This is your SolarWakeup for August 4th, 2014
I always seem to roll my eyes when an article comes out along the lines of "solar beats/matches coal/nat gas etc." In every case the comparison takes into account the upfront cost or LCOE calculation. I'd like the next person to show me a fixed price PPA for a natural gas power plant, or a contract that has no assumption for future cost of fuel increases. Also, when are we going to value water? Water is going to be more valuable than natural gas, or it may already be...
News
1 PV-Tech:
Solar crucial to avoid water-related conflict
2 GTM:
As Securitization Grows, Is the Solar Ready for Wall Street’s Scrutiny?
3 Motley Fool:
How Solar Energy Is Taking Over the U.S.
4 Boston Globe:
DPU chief crafts bill that aids son’s firm
5 PV Magazine:
Long-awaited French energy bill puts renewables center stage
6 Solar Industry:
Germany’s PV Experience Represents Lessons For Solar Adoption
7 RE World:
SunPower Planning New 700-MW Factory as Demand Swells
8 VentureBeat:
How Tesla’s ‘Gigafactory’ could change everything — not just EVs
Opinions:
9 Sun-Sentinel:
Solar energy column missed the mark
Have a great day!
Yann
These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
News
1 AZ Central:
APS wants to put free solar panels on 3,000 homes
2 GTM:
SolarCity Quietly Moving to Loans and Customer-Owned Solar
3 Boston Globe:
Solar energy bill hanging in the balance
4 Mass Live:
Massachusetts House lifts cap on solar projects
5 GTM:
APS Enters the Solar Business
6 NY Times:
Solar Industry Is Rebalanced by U.S. Pressure on China
7 Forbes:
SolarWorld Wins, Americans Lose, As Commerce Fixes Tariffs
8 Forbes:
Six Reasons Solar Needs To Stop Whining About Chinese Tariffs
9 CS Monitor:
How many solar panels would it take to power Earth?
10 RE World:
Panel Prices Expected to Rise in the US Due to New Tariffs
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 August 1st, 2014
EIA drops some chartastic data on us today. Non-hydro energy production is overtaking hydro. A testament to the renewable energy production increase and the hurdles that the southwest has had with recent droughts. Moreover, many EIA datasets do not include distributed generation. Just wait to see how this replicates in hydro dominated markets around the world....
News
1 EIA:
Nonhydro renewables now routinely surpass hydropower generation
2 Mass Live:
Massachusetts House lifts cap on solar projects
3 GTM:
Proof That a $10 Minimum Bill Is Better Than a Fixed Charge
4 Solar Industry:
N.Y. Creates Database Of 10K Solar Projects
5 CleanTechnica:
Solar May Become Cheaper Than Wind In 5 Years
6 Bloomberg:
Brazil Development Bank to Allow Solar Imports Until 2020
7 RenewEconomy:
US solar giant quits Australia due to policy uncertainty
8 Forbes:
Arizona Utility To Pay Consumers For Rooftop Space For Solar
Opinions:
9 Red, Green, and Blue:
Xcel Has More Faces Than Eve
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 31st, 2014
Lots of coverage of the APS proposal to own 20MW of residential solar rooftops. Let us be clear about one thing. APS wants to own solar, put it into the ratebase (make customers pay for it) and then turn around and say that solar has no demand value. Thus requiring more power plants to be built. Utility owned generation, UOG, is the newest ploy by billion dollar corporations to get rid of the solar industry.
News
1 GTM:
APS Enters the Rooftop Solar Business
2 PV-Tech:
Con Edison chooses storage over billion-dollar substation project
3 CleanTechnica:
Renewables Pushing Utilities & Grid Operators To Invest In FACTS
4 KCET:
L.A. Using Only a Fraction of its Rooftop Solar Potential
5 Bloomberg:
China Solar Exports Increased 18% in First Half of 2014
6 RE World:
MA SREC Clearinghouse Auction Underway — What You Need to Know
7 Quartz:
How solar energy storage could make Tesla much more than an automaker
8 Forbes:
Six Reasons Solar Needs To Stop Whining About Chinese Tariffs
Opinions:
9 PR Watch:
Utility Trade Group Funds ALEC Attack on Americans Using Solar
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 30th, 2014
APS wants to put "free" solar panels on homes in Arizona. Also, they are not funding Corporate Commission candidates. Those two sentences remind me of some oceanfront property in Arizona that I would like to sell. Utility owned generation of distributed solar is the ultimate customer squeeze. No value for the homeowner, no value for their neighbors and a cost that will continue all the way to their grandchildren.
News
1 AZ Central:
APS wants to put free solar panels on 3,000 homes
2 Boston Globe:
Solar energy bill hanging in the balance
3 CS Monitor:
How many solar panels would it take to power Earth?
4 Solar Industry:
Fees For Solar Fire Up Advocates And Utilities In UT And MA
5 GTM:
NY Utility Proposes Community Solar, Microgrids-as-a-Service
6 CNN Money:
Direct Energy Enters Residential Solar Through Acquisition
7 Renew Economy:
Networks to defend grid by adding fees to solar
8 RE World:
New Jersey Moves Forward with Distributed Energy Resource Plan
Opinions:
9 Rachel Alexander:
Arizona Public Utility Attempting to Buy Elections
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 29th, 2014
Of course the blowback of the recent trade case is starting to come. I join all of those voices that call for the end of the tariffs. But the realist in me doesn't see a negotiated alternative outcome. SolarWorld (Owned by Qatar) had a decent quarter and can now get perpetual tariffs added to competitors that do it better and cheaper. Why would they want to change that? Why would they want another alternative strategy? Maybe if the market stops supporting SolarWorld product, they would come to the table.
News
1 PV-Tech:
Industry reaction to latest volley in US-China trade spat
2 RE World:
Solar Prices Expected to Rise in the US Due to New Tariffs
3 Breaking Energy:
Renewable Energy’s Stake in the Export-Import Bank Fight
4 Burlington Times:
NJ solar bailout working, for now
5 NY Times:
China Condemns U.S. In Solar Trade Battle
6 Bloomberg:
China Solar Projects Poised to Fuel Panel Price Rebound
7 GTM:
SolarCity Quietly Moving to Loans and Customer-Owned Solar
8 Mother Jones:
Inside the Huge Solar Farm That Powers Apple's iCloud
Opinions:
9 Des Moines Register:
Branstad's nix of solar grant disappointing
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 28th, 2014
To begin, I am back from a fantastic vacation which was made better with the help of Glenna Wiseman, who graciously stepped in for me last week. I hope you found her commentary as great as I did. You can always find her online at identity3.com, @GlennaWiseman or @Women4Solar!
News
1 SolarWakeup:
Making Electricity and Solar Usage Visible To The Naked Eye
2 PV-Magazine:
Commerce imposes preliminary anti-dumping tariffs of 26-165%
3 NY Times:
Solar Industry Is Rebalanced by U.S. Pressure on China
4 New Times:
The Alliance for Solar Choice Vows to Fight Florida Power Utilities
5 GTM:
SolarCity’s New $201M Securitized Solar Portfolio Keeps the Capital Flowing
6 Des Moines Register:
Branstad's solar grant decision stifles innovation
7 Salt Lake Tribune:
Is a fee for solar energy users a 'sun tax' or fair play?
8 WI State Journal:
Wisconsin utility companies take aim against solar power
Opinions:
9 Forbes:
SolarWorld Wins, Americans Lose, As Commerce Fixes Tariffs
Have a great day!
Yann
These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
News
1 Chaolysti:
A New Threat Looms Against Distributed Rooftop Solar
2 CleanTechnica:
Are Utilities About To Kill Solar Energy’s Future In NC?
3 GTM:
The Solar Industry’s Tax Credit Conundrum
4 HuffPost:
'Pay-as-you-go' solar financing hits new milestone
5 GTM:
Google’s $1M Challenge
6 PVTech:
Warning of ‘dangerous’ public backlash against solar in Japan
7 NPR:
Leased Solar Panels Can Cast A Shadow Over A Home's Value
8 RE World:
Keeping Up with Energy Storage
9 Breitbart:
Glare From Solar Plan Endangering Flights Over CA
10 Motley Fool:
Downstream Solar Companies, Funds Drive Strong Investment
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 25th, 2014
The US Department of Commerce finds cause to levy new duties on solar products manufactured in China and Taiwan ranging from 26% to 58%. Dumping margins occur when the Department of Commerce find products solar below fair value.
News
1 PV Tech:
2014 US solar deployment won’t be affected by new trade duties, says EnergyTrend
2 SolarServer:
Frost & Sullivan
3 PV Tech:
Renewables now ‘mainstream’ business for US utilities, says report
4 CleanTechnica:
US Solar Energy Capacity Grew An Astounding 418% From 2010-2014
5 Bloomberg:
U.K. Announces $340 Million Renewable Power Auction
6 Bloomberg:
India Plans Biggest Solar Auction of 1,500 Megawatts
7 Greentech Media:
Why Residential PACE Is Growing in Spite of Opposition From Federal Housing Lenders
8 EDF:
What Two Recent Transactions Say about the Future of Clean Energy Finance
9 Renewable Energy World:
New Solar Bill Would Destroy Community Solar Potential in Massachusetts
10 Renewable Energy World:
Despite Ohio Freeze, Renewable Energy Continues To Be Hot
11 RMI:
The Economics of Grid Defection
Opinions:
12 RMI:
Fortune 500 Companies Declare Their “Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles”
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 24th, 2014
Hot spots (pun intended) for solar development head up our solar stories today. U.S. solar footprint news highlights solar progressive states now experiencing battles to curtail solar development. Yesterday we saw headlines pointing to contention in Arizona, today its North Carolina. Out of Florida headlines call attention to the sunshine state’s solar potential and the roadblocks being thrown in the way of massive deployment there. On the technology side, Google is lighting a fire under the inverter market with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) to collapse the size of a solar inverter. $1 million is the contest prize with the juicier win being a potential alignment with Google’s “Bottom up Grid” project and/or an investment by the internet giant who is carving out a huge piece of the clean energy industry pie. With the recent acquisition of Solectria Renewables by Japanese machinery maker, Yaskawa Electric Corp., Google’s race for innovation puts even more pressure on an already hotly contested inverter market.
News
1 Greentech Media:
Google’s $1M Challenge
2 Florida Today:
Power providers ask Florida regulators to scale back energy-efficiency deals
3 CleanTechnica:
Another Indian State Joins Solar Power Race With 1,000 MW PV Project
4 PV Tech:
Warning of ‘dangerous’ public backlash against solar in Japan
5 CleanTechnica:
Are Utilities About To Kill Solar Energy’s Future In North Carolina?
6 Greentech Media:
Beyond the Rooftop
7 Renewable Energy World:
Solar Energy ‘Lighting Up’ Professional Sports
8 RunonSun:
Teaching the Duck to Fly
9 Chaolysti:
A New Threat Looms Against Distributed Rooftop Solar
10 SolarNovus:
Energy Storage Market Rises to $50 Billion
Opinions:
11 WLRN:
Why Doesn't The Sunshine State Use More Solar Energy?
Have a great day!
Yann
