A day of vertical disintegration. First Solar announced its 3rd quarter earnings yesterday. Highlighted weren’t the financials because the company announced the sale of Skytron to a German firm just two years after acquiring the company. It also made some mention on the analyst call that it could skip gen 5 of the module and focus on getting gen 6 out in to the market ahead of original plans. With $688 million in revenues during the quarter and $154 million in profits, the company is now refining its focus on module manufacturing and sales.
Florida, Florida, Florida. Solar advocates filed a lawsuit to bring the issue back to the Supreme Court and ask the Secretary of State to embargo the results. At the heart of the complaint is the leaked audio which offers “proof” that amendment backers mislead voters. SEIA also released a poll commissioned by SolarCity that showed that the voter education campaigns is working. In less than a month, support for the amendment went from 71% to 51%. It needs 60% to pass.
Paris for Oil&Gas Companies. 7 Oil and Gas company CEOs are joining forces in a renewable energy fund. The goal is to fund technologies, promote renewable energy and seek an active role against climate change according to Reuters. More details will be announced in London tomorrow.
Small dollars, big impact. Frank speaks with Dr. Jones-Albertus in today’s United States of Solar podcast about the $21.4 million DOE granted to 17 projects in an effort to cut soft costs. SunShot has now met their goal of $1/watt utility scale and it is great to see them find more areas to reduce the cost of solar to consumers across the Country.
State of the day. Solar policy fights are getting expensive. SolarCity is looking to put $2 million into non-profits for the Arizona ACC elections and promote solar while Pinnacle West will put in at least $1 million. Pinnacle West remains under subpoena and grand jury investigation by the US Attorney.
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In mid-October, the Department of Energy announced it was providing $21.4 million to 17 projects across the United States to investigate the best ways to bring down solar's soft costs. Dr. Rebecca Jones-Albertus is overseeing the projects, and we asked her to talk about this critical work.
In mid-October, the Department of Energy announced it was providing $21.4 million to 17 projects across the United States to investigate the best ways to bring down solar's soft costs. Dr. Rebecca Jones-Albertus is overseeing the projects, and we asked her to talk about this critical work.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/291162197" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_playcount=false&show_comments=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]In a poll commissioned by SolarCity, released today by SEIA, Amendment 1 is showing a change in sentiment from the voters. In the most recent poll, 51% of respondents said that will definitely or probably vote yes on the amendment. That is a steep decrease from a month ago when 71% said that yes would likely be their vote.
The poll was conducted over two periods. From 9/29 - 10/09 and from 10/20 - 10/25 which showed the change in sentiment by the likely voters. 528 respondents were polled and a strong level of support for definitely voting yes was found at 30% meaning that the amendment needs another 30% to reach the 60% required to pass. 22%, down from 40%, still find themselves leaning towards yes while 11% are undecided, down from 15%.
Utilities and other interests have pumped over $26 million into the effort to persuade Floridians to vote yes, which is a vote against solar. The effort is a one-sided advertising blitz for voters in Florida with ads shown on web pages and TV channels in full force. Advocates against the amendment have been active on social media and received every major newspaper endorsement. To add some advocacy heft, SEIA President Tom Kimbis is headed to Florida this week to help local efforts. Kimbis said today, "Floridians are waking up to the fact they are being deceived and it is absolutely critical – no matter what the poll numbers – that they go to the polls or mail in ballots to say NO to Amendment 1.” On Wednesday, FlaSEIA and Floridians for Solar Choice filed a lawsuit asking the Florida Supreme Court to reconsider the ballot amendment. The groups also asked the Secretary of State to embargo the results until the court has ruled. At hand, according to the groups, is the new information from the leaked audio referencing the misleading political jiu-jitsu. The groups argue that there is now “proof of the deception and potential misconduct” by the backers of the amendment.
People agree on solar! We start the day with some of our own coverage about a new registered voter poll by Pew. The result is interesting because Trump and Clinton voters apparently agree on a single issue. America is united around solar! The other takeaway is that when it comes to fracking and nuclear, we are also united in our desire for less of it.
A memo from Elon. After his trip to Wisteria Lane, Elon had to follow up his powerpoint with a strategic rationale memo. On November 17th, investors will vote on the sale/purchase at SolarCity and Tesla. Obviously it’s a crucial moment for Tesla to become more than a car company, though they make really awesome cars.
Tale of micro markets. It’s getting rough in solar hardware again. After a Q3 from Enphase that sold 869k inverters and revenues of $88.7mm, the company still lost $18.8mm. Analysts seemed to focus on storage however, a market growing for Enphase primarily in Australia currently.
Endorsements aren’t for sale. After $26mm spent on the Florida ballot amendment, one thing is still missing for the utilities. Endorsements from the newspapers continue to elude the effort to kill solar. The tally is 25 against the ballot amendment and 0 in support. Enough said.
All In on free markets.Voters in Nevada also get to chime in on energy policy next week. An effort led by funding from Switch and Las Vegas Sands is attempting to essentially deregulate and break up the NV Energy monopoly in Nevada. Both companies have been active in getting more energy from the free markets and solar power plants.
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Yann