is at. Folks like Forrest Lucas from Lucas Oil and Harold Hamm from Continental Resources are high on the list for cabinet positions. The White House is covered in each corner by the Senate and House of Representatives. Tax reform, FERC, PURPA, it's all on the table over the next legislative session. Stay tuned for more.
Solar beats utilities in Florida. Amendment 1 was backed by $26million from the utilities. Solar advocates were able to push back the amendment and defeat the attempt from the utilities to eliminate net metering. The amendment came about from an ill advised attempt by the environmentalists to fundraise on their own amendment, this was a self inflicted wound that could and should have been avoided. Solar should learn its lesson next time and not let itself get hijacked into an issue. More on this to come….

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Yann

 By Yann Brandt; Vivint Solar announced today that it has raised $200 million in new tax equity, a day before announcing it's 3rd quarter financial results. The $200 million were critical given the delay the company was having in raising new tax equity after a failed acquisition by Sunedison. Vivint Solar even went out of its way to negotiate a new compensation deal with Thomas Plagemann, the EVP of Capital Markets. Plagemann is entitled to 0.15% of tax equity raised as part of the bonus compensation. The $200 million will go a long way to and help finance 123MW for an estimated $480 million of system values.

Vote. Vote. Vote. It can’t be understated that today is an incredibly important day for our industry. Solar is supported by over 85% of Americans from both sides of the aisle except in DC and State capitols were incumbent interests have financial interests counter to our sector. We need strong support in the Senate and the White House that believe in the future growth of solar.
Useless tax credits. The law firm, Chadbourne & Park, comes out with an interesting analysis of the future of tax credits in a Trump White House. Cutting corporate tax rates means less money is owed which means less demand for tax credits. Let’s be thankful that Congress writes the tax code.
21st century jobs in energy. There is no doubt that our electric infrastructure is worn out. A new book chronicles the details. With half a million Americans losing power for two or more hours every day, the average American loses power for 360 minutes per year. With the addition of renewable energy, the job impact could be much broader than just the generation but also the implementation of how to move those electrons.
The cost of uncertainty. If you look at the market over the past few weeks, you can see that a politically uncertain environment costs money. In the UK, post Brexit, the uncertainty casts deep shadows on the renewable energy industry. Government’s biggest role for long term investors is to create a system with as few unknowns as possible. Whether at the State level, a la Nevada, or Federal level i.e. tax credits, it is vital to create known-knowns for investors.
The future is certain. Climate change wasn’t asked about once during the debates and barely made an appearance during the campaign. Energy was a talking point here or there but one thing is certain. Renewable energy will be a central part of the future of politics in the US. State politics are seeing unprecented grassroots and incumbent money fighting over it. Federal election voters are changing their votes based on a candidates position on issues like solar. Going forward the politics of energy will be a central part of our coverage. The politics of energy policy will be front and center on both sides of the aisle going forward.

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Yann

Pants on fire. A firefighter’s union that had been supporting the Amendment 1 question in Florida withdrew its support on Friday. In the press release, the group asked the utilities to remove all TV ads from the web and cable. Some ads were reportedly still airing over the weekend but the withdrawal may be too late after two weeks of non-stop coverage.
Trumping clean energy. In a speech a week ago, Trump made the promise to eliminate all spending related to climate change. Bloomberg went out and asked what this $100 billion savings entails and with the response it is apparent that clean energy deployment including solar.
Ready for Tesla take off? Tesla received an important stamp of approval from Institutional Shareholder Services which gave three reasons. 1. It allows Tesla to become more diversified, 2. Save the combined companies $150million, 3. Tesla is getting a good deal. In other news, Elon Musk personally guaranteed SolarCity debt in the combined company on Twitter.
The electric new deal? 25,000 miles in 35 States covering 55 corridors. The Department of Energy announced that it is seeking to create these alternative fuel corridors by working with 28 utilities. The goal is to have a charging station every 50 miles across America’s highways.
YOU MUST VOTE. For SolarWakeup and what we represent in the solar industry the choice is clear. A Clinton administration has strong backing to retrain workers for, understand economic benefits of and increase the amount of solar energy across the Country. The Senate is also important so for Pennsylvania voters, vote for Katie McGinty to come to the US Senate with knowledge of the power industry and how more solar can be valuable for everyone. In Florida, you must vote NO on Amendment 1, an anti-solar bill backed by monopolies that want nothing to do with solar.

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Yann