This is your SolarWakeup for July 30th, 2015
A lot going on today that I want to tell you about. First, ever since the IPO of the SunPower/First Solar yieldco, the metric for solar IPPs has been CAFD (cash available for distribution). Yesterday, SolarCity went the non-GAAP route and released a memo on the topic. Second, look at large corporates to continue to be internally conflicted on solar and then trend to being pro-solar because it is good for business. Berkshire Hathaway is the biggest of them all, an owner of some of the worst utilities and coal transporting railroads it is also becoming one of the largest owners of solar asset owners including community solar.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 29th, 2015
Growth comes in all shapes and sizes. For SolarCity it was the full stack of residential offerings and large corporates with public credit. Now comes the last remaining aspect of the US solar market, small and medium commercial. Reading between the lines, the company is looking to get into unrated and private credits. The press release is heavy on simpler technology and in-house crews but that’s only a cost item. The last SolarCity ABS still had a FICO average in the 700s and the strategy has to be more than lower costs and scale. SolarCity is planning something else to combat the financial structuring, let’s see where it goes.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 28th, 2015
David Roberts from Vox has the right headline today. Solar (especially rooftop) is booming due to cost declines, more innovative financing structures and fair regulatory policies. With the ITC and net metering being attacked daily (see today’s “ratepayer advocate” from Arizona) you can see how quickly this could go sideways for solar. Just think about how much money is spent by solar companies on public policy and regulatory research. This money isn’t spent for the good of solar. It is spent for the good of the companies that lobby for the policies that drive their business model.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 27th, 2015
Hillary Clinton has come out with a strong proposal on climate change and solar in particular. What amounts to growing solar seven-fold by 2027, Clinton is looking to make sure that America understands that solar energy is an economic prosperity and growth story where jobs are always available and pay well above average. What we have to remember is that while we get big headlines, there are many smaller headlines and misleading campaigns on what is smart and shady and how net metering is bad for utilities and consumers. Everyone has a motive, so when you read the headline, understand what the motive is.
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Yann
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.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 24th, 2015
Vacation brain got to me as I realized today that I put the wrong link for the Senator Hatch action alert. So let’s give you a recap. The Senate Finance committee has passed a tax extenders bill. In the next phase, amendmentsdaf will be made from the floor which usually need some level of approval by the Chair and Ranking member. As the Senate moves to recess, we have to speak up to Senator Hatch and Senator Wyden, the Senators from Utah and Oregon respectively. Solar doesn’t have the money that the utilities have and until ideas like today’s top story about leveling the playing field (never going to happen) get somewhere, solar has to use its voice and grassroots support
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 23rd, 2015
The Sunrun IPO is going to be happening soon as the prospectus was filed yesterday. The residential game is going strong this week. With Sunedison buying Vivint Solar for $2.2billion including $500million in debt giving the company a valuation of $1.7billion. Sunrun, which had 8 times the revenue of Vivint Solar in 2014, is trying to IPO at $13-$15 per share giving the company a valuation of $1.25-$1.45billion. Interestingly, Sunedison has increased guidance due to the Vivint Solar acquisition by an AMAZING 1.1-1.3GW. That means that the company expects 2016 to be 2x the cumulative lifetime. As a sidenote, will some reporters do some real work on their stories going forward? The GTM Residential Leaderboard is for pure play installers. Not residential marketshare as a whole. Vivint Solar can’t be the second largest with $25million in revenue in 2014 compared to SolarCity’s $250million and Sunrun’s $198million. Here is the prospectus for some fun reading
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 22nd, 2015
Maybe you have been sitting out the ITC lobbying because it was too early or it didn’t impact you enough just yet. While the date seems far off, you have to remember that next year is a Presidential election year and nothing will get done. Case in point, a tax extender bill came out of Senate Finance Committee and solar ITC was not included. ALL IS NOT LOST, now is the time to get involved. The Chair of Senate Finance can still make a change by amendment. We need your voice. I need your help. Send Senator Hatch a note, Have your family send him a note. Your 2nd cousin? He should send a note too!
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 21st, 2015
You have all heard the news by now. SunEdison is buying Vivint Solar, a story I covered in detail when they filed their S-1. The price tag, $2.2billion but let’s dig into that a bit. The development platform, SunEdison is buying the Vivint Solar platform for $777million and adding a $500million loan. This is most likely to pay off some of the debt that Vivint Solar had to Vivint. Terraform is acquiring the 2015 assets of Vivint Solar, a total of 523MW for $962million which equates to $1.84/watt for deals average $0.14/kWh. My first reaction is that this may be the largest addition of residential solar assets into a yieldco, at 9.5% cash on cash yield, a lucrative addition. Read the investor presentation here.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 20th, 2015
What is the point of net metering caps? They are a big subject currently in Nevada and Massachusetts. One side would say that it has to preserve the integrity of the grid that is used to provide service for consumers ‘when they hit their light switch’. The other side would simply say that it is used to keep solar growth from stagnation. It’s all a marketing scheme at the end of the day, a net metering cap is just that, a cap. A cap on solar, a cap on growth, a cap on creating sustainable businesses in our industry.
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Yann