This is your SolarWakeup for March 29th, 2016

I will be on the E&E News Show with Monica Trauzzi later today. With solar making a dramatic market entry, billions of new capital is looking for a way to participate. The money is not everything however as the politics are also quite clear. Independents in November swing States will support republican candidates that are vocal supporters of solar. Our next step as an industry is to make sure that the investors are educated about the solar support and market size because too many still carry the stigma that we have more regulatory and political risk that is actually the case.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for March 28th, 2016

Last week the UNEP released its 2015 data and it largely corresponds to the BNEF data we saw a few months ago. $286billion was spent globally to build renewable energy, which is more than double the total investment in oil & gas. Renewable energy now accounts for 10.3% of globally energy (excluding large hydro). WaPo makes a good point that we need to move faster because the world still installed 43GW of coal. The last 5 years was a coal replaced by NatGas cycle but hopefully we enter the phase where we skip that step and just go fossil to renewable.

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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 March 25th, 2016

The top stories today are about community solar. This market segment is now gaining large amounts of traction from a publicity and development standpoint. Legislators are gearing bills up to allow this practice but there are two points I’d like to point out. As the second story asks, how will regulators ensure that the pricing of credits are done fairly. This is key for the financing of the asset because if the language is nuanced or vague, investors will find themselves having a hard time getting debt or more importantly tax equity. With all of the traction, you’ve seen few get built to this point and the lack of regulatory certainty is probably behind some of the slow growth.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for March 24th, 2016

For independents in swing states, the key metric is “more likely to support.” These voters are the holy grail when it comes to campaigns and a new poll shows that an astounding 27% of independents in swing states are more likely to support a candidate that shows vocal support for solar. Solar is now a meaningful issue, we have already seen the support of subsidies by government but now the politicians that support those subsidies can benefit. This poll comes just a week after the utility group, formerly SEPA, released a push poll that showed that consumers like have robust net metering even after the utility pollster tried to influence their response. See the results here

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for March 23rd, 2016

Let’s call it a rebirth, not a death, of our peer Sunedison. I don’t think that this is good for our sector, it surely isn’t good for our colleagues that are employed there but sometimes a restructuring is what’s best for the company. So as Sunedison goes to negotiate with its creditors, and there are quite a few, the company has to try and keep the pieces together. I am surprised at the staying power of the CEO, still behind on the SEC filings and sitting at the helm of the recent decline.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for March 22nd, 2016

Those of us in the solar industry know we can get to 100% renewables, and we know solar will play a key role. But how do we get the message to the public, and get people to take action? Look at most any solar company’s website, and the main message you’ll see is how much money you can save. Do we need to focus instead on the benefits to health and the environment? Or the appeal of energy freedom to many demographics? In solar, you don’t have to pick one. In fact, recent research suggests that the most powerful persuasion combines these messages with a focus on leaving a legacy. And when you provide positive solutions like solar power, you have a winner. So let’s work on honing our solar marketing with these principles in mind -- and hasten the transition we all know is coming.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for March 21st, 2016

I enjoy reading about statistics and admittedly bad at doing it myself. So I have some appreciation for the data breakdown that Lawrence Berkeley Lab did on some utility scale projects. They also provided a neat video explanation which is a handy way of not having to read the actual report. Data is becoming more evident in our sector especially given that we are almost at 1 million systems around the Country.

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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 March 18th, 2016

This has been percolating for a few months but I'm glad to see it coming to a head. When hemlock filed its lawsuit against SolarWorld, it caused a ripple effect that made the trade negotiations come back to life. The key now is that Hemlock wins the lawsuit summary judgement causing SolarWorld to accept a trade resolution resulting in a lump sum cash settlement so they can pay the judgement. Following? End result is that a settlement can eliminate the tariffs and maybe some minimum price but that's to be determined. Karma is a bitch as we know and I hope it's finally reaching an end!

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Yann