This is your SolarWakeup for September 8th, 2017

Contact My Agent. First, thank you to everyone for reaching out with your notes of encouragement and well wishes. Your offers of help and homes means a lot to me given that this newsletter is our only relationship in many instances. We are safely in Florida’s panhandle and hopefully after a few days here will be able to return home to a house that isn’t flooded and still standing. Now would be a great time for folks in California to contact me for offers to move out West. After 20 hours in the car, I have told my agent that a trade needs to be made because this isn’t something I want to do again.
Everyone Else Bring Data. SEIA is doing good work showing the trade commission that solar in the US creates local manufacturing jobs. Example after example shows that when solar is strong, innovation drives new investments to be made that create local jobs across the value chain and income range. In America, our money says “In God We Trust” but everyone else must bring data. Don’t tell me higher solar costs will create jobs, it didn’t and it won’t. Show me the jobs that grow when solar is a market based on competition and innovation.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 7th, 2017

Miami Out. Vegas Out. The storm has my house right in the middle of the path. At 400 miles wide, doesn’t matter which way it goes now and it will end up hitting my neighborhood. The family and I packed our car and headed north last night, first stop Atlanta. So no Vegas for me unfortunately and sadly will miss you all this time. The drive did give me time to question what climate change plays into our work. Over the past decade the amount of environmental conversation around my solar work has been reduced to a bullet point and maybe the ideological part of our work should make a comeback. Food for thought.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 6th, 2017

Hurricane Update. This is as bad as I have seen Hurricanes get. Irma is organized and powerful which makes me ponder evacuating my house with the family for the first time ever. Evacuation also means giving up on SPI which I am not ready to do quite yet. I’m hoping the storm turns before a decision has to be made.
What The TVA Could Have Been. The TVA is as close to a government utility as it gets. With a board nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, board members could and should leverage the reach of TVA to show what a 21^stcentury utility looks like. Obviously the Tennessee Valley has a deep focus on fossil fuels but it had solar hopes in the past which drove some of the early North Carolina projects almost a decade ago.
Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant. Maybe the original quote was meant for government transparency but it is time that solar takes its place as the jobs Americans would most like to have. Out of work coal miner? Former gang member looking to change his ways? Lawyer tired of working long hours inside an office? These are all examples of people working in our industry that are finding a skill that leads to a career. There are still millions, a majority of Americans, that don’t have or understand solar and how it can be installed on their homes.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 5th, 2017

SPI or Bust. Busting My SPI Plans? Today’s top story could be a problem for all of us. If Hurricane Irma stays in the forecast cone, my travel plans to Las Vegas may be canceled which (I know) would be a big disappointment to all of you. Hurricanes a major PIA because they require days of preparation and labor. With 3 kids the whole thing is just made worse because electricity and water often go down for days or weeks if the storm hits your area. I’m hoping a change in direction but will keep you informed in case I need someone to take my room at the Mandalay Bay off my hands so the deposit is not lost.
Ratebasing Solar, A Solar Advocate’s Conundrum. I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit given the change in Florida where the utilities have taken their solar investments to a new level. I want more solar, much like all of us but have come to the conclusion that ratebased solar is not good for our industry. I base this decision on lack of price discovery and competition for the benefit of the ratepayer, the fact that the utilities don’t fully monetize the tax credit and MACRS, charging consumers a premium over the capital markets for the asset and not allowing competition for the same opportunity. Overall, consumers aren’t getting a fair deal and we have seen what happens in a market that has strong PURPA type offtake agreements which is what the competitive markets in Florida need.
Reimaging The Electric Monopoly. The above point makes me and many other people think that we have to review what the electric monopoly should do for consumers. I’ve said it before but it needs to be said. Connecticut and Texas don’t agree on much but they do agree that the monopoly should be a transmission company first and a retailer of last resort second. It should not be a generator. The responsibility to serve, Florida is a peninsula; these are talking points that will be used to stop the discussion from happening. But having banks control the power markets is not good for consumers so this is a discussion we need to have.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 1st, 2017

Last month, I reached out to the SolarWakeup family and asked for some projects to put tax equity into and you delivered. We were able to connect over 10MW of projects into money. That being said we have about 3MW of capacity left for projects that COD in 2017. Enjoy your weekend, right after you send me some deals.

Let’s Itemize The Bullshit About 201 Petition. Because PV-Magazine is a journalistic organization, they gave the platform to the CEO of SolarWorld Americas (which is for sale) to counter a previous article from Tony Clifford about how bad the 201 petition is for America. In this article, Mr. Stein starts out with nuance and thoughts that find themselves in a distorted version of reality. In other words, time to call out some #Fake201TalkingPoints.
First we have to start with the fact that SolarWorld/Suniva and other ‘domestic’ module companies have already hindered solar growth by having duties and tariffs put on Chinese modules. Now the companies that failed to innovate like all of us had to, are asking the government to help them by screwing everyone else.
“From 2012 to 2016, nearly 30 U.S. manufacturers were forced to shut their doors, casting off hundreds of line workers.”How many new manufacturing/widget/BOS companies were created in that same time? How many manufacturing jobs were created? How many solar jobs across the entire spectrum were added?
“While China and other nations are building up their technological production toward energy independence, the United States is on the brink of losing its own industry.” We have to get real about what SolarWorld is saying in my opinion. If solar panels aren’t made in the US then there is no solar industry at all. I have about 270,000 reasons why that is a selfish and absurd statement to make. Look at the solar industry in my hometown of Miami for example, which has grown very well. Where are those projects being developed? Many of the jobs in Miami are for development in Central and South America. The US is the global leader on developing, financing, managing and manufacturing balance of systems. The argument SolarWorld is making is akin to saying that iPhones create no value for America because they are designed in California but made in China.
You’ll have to read the article to violently shake your head in disgust, disappointment and anger much like I did. The petitioners cling to the wonderland where higher solar prices save their companies and grow the US solar sector. While reality will be that neither of those things will happen and that is what the ITC should be focused on. Higher priced modules in the US will not save Suniva and SolarWorld in my opinion meaning that any remedies will serve only the benefit of people that wish the solar industry to go away.
We can grow jobs in the US, manufacturing and across the value chain, while competing in a low margin industry without wishing harm on our competitors. Because look around your office this morning and find how many colleagues you have today that were your competitor yesterday. We are linked in so many ways, but at the end of the day we are an industry that gets stronger through our amazing American workforce coming together.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for August 31st, 2017

The Market Has Spoken. Xcel Energy is closing coal and going solar. This is quite the week for power plants as the market continues to make its voice heard.
Ratebase I can Get Behind. Investing into infrastructure for the purpose of more renewables is the right investment that shows the utility is looking forward.
What Does Resiliency Mean To You? Let’s get your best ideas out there.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for August 30th, 2017

Look Into The Windshield. In my conversation with Amory Lovins I asked him what would be different if he were to write the DOE Grid Study. His answer was much like solar is to coal. He would look forward into the windshield instead of the rearview mirror. Taking advantage of distributed, diverse and cheaper energy he would want the grid to leverage 21^stCentury technology. He also fills me in on what Thomas Edison’s idea was that was overruled in 1892.
Solar Marketing Goes Hiking. This video is a bit old but I saw it for the first time during a baseball game. Coors Light has solar on a brewery, which isn’t a new or unique concept. Budweiser has some Solyndra on their Newark location. But this is the first time that I have seen a major corporate tout a solar project in a standalone sustainability commercial. Like corporations, I wouldn’t be surprised to see politicians using solar votes as a swing issue.
Duke Goes For Double Play. I almost skipped over this headline because I thought we sufficiently covered Duke’s nuclear power cancellation already. Then I realized that Duke was cancelling a Florida plant in Levy County while announcing some solar and energy storage at the same time. The numbers seem off, $6billion for 700MW of solar, 50MW of storage and 500 EV chargers so there must be something else included.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for August 29th, 2017

Grid Study Review With Amory Lovins. There was one voice I wanted to talk to about the DOE Grid Study after it was released and that was Founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, Amory Lovins. He has been calling the future on the grid for many years and he drops some major knowledge and some wonkiness on this episode of the podcast. Not only do we discuss the grid study and its editorial bias but also get into macro grid trends that are important to your business. Listen to this now, subscribe and review it on iTunes.
Looking Forward At SPI. I have been hard at work on my next project. As many of my previous endeavors, SolarWakeup included, I am pulled towards difficult things. While still solar related, it will drive some nuance and try to fix some very big but important things. I look forward to telling you more about this soon and at SPI. I will be at the show and speaking on Monday at 11am about how to communicate solar in current times. Joined by some great solar people, our panel will be a can’t miss so I hope to see you there.
SolarWakeup Live! This is happening and I have locked in the first two cities and hope to announce the dates soon. If you want to get involved, there will be some ability to do so. Please email me to find out more. Stay Tuned!

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Yann

Amory Lovins – Founder of Rocky Mountain Institute and Electricity Grid Visionary

Now that the DOE grid has been released, we speak with the visionary Amory Lovins of RMI. Amory is the founder of RMI which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary. I asked Amory about his thoughts on the study and some more questions. Can we blame LED lightbulbs for stagnating demand or is it something else? What is the most dangerous conclusion in the study? Why do you think Connecticut and Texas agree that energy markets should be deregulated? Will there ever be another coal or nuclear plant built in the US? If you were to write this grid study, what … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for August 28th, 2017

Sending SolarWakeup’s best to our friends in Texas that are affected by the storm and floods from Hurricane Harvey. If you can help, please find a charity doing work you support.
What’s Next For Nuclear Power? The End? Duke Energy is canceling the Lee Nuclear Plant citing the Westinghouse bankruptcy. This may be partly true but I would assume that solar and battery costs play a part in this decision. Hard to think an executive make this public but I can’t think how engineers wouldn’t have this discussion. It seems to me that once FP&L announces that they are abandoning Turkey Point expansion from the end of nuclear power construction in America. At the same time Duke is asking for a rate increase in the 15% range which could bode well for the PURPA tail that make solar projects work in North Carolina.
Speaking Out Against Tariffs. Right after the Suniva 201 petition filing I said that utilities should come out against the filing. Duke Energy has done just that in a letter to the Trade Commission. The logic is interesting given that the deregulated side of the business wants cheap solar to continue their investments. Remember that Duke bought REC Solar (commercial side) and has many ventures into large scale solar. I’d like to see NextEra, Berkshire, Dominion and Southern come out in the same way. On the other hand, Duke would see a reduction in PURPA projects in North Carolina which the company has been more openly hostile to in the last year.
Speaking In Favor Of Tariffs. Late yesterday, Axios got an inside look at an Oval Office meeting about tariffs. This was the first such meeting where newly installed Chief of Staff John Kelly was in the meeting. It included the trade representatives that oversee the USA’s policy on trade and tariffs. Trump’s comments were eerie and could bode poorly for the solar industry, “"So, John, I want you to know, this is my view. I want tariffs. And I want someone to bring me some tariffs." Only positive for solar could be that steel is also in the conversation and a bigger hit than solar. Bad idea all around.

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Have a great day!
Yann