This is your SolarWakeup for September 10th, 2019

Big (Personal) Professional News. As you know, I started working at Quick Mount PV a little over a year ago. Our team has done extraordinary work over the past year and alongside amazing customers and partners, we grew at an unbelievable pace. Yesterday we announced that we joined the Esdec group of companies, with Quick Mount PV being acquired alongside Ironridge. Together, we join previously acquired EcoFasten to form the largest group of mounting and racking companies in the US. Personally, I look forward to working with some of the best folks in this sector. The residential market is growing well above estimates and our group of companies will surely lead the way!

What It Means. All three “Esdec Companies” will continue to operate independently, serving their existing customers with unique product lines through their current sales channels. Installers, along with their distributors, will continue to be able to buy the products they love with the additional upside of knowing that these companies are ready to grow with them. In an era where trade and regulatory uncertainty drive the news cycle, a stronger supply relationship will provide business certainty installers need in their rapid growth. If you have questions about this please let me know or reach out to your reps, we’re all here to answer your questions. 

Louisiana Shenanigans. When a flawed study makes its way to a PSC that doesn’t regulate monopolies in a fair way, bad things can happen. Louisiana has all the signs of a situation that makes solar have to compete on an uneven playing field where incumbent monopolies have an advantage. If you are in the LA market, make sure to make your voice heard. 

A Climate Call From SEIA. The solar ITC is the best tax credit taxpayers can buy. Being a percentage-based credit, in a market that has been declining unit costs for over a decade, the value of the credit for the taxpayer has gone up exponentially. This is very important looking forward, where the energy economy is looking for a giant increase in solar capacity on homes, on buildings and in the fields. Abby Hopper, CEO of SEIA, is right to connect the dots between the value of the ITC and climate change, showing that solar is here to play its role and the importance of the extension. Take some time this week to contact your member of Congress and let them know this is important to you. 

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 9th, 2019

Flawed And Basic Analysis From MIT. The movie has been seen before, solar homeowners reduce their consumption and therefore pay for less of the fixed grid costs that are added to your bill on a per kWh basis. I have come to expect more from MIT but will continue to be disappointed. When someone says that solar owners shift their costs to other energy consumers they do so at great investment, much like a homeowner that installs all new appliances and air conditioners that use less electricity. What about people that change their light bulbs to LEDs or install a tankless water heater fueled by gas? All of those situations decrease kWh consumption and thereby lower infrastructure payments. We will also ignore seasonal homeowners in this conversation. What about homeowners that buy electric vehicles, should they be given a discount on their consumption since they are absorbing more of the infrastructure but not paying a gas tax that pays for the roads they travel? Here is the reality, this isn’t a one-way analysis and a fixed charge is far from a solution to this non-existent problem. Solar owners buy less kWh from the utility and therefore pay less for the infrastructure. Solar owners also firm up the infrastructure with their investment and make the utility less likely to have to invest in the infrastructure. When the payments lost are less than the savings gained, solar owners come out in the green. They save money for other utility customers and experts have shown this time and time again. 

The Importance Of Quality. Congratulations to CALSSA for tackling the important issue of consumer protection and making it a standard for its members. Homeowners will have another way to know if a contractor is doing it the right way and not pulling a fast one on them, whether they are doing it with aggressive sales tactics, dubious financing or subpar installation techniques. SEIA has a guide as well and I’d like to see that expanded to the installation/products side of things as well. 

San Francisco’s Muni Power. San Francisco is asking PG&E to let it go, offering $2.5billion for the electric infrastructure so that the city can create its own utility system like Los Angeles and Sacramento. They are not asking to acquire the gas system. San Francisco has voiced interest since the bankruptcy and now wants the company to ask the courts to let it make the deal. Voters have already approved the funding mechanism so the city can buy the wires and no further votes (through election) would have to be taken. PG&E didn’t say no explicitly in their comment but “we’re not interested” would have saved us a minute of reading. This story is not over yet, stay tuned…

Island Infrastructure. It’s been two years since Puerto Rico was ravaged by Hurricane Maria and the industry spent time to figure out the best way to rebuild the electric infrastructure. The upper Bahamas are now in a similar situation, some islands left with nothing, after Hurricane Dorian last week. The Bahamas have to rebuild in a way that serves the tourism economy and tries to create some sustainability. Most transportation is marine and aviation so all-electric is impossible today but how can we help the Bahamians with our lessons learned? 

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 5th, 2019

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 4th, 2019

The Flawed Dilemma. Following up with on yesterday’s poll that showed separation from voters on the importance of climate change, is this article about the varying views of the policies being debated within the democrat party. Some view the green new deal as extreme and going too far, especially on the non-climate related policies. And that’s okay, if the democrats finds ways to pass some or all of the policy, we are stepping in the right direction. I don’t think that this is bad politics, voters actually want debate and action; the politics comes in when one side says we want to do something and the other side has no counterpoint. It’s as if your house is on fire and two fire trucks debate which side of the house to spray first while the third says the house isn’t burning. Spray the damn house!

The Real Life Upside. This Rolling Stone story about the Harlan County coal miners is one of the best articles of the year. The story is about a coal company that filed bankruptcy and cheated workers out of 2 paychecks, the first check bounced and the second check never came. At the same time, $1.4million in coal was loaded on a train at the mine and ready to be sent out to a buyer. So for the past month, out of work miners in Harlan County, KY, have been sitting on the railroad tracks. The train is stuck until the workers get paid, “No Pay We Stay,” is their slogan. Some 1,700 workers lost their job in this bankruptcy and there would be nothing that would make me happier than figuring out how solar can play a role in their next job opportunity. Coal communities are oftentimes solely reliant on the mine being open, without it, the community has nowhere else to turn for economic opportunity. When it comes to debating climate change, let’s debate the climate change upside in a way that means something tangible to the workers on the Harlan County railroad tracks, so they make a decent wage doing a day’s work but instead of mining for coal they are installing solar panels, making hardware or climbing wind turbines. That’s the political argument that means something to voters. 

Ignoring The Pundits. One person who is ignoring the polls is Elizabeth Warren, who adopted and doubled down on the Inslee plan to combat climate change. In a medium post, Warren called for trillion dollar level investments that decarbonize the economy over a ten year period. This was met with quick endorsements for her by ex-Inslee staffers. 

Solar Market Optimism. The optimism for the US market continues, not just with talking points from executives but tales from the financial statements as well. Module and cell companies are talking about massive investments and backlogs from strong global market demand and a US market that is looking to push strong going into 2020, especially with hopes that the ITC gets pushed through. 

Watch The O&M Space. BayWa r.e. acquired the Toronto based software company, PowerHub, yesterday. PowerHub is well known in the asset management space as a solution to manage projects after they have been placed in service. Originally started to help Ontario solar projects manage their domestic content certifications, PowerHub made a quick pivot to the broader market and found an exit in this acquisition. Congrats to the team on this and keep watching the O&M space for more consolidation. 

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 3rd, 2019

Keep Calm and Solar On. Every one of my non-solar friends has asked me about the Walmart/Tesla lawsuit. Without resolving the issue, Walmart made solar seem risky for everyday Americans. The funny part of it is that Walmart and Amazon (who chimed in as well) are both signing new solar deals after the fires. The corporates are learning from the issue and continuing on and it would be great if they said something to that effect publicly. 

The Partisan Divide. For some reason, climate change continues to be a divided issue in America. When asked if climate change is a major risk to the US, only one in four republicans said yes while three in four democrats respond affirmative. In all, it reaches 57% which is hardly a majority issue but in the politics of 50 plus 1, it may be enough. 

Stationary Disasters. If you spent any time living in Florida you know that every three hours you get your National Hurricane Center update. Spend a decade living in Max Mayfield’s cone of uncertainty and you start looking for key metrics during the latest advisory. One is the pressure of the system, under 900mb is really bad, and the other is the movement. Most storms say something like WNW at 8mph as the storm seeks warmer waters. Hurricane Dorian got as low as 910mb before making landfall in the Bahamas and has been pounding the islands for almost 24 hours. Last night the storm continued to be stationary which is unheard of, especially at those wind speeds. This is undoubtedly related to climate change and no amount of ice on those waters will help. 

A Coal Blueprint. Instead of doing the IRP dance around the Country, I hope that a think tank provides a reliable, accepted study on coal plant retirements. Running these plants to the end of their useful lives is entirely not useful nor in the best financial interest of consumers. And now, the end is near and so coal faces the final curtain…

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for August 29th, 2019

The Munis Battle Solar. No surprise that utilities in Florida are preparing a plan to go after solar. The surprise is that the attack is coming from the munis from the muni group FMPA. FMPA was one of the first Florida entities to push for solar plants to get done under their all requirements project and helped several members do innovative things. Fighting solar actually ignore their history of supporting solar. The key is to watch FMEA, the group that moves policies around the State bureaucracies. One reason to not be shocked is that Jacksonville Electric (JEA) has been a big loser when it comes to creating solar opportunities for homeowners, very anti-competitive by them!

Tesla Podcast. A Vanity Fair article about Tesla/Elon Musk is getting the podcast treatment by Axios’ Dan Primack. At the risk of being called a defender or hater, it’s always one, I will let you listen and make up your own mind. 

More PURPA, More SEIA. Without being on the board or in the room at SEIA, I know from those in the know that PURPA is one of the hottest topics in the room. With FERC commissioners doing coal roundtables, it’s hopeful that SEIA is trying to get the group to push for the equity that PURPA calls for by the regulators. 

Harris Gets Climate Plan Ready. Senator Harris is readying her plan on climate with a major distinction. While the Senator was an earlier co-sponsor fo the Green New Deal resolution, she also did work fighting fossil fuel companies in California as AG. This shows that Harris may be differentiation herself from the other plans by highlighting the executive and legal avenues to actually create change through non-legislative avenues. 

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for August 28th, 2019

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for August 27th, 2019

Long Duration Dollars. The former head of energy storage at Tesla, Mateo Jaramillo, leads an energy startup focused on long-duration energy storage to create ‘caseload’ renewables. Form Energy nabbed a new $40million in venture funding in their series B to bring that technology closer to market. Investors include Capricorn, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Macquarie. Joining the board is clean energy pro, Michael Skelly. 

G7 No Show. Yesterday the G7 met to discuss climate change and one chair was notably (embarrassingly) empty. If you guessed that Trump was absent as the group talked about clean energy and a burning Amazon, you would be correct. I get that there is a political separation from the issue, but are we so far removed from this that our Country can’t represent its point of view on the topic at a global leadership event?

Yang Gang Goes Green. Andrew Yang has released his climate plan that is somewhere in the top 5 when measured by total cost, yes this is a rating right now. It is in 3rd place and exceeds Governor Inslee’s plan in terms of federal investment. This is directly related to the activism by voters and the leadership of the Inslee campaign. 

Getting Paid. In case you were wondering or worried, solar power plants are getting paid for generation by PG&E. In a public release, Topaz Solar Farm announced that it had received monies for July’s generation in August. I would like to know if the amount due just prior to the bankruptcy is still held up in the process or if it has been released by the administrator.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for August 26th, 2019

No Contract, No Term, Discovered. After my comments about a no FICO score community solar contract, I heard from many of you that Nexamp was doing just that so I spoke with several members of their executive team last week about their offering. As background, the company is both a developer and owner of community solar assets offering homeowners a contract that is a simple discount to the savings rate without having to run a FICO score. Homeowners are the target through mostly digital marketing and even though the contract has no term and easy cancellation, homeowners have a hard time differentiating between community solar and retail energy providers. After educating the customer, Nexamp has found success in attracting customers as well as financing projects. Financing is made easier since Mitsubishi backs the company for equity, sponsor and tax, but lenders are not charging extra for the lack of FICO. Absent of getting in a room with tax equity investors, I don’t know how scalable the approach is but it surely gives Nexamp a leg up for customer acquisition. Good to see others are playing outside of the sandbox. 

More Fires. Amazon is out with a comment that they also had a fire on a SolarCity developed and owned project. I’m getting a bit annoyed about the fires being labelled as Tesla panels because it doesn’t appear to be that accurate. All indication from O&M pros is that this is related to poor wiring and wire management practices which makes me ask why this isn’t happening on other projects. Tesla isn’t the only operator of solar projects that had subpar installations but maybe they got away with less independent engineering oversight than those using all outside capital sources. 

Matching Up To EEI. If you’re not criticizing or punching those bigger than you then you are a bully. That’s why I read with joy the critique of DTE Energy’s resource plan by SEIA. SEIA normally plays inside the lines, both Aisling their statements to achieve an outcome with a win-win understanding. This ain’t it and I want more of it. 

Next Dem Administration. When the White House eventually gets a democrat resident, the solar industry needs to stage a takeover of the TVA board. I’m talking Abby Hopper, Anne Hoskins, David Crane, solar pro types. Experience in the sector but no doubt about the fact that no-one is writing a plan to add solar by 2038! I want to write a plan to put solar on every house and power every school with solar. 

Sad Solar News. It was with great sadness that I heard yesterday that the founder and former CEO of SolarEdge passed away at the age of 54. SolarEdge is a great example of success in solar, from founding in 2006 to a market cap nearing $4billion with hundreds of millions in cash on the balance sheet. In a sea of rising boats, SolarEdge has shown capital markets that hardware in clean tech is possible and profitable. My thoughts are with Guy’s family and the SolarEdge team. 

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for August 23rd, 2019

But Why? In an unfortunate and entirely predictable move, the DNC voted to not host a climate debate. This will change, of course, because people are angry that they are not getting the discussion they want. I don’t understand why people don’t do the obviously right thing before people get up in arms. 

A Bold Plan. Senator Sanders has his climate plan and it doesn’t lack ambition. 100% carbon free energy by 2030 and carbon neutral economy by 2050. One of the interesting ideas is doing it all on the Federal government’s balance sheet and selling the electricity through the market. Essentially, this is a national feed in tariff or PPA plan which should go a long way to lowering capital costs. Also interesting is this is all prefaced with calling climate change a national emergency therefore giving the President broad authority to act. 

New Tweak To Green Tariffs. Separately but in similar fashion, North Carolina and Virginia is allowing large users to negotiate directly with generators. Not all is settled on the rules and dispute since you can imagine how Dominion feels about this. 

Checking In On TV. Sunpower’s CEO is interviewed about the solar market and the impact of tariffs on the market. Good use of 5 of your minutes today.

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Yann