This is your SolarWakeup for July 5th, 2016
Check out more SolarWakeup on Snapchat! @SolarWakeup. Another great way for us to have a conversation about solar rumors, insights and more. Follow us today! I got into the solar industry through a novel thin film product, Uni-Solar mostly due to the impact that solar could have on the roofing industry. In 2006, roofers held the key to the C&I market including residential. Nobody knew anything about warranties or how to ensure roofs would be kept up. Almost every roofer tried and got out but also almost every manufacturer made a play as well. I could list the partnership attempts down the line but if you go to the roofing expo, you will see less solar than you did in 2008. Dow exiting their solar shingle play makes me think how badly the roofing sector mistimed the entry into solar.
News
1 Greentech Media:
Dow Chemical Sheds Its Solar Shingle Business
2 PV-Magazine:
Turkey opens anti-dumping investigation against Chinese solar firms
3 CleanTechnica:
World Bank Approves $1 Billion For India’s Solar Power Program
4 Renewable Energy World:
Poll Shows Widespread Support for New York’s REV Initiative
5 PV-Tech:
New French tenders put country in contention for top European market spot
6 Renew Economy:
Will Australia’s Far Right lose its stranglehold on climate policies?
7 Think Progress:
While The Spotlight Was On Offshore Drilling, Fracking Quietly Made Its Way Into Our Oceans
8 Rocky Mountain Institute:
Brexit and Climate Change - 4 Questions Answered
Opinions:
9 Quarts:
The real reason Elon Musk is bringing Tesla and Solar City together
Have a great day!
Yann
These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
News
1 New York Times:
Sungevity, a Solar Panel Provider, to Go Public in Merger
2 Buffalo News:
In New York, solar companies and utilities form an unlikely alliance
3 New York Times:
Apparent Conflicts of Interest May Dog Tesla-SolarCity Deal
4 CleanTechnica:
Quotes From Tesla’s SolarCity Acquisition Press Conference
5 The Guardian:
US solar power market hits all-time high
6 New York Times:
North American Leaders to Pledge More Reliance on Renewables
7 GreenBiz:
Want to expand renewable power? Know these states
8 Greentech Media:
New CA Interconnection Ruling Increases Transparency and Limits Costs
9 Motley Fool:
3-Point Checklist for Investing in Solar
10 Los Angeles Times:
Gov. Brown announce major reorganization of CA's PUC
The Top 10 is ranked by the number of SolarWakeup.com readers that clicked on the news article during the previous week. It is the poll of the most relevant solar news of the week as judged by your colleagues and competitors.
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 1st, 2016
Reading the 8-K about the Sungevity reverse merge reveals some interesting behind the scenes on the transaction. Easterly, which is known as a SPAC, was created as a public vehicle to make merge with a private company to take it public. Instead of raising money in an IPO, the cash from Easterly ends up on the Sungevity balance sheet, in this case about $190million minus costs and fees. The Sungevity shareholders, including management, will own 58.8% of the new company and the employees will end up with 1.75million shares in the options pool, about 3% of the overall company. Sungevity’s financials are also released to some extent, revealing a GAAP net income loss of $128million in 2015 with 6,159 systems installed. Net loss is always tricky in solar because the equity invested into the projects is typically booked as a loss. The company takes a dig at its competitors, SolarCity/Sunrun/Vivint, for being asset heavy and rolling their own installation crews. Curious how the previous announcements of collaboration with Sunrun and Mosaic are being handled going forward. Feel free to read more in the full presentation here.
News
1 Fortune:
Solar Company Sungevity Is Going Public in an Interesting Way
2 PV-Magazine:
Inside Ingeteam's acquisition of Bonfiglioli's solar business
3 CleanTechnica:
SolarCity Explores The Impact Of Its 8 Million Installed Solar Panels
4 Renewable Energy World:
US Treasury Attorney Discusses Pending ITC Guidance at Finance Forum
5 PV-Tech:
Colorado PUC reverses decision and approves community solar programme
6 Utility Dive:
SDG&E becomes first California utility to hit net metering cap
7 The Guardian:
Floating solar is a win-win energy solution for drought-stricken US lakes
8 US News:
World Bank to back India's solar power initiative
Opinions:
9 Greentech Media:
Will String Inverters Completely Replace Central Inverters in the US Solar Market?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 30th, 2016
M&A is definitely happening in solar right now. Yesterday, Sungevity announced that it is going public through a SPAC, with Easterly Acquisitions renaming and becoming Sungevity Holdings. The company expects to go public by the end of the year. Brookfield Asset Management has taken a 25% stake of Terraform (TERP), potentially opening up new avenues for that vehicle to grow from here. Tesla hosted a conference call to go over its acquisition of SolarCity, some interesting viewpoints and quotes that came out of that.
News
1 New York Times:
Sungevity, a Solar Panel Provider, to Go Public in Merger
2 CleanTechnica:
Quotes From Tesla’s SolarCity Acquisition Press Conference
3 Bloomberg:
‘Tesla Solar’ Wants to Be the Apple Store for Electricity
4 PV-Magazine:
Brazil postpones the July solar auction
5 PV-Tech:
Investment bank ready to bet on US solar duties being dropped
6 Renew Economy:
Mercedes Benz to take on Tesla in home battery storage in Australia
7 Greentech Media:
The End of the Era of Baseload Power Plants
8 Utility Dive:
'Something's got to give'- Why Wall St is uneasy with the renewable energy boom
Opinions:
9 Fast Co Exist:
Is Solar Power Only For The Rich? Sort Of
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 29th, 2016
Sometimes MIT lacks some intellectual belief in where technology is and where it is going. After President Obama’s pledge to bring US energy to 50% renewable energy, MIT is saying that it is not possible without growth in nuclear as well. The reality, in my opinion, is that nuclear power capacity is reducing versus increasing given that Watts 2 is the latest plant trying to get started after having been started in the 90’s. Solar and wind plus storage, including storage in EV’s, is much more likely to electrify our renewable grid by 2025 than nuclear power.
News
1 MIT:
Obama’s Ambitious Clean-Energy Goal Will Depend on Nuclear—and the Next President
2 CleanTechnica:
Solar Roadways Coming To Route 66 In Missouri
3 PV-Tech:
Development banks ‘filling the gaps commercial capital won’t’ in Africa’s energy sector
4 Grist:
Sanders and Clinton teams fight over climate language in Democratic platform
5 New York Times:
Climate Change High on Agenda as Obama and Trudeau Meet for Summit
6 The Guardian:
Here comes the sun - US solar power market hits all-time high
7 Utility Dive:
Clean energy groups call on regulators for uniform rate design approach
8 Yale:
Yale Researchers Release Municipal Solar Scorecards for Connecticut
Opinions:
9 GreenBiz:
Want to expand renewable power? Know these states
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 28th, 2016
Here is something that Donald Trump will love President Obama for! The President announced a pledge to get 50% of North America’s power from renewable energy by 2025 in collaboration with Canada and Mexico. Currently, the system is at 37% which means that quite a bit of wind and solar needs to be added to the grid in the next 9 years. Canada is already ahead with its expansive hydro and Mexico needs to get moving which should be a positive outlook for the solar market we have all been waiting for. (Anyone have Mexico PPAs?)
News
1 New York Times:
North American Leaders to Pledge More Reliance on Renewables
2 Los Angeles Times:
Gov. Brown & lawmakers announce reorganization of California's energy regulating agency
3 CleanTechnica:
Maryland Scores 3 Out Of 4 On Principles For A Good Community Solar Program
4 EDF:
Maryland Scores 3 Out Of 4 On Principles For A Good Community Solar Program
5 Fortune:
Two SolarCity Board Members Will Consider Tesla Deal
6 Bloomberg:
Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Picked to Build Solar Plant in Dubai
7 Utility Dive:
The new EV playbook - How utilities can gain from the coming boom in electric vehicles
8 Buffalo News:
New York utilities and solar companies compromise on price of solar energy sold to utilities
Opinions:
9 Think Progress:
Even Small Investments In Clean Energy Could Save Millions Of Lives
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 27th, 2016
What does Brexit mean for solar? Nobody know because nobody really knows what it means, period. The short term effects are known however because the Pound has dropped over 10% which is an unfortunate turn for anyone that holds a British feed in tariff contract. The UK market was coming to an end from the removal of the feed in tariff but there was hope for the private market. The uncertainty of what the economic and political reality means is yet to come but in a business where we fight to shave 10 basis points off our costs, uncertainty can kill.
News
1 PV-Magazine:
What Brexit means for UK's renewable energy development
2 GreenBiz:
Maui and the energy deregulation debate
3 Greentech Media:
New California Interconnection Ruling Increases Transparency and Limits Costs
4 Motley Fool:
3-Point Checklist for Investing in Solar
5 Denver Post:
Are Hillary Clinton’s clean energy goals achievable?
6 PV-Tech:
Trina Best targets IPO by 2020, vertical integration
7 New York Times:
Apparent Conflicts of Interest May Dog Tesla-SolarCity Deal
8 CleanTechnica:
UK Solar Energy Industry Loses More Than ½ Of Jobs Following Subsidy Cuts
Opinions:
9 Pensacola News Journal:
Viewpoint - Florida should lead in solar production
Have a great day!
Yann
These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
News
1 Greentech Media:
Georgia Power’s Rooftop Solar Program Signs Up Only 5 Customers
2 Vox:
Tesla wants to buy SolarCity, merging Elon Musk’s two big clean energy companies
3 Greentech Media:
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Tesla’s Plan to Acquire SolarCity
4 GreenBiz:
Amazon and utility strike breakthrough renewables deal
5 Renew Economy:
Morgan Stanley - Battery storage to grow four times quicker than market thinks
6 PV-Tech:
SolarCity’s Triex cell to be included in Chinese anti-dumping investigation
7 Fortune:
SunEdison CEO Finally Resigns
8 Greentech Media:
Deep Politics, Dark Money and Fraud Join the Solar Party
9 Rocky Mountain Institute:
New Ruling Opens Up 400 GW Renewables Market
10 Bloomberg:
Solar Power to Grow Sixfold as Sun Becoming Cheapest Resource
The Top 10 is ranked by the number of SolarWakeup.com readers that clicked on the news article during the previous week. It is the poll of the most relevant solar news of the week as judged by your colleagues and competitors.
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 24th, 2016
Solar projects have deadlines and more often than not, developers push the envelope on those deadlines in the hopes for the maximum profit. One thing I learned trading options was that time kills the premium and it couldn’t be more true in solar projects. Rushing the transaction costs more in lawyers and human resources. Rushing the install costs more on the EPC. It also stops the buyer from being able to put several projects together and get some of that premium back to the developer. Not sure that I resonate with sellers of projects but I hope that I do. I’ve seen this first hand and I can attest that majority of the time, dev fees are highest if time is not yet a factor.
News
1 PV-Tech:
Finance experts criticise US market rush to close deals without compliance protocol
2 New York Times:
Testing the Clean-Energy Logic of a Tesla-SolarCity Merger
3 Think Progress:
India’s Plan To Bring Millions Out Of Poverty & Power Them With Clean Energy
4 GreenBiz:
Why batteries are the 'holy grail' for clean energy
5 Greentech Media:
What Would Tesla’s Solar Strategy Look Like if It Bought SolarCity?
6 Solar Industry:
Montana Governor Releases Energy Blueprint With Solar Goals
7 Motley Fool:
Why Latin America Is Where Solar Investors Will See a Bright Future
8 NPR:
'Beautiful Flight' Across The Atlantic Is Major Milestone For Solar Plane
Opinions:
9 Energy Collective:
EIA Annual Outlook Misses The Mark On Threat To Utilities, Generation Revolution
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 23rd, 2016
News
1 PV-Tech:
Finance experts give Tesla-SolarCity deal mixed reviews at Intersolar
2 Renewable Energy World:
Notes from the Solar Underground - Conferences, Conferences Everywhere
3 Breaking Energy:
Corporations Directly Buying Renewable Power On The Rise
4 CNBC:
Musk's big bet on the future of solar
5 Advanced Energy Economy:
Internet of Things Comes to Life at Home
6 CleanTechnica:
Nest Teams Up With SolarCity On ‘Time Of Savings’ Plan
7 Bloomberg:
Solar Power to Grow Sixfold as Sun Becoming Cheapest Resource
Opinions:
8 GreenBiz:
Energy meets security - Can the military scale clean power?
Have a great day!
Yann
