This is your SolarWakeup for September 26th, 2016

There is a new economic term that is coming true. “Stacking gigs”. Stacking gigs is the act of earning dual (or more) potential incomes within the gig economy. The original gig is being a realtor. Recently (because I live in Florida), I have talked to Uber drivers that are also realtors. The stack doesn’t work as well but a new stack has come out in the Northeast and I am sure within the SolarCity/Sunrun field consultants as well. The act of driving for Uber and also selling solar. It makes a ton of sense for a few reasons. First, you have a captured audience and can explain how solar works, how the investment makes sense and overcome any rumors the person may have heard about solar. Second, the driver may have already driven to the home and done a cursory analysis of the home. What type of roof, exposure, shading, etc. At $1000 per unit sold, drivers could really expand their earning potential while getting paid to do it. The stacked gig economy begins, courtesy of solar!

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Yann

These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 23rd, 2016

Energy growth is going to come from new market segments. Electric vehicles are the most obvious and the growth is set to kick off when the Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3 hit the markets. Both offer an all-EV in the $30s before the tax credit and have a range over 200 miles. There is nothing that the oil companies will be able to lobby for when consumers start buying. The other industry that is set to increase energy use (legally) is marijuana. According to a report by EQ Research, the Denver area accounted for about 2.2% of the energy consumption. The lighting and ventilation equipment is energy intensive after all. Fun times in energy, always!

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 22nd, 2016

When it comes to fighting for net metering, I feel that the SolarWakeup community has a standing of leadership. Why? Because we stood for retail net metering, together, for over 2 years through the SolarPledge. The SolarPledge also worked in tandem with SEIA to ensure that the industry fought for the ITC extension, together. Was everyone with us from the start? No. Did we create concensus that gave us the results we wanted? Yes. I have respect for the work that Barry and Jigar have done in their careers but why are they doing PR around their petition? What is the agenda behind their petition? Did they have a conversation with Tom Kimbis or SEIA staff before publishing it? I can only think of a single case of a solar company coming out against net metering, but that didn’t sway SEIA even under the Chairmanship of a utility scale developer CEO. I enjoy transparency, that’s why I wrote every day about my thoughts, so here is my recommendation to the team behind the petition. Let’s sit in a room with SEIA, I’m happy to be a neutral 3rd party, and discuss what is really the cause for the strive. Let’s end the senseless newspaper coverage about nonexistent strive and get to a solution, because at the end of the day I don’t see us being that far apart from where we need to be in the future. So tell me the day and I will be there, so we can figure it out together.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 21st, 2016

Let’s call it well under $0.50/watt. While I was not at SPI, many of you spoke about the declining module prices that were spreading around the trade show floor. Of course the prices have payment/timing contingencies, we are a long way from even the $1/watt not too many years ago. What is going to happen now that modules are a commodity competing on price with racking equipment. Maybe some magic potion will come up and show us all how Apple is getting a 3,000kWh per kW production factor. It continues to be true that reporters don’t understand megawatts from kilowatt-hours but I am fairly certain that Apple’s 50MW plant will not produce 151million kWhs.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 20th, 2016

Yesterday, Terraform and Terraform Global had to file extensions on the notice of delisting from NASDAQ. The stay of the delisting and request for a hearing have been approved by the exchange and the hearing is schedule for November 3rd. Of course this is stemming from Sunedison’s bankruptcy and the inability to issue proper financial results even though some have been trickling in. The yieldcos also have begun to work to get a new sponsor in place or seek strategic alternatives to Sunedison as the sponsor. Advisors have been engaged by both entities which include Centerview Partners, Morgan Stanley, AlixPartners and Greentech Capital Advisors. This summer some players began to make moves including Brookfield Asset Management, which acquired a significant stake in Terraform Power. The saga continues…

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 19th, 2016

The Arizona Attorney General told the Utilities Commission that a single Commissioner had the authority to subpoena a utility. In this case, Commissioner Burns has been asking APS/Pinnacle West to disclose its lobbying expenditures and political donations to campaigns and non-profits. Burns is trying to identify or confirm that APS/Pinnacle West were behind the dark money that went to support anti-solar commissioners that ultimately won the elections. APS/Pinnacle West response is nothing short of arrogant and abrasive, they moved to cancel the subpoenas and asked for Burns to pay for their legal fees. Last week the Commission voted to allow Burns to hire an outside lawyer to fight this. Keep in mind that the FBI is still investigating and the US Attorney has issued grand jury subpoenas as well. This story keeps getting better and I will keep writing about it to show you what happens at these State level Commissions. This may sound crazy and uncommon but you will find this to be much more common across the Country than it should.

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Yann

These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 16th, 2016

No national press is covering this but it’s becoming the biggest story in regulated power. If you recall complaints that APS was acting during the last Arizona Commission’s election, especially about answering questions about funding dark money groups, you will like this update. The FBI has been investigating and the prosecutors have convened a grand jury to go over some subpoenas. In Parallel, a single Arizona Corporate Commissioner has asked for further information about the utility’s funding of elections through dark money groups. The utility is hitting back at the commissioner and the entire accusations, which text messages released to journalists appear to be confirming. In short, there’s some crazy stuff happening in Arizona and the solar industry has been right about how they were being treated unfairly. Stay tuned for more…

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for September 15th, 2016

If you have been reading SolarWakeup for the past 4 years, you know that I am a HUGE fan of the SunShot program. The team is amazing, has accomplished their targeted goals of bringing solar to $1/watt well before their self imposed deadline. More importantly, SunShot has deployed taxpayer money in a intelligent way, monitored each project to great detail, audited the results and ensured cost sharing. My favorite part of the program is that it has resulted in $22 of private capital for every $1 of public money. We all know that there is not enough VC and angel money in our sector, but SunShot is doing their part. If you see the new head of SunShot, Charlie Gay, at SPI make sure to say hello and thank you for the team’s great work.

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Yann