This is your SolarWakeup for November 2nd, 2016
People agree on solar! We start the day with some of our own coverage about a new registered voter poll by Pew. The result is interesting because Trump and Clinton voters apparently agree on a single issue. America is united around solar! The other takeaway is that when it comes to fracking and nuclear, we are also united in our desire for less of it.
A memo from Elon. After his trip to Wisteria Lane, Elon had to follow up his powerpoint with a strategic rationale memo. On November 17th, investors will vote on the sale/purchase at SolarCity and Tesla. Obviously it’s a crucial moment for Tesla to become more than a car company, though they make really awesome cars.
Tale of micro markets. It’s getting rough in solar hardware again. After a Q3 from Enphase that sold 869k inverters and revenues of $88.7mm, the company still lost $18.8mm. Analysts seemed to focus on storage however, a market growing for Enphase primarily in Australia currently.
Endorsements aren’t for sale. After $26mm spent on the Florida ballot amendment, one thing is still missing for the utilities. Endorsements from the newspapers continue to elude the effort to kill solar. The tally is 25 against the ballot amendment and 0 in support. Enough said.
All In on free markets.Voters in Nevada also get to chime in on energy policy next week. An effort led by funding from Switch and Las Vegas Sands is attempting to essentially deregulate and break up the NV Energy monopoly in Nevada. Both companies have been active in getting more energy from the free markets and solar power plants.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 1st, 2016
It’s Tuesday and we are just 8 days away from election day in the US! Scary Face of Energy. The winner on Halloween for continued marketing chops is the Department of Energy. Their Twitter account went with an adaptation of the Netflix original, Stranger Things. Can Money Buy Utility Happiness? If so, what does it cost? In Florida we learned that in October the happiness cost over $3.5 million for the investor owned utilities. PACs added another million for the month bringing the overall total spent to kill net metering to $26 million. Are We Halfway There Yet? New York announced the landmark 50% clean energy standard a few months ago. For the solar industry, New York continues to be the next place to go and early developers have gone to set the groundwork. This week, the leaders in the energy space in New York are getting together in Albany to discuss the CES. Salmon Eats Salmon. Washington has an interesting ballot fight going on as well. A unprecedented carbon tax is on the ballot and the opposition is not the usual anti clean energy front group. This time it comes in the form of ‘we aren’t doing it well enough, fast enough’ environmental groups. Walls of Protectionism Suck. All the protectionism, trade duties and anti-dumping tariffs aren’t helping SolarWorld. The company missed its earnings and projections again on lower revenues and losing $30 million in 2016.
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Yann
The Clinton And Trump Supporters Venn Diagram of Agreement
When it comes to an overlap of issues that both Clinton and Trump supporters agree on, the issues are limited. Issues on energy are no different and show a large divergence on all fossil fuel issues but there is some agreement. In a poll conducted from August 16th to September 12th by Pew Research, 1,324 registered voters were asked about their support regarding coal, fracking, nuclear, wind and solar.
When it comes to an overlap of issues that both Clinton and Trump supporters agree on, the issues are limited. Issues on energy are no different and show a large divergence on all fossil fuel issues but there is some agreement. In a poll conducted from August 16th to September 12th by Pew Research, 1,324 registered voters were asked about their support regarding coal, fracking, nuclear, wind and solar. Mr. Trump has been very supportive of coal, in particular clean coal, that it comes up during debates and is a standard part of his stump speech. The effort goes to reach … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for October 31st, 2016
Loaded news day for you. Shine upon my roof. SolarCity (which was really Tesla) announced their vision for the future of solar on Friday. Solar tiles and slates in a variety of shapes and colors will integrate solar and roofing material. My takeaway is that Tesla is looking to get into the roof replacement cycle and make the financial decision a bit different. The challenges and unknowns remain. No real details about efficiency, codes, design, partners or cost was released by Tesla. We are living dangerously. Last night we had the season premier of the Nat Geo show, Years of Living Dangerously. Solar in India was highlighted with a hat tip to Ohio’s factory of First Solar. The highlight of the show was the Nevada policy fight featuring Sunrun and former NRG CEO, David Crane. Cecily Strong from SNL was the host of the segment even got a tour of the Mandalay Bay solar roof. Build a wall, save a solar panel. Imagine a solar company going to a Trump rally and getting most of the people to agree with them. In this case it was all caught on video and really well produced. Watch it here. Trump likes solar, if he outlives it. In an ad libbed section of his stump speech, Trump went off script in Colorado this weekend. You can read the entire text of the solar portion, but he is telling his supporters in Colorado that solar has a 28 year payback while modules only last 10 years. Time for someone to educate the man in the Trump Tower that even solar on that roof may have a better payback than 28 years.
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Yann
Trump Believes That Solar Has A 28 Year Payback, Modules Last 10 years
In a speech in Golden, CO, Trump said this about solar. Clearly he is mistaken about solar and it was not vetted by the campaign, because here is the script that showed on the teleprompter. You can see the speech here, renewable energy starts at 31:48. According to Trump, solar panels last 10 years and payback is 28 years.
These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
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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 October 28th, 2016
Some quick hits for you today. Mexico has had a tumultuous energy reform for a few years and a new report is out that is set to outline the effects and further changes that need to happen. Solar has been dropping prices like crazy in the reverse auction system, though not many auction projects have been announced to have started construction. On the other side of the continent, keep your eyes set on North Dakota a State that once was home to a glacier and also the home of Trump energy advisor. An oil pipeline is set to be built there but plenty of high profile opposition coming to this issue. Lastly, we continue our analysis of the utility attempts to pass an anti-solar ballot amendment. The reason I continue to show you the news on this issue is because utilities from around the Country are watching closely. If successful, you can bet your right arm that the initiative will be copied in other States.
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Yann
The Sierra Club Thinks Amendment 1 Is The Worst (Podcast)
As the Nov. 8 election draws ever nearer (are we there yet?), Florida’s Amendment 1 comes ever closer to either success or failure — and Florida residents just can’t let the utilities win. More corruption was exposed this week by The Miami Herald — and we asked Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal program, to talk about it.
This is your SolarWakeup for October 27th, 2016
Couple of news items that are important for your day today. We have now seen the first campaign debate on energy in the Presidential campaign, albeit between campaign advisors. Trevor Houser (Clinton energy advisor) and Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND, Trump campaign) met at the University of Richmond. In the hourlong debate which you can watch in its entirety, we confirmed what we already knew. A Trump victory means climate change would be considered non-existent and the Paris Deal gets squashed. Not a good day for the planet. On more positive news, Tesla beat investor expectations by a mile. The company had to show a good result before returning to dramatic levels of investments for the SolarCity acquisition and Model 3 expansion. A new pitch deck from Tesla is out, explaining the benefits of the acquisition to its shareholders, see it here.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for October 26th, 2016
Another twist of events in the Terraform Power story. If you recall, a few months ago David Tepper and Brookfield Asset Management made a play at buying the yieldco. This idea has now been replaced by a larger owner of the company, DE Shaw, otherwise known as DESRI. DE Shaw is one of the sharpest players in the solar market, anyone that has dealt with them likely agrees with me. They also have a relationship with the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), a Canadian pension fund, which could give it some aggressive source of capital. Let’s see if they are also looking to increase their ownership in addition to becoming the sponsor of the assets.
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Yann