This is your SolarWakeup for July 10th, 2018

Welcome To Intersolar. Good morning San Francisco! Now that I am a local, I’ll be at the show all week mostly in and around the Quick Mount lounge on level 3. Come to say hello!
The Solar Foundation Releases Its Solar Workforce Development Toolkit. We can all agree that the solar industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, right? Heck, The Solar Foundation tells us so every year with its National Solar Jobs Census (well, except for this year, because tariffs, but for the past decade or so it’s been on a huge growth trajectory – and we believe will shortly be again). But how can you find workers for this specialized industry and bring them into this well-paying career? Well, the trick is workforce development, and now The Solar Foundation has released a 94-page Solar Workforce Development Toolkit designed to help solar companies develop their workforces with a series proved strategies that every business can implement in their day-to-day business practices. Here is the post
Breaking Down The Arizona Breakdown. Can anyone understand what is going on in Arizona? How can a regulatory employee have a spouse be working for a regulated entity? The whole thing goes beyond a family trying to make a living, especially if it is hidden from the public’s knowledge.
Direct Energy Gets Total Capital. The total has made a $1.4billion (euro) investment to acquire 73% of Direct Energie. This is an additive investment to the SunPower investment made many years ago. Direct owns the solar developer Neoen as well as some traditional power generation. Note that this is different than Direct Energy, which is owned by Centrica.
Presented by Sunrun. Sunrun is the largest residential solar, storage and energy services company in the United States with a mission to create a planet run by the sun. Since establishing the solar as a service model in 2007, Sunrun continues to lead the industry in providing clean energy to homeowners with little to no upfront cost and at savings to traditional electricity. Sunrun is excited to expand its solar offerings to Illinois residents.

News

Have a great day!
Yann

The Solar Foundation Releases Its Solar Workforce Development Toolkit

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent We can all agree that the solar industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, right? Heck, The Solar Foundation tells us so every year with its National Solar Jobs Census (well, except for this year, because tariffs, but for the past decade or so it’s been on a huge growth trajectory – and we believe will shortly be again). But how can you find workers for this specialized industry and bring them into this well-paying career? Well, the trick is workforce development, and now The Solar Foundation has released a 94-page … Read More →

Intersolar North America Is Officially Here – What To Expect From SolarWakeup

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent My Intersolar North America sojourn started yesterday, standing in the 90-degree heat looking at a new testing facility for bifacial solar modules. Run by Soltec but informed by input from some of the industry’s leading manufacturers and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), The Bifacial Tracker Evaluation Center (BiTEC) will perform rigorous assessment of installation and control parameter influences on bifacial tracker performance compared to other PV applications. [wds id=”3″] One of the key challenges holding back the widespread use of bifacial modules is a lack of real-world data on how they perform in the field, … Read More →

Leading Solar Energy Provider Soltage Provides 3.2 MW of Solar Power for Three California Schools

ACC Insider Dealing Throws Shade on Arizona Solar Market

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent The invaluable Ryan Randazzo at AZCentral.com revealed today that the executive director of the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), which oversees public utilities in the state, has had to resign because his wife worked for the lobbying firm that represents – wait for it – the state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service. Although there is no evidence of direct influence, the scent of conflicted interests surrounding Executive Director Tom Vogt was so strong that he resigned ahead of an emergency meeting the commissioners had called to discuss whether he had in fact violated state law by … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for July 9th, 2018

Intersolar Happenings. If there was a doubt about attendance at ISNA, the schedule definitely doesn’t show a slowdown. Multiple events each evening and lots of people looking to figure out how to move their business forward with some dealmaking. I like the that the conference has been brought into Moscone, colocated with solar and storage into a single venue. If you are in town for the show, let me know how it goes for you.
Exciting Resi Times. All the noise doesn’t seem to really come down to the local installer level. Maybe it’s because you don’t find the time to devote worry to things you can’t control. I talk to a dozen installers a week, at minimum, and without fail your biggest concern is delivering installs to your customers faster and keeping more of your loan proceeds by lowering the dealer fees. I’d love to see more happening on the training side because installers need qualified labor to install solar, which is becoming one of the biggest constrictions to growth right now.
The Trump Trade War Starts. The mainstream media is all over the official start of the Trump trade war, and I’d love to see more solar in the news showing that this is the 4th or 5th level of consumer taxes in the solar industry. Module prices are dropping right now and developers are jumping at the opportunity to buy compliant inventory at lower costs. Reality remains that the uncertainty is paralyzing larger businesses that don’t buy product on a daily basis and need to get 6 months of certainty that allow for projects to be started, financed and built under a solid set of assumptions.
Lithium. EVs. China. VW’s announcement brings up the topic that I’ve warned about before, especially to legislators that read SolarWakeup. If the US wants to be in the game of manufacturing LiOn batteries, it needs to do so right now. The boat hasn’t left the harbor but it’s getting close. My operating assumption that this is likely a lost battle for the US but we will remain the global leader in executive platforms and dealmaking much like solar. The problem with that divergence is that the future probably mimics the trade fights unless the auto OEMs and utilities get together and make sure that politically that doesn’t happen.
Presented by Pfister Energy – Pfister Energy is a turnkey design-build renewable energy provider for commercial, industrial, utility, and community projects with an emphasis on energy efficiency and energy management. We possess 25 years of project experience with over 120 MW of solar installed on rooftops, carports and on unused land nationally. Clean energy is not limited to solar and as part of our smart building-integrated energy plan, we provide holistic solutions by stacking solar, LED lighting, wind, daylighting and other energy efficiency systems combined with storage.  Visit www.pfisterenergy.com for more information.

News

Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 6th, 2018

Welcome to the second Friday of this week. See you next week in San Francisco, you can find me near the Quick Mount lounge or hit reply to this to say hello. Have a great weekend!
Scott Pruitt Becomes A Lobbyist. In between looking for chicken startups and buying used mattresses with his interns credit cards, Scott Pruitt did a really bad job protecting the environment. I said it in the past but his irrational behaviour put his regulatory policies on the front page of the news constantly. Can you name Obama’s EPA administrators? George W. Bush’s? Now we move to Scott Pruitt’s replacement, Andrew Wheeler, who knows the EPA well. He started his career there and learned how to apply the right pressure when he became a coal lobbyist. I expect Wheeler to be more manicured as administrator but just as bad at protecting the environment. Stay tuned because with FERC Commissioner Powelson resigning, a coal bailout could be coming soon.
Everyone Still Loves Solar. Another poll that takes solar to both sides of the aisle. In this case, a poll asked supporters of the NRA and Greenpeace how they feel about solar and businesses that use more solar energy. 75% of the respondents said that businesses that go solar should be rewarded.
That’s A Big Solar Rooftop. I’m not big on project announcements but a 40MW project that is built for self-consumption seems like a big deal. There’s a GM plant in Spain that has something around 13MW but this is more than three times that. Will be interesting to see if other large manufacturers will be doing the same since everyone wants them to according to the above poll.
Correcting Yesterday’s Note. Yesterday I made note that DeLeon wasn’t moving forward to the general election in November since he lost to Feinstein in the primary. While he was beaten in the primary by 1.5million votes, California has a top two process that results in DeLeon making it to the general in November. Apologies on the error.

News

Have a great day!
Yann

Scott Pruitt Out At EPA; Former Coal Lobbyist To Step In For Now

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent There’s always a creative tension about covering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a solar reporter. On the one hand, they don’t have anything directly to do with energy policy, so some solar reporters feel it’s not worth covering. On the other hand, as a solar reporter, it’s impossible to completely separate the environment and the Solar Revolution, since one of solar’s biggest selling points is that it helps reduce greenhouse gases and thereby helps the environment. Therefore, policy set by the EPA can have an indirect effect on the solar industry whether it wants … Read More →

NRA And Greenpeace Reach Historic Agreement: Solar Rocks

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent It’s our distinct pleasure to announce that the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Greenpeace have come to a historic agreement. And that historic agreement is this: Solar. Rocks. According to a new survey by Swytch, a blockchain platform that tracks, verifies and rewards those reducing the global carbon footprint, 75% of both NRA and Greenpeace members believe businesses that switch to clean energy should be rewarded – and NRA members are more than twice as likely to own solar electrical systems than the general public. [wds id=”3″] Those are the headlines from the new survey, … Read More →

The Energy Show: What Are The Best Solar Panels?

[

The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon What are the best solar panels? That’s a question we are asked all the time. When customers look for the “best” solar panels they consider efficiency, reliability, quality and cost. Cost and efficiency are closely related – all solar panels generate the same amount of electricity (kwh) on a per watt basis. Your appliances can’t tell the difference if they get their electrons from super-efficient panels made in the USA, or the cheapest panels made somewhere in Asia. Nevertheless, there are clear cut differences among solar panels when it comes to aesthetics (all black … Read More →