This is your SolarWakeup for April 20th, 2017

Solar guy and coal miner walk into a Kentucky bar. No, this isn’t the start of a bad joke. A coal mine operator is working with EDF Renewable Energy to develop two 50-100MW solar farms on old coal mines. This isn’t a new concept, I personally know of projects in the UK and Canada that have worked on this but do it in the US, in Kentucky, and you have yourself an interesting concept. Question for the readers, have any of your received investment from or sold a project to a coal company?
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Policy for Storage. Ten years ago, IREC was leading the charge to explain net metering to regulators. Yesterday they released a guide for energy storage policy to do the same for the next iteration of our market. Storage needs to learn lessons from solar and short circuit (no pun intended) the learning curve. Too many of the mistakes made in solar appear to be done again but we can learn on the policy side because with storage, there are even more benefits for consumers that can be added to the benefits of net metering.
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. I speak with Tony Clifford about being acquired by Gaz Metro and his work at SEIA. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup.
An answer for Perry. A few months ago, I did some research on potential DOE Secretaries and came across the name of James Conaughton who was part of the Bush administration. At a conference Conaughton made the case to open up the energy markets in more geographies similar to the PJM RTO. While Perry is worried about grid supply, MISO ran an auction and the market supplied the needed energy and power and cleared the pricing in a competitive process. Give the markets a pricing signal and markets will answer. Perry should know better because ERCOT clears pricing for energy and capacity every single day.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 19th, 2017

A Nevada update. I spoke with Assembly Brooks yesterday to get an update on solar policy in Nevada. He is the sponsor of and in the middle of the 3 key bills that are in play. AB 206, AB 270 and AB 405. Here are the takeaways:
-          AB206 is an increase of the RPS to 50% as discussed on the podcast
-          AB270 is return of net metering establishing a rate formula, removing the cap and minimum bill
-          AB405 is related to consumer protections and solar bill of rights
-          The bills have been granted a waiver, which means they are released from certain deadlines. This takes coordination and support from the leaders of the Assembly and Senate. This is a positive.
-          AB270 (NEM) and AB405 are essentially tied together, it will likely mean both pass or fail
-          The Governor has not commented on the bill which is not uncommon for him but he has been vocal when he does not like a bill, which could mean that he will likely not veto the bill if it passes.
-          NV Energy has been lobbying against the bills and the Gaming and Resort Association has come out against it as well. GRA is more surprising given that the casinos have been vocal advocate to leave the IOU for more access to RE.
-          Assemblyman Brooks is optimistic that all three bills will pass
Taking podcast inventory. If you haven’t yet, I would ask for your feedback about the EnergyWakeup podcast. You can see all the episodes on this page which include interviews with Google about their procurement of renewable energy, getting the insight from legislators on pending changes to State rules and hearing from SEIA and affiliated State chapters. In the coming weeks you will hear from entrepreneurs working on software to lower solar soft costs and more State leaders. We’ve got requests out to some big names, so the more you listen, rate and review, the more helpful it is for us.
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Unfortunate news from Georgia. Suniva has filed for bankruptcy protection. The company was acquired by Shunfeng last year, which also owns Suntech. Module prices have plummeted recently, bids coming in at the low 30s which makes it very difficult for high efficiency modules that have to sell at a premium. Just look at Sunpower’s issues to see some of the similarities, except Suniva never entered the project business. I’m sure a turnaround is going to happen, let’s watch this space.
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. I speak with Tony Clifford about being acquired by Gaz Metro and his work at SEIA. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup.
Acquirer for Sungevity. Northern Pacific Group has received approval from the courts to acquire the Sungevity assets for $50million in addition to taking over the liabilities and assets. Expect the assets to be liquidated quickly to recapitalize the business. Good news for the company and the employees that received their unpaid wages. Making bad situations right is important, glad to see this going into the right direction. Now, does anyone know anything about Northern Pacific that would like to give me some background?

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 18th, 2017

Getting off the sideline. When I spoke with Tony Clifford I asked him why he thought Standard Solar was able to get acquired in a sea of available targets. He thought that being an active policy participant was a big part of it in addition to having happy customers. It can’t be understated that when a company has a senior executive spending a lot of time on policy work, they are making a time and financial investment on something intangible that also helps your competition. If you open a market, new companies come in and are able to take advantage. I hope that other companies look at Standard Solar and take a turn away from being quiet on policy to get vocal about taking positions. You have to listen to the podcast to see what else we discussed!
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Solar has work to do. I read the interview in the Atlantic and felt the usual tensing up while I read silly stuff. GE ‘used’ to be in solar. The US only makes 3% of the world’s solar panels. Oil companies have long left solar. On and on and on. Maybe our industry needs to do more public relations work and speak to Americans and reporters. Maybe we need a full time communications person that speaks to editorial boards in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and kitchen tables across America to explain the solar industry. We have work to do. Don’t read the article with opposition to the messenger, he has faults, instead read the content with a renewed energy to evangelize.
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. I speak with Tony Clifford about being acquired by Gaz Metro and his work at SEIA. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup.
Scary stuff for IOUs. First it was the IPPs losing robust merchant markets. Now large corporations are taking the IOUs to task. Interestingly this isn’t about cost of energy, the longstanding focus has been on cost and reliability. Now the Fortune 100 are saying, we want more renewables and we want it faster. Whether it was Google pushing Duke in NC, Vegas casinos leaving NV Energy or Microsoft bypassing PSE; corporate America wants renewable energy for their operations. Next step they want it everywhere they use energy and soon they will want renewables to match their energy loads at all times. Hold on to your horses.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 17th, 2017

The point of policy. I spoke with Tony Clifford from Standard Solar. His company was one of the few that has been successfully sold to an international energy company. I was curious about Tony’s work at SEIA and MDVSEIA both of which he has been very active in. In an environment where the Energy department is going anti-renewables in their reports, according to a new memo from Secretary Perry, SEIA is on the defensive, as Tony put it. We also talk about the partnership with SEPA and how revenues from SPI are split. But you have to listen to the podcast to see what Tony had to say.
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Leaving Paris? Next week we may find out who is holding on to influence in the White House. Scott Pruitt told Fox News that the US should leave the Paris agreement. Global politics may come into play as well given that China may have some problem with us leaving after being reluctantly pushed into it by the Obama administration. Interesting times in politics when you want Exxon to use its political influence to help push for policy.
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. I speak with Tony Clifford about being acquired by Gaz Metro and his work at SEIA. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup.
What’s the deal with NYT? We have to do a better job explaining solar to mainstream America. We have over 200million supporters in the US and over 75% approval from either party. NY Times writes an editorial which leads with a broad negative recap of solar investing. If you read the entire article, it probably was meant for solar stocks, which have not done well as a whole. On the other hand, hundreds of billions have been deployed in project capital returning well above market returns to those investors. We, you and I, need to figure out how we can leverage the mass support we have. Being pro-solar should be more politically and editorially advantageous than being pro-fossil fuel.

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Yann

Tony Clifford from Standard Solar: Being acquired by Gaz Metro and working on SEIA

Tony Clifford has been with Standard Solar for over a decade, spending much of his time as the CEO until stepping aside late in 2016. This wasn’t his first time in solar, having worked for Solarex and BP Solar in the Carter/Reagan years. What are the parallels between the Carter/Reagan transition to those between Obama/Trump when it comes to solar? Standard Solar was recently acquired by Gaz Metro, a diversified energy company based in Montreal, which also owns Green Mountain Power. Tony and I discuss how the process played out and how Standard Solar was able to stand out amongst … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for April 14th, 2017

Strike Three in Juno Beach. I know it’s hard for many of you to say anything because Juno Beach is on your target customer list but NextEra is having a really bad year. First strike came when CEO, Jim Robo, wanted to buy HECO which was turned down by regulators and pushed back against by local. Two came when NextEra through its regulated utility, FPL, pushed an anti-solar amendment with millions of dollars. They went as far as using firefighters to lie about the amendment without their knowledge causing the ad to be pulled. Strike three comes yesterday when Texas regulators voted to reject the purchase of Oncor by NextEra. It seems to me that NextEra is suffering from an irreparable lack of trust with regulators. Management has shown that it is willing to do just about anything to get quarterly numbers to match. I’m surprised that shareholders haven’t asked why the continued failures are happening, after all Jim Robo is known for his lack of patience for failures.
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Get the PURPA out of here. Once there was a CEO at Duke, he loved coal and ratebase so much that when he retired he wanted to go back to his youth and become a solar entrepreneur. Now he sits on the board of SEPA. The culture at Duke has not changed at all, in many ways still living up to the normal way of doing business. Earlier this year, after extended pushback on solar applications for qualifying facilities, Duke made the case that solar contracts under PURPA should be much shorter, rendering them unfinanceable. Now, for the good of the consumer, Duke wants to spend $13billion, with a b, on new infrastructure. How about letting consumers put solar on their roofs and businesses; investors fund solar farms and generating revenues for North Carolina’s land owners? That way the infrastructure gets paid by the market or doesn’t need to get built at all.
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup. We also speak with OSEIA Director about Oregon’s solarmarket.
The EPA. Don’t take your eyes off of this. The EPA is being absolutely gutted. Touting jobs from a coal mine, Scott Pruitt is ignoring the solar jobs to move forward the rules that help coal companies. There is much more here that is very disheartening and not what Trump voters wanted.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 13th, 2017

Lightning Round Thursday!
Saving Coal. The coal trade organization is running PR and wishing itself a new coal plant. Good luck with that.
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Get the $F out of here. Elon went all Silicon Valley on some investors. If you don’t like Tesla the way it is, go buy Ford.
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup. We also speak with OSEIA Director about Oregon’s solarmarket.
More power. The resi solar + storage market. Will it be the negotiating tool that solar uses to help with NEM battles?

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 12th, 2017

What the PREPA. It could have been. It should have been. That’s what I think about the solar market in Puerto Rico. Plenty of C&I roof space and a willingness from the community to transition to clean solar energy. The utility, PREPA, was also a willing participant and started writing contracts for PPAs years ago. The problem came with the financial downturn of Puerto Rico itself. PREPA became an offtaker that could not be financed making most contracts stay on the sidelines, stranded and never built. In many ways, PREPA is like HECO on almost all comparisons except financial. Maybe it’s time for PREPA to go private.
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
A Colorado Settlement. I can’t say that I have been following the process in Colorado that closely. A State once at the top of the national leaderboard has been quiet for a few years. Not on the corporate standpoint as several big name firms have made its home in Colorado. The market has been soft for years as new companies try to get into community solar and muni deals. Let’s see if the happy middle solution creates new opportunities for the market going forward. We will try and get COSEIA’s Executive Director on the podcast to find out.
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup. We also speak with OSEIA Director about Oregon’s solarmarket.
Please hold my solar energy. I’ve been a skeptic on this platform about storage in the past. I’ve been reading a lot of data in recent months and I think we are getting close to gametime. Storage is getting close to offering a value proposition to customers across rate schedules in various States. Moreover, I think the State level initiatives aren’t going to have to be so costly to make it work. I’m curious to hear what you think and where the market will be.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 11th, 2017

Federal influences. I am happy to see the Federal NAACP publish this report on energy access and increased clean energy. All too often we have seen utilities coopt well meaning local chapters in ways covered a few months ago by major publications. Solar jobs are local jobs. These are jobs that cannot be moved to other areas and that extends beyond the jobs available to installers. Policy wonks pushing regulations at local city halls and State Capitols are likely to be local. Lawyers that understand the State laws are hard to find at a national level. NAACP understands that clean energy, in a distributed market, is good for the local workforce and local small business owners.
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Find your dream (solar) job. Solar Foundation continues the important work of identifying the many jobs in solar and now has created a platform to connect employers with job seekers. Recruiting is one of the most important aspects in solar company management. Our work can be quite complicated so having access to more talent is always helpful. We even have some of the best recruiters working in our cleantech segment and I hope that this tool is helpful to them. Check it out at solartrainingusa.org
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup. We also speak with OSEIA Director about Oregon’s solarmarket.
The branding halo. The first version of Tesla’s solar tile is out and it looks like a version of everything that already exists on the market. A skirted standard racking system was released to the media with Panasonic branding. The reach that a Tesla press release has still amazes me today, and that comes after years of seeing it in effect. Tesla has become the most valuable car company in the Country and I don’t think Musk is anywhere near finished. But let’s slow our horses when covering the news.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 10th, 2017

More Solar Clickbait. For some reason, newspapers forget that the solar industry is a business. The solar market has a global impact and global supply chain. Silicon from the US that goes to China, cells and materials that come from Georgia that go to Asia for assembly, etc. Sometimes those businesses have to adapt to market conditions and jobs are realigned, which is always unfortunate. When Sungevity files for Bankruptcy, small family owned solar installers get more market share. When China drops the cost of solar modules, more lawyers, accountants, developers are hired in the US. More importantly it means cheaper energy for consumers and more clean energy for the environment. New York Times got this headline wrong, I’ll stay subscribed though.
Help support SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Community Solar. Okay, community solar is going to be a thing. I still worry about the solar credits being under the control of regulators, and we have seen what regulators can do to change the rules of the game. That being said, we now have a community solar trade association and big companies like NRG going big with it. Maryland has spent the better part of two years working on their rules and now comes the execution. A municipal utility in Florida has signed a PPA and is selling the energy to its customers if they want to opt-in. Lots of new business segments to round this market out, would be nice to see larger pools though so we can avoid a boom-bust.
Make sure you listen to the latest episodes of EnergyWakeup. Google is now at 100% renewables, how do they do it and what is next? Sam Arons talks to SolarWakeup. We also speak with OSEIA Director about Oregon’s solarmarket.
Signals create liquidity. It’s no secret that California has a lot of solar. There are efforts to connect the CAISO with the Western States. All of this is important because the solar industry wants to move to a more flexible model, away from 20 and 25 year contracts. In order to achieve that, we need to connect our grids together in pricing and send clear pricing signals to solar and storage operators. Let traders place value of the potential value of capacity and available solar energy so that sponsors can generate revenues as if it was a coal plant.

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Yann