This is your SolarWakeup for March 6th, 2018

SunPower Goes Big On Storage. In exclusive pictures obtained by SolarWakeup, SunPower unveiled the addition of Sonnen and Tesla residential battery systems to their dealer product line. In San Diego for a dealer meeting, 150 installers represented by 500 people heard CEO Tom Werner go through their business offerings. SolarCity used to be SunPower dealers’ biggest competition but that is water under the bridge for SunPower at this point. Joining with both Tesla and Sonnen means that SunPower isn’t going to take a risk on supply chain. Slides showing the entire product line and storage offerings are inside the story.

The C&I Goldmine. Engie continues the buying spree adding Socore, the solar developer, to its roster. This comes just a few weeks after the acquisition of Infinity Renewables, the wind developer. Socore has been known for its C&I development adding community solar and other segments in recent years. The challenge for Engie going forward will be integrating the various companies into the umbrella and leveraging the capabilities across the value chain. Go back and listen to my interview with Engie’s VP of Innovation, Thierry Lepercq.

Let The Kids Save Us. Kids turning 18 and voting can’t come soon enough. Even on climate change, an issue that is polarizing in the polls, both sides of the millennial aisle believe that it’s happening. What our industry needs to do however, is stop talking about climate change. We need to change the conversation on solar energy, jobs and monopolies. Every question about energy, about job growth needs to show our talking point while explaining that incumbent market participants are against us and using consumer’s money to fight solar.

Storage Retrofits. Big news for residential solar as a private letter ruling comes out stating that storage can be added while qualifying for the ITC. This PLR is only for this one case but is often used across markets with similar situations but don’t rely on that PLR or my comments for tax advice! Homeowners will want to make sure they install proper hardware and software so only solar energy charges the batteries.

CO SEIA. Next Wednesday, I will be interviewing the team behind the nation’s first clean energy federal credit union at the Colorado SEIA conference. If you would like your company to partner with us and sponsor this episode, please reach out.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Breaking: SunPower Adds Tesla, sonnen to Equinox Home Solar Systems (W/Slides)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: SunPower Corp. told a meeting of its authorized dealers, Monday afternoon in San Diego, that it would be adding two storage solutions to its Equinox home solar system. A spokesperson for SunPower said, "SunPower has been exploring storage offerings and capabilities for our residential customers. One example is our recent partnership with Sonnen. SunPower dealers can choose to work with Sonnen to offer residential customers the best storage and solar combination solutions to fit their specific energy needs."

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: SunPower Corp. told a meeting of its authorized dealers, Monday afternoon in San Diego, that it would be adding two storage solutions to its Equinox home solar system. A spokesperson for SunPower said, “SunPower has been exploring storage offerings and capabilities for our residential customers. One example is our recent partnership with Sonnen. SunPower dealers can choose to work with Sonnen to offer residential customers the best storage and solar combination solutions to fit their specific energy needs.” sonnen, a German manufacturer of a sleek, residential  stand-alone battery system Tesla, with its Powerwall product … Read More →

Water, Wet: 80% Of U.S. Electricity Could Be Produced By Renewables

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Researchers at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) report that the United States could produce 80% of its electricity needs with solar and wind power, as long as the nation commits to building the grid to accommodate them, including up to 12 hours of battery storage. Someone should tell Rick Perry and the president, because they seem to have missed a memo somewhere along the line. SolarWakeup’s View: Honestly, this isn’t news to anyone in the solar industry, is it? Or the wind industry? After all, employees wouldn’t be flocking to an industry … Read More →

More Tariffs, And The Entire World (No, Really) Freaks Out

200,000 Americans lost their jobs, representing approximately $4 billion in lost wages from February to November 2002.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: President Tariffs…er….Trump announced last week his plans to impose 25% tariffs on imported steel and 10% on aluminum. And we are not kidding: The entire world appears to be gearing up for a trade war of epic proportions. The European Union is threatening to impose billions (yes, with a “b”) of retaliatory tariffs. Canada (yes, Canada) is threatening to retaliate. Then there’s China, of course, which has probably had tariff plans in its pocket for years and is thrilled it may get a chance to finally use them. And the WTO can’t process … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for March 5th, 2018

SEIA Board Meeting. The solar industry is looking to turn a corner after 2017 filled with tax reform, trade cases and projects pulled into 2016 because of the ITC cliff. SEIA, fresh off a leadership change, is trying to do the same. Without the ability to define itself during the trade case, the board convened last week to do just that. We covered some of the highlights of the vision, here.

Your Top Story. 5 hours after the daily newsletter goes out to the solar industry, we have a great view of what you consider the most important story of the day. There is no science to knowing the top story, it can come from anywhere in the rundown but it is the daily solar choice award. At noon eastern, we will take the top story and review the news for you and give you a better understanding of this article and for those of you that missed it, give you that link once again. This type of data is only available on SolarWakeup, no other place in solar curates the top news in solar as we have done for the past 6 years. I hope you enjoy this new feature. Friday’s top story was about a conservative that advocates for solar, Debbie Dooley.

Steel And Aluminum Tariff. Hard to know what’s really going on here but assuming what Trump said is going to happen, steel and aluminum will be getting taxed 25% and 10% respectively. Having seen skilled workers taking raw aluminum last week and create finished products, I am shocked at the short sightedness of this. Creating more jobs in making the commodity fails to think of the exponentially more jobs that take a commodity and makes finished goods like cars, buildings and solar racking systems. I hope that this gets walked back as some sort of negotiation tactic because it’s not good.

NEM Representation. Net metering continues to be under attack in the States you know and those you don’t think about. The problem is that if we want new markets to develop, rules like interconnection and net metering have to exist in order to get them off the ground. Of course, this means that markets where no-one benefits from the rules yet, has to be covered by advocates. That is exactly what Vote Solar does and they need your money to do more of it. Applause and retweets only go so far to putting people into State Capitols. On March 22nd, join Vote Solar for their fundraiser, Equinox, in San Francisco.

Wakeup San Francisco. Less than 40 days until SolarWakeup Live! on April 10th in San Francisco. Join me and your solar colleagues in a lively discussion on the important topics that drive our industry. Tickets available here and sponsorships available by hitting reply.

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Have a great day!
Yann

New York Times SHOCKED To Uncover Debbie Dooley, A Conservative Who Supports Solar

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: This story isn’t so much a “what” as much as it is a “who.”The New York Times uncovered someone you’ve never heard of (if you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade): Debbie Dooley, a Tea Party founder who believes utility monopolies are stifling rooftop solar across the United States. Her stance on solar, which she says is completely consistent with both her free-market principles and her commitment to save the world “God created,” appears to puzzle The New York Times reporter who wrote the profile on her. SolarWakeup’s View: Sometimes … Read More →

SEIA Rolls Out New Vision – But Will It Stick?

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)rolled out an aggressive four-point plan to broaden its base and launch a new era within the association. Their plans, according the website, include: Ensure that existing solar markets remain open and robust, while opening new ones; Reform electricity markets to better enable solar use at highest values; Represent solar nationally, including as the voice of and market research center for the industry; and Ensure SEIA continually evolves to offer value to its members and grow revenue to support its activities. “The solar industry is going on the … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for March 2nd, 2018

Your Top Stories, Daily. Every day, SolarWakeup will be giving you a new view that no other platform in solar can give you. Our new senior correspondent, Frank Andorka, will tell you our viewpoint about the article that SolarWakeup most engaged in that morning. Yesterday, the story is about Enphase having to fight off the 201 tariff after getting stuck inside the tariff by accident. Look for this coverage every afternoon from now on. Here is your SolarWakeup View.

Blockchain in Energy. Does blockchain help your business? Keep in mind the definition of the technology as an agent or distributed ledger. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Green Tea Party. It has been 8 years since the recent version of the tea party gained mainstream popularity. The point of the Green Tea Party is that conservatives should be aligned with solar energy. This isn’t about red or blue but green, meaning money. So as a follow up to the thoughts about educating your congressman, I ask that you invite your congressman to your company’s offices, especially if you make stuff. If you have folks sitting in front of machinery, driving a forklift or operating equipment, you have to bring your elected officials to your office.

Energy Dichotomy. NRG recently announced the sale of its renewables unit which was previously announced. That being said the latest quarter included a $1.2billion write down for a nuclear plant in Texas that makes no money. So a couple of thoughts. If a solar company had an equivalent write down, they would be bankrupt. Imagine the era where solar plants can get the type of investment that results in playing the market in a way where the entire asset is being viewed as a loss.

Weekend. We are heading into the weekend so here are some things to put on your radar. First, you need to buy your ticket to SolarWakeup Live! through this weekend you can get 20% off using code WAKEUP20 which expires on Sunday evening. Second, come see me at COSEIA’s Conference in a few weeks. Third, buy your tickets to Vote Solar’s Equinox. If you buy $1,000 worth of tickets you get to write in this space.

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.

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Have a great day!
Yann

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