Maine’s War On Solar Continues As Supreme Court Rejects Net Metering Appeal

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent From an outsider’s perspective, it sure looks like Gov. Paul LePage of Maine is winning his longstanding war on solar. Armed with zombie lies about cost shifts and allowing utilities to run amok with special burdens on solar users, LePage has fought for at least three years to strangle the solar industry in his state, vetoing three different pieces of legislation that would have helped set the Maine solar industry on more solid footing. Now the Supreme Court has gotten into the act, saying solar advocates’ attempts to challenge current net metering policy to the … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for August 17th, 2018

Let’s Talk About Money. As you head into the weekend think of this positive victory. CALSSA let the industry know that SB700, a 5-year extension of SGIP, has cleared committee and is headed to the Assembly floor. This victory is due to the lobbying of the industry and the daily advocacy of CALSSA and a few larger companies with dedicated policy staff. We’ve all heard about the complaints from me and the advocacy groups is that there isn’t enough money flowing to the trade organizations. The typical response and justification is that we’re the solar industry and we won’t fight money with money, we will never have enough of it. I’ve bought this line over the years but I think it’s also become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let me elaborate. Inside the industry, not enough companies are paying enough dues to State chapters and solar advocacy groups. I get it, money is tight in an industry that is stingy with margins. At the same time, 260,000 people in solar and if each paid $10 per month in advocacy dues, we’d have $30million more per year. Companies that do pay advocacy dues should go out of their way to support other solar companies that do as well and given the choice of two, should choose to support the one that stands side by side with us. But there is another source of money that should be supporting solar groups, groups like Vote Solar. The millionaires and billionaires that talk about climate change and renewable energy should endow our industry with hundreds of millions of dollars. That money would go to ensuring a solar advocate at every town hall, County commission and regulatory body on a full-time basis. It would also push objectives like ‘instant permits’ and electing politicians that support our industries. If they want solar to really thrive, it is incumbent on us to educate them on the political and regulatory nature of our business. We can fight power with money, we just have to ask for it more forcefully.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Q&A With Laura Rigell: Philadelphia Celebrates Solar Day – With Good Reason

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent In the birthplace of American independence, the solar industry will celebrate later this morning as the mayor, council and solar advocates gather for Solar Day in a ceremony designed to recognize the number of solar jobs in the Greater Philadelphia area and to unveil the latest class of young high school students that went through a vocational solar training. We talked with Laura Rigell, solar manager for the Philadelphia Energy Authority, to find out more. Frank Andorka (FA): Why does Philadelphia celebrate Solar Day? Laura Rigell (LR): The Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) has been working … Read More →

The Energy Show: There is a New Utility in Town – Silicon Valley Clean Energy

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The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon The electric utility industry is undergoing rapid change. There used to be two types of utilities: investor owned utilities (IOUs, such as Pacific Gas and Electric and ConEd) and municipally owned utilities (MOUs, such as LADWP and Silicon Valley Power). Now there is a third hybrid type, called a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) utility. IOUs work for their stockholders — striving to maximize their profits by charging the most they can for electricity, maximizing their net assets and minimizing their expenses (often maintenance). MOUs work for their local cities — and try to provide … Read More →

Creditors Spar In Court Over Suniva Solar Cell Production Assets (Full Complaint Attached)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent You had to know Suniva would come to this, right? Nothing – and I mean nothing – has come easy with this company. First, it filed a trade complaint, only to get bigfooted to almost an afterthought on its own complaint by its “co-petitioner” SolarWorld. Then it won the case, which led to SolarWorld being purchased by competitor SunPower and Suniva to be…sold for parts. But now that we had finally moved on to the selling off of assets, even THAT can’t go smoothly for the poor bankrupt module manufacturer. Now two of its creditors … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for August 16th, 2018

What It Takes, To Win. I had the incredible pleasure of spending the day with more than 200 solar professionals and the world class leaders from CALSSA in Sacramento yesterday. The annual ‘Solar In The Capitol’ lobby day allows groups of 6 to meet with legislators, including the members that represent the companies and individuals. Legislators thanked us for coming and helping them as they push for solar policy, the in person lobbying is irreplaceable and there should have been a thousand of us. I can’t thank Bernadette Del Chiaro and her team enough. There would be no solar industry in California without them and CALSSA and now I had the pleasure to see their work up close and personal. If you are not a member, join by clicking here.
Taking The Case To WTO. In a move that surprises nobody, China is taking the US to the WTO to review the tariffs imposed during the 201 case. It is important to note at this point that Suniva is no longer operational and SolarWorld USA is under contract to be acquired by SunPower. Don’t expect much to happen but its a process.
Free Markets. Subisidies. Sitting with republicans to talk about solar often starts with a comment about subsidies and that the free market should choose the technologies. That is complete and utter bullshit and now Rick Perry breaks down why the free markets in energy are really not free markets. Quite the contrary, energy markets are advantaged to the incumbent monopolies against competition and new technologies.
Storage Is Inevitable. In our lobby day, we spoke up for SB 700, the CA bill that would extend the SGIP program for 5 years. After the PG&E announcement to build over 1.5GWh of storage and the solar industry’s move to include storage in more systems, the future of energy storage is unstoppable.

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Have a great day!
Yann

German Company To Build Cutting-Edge Solar Module Recycling Plant

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Easily lost amidst the excitement and thrill of building more solar capacity is a real concern: What do we do with the solar modules after the typical 25-year lifespan of a particular project? Fortunately, thanks the the European Union, a German manufacturer is on the case and has built the first industrial-sized recycling pilot plant for an industrial company in its home country. According to the website Phys.org: With strong competencies in plant manufacturing and wastewater treatment including recycling, the Geltz Umwelt-Technologie firm has built a test and treatment facility at a large disposal firm … Read More →

China To The United States: Two Can Play At That Game, Files WTO Complaint Over Tariffs

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Reuters is reporting that China has filed a World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against the United States over the solar tariffs President Donald J. Trump imposed in February. Who could have seen THAT coming? (Everyone. Everyone saw this coming.) From Reuters writers Dan Stanway and Muyu Xu: China’s commerce ministry said a U.S. decision to subsidize renewable energy firms and impose tariffs on imported products has seriously distorted the global market and harmed China’s interests, firing the latest shot in a broader trade conflict. This is what happens when you start a trade war – … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for August 15th, 2018

SEIA’s Hopper Makes Hires. Abby Hopper, CEO of SEIA, is adding two senior hires to the team. A VP of business development will join based in the Bay Area and Jon Smirnow will join as well. Smirnow is a name you’ll recognize given that he has been an executive at SEIA before and he was active during the 201 trade case. The new executives will be joined by a VP of federal affairs that has yet to be hired.
Local Policies, Local Outreach. Policy and solar advocates have been taking the solar to the local level. The Million Solar Strong Campaign took to Long Island City with State and local elected officials to grow solar in New York and add solar to 100,000 low income households by 2023. While this was specific to New York, you could be doing this right in your backyard. As an example, 200 solar pros including 12 from the Quick Mount PV team will be heading to Sacramento to lobby for solar policies including SB 700 and SB 100. Why do we send 12 employees to lobby for solar? First, we actually shut one of our manufacturing lines down for the day so that solar pros from all aspects of our business can be heard from. Second, if we don’t stand up for our jobs and market, then who will?
Utility Choice Creates New Formulas. The first iteration of customers leaving investor owned utilities was municipalities leaving to form munis. Then it was the start of the CCAs (community choice aggregators) and energy choice initiatives like in Nevada. The issue at hand is always what happens when a customer leaves and who pays for the infrastructure that was built to serve the customer.
Yea, But What If? Bloomberg has an interesting post that shows that installed cost of solar for public companies is declining in spite of the Trump tariffs. The message is that look how great the market is working. Let me be really clear, the market would be growing faster and more broadly if the tariffs didn’t exist including the AD/CVD charges. What if, that’s the question we need to show data for.
Congrats To Conergy Team. A quick word to the team of Conergy pros remaining in Asia. I spent a great two years with many of them and now they are joining Macquarie as their solar development and EPC platform. The Conergy team is top notch, based out of Singapore, and this is well deserved corporate development.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Old Face, New Face: SEIA Adds Two New Members To Its Executive Team

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has returned to full strength, adding two members to its executive team: one who saw the association through some tough trade times and one outsider to bring a new perspective to the association as it looks to navigate the near-term and long-term futures of the solar industry. John Smirnow will rejoin SEIA as general counsel and vice president of market strategy, and Tony Chen will serve in the newly created position of vice president of business development. The announcement comes weeks after SEIA dismissed its previous executive vice president … Read More →