Vivint Solar Raises $200million in Tax Equity, Installs 59MW in Q3

   By Yann Brandt; Vivint Solar announced today that it has raised $200 million in new tax equity, a day before announcing it’s 3rd quarter financial results. The $200 million were critical given the delay the company was having in raising new tax equity after a failed acquisition by Sunedison. Vivint Solar even went out of its way to negotiate a new compensation deal with Thomas Plagemann, the EVP of Capital Markets. Plagemann is entitled to 0.15% of tax equity raised as part of the bonus compensation. The $200 million will go a long way to and help finance 123MW … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for November 8th, 2016

Vote. Vote. Vote. It can’t be understated that today is an incredibly important day for our industry. Solar is supported by over 85% of Americans from both sides of the aisle except in DC and State capitols were incumbent interests have financial interests counter to our sector. We need strong support in the Senate and the White House that believe in the future growth of solar.
Useless tax credits. The law firm, Chadbourne & Park, comes out with an interesting analysis of the future of tax credits in a Trump White House. Cutting corporate tax rates means less money is owed which means less demand for tax credits. Let’s be thankful that Congress writes the tax code.
21st century jobs in energy. There is no doubt that our electric infrastructure is worn out. A new book chronicles the details. With half a million Americans losing power for two or more hours every day, the average American loses power for 360 minutes per year. With the addition of renewable energy, the job impact could be much broader than just the generation but also the implementation of how to move those electrons.
The cost of uncertainty. If you look at the market over the past few weeks, you can see that a politically uncertain environment costs money. In the UK, post Brexit, the uncertainty casts deep shadows on the renewable energy industry. Government’s biggest role for long term investors is to create a system with as few unknowns as possible. Whether at the State level, a la Nevada, or Federal level i.e. tax credits, it is vital to create known-knowns for investors.
The future is certain. Climate change wasn’t asked about once during the debates and barely made an appearance during the campaign. Energy was a talking point here or there but one thing is certain. Renewable energy will be a central part of the future of politics in the US. State politics are seeing unprecented grassroots and incumbent money fighting over it. Federal election voters are changing their votes based on a candidates position on issues like solar. Going forward the politics of energy will be a central part of our coverage. The politics of energy policy will be front and center on both sides of the aisle going forward.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for November 7th, 2016

Pants on fire. A firefighter’s union that had been supporting the Amendment 1 question in Florida withdrew its support on Friday. In the press release, the group asked the utilities to remove all TV ads from the web and cable. Some ads were reportedly still airing over the weekend but the withdrawal may be too late after two weeks of non-stop coverage.
Trumping clean energy. In a speech a week ago, Trump made the promise to eliminate all spending related to climate change. Bloomberg went out and asked what this $100 billion savings entails and with the response it is apparent that clean energy deployment including solar.
Ready for Tesla take off? Tesla received an important stamp of approval from Institutional Shareholder Services which gave three reasons. 1. It allows Tesla to become more diversified, 2. Save the combined companies $150million, 3. Tesla is getting a good deal. In other news, Elon Musk personally guaranteed SolarCity debt in the combined company on Twitter.
The electric new deal? 25,000 miles in 35 States covering 55 corridors. The Department of Energy announced that it is seeking to create these alternative fuel corridors by working with 28 utilities. The goal is to have a charging station every 50 miles across America’s highways.
YOU MUST VOTE. For SolarWakeup and what we represent in the solar industry the choice is clear. A Clinton administration has strong backing to retrain workers for, understand economic benefits of and increase the amount of solar energy across the Country. The Senate is also important so for Pennsylvania voters, vote for Katie McGinty to come to the US Senate with knowledge of the power industry and how more solar can be valuable for everyone. In Florida, you must vote NO on Amendment 1, an anti-solar bill backed by monopolies that want nothing to do with solar.

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Yann

Florida Firefighters Withdraw Support for Anti-Solar Ballot Question

 By Yann Brandt; In a stunning November surprise, the Florida Professional Firefighters (FPF) have withdrawn their support for Amendment 1 in Florida. Amendment 1 is the utility backed ballot initiative that could remove net metering altogether. In a press release on Friday, FPF sent out a press release announcing the news to no longer support the amendment.

 By Yann Brandt; In a stunning November surprise, the Florida Professional Firefighters (FPF) have withdrawn their support for Amendment 1 in Florida. Amendment 1 is the utility backed ballot initiative that could remove net metering altogether. In a press release on Friday, FPF sent out a press release announcing the news to no longer support the amendment. Firefighters have been featured in TV commercials on a continuous loop. The message is the importance of amendment to protect first responders and properties. There is no message about the existing building and fire codes that already cover this concern through the many different … Read More →

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

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for November 4th, 2016

Net Metering Appeals. Vote Solar appealed a district court ruling in Nevada. The original lawsuit complaint asked for the reinstatement of net metering to existing customers and provide net metering to all future customers as required by Nevada law. While existing customers got NEM back, new customers did not and Vote Solar is seeking to change that. Our coverage.
Managing the pricing deterioration. As pricing deteriorates market wide, First Solar announced ways to counteract the pure pricing battle. At some point, price of the modules will be taken into consideration with land costs and efficiency of the modules. Wall Street was not comforted by the transparency and the stock traded down 15%.
The Florida saga continues. After filing for relief to the Supreme Court, solar advocates got news today. The Supreme Court will review the ballot question again. The voters are unlikely to see any action prior to Tuesday’s voting day as Floridians have been voting for over a week already.
Total eclipse of the heart. Normally, comments from the CEO of Total about solar would not raise eyebrows but Total is controlling stakeholder in SunPower one of the largest players in the US market. This time the CEO called the coming of a ‘new winter’ with the double threat of over capacity and lower demand. Global forecasts still see growing demand but his reference may be about SunPower focused markets.
The nuclear struggles are real. A 5th nuclear power plant since 2013 has been announced to be closed. This time Fort Calhoun in Nebraska which is owned by Omaha Public Power. The 5 plants have an output roughly equal to the total output of all solar power in the US which means the next iteration of solar needs to make up the difference once again.

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Yann

Vote Solar Appeals Court Ruling – Seeks Full Net Metering in Nevada

 Vote Solar is appealing the district courts ruling that reinstated net metering for existing customers, grandfathering the policy for those customers. The original lawsuit called for net metering to be put back in place for all customers after the PUCN eliminated it. The appeal calls for net metering to be offered by the electric utilities to all customers as required by Nevada law. The solar advocacy group is represented by local counsel and Earthjustice. Attorney from Earthjustice, Sara Gersen, said, “Nevada law requires utilities to offer net metering. By ensuring the Commission follows the law, the Nevada Supreme Court can put clean energy … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for November 3rd, 2016

A day of vertical disintegration. First Solar announced its 3^rd quarter earnings yesterday. Highlighted weren’t the financials because the company announced the sale of Skytron to a German firm just two years after acquiring the company. It also made some mention on the analyst call that it could skip gen 5 of the module and focus on getting gen 6 out in to the market ahead of original plans. With $688 million in revenues during the quarter and $154 million in profits, the company is now refining its focus on module manufacturing and sales.
Florida, Florida, Florida. Solar advocates filed a lawsuit to bring the issue back to the Supreme Court and ask the Secretary of State to embargo the results. At the heart of the complaint is the leaked audio which offers “proof” that amendment backers mislead voters. SEIA also released a poll commissioned by SolarCity that showed that the voter education campaigns is working. In less than a month, support for the amendment went from 71% to 51%. It needs 60% to pass.
Paris for Oil&Gas Companies. 7 Oil and Gas company CEOs are joining forces in a renewable energy fund. The goal is to fund technologies, promote renewable energy and seek an active role against climate change according to Reuters. More details will be announced in London tomorrow.
Small dollars, big impact. Frank speaks with Dr. Jones-Albertus in today’s United States of Solar podcast about the $21.4 million DOE granted to 17 projects in an effort to cut soft costs. SunShot has now met their goal of $1/watt utility scale and it is great to see them find more areas to reduce the cost of solar to consumers across the Country.
State of the day. Solar policy fights are getting expensive. SolarCity is looking to put $2 million into non-profits for the Arizona ACC elections and promote solar while Pinnacle West will put in at least $1 million. Pinnacle West remains under subpoena and grand jury investigation by the US Attorney.

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Yann

United States Of Solar: The DOE Decides To Attack Solar Soft Costs

In mid-October, the Department of Energy announced it was providing $21.4 million to 17 projects across the United States to investigate the best ways to bring down solar’s soft costs. Dr. Rebecca Jones-Albertus is overseeing the projects, and we asked her to talk about this critical work.  

Florida Polling Shows Anti-Solar Amendment Behind

In a poll commissioned by SolarCity, released today by SEIA, Amendment 1 is showing a change in sentiment from the voters. In the most recent poll, 51% of respondents said that will definitely or probably vote yes on the amendment. That is a steep decrease from a month ago when 71% said that yes would likely be their vote.
The poll was conducted over two periods. From 9/29 - 10/09 and from 10/20 - 10/25 which showed the change in sentiment by the likely voters. 528 respondents were polled and a strong level of support for definitely voting yes was found at 30% meaning that the amendment needs another 30% to reach the 60% required to pass. 22%, down from 40%, still find themselves leaning towards yes while 11% are undecided, down from 15%.

In a poll commissioned by SolarCity, released today by SEIA, Amendment 1 is showing a change in sentiment from the voters. In the most recent poll, 51% of respondents said that will definitely or probably vote yes on the amendment. That is a steep decrease from a month ago when 71% said that yes would likely be their vote. The poll was conducted over two periods. From 9/29 – 10/09 and from 10/20 – 10/25 which showed the change in sentiment by the likely voters. 528 respondents were polled and a strong level of support for definitely voting yes was found … Read More →