This is your SolarWakeup for July 3rd, 2019
Have a patriotic 4th of July holiday and I look forward to writing to you again on Monday!
The IPO Filing. Here is Sunnova Energy’s S-1, IPO filing. Of course if you want the cliff notes, that’s today’s top story.
Policy Breakdowns. Good things are happening and special congratulations to the advocates in Oregon. Almost a decade after one of the most successful starts to the solar industry, the policies are coming back to get solar access back to many.
Cheap Solar and Storage. LADWP has signed a PPA for solar plus storage with 8 Minute Solar. More detail needs to come out on the contract terms to give real insight on the valuation and return of such a project but the headline numbers are impressive.
Coal Insurance Lost. Chub is out on coal owners, the first US insurer to follow the European trend. This is on the heels of another coal company filing bankruptcy in West Virginia. It’s not the responsibility of solar to replace some of those jobs but it surely would be nice to be helpful.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 2nd, 2019
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 1st, 2019
More trades and signings in the NBA yesterday than on the second day of the Infodcast conference, welcome to the short week starting Q2.
The Asia Play. Another major Wall Street infra fund is making a play for Asian solar assets. These deals are complex with currency and regulatory risk which drives up the yield. They are also much cheaper to build and operate which could generate much nicer cash flows.
A Debate On Debates. With only 15 minutes of climate discussion during 4 hours of debates, the DNC is getting pushback on not having a climate debate. Now the board will vote on the issue during a meeting in August.
Big Solar. One plant in the UAE with a single phase capacity of over 1GW has been commissioned.
More RPS. Maine is on the board, with a carbon reduction and renewable portfolio increase. 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2050, quite the goal in my opinion.
IPOs? Should Cleantech companies go for an IPO? If the company has a cash flowing business and can show the upside on future investments, then yes. If the company is investing in sustainable assets then probably not. There is nothing wrong with being a private company that creates risk adjusted yield for long term investors without feeling the need to go public. Going public when you shouldn’t be, that’s bad for everyone.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 28th, 2019
Have A Great Weekend!
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 27th, 2019
ABCDEP&L. PG&E has filed their restructuring plan which includes a rebrand. The Golden State Power Light & Gas Company, or GSPL&G Corp. Some of the restructuring would yield a fund for wildfire liabilities from 2017 and 2018 fires which the Governor is echoing with his ask on a liquidity fund. I have been told that some pre-bankruptcy payables have gone unpaid which means some solar farms have unpaid bills from their off taker, likely to not trigger debt covenants but could create some issues for asset owners if this drags out.
AC At The North Pole. As homeowners across the Globe are installing air conditioners to deal with the summer heat, the electric load follows. Growing up in Hamburg in northern Germany, I used to get a ‘heat’ day if the temperature was over 75 degrees at 9am and it almost never happened. That rule and that normal is long gone as my family installs air conditioning at the same latitude as Alaska.
Debate Night 1. Democrats debated for the first time last night where 10 candidates took the stage. Climate change came up both as questions and as answers. Jay Inslee made the point that the clean energy economy can create 8 million jobs while Beto O’Rourke said climate change was the biggest threat to the US. Solar didn’t come up on its own but this was a lot of people in a short period of time, more to come I am sure.
Quite The Transition. A prominent peaker plant in Oakland CA is going to become energy storage in a deal between Vistra and the East Bay Community Energy (a CCA). Vistra is becoming a leader in this exercise with several projects in backlog.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 26th, 2019
Back for more solar news tomorrow! Have a great day!
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 25th, 2019
Is It Progressive? The headlines about the democratic primary is that the climate discussion is pushing the field to the left. I think that is entirely missing the point given that we’ve been trying to solve energy issues for decades and that many States passed 20% RPS policies more than a decade ago. This isn’t a political shift to the left, this is solving a massive climate crisis through policy because when it comes to highly regulated markets, only government can do that. Putting seat belts in cars and eliminating smoking in airplanes wasn’t a shift to the left, it was common sense.
Is It Denial? Take a look at the other side of the spectrum, Duke Energy’s IRP in Indiana is a good example. Coal plants that stay open for decades even though that increases the cost to consumers (even when Pence thinks that clean coal is the future) and new gas plants when they aren’t the cheapest option (Duke should ask NextEra about that). There should be a harder look, not only at the monopoly business model, but the decisions that are made counter to the best interests of the consumers.
The Gas Tax Cost Shift. This is true. EVs don’t pay for the typical gas tax that is included in the cost of fuel which pays for roads, highways etc. There will undoubtedly have to be an equivalent fee on the electricity used to charge electric vehicles once they’ve crossed the chasm in adoption. BUT, at the same time, EV owners including operators of charging stations will have to renegotiate their negative cost shift since they are heavy electricity users and pay for a higher portion of the grid cost than the non EV owners.
China Grows Roots. China’s Silk Road Fund is buying 49% of ACWA, the Saudi renewable energy development company that is active across the African continent and Middle East.
Nominations Ahead. I always enjoy seeing nominations and winners in the Cleantech space because it introduces me and the market to people I haven’t met yet. Now is your chance to put forth your names.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 24th, 2019
Call Your Representative. Don’t forget to call your member of Congress and ask them to fight for the ITC to be included in the tax extenders bill. This is a crucial time to fight for your industry especially in residential, the credits will disappear before you know. Click here to find your Congresswoman or call (202) 224-3121 to have the operator connect you.
The New Energy Outlook. Bloomberg has released the annual energy outlook which is a forward looking view on the global energy markets. You can see the highlights here and catch the analyst talking about it in the link below.
Schletter US Factory Auction. I didn’t realize this happened but Schletter auctioned off its factory in Shelby, NC. The reality is that in-house manufacturing requires tremendous volume and backlog, something that is difficult to achieve with utility scale and C&I racking systems especially with a competitive market. Maybe the idea is to rebuild the company with an outsourced model.
New York Times Gets This Wrong. The New York Times tested “EVs” by driving roundtrip from LA to Las Vegas. The 8 hours of driving took 5 hours of charging. Of course this ‘test drive’ wasn’t done in a Tesla, it was done in a Chevy Bolt which naturally skews the entire test. This shows the fight that’s ahead for us in solar as well, imagine if someone did a test on how much energy you can offset on a house and used 10% efficient modules instead of the market leading technology.
Job Postings. If you want to have your job openings posted on SolarWakeup, just email me the link to the actual job. I’ll be changing them every day or so. If you want to have it stay on the newsletter you can sponsor that now, email me to inquire.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 21st, 2019
A SolarWakeup Favor. If you enjoy getting this newsletter and the discussion we engage in every day, I would greatly appreciate it if you posted why you read SolarWakeup on LinkedIn or Twitter to help get the word out. We’re already the most read newsletter in solar but the bigger it gets the better the network effect moves forward. You can tag either @yannbrandt or @solarwakeup on either platform! Thanks in advance for your help.
Friday Fast Reads. New York is passing a giant climate bill that leads to net zero and carbon free goals in 2040 and 2050 requiring double digit GW of solar to be built in the near future. Read more to get the details.
Runaway Senators. Oregon State Senators are showing the backbone it takes to stand up for your vote by running away. The Senate republicans have left the Capitol and the State to stop a quorum from taking place for a cap and trade vote.
Nuclear PPAs. A federal bill has been filed that would require the Government to enter into a 40 year PPA with new nuclear. If legislators don’t want to give us an ITC extension, a 40 year PPA adjusted for irradiance sounds great too.
Interesting Tidbits. Texas solar is growing like crazy and my 2014 business idea of going long in Texas seems correct. Look for more utilities to want to get into the distributed energy storage systems across the Country. It creates demand and supply response capabilities.
A New Home Solar Survey. Vivint Solar engaged a survey to see where the approval ratings are for new home solar mandates. Overall the approval was 70 percent across America and even respondents over 65 years old were in favor by 61% with younger respondents (25-34) were 74% in favor.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 20th, 2019
Solar Needs Your Action. While the solar market is growing in residential and utility scale segments, the House of Representatives committee left ITC extension and storage addition out of the tax extenders bill pushing forward a ‘skinny’ bill instead. Senators are responding with a strong letter advocating for support, read that letter here. You need to get on the phone with your Congressional representative and let them know that you and your company want an ITC extension. If you need the contact info, you can type in your zip code here.
More US Manufacturing. Not a lot of manufacturing happens in the US but when the market grows and you sell hundreds of different products with a 1-week lead time, you find value in doing it here. At Quick Mount we’re taking advantage of the growing market and investing in doubling our capacity with a second shift. This is not because of the tariffs but in spite of them, because tariffs slow the overall market down but we believe in the future growth of our partners and trust that our technology is what the market wants. Hope you share some enthusiasm in the great news we are highlighting today!
Finish The Trade War. As Trump heads to Japan for G20 meetings, the big spotlight will be not the US-China trade talks. US business leaders are hoping for a resolution so we can go back to growing the economy across the segments that deliver goods to consumers. The solar market grows despite the headwinds on aluminum, steel and other tariffs in addition to the module level soft costs added without value to the market.
Yield Mania Is Back Down. The ten year treasury yields are back down under 2%, go refinance your portfolios now!
Dirty Power Plan. The administration is out with the change to the clean power plan, Obama’s marquee plan to lower carbon emissions. Environmental NGOs are touting it the dirty power plan as it seeks to bring back coal, which one author points out is having financing troubles since the future of coal is bleak.
Battle Of The Solar Bands. CALSSA is currently offering an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL DISCOUNT on tickets. Get your ticket before June 21 and pay only $60 per ticket and even less per ticket on ticket bundles! One of the most important ways you can support YOUR industry is to get tickets to this special event! Visit CALSSA’s website to learn more and get your tickets today! Each ticket includes two free drinks! (button or text links to: http://bit.ly/ET-SBOB-
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Yann