Wait, Enphase Did What Now?

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Enphase requested an exemption from the ridiculous Section 201 tariffs President Trump imposed last month. The inverter is attached to modules abroad and imported as a combined product making it subject to 201 tariffs. They hired a high-powered K-Street lobbying firm to lead their, well, lobbying efforts. Solar Wakeup’s View: Enphase has been working to turn itself around after management shakeups and hiring of management consults. While focusing on internal issues, Enphase was caught in the middle of the 201 tariff without ever thinking they would be subject to it. Now the inverter manufacturer … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for March 1st, 2018

Big News At SolarWakeup. SolarWakeup will now be publishing original content. Veteran solar reporter, Frank Andorka has joined SolarWakeup as Senior Correspondent. He is bringing his multi-decade experience and passion for solar to this platform and to your inboxes. You can expect to get a breakdown of the news that matter. Part of his daily contribution is to review the article that was most clicked on by you and tell you why it mattered. Together, we will not shy away from advocacy and taking a stand for what moves solar forward. Our goal is to inform, advise and advance. Here is his intro article and please welcome Frank to SolarWakeup. You can find him at frank@solarwakeup.com and he absolutely loves scoops and tips.
What FERC Rule Means For Storage. This is the best breakdown of the FERC order that will establish new rules at the local RTO/ISOs for energy storage. It’s a positive move for storage and everyone in the market but don’t expect changes overnight. This is a discussion quite apparent at the energy storage conference in SF this week. Other than that, big topics continue to focus on revenue stacking and RFPs by the many utilities looking at combined solar and storage projects.
Unintended Consequences. I didn’t see this coming. Enphase makes their inverters and then ships them to Asia to be combined into smart solar modules. Now that 201 tariffs are in place, the Enphase cost is now considered part of the solar module and is taxed. Let’s get some rational action here. Suniva and SolarWorld need a settlement and so does the industry. Get something done folks. Happy to mediate if you all would like me to.
Local Solar Impact. I am often asked what solar workers can do for the industry outside of money. One of the easiest things to do is to set up a time to talk to a local legislator like a Congressman, State Rep, State Senator, Mayor etc. Take a few of your colleagues and spend an hour educating them about your work, don’t ask for anything but show them you exist and bring some pictures of your work. If you do this every month and everyone does it, think of the impact it will have. If this seems too difficult, tell me what could be done to make this easier for you.
Fun Times Talking 201. Did you listen to my conversation about 201? This was fun and great content. Please share with your colleagues.
Are You Coming? Get your ticket for SolarWakeup Live! San Francisco

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Have a great day!
Yann

How I Plan To Help The Solar Industry From My Perch At SolarWakeup

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Good morning, everyone. I’m Frank Andorka, and I’ll be your new senior correspondent here at SolarWakeup. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been in the solar industry now for seven years now, first as the founding editor of Solar Power World and most recently as a correspondent for pv magazine USA. But at various times during my glorious time in this industry, I’ve worked with the proprietor of this news analysis site and have enjoyed every minute of it. So when Yann Brandt asked me if I’d ever consider joining his team … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for February 28th, 2018

Storage Week. Find me at the Storage Week event tomorrow to talk about how energy storage development is progressing and what type of contracts are making the rounds. In two weeks, I will be in Denver for the COSEIA conference to interview the founders of the Clean Energy Credit Union, a great new concept for solar. Most importantly, join me in San Francisco on April 10th for SolarWakeup Live and buy your ticket here. 

Discussing 201. This episode of SolarWakeup Live was recorded in New York. I go behind the scenes on the 201 tariff with CEO of PanelClaw, Costa Nicolaou. We debate the work that was done solar industry and where it went well and where it needs to be improved in future legislative fights. This was a fun conversation, pre-Super Bowl so you have to ignore my less than confident jabs at Tom Brady’s tactics. If you enjoy these conversations, please rate the podcast on iTunes.

SEIA News Making. The message is “solar going on the offensive” to execute on the newly states vision that SEIA released ahead of its board meeting. Newly elected board members are sitting for the first time to represent the solar industry. Members of the board tell me they expect to hear some ideas on changing things up a bit, even though some things will remain the same, namely the trade show partnership with SEPA. No details yet on what is happening at the board but if the latest media blitz is a sign of things to come, expect more Abby Hopper with a more aggressive tone. At least when compared to the first interview she gave last January right here with SolarWakeup. Stay tuned.

March Madness. Everyone’s dream is to write these words, I know. Now you have two different chances to do that. SolarWakeup is having the 1st annual March Madness bracket challenge and it’s free. Go to ESPN Tournament Challenge and search for SolarWakeup group. The password is GoSolar. The more folks we have, the more fun we will have. The winner gets to write the opening paragraph and promote their agenda, company or cause.

Sponsor This Space. When you sponsor our events, your message goes out to the readers for 4 weeks on this newsletter and you get to write your own paragraph. So if you are reading this right now, you see that it works. Email me for more details and pricing.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 27th, 2018

March Madness. Everyone’s dream is to write these words, I know. Now you have two different chances to do that. SolarWakeup is having the 1st annual March Madness bracket challenge and it’s free. Go to ESPN Tournament Challenge and search for SolarWakeup group. The password is GoSolar. The more folks we have, the more fun we will have. The winner gets to write the opening paragraph and promote their agenda, company or cause.

Playing The Headlines. Trump is playing the headline game and calling his solar tax a success. He did this a day after experienced R&D employees at SunPower were told of a cut in their departments. In a year of the solar coaster costing jobs across the market, Trump has the audacity to call his joke of a tax helpful in creating jobs. If he really wanted to create jobs there were ways to accomplish that more effectively.

Generation Outlook. There are a bunch of 2030 predictions about EVs and storage growth. I also agree that batteries alone will not help the change in the generation profile. What do you think the electric generation profile looks like in 12 years? Clearly for every GW of coal that gets shut down, new generation needs to take its place. I’m optimistic that renewables can make up all or most of the energy needs, even with the headwinds on the regulations like PURPA that are supposed to be helpful in accomplishing this.

1603 Problems. IRS Is One. NextEra is still fighting the IRS on 1603 valuations. Anyone else in solar still going through this or is this the last of them?

State Plays. One of the biggest State fights right now is around PURPA. And one of the most effective advocates on the issue is Vote Solar. In a few weeks you get to take part of their annual fundraiser to help them do more for you. Entire planes from North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and more should be heading to Equinox with giant checks payable to Vote Solar. If your company has the means to sponsor the event, please let me know and I will connect you. Also if you buy $1,000 worth of tickets and send me the receipt, you get to write a paragraph on this platform. Event details here.

Wakeup San Francisco. The first speaker confirmed for SolarWakeup Live! in San Francisco is Danny Kennedy of CalCEF. In a few days, they are closing their latest CalSEED program and helping clean tech startups get off the ground. Danny is always an amazing conversation with a great view of the sector from both sides the table. Get your tickets here. 

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 26th, 2018

201 Woes. SunPower is cutting jobs. As a premium, high efficiency module, SunPower took a disproportionate hit from the 201 tariffs. Premium modules, with higher prices, get a 30% tariff that is more $/watt than a mass-market poly module. There are business impacts affecting the company as well, given that its utility scale segment was suffering from low margins and First Solar’s series 6 is taking a bite out of the efficiency advantage. SunPower must be talking internally about focusing on the C&I and residential markets by owning the dominant market share in those markets. That’s what I would do if I were them, great supply chains into dealers with a suite of financing options that make deals go forward. Solar is hard enough and being all things to all segments is too difficult.

Improving Conferences. I want to take you behind the scenes for a moment. SolarWakeup Live is a concept that comes out of 10 years attending and speaking at conferences and conventions. It’s true that there is a solar conference every single week of the year now and adding more seems odd but we have to change the way we’re doing it. Starting with the $1,000 entry fees and the 3-4 speakers per panel. Getting more than 3 answers into a panel is considered a good panel and I doubt that the attendees get much out of them. My goal is to get 1,000 folks into an auditorium for a day of 1 on 1 discussions for an entry fee under $100. We’re on track for that. After three events, SolarWakeup Live! has grown into a half day of discussions with 150 people in the room at sub $100. I’ve done interviews with one or two panelists with varying degrees of feedback and kept production costs low in order to make it work. Thus far the reviews speak highly of the content and networking with desire for more traditional venue amenities. San Francisco is the next location because it’s the most dense geography of SolarWakeup readership and our first event on the West Coast.

Community Solar. Nice reporting from Frank Andorka on the changes in New York on the size of community solar within the regulations. Moving the plants from 2mw to 5mw is a big move, allows for some fixed costs to be spread over bigger sites and greater cost efficiencies.

Reducing Pollution. I sense a shift in California. The energy rates, even when demand charges make up a large part, customer demands and environmental requirements mean corporations are looking for ways to re-tool their energy supply. With the cost of solar, solar carports, and energy storage dropping, it makes sense for every business to look for ways to execute a change in this. Financing options are also more apparent for them. PPAs remain available if the balance sheets work, PACE is almost everywhere in the State and new portfolio approaches are making the merge of efficiency and generation possible.

Big Week At SolarWakeup. I’ll be in San Francisco on Wednesday talking energy storage development, contracts and business models and ending the day at the CalSSA reception in Sacramento. On Thursday, I head to Walnut Creek for a special screening of Solar Roots - The Pioneers of PV at the QuickMount PV, the leader of residential solar mounts and rails.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 23rd, 2018

Join Me In San Francisco. I’m excited about this conversation in San Francisco. After a rollercoaster ride in 2017 with 201 and tax reform hanging over our sector most of the year, time for big money to get deployed in 2018. Whether it comes in the form of pension funds, large acquisitions or for the C&I market to finally grow with PACE across the Country, these are the topics you’ll hear about at the event. If you have any exciting ideas for speakers, please let me know. Reserve your seat here.
NJ Dealmaking. Good news from New Jersey now that the new administration has taken over. There was an RPS fix bill sitting by itself and the solar community found a play to make to get it attached to another piece of legislation, Senate Bill 877. It will increase the solar carveout and add significant energy storage capacity as well. NJ has long been the place to develop projects and it’s been tough in recent years. With this fix, addition of storage revenue streams and PACE coming up at the same time, look to NJ to be another great place to be for the solar community.
Take The Path Good For Solar. In politics, there are often strange bedfellows. In this case, there was a nuclear bailout/subsidy bill that had the momentum to make it through the legislature. When you have legislation that you want passed, you seek out this momentum and attach yourself to it. I know many people view this as bad since we are into fusion of the solar type but that’s not the right way of looking at it. Don’t blame the solar advocates either, their job was to pass a bill to fix the solar carve out and they did. Much like the ITC getting extended in a deal to remove the oil export embargo, solar wins in the end.
Bigger Community Solar. New York is increasing the community solar cap to 5mw from 2mw, which is a great move and makes a big difference in a time where the VDERs make it tough to pencil. Great job to New York regulators and advocates.
Sponsor This Space. As you saw over the past few months, sponsors of the Live! events get space in the newsletter, website and the text area to tell their story. Time is now to get involved for the SolarWakeup Live! event in San Francisco. So build your landing page and get your message out to the people in solar that read this newsletter. I bet you can name the New York sponsors, so email me to talk about your sponsorship.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 22 nd, 2018

BP, Red Team vs Blue Team. I’ve read through BP’s Energy Outlook and have a few thoughts before digging into two particular details. First, I am surprised they even put this out since they know that people and markets will disagree. Some startups will jump for joy at the stats and plug it into their decks while others will laugh at the aging dinosaur going its own way. Second, this is their own investor deck. They are telling their investors what their version of the future looks like and why they are making certain investments outside of oil. Lastly, this is a poorly disguised analysis. If they had wanted the report to be viewed as other than corporate playbook they should have had an internal debate on each view. For greater transparency let the dissenting team publish their view alongside.

BP, Electric Cars. Cars staying on oil based fuels is good for BP which would make you think that they will take a conservative view on how many EVs hit the road. BUT, BP has an estimate of 15% of the cars in 2040 being EVs. I know there are fringe cases about cars in developing countries and island economies where estimates don’t see a large use case for EVs and we live in a bubble here in the US. That being said, as an EV driver for the past 6 years, there is zero chance that 15% is within a 10% margin of error and that is just based on common sense. On the other hand, what would BP investors say if BP came out and said 75% of cars will be EV in 20 years.

BP, Cost of Solar. BP sees cost of solar at $0.06 per kWh in 2020 leveling down to $0.05/kWh by 2040. I feel like that there is no explanation needed here. Consider this however, 9 months ago BP issued 11 year bonds at a 1.637% interest rate, which is lower than the US Government 10 year today.

Australia’s RPS Coming? The Labor party in Australia is hoping to get a 75% renewable energy target by 2025 with a clean peak standard of 25% equating to about 750MW of energy storage.

It’s All Fake News. Interesting to see the online platforms that allow for grassroots activism to come out in favor of an issue are now essentially tools that don’t really require any people. Much like voting going back to paper ballots, it will become common for grassroots to urge hand written notes once again. These emails, online comments like we see during the SCANA debate, are likely being ignored.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 21st, 2018

It’s Sponsor Time. San Francisco is getting its first SolarWakeup Live! in a little less than 2 months. Like you, I’ve been at close to 100 conferences in solar, spoken on panels and sponsored various versions. Here’s the thing, I always went for the people and never the content. Why couldn’t an event allow me to do both while also letting me get business done in the city? That’s why SolarWakeup Live! was created and why sponsors get into the newsletter, website, podcast in addition to the event signage. Sponsorships should drive a return on your dollar and that’s exactly what you get here. Get in touch if your company is interested.

Houston, What Mandates. As I read this Wall Street Journal editorial, I had to ask myself why this article gets written. So I found the funny in the context, the reporter is based in Houston according to her Twitter account. So here’s a WSJ reporter in Houston blaming the growth of solar mostly on mandates. Of course, she was quick to retort that it’s not just mandates and didn’t respond to my question about subsidies for other fuel sources or the fact that monopolies are regulated requiring mandates to allow new sources to enter. Anyways, you know this but by now so should the WSJ.

No Coal For You. Coal plants are closing faster than ever before and natural gas is largely to thank for that. Monopolies around the Country saw an opportunity in the low gas costs to make a case for new rate base. It will be cheaper and cleaner they said. It will be good for consumers they said. The problem with this is that the benefit stays with power companies while the fuel risk stays with consumers. I’ve said it before but the greatest, costliest subsidy that monopolies get is the free fuel cost hedge. Imagine if the utility had to either stand behind the fuel curve for the life of the plant at shareholder expense or secure a hedge from a 3rd party. Neither of those things would happen and therefore natural gas plants are not financially competitive in the marketplace.

NY Green Bank. Some of you asked about the benefits of a green bank. I asked Alfred Griffin exactly that and the answer is seemingly obvious when you hear it. Sometimes, in a new market that is not well transacted, other sources of capital with a mission need to step up and provide the patience needed for private capital. Check out the interview here

Reserve Your Seat. April 10th in San Francisco. We’ll talk about the future of capital in solar and how California policy can shape the future of our market. 25% of the seats are already gone, get yours. 

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 20th, 2018

San Francisco Live! Time to head to the West Coast, SolarWakeup Live! is coming to San Francisco on April 10th. Like the events before this, it will be an afternoon with great content and more networking. After each event, I’ve been getting great feedback on how to improve the events but the core remains with a focus on the timely, valuable content. Reserve your seat quickly, the venue will be smaller than New York and there are way more readers in San Francisco than in New York. Link here.

New Solar Pod. Alfred Griffin is the President of the New York Green Bank and he joined me in New York City to talk about the work the NY Green Bank is doing. Several years ago the Green Bank was a vision of a future where a billion dollars of NY tax dollars could push private capital into a growing solar market. Now the bank has over $500 million in active pipeline and is on the verge of paying for itself. Alfred also tells us about the future of how the NYGB can help other States follow in their paths. Let me know what you think of the interview and leave a rating on iTunes.

Another Trump Tax? This time it’s steel and aluminum. At the same time as the 201 case was started, Trump initiated a trade rule that hasn’t been used since 1981. This is insane disruption in a commodity that touches every sector of the economy including solar. Racking used to cost 50 cents per watt and today we are WELL below that. Increasing the raw commodity costs of the intake product means that the segment of solar that actually has US manufacturing is going to suffer. Racking and mounts are the number 1, 2 and 3 reasons why a customer gets upset with their solar installation. Is solar involved in this trade case too because this definitely isn’t in the budget…

Let’s Deal. It’s time for all this trade noise to get dealt away. The dealmaker has to stop creating chaos and make a deal. This can’t be something that anyone in either party thinks is going to create positive growth for the US economy. The republican party is the party of free trade and while Trump ran on no trade deals, I don’t think he ran on protectionism. Congress needs to get involved and stop the chaos.

Hoarding Modules. It’s no secret that the supply chain moved modules ahead of the tariff decision. That being said, not many people moved modules without a project to put them on. If they did, this was in defense for a decision that was far worse than the 30%. Like I said in New York, if the solar industry was given a choice the day after the 201 tariff was filed to accept 30% and stop the process, the solar industry would have accepted because the uncertainty is the major killer. Moving modules ahead of the decision was the same thing, a hedge to save projects.

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Have a great day!
Yann