Bill Gates is at it again. I love that he talks about energy but for some reason he is equating module technology innovation with the business model and cost innovation that our sector provides. Solar is not always the silver bullet but it often is the gateway to the tool that drives immense change. Gates spoke about energy in Africa recently and while praising ‘micro-solar’ he did not seem to find solar to be the solution to power the continent. To ask Africa to wait for some technology breakthrough is wrong in my opinion, the solutions based on todays technology can go a long way. Just take a look at Facebook’s solar airplane, designed to stay in the air for 3 months and provide internet to disconnected areas. Solar is providing the power that allows that connection to work.
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Yann
Late last week, I received an email from SEIA asking what my message was for the group as they begin their search for the new President. I have heard from so many of you on your thoughts and I want to hear more. You can respond to this email or send an anonymous note on the website. Tell me what SEIA should be doing going forward. Be specific and pragmatic. SEIA has annual revenues of about $10million with a diverse membership base. Most of the board is through members that pay about $125,000 to be on the board with a few voted directors. This means that the quantity of members may not have the same impact as the financial size of the members that get on the board. With that in mind, what issue should SEIA advocate for? Is it a national only organization or does it get involved in States? How would SEIA and the new President decide where it stands on the issues? Can a consensus be built between the membership and how would that be done best?
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Yann
More solar for more people. That’s the mission that President Obama is continuing in a way that not many in the solar industry could have expected 7 years ago when he took office. This time it is a wonky policy change that required the DOE, OMB and HUD to work together. While property taxes have been used for centuries to pay for things like fire fees; solar installations that used PACE did so under some grey clouds. Regardless some of the best in the sector deployed hundreds of millions of dollars and securitized them in the private market. Today, the President announced with his team that PACE will be treated like any other property tax. No acceleration and no pre-payment when the property is sold. The President said PACE, a huge boon for homeowners across America. Check out the video
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After three hours of watching the GOP convention, I had to think about what my vision is for America. (After dozing off a few times) I don’t have to imagine it, I can look at the data from CalISO that shows a peak of 8GW of solar last week, up 2GW from last year. The best part about that is that net metered projects are not calculated in that data. Thousands of homes and business take advantage of the free energy source right above us. Why other States fight this energy source which exemplifies conservatism and conservation is politically astounding to me. Let’s strive for more…
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Yann