This is your SolarWakeup for April 25th, 2014
Lots of talk in the midwest about new policies like the NEM replacement battle in MN or the NEM fee in OK. At times, it is easier to ignore the "flyover" States but perhaps a hidden solar goldmine is there. If you happen to be in the area, the Midwest Solar Expo is taking place in May, if the Midwest is a growth area for you, shoot us some updates from the expo.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 24th, 2014
Yesterday, the first quarter results for utility scale solar came out. Down to 584MW from 877MW from the same timeframe last year. As Google announces another residential investment, there seems to be only one more sector for smaller investors. Commercial solar is the next oasis, we can all see it through the desert of solar but turning it into reality is a goal we all share and must work towards together. If you know investors interested in bringing money to commercial markets, let me know as we want to hear from them.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 23rd, 2014
Ever since the Ukraine-Russia conflict started, we started to see the maps of natural gas pipelines. Thomas Friedman even came and called out the benefit to clean energy if Russian Gazprom shut off the natural gas supply to Europe. At the same time President Obama went to Saudi Arabia, who has been threatening Qatar with sanctions due to Middle Eastern policies. My article wraps it all together on why solar plays a central role in global politics, hope you enjoy.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 22nd, 2014
State level battles will continue for the foreseeable future. The new aspect is that solar has become important enough to be covered by mainstream media outlets. Whether you are an MSNBC or Fox News viewer, you get to see a perspective about topics like the Oklahoma net metering fee. In Oklahoma, a whopping 200 customers have solar...out of 780,000. In case you are calculating, that's 0.0025%.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 21st, 2014
After a week-long discussion on new ways policy is being written against solar, Chris Hayes from MSNBC hosted solar's own, Jigar Shah. The discussion was about the 'world's dumbest idea' of taxing solar energy users. Catch the recap of the interview and more on Oklahoma's way of solving a non-existing problem.
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Yann
Top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
This Week's SolarWakeup Original Story
This Week’s SolarWakeup Original Story Top 5 Policy Tricks Used By Anti-Solar Groups These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week! #1 CleanTechnica: Solar Falls Off Cliff, World Domination Inevitable Now #2 NY Times: Go Ahead, Vladimir, Make My Day #3 Florida Today: Workman a solar-power hatchet man? #4 Washington Post: Obama to challenge private companies to boost solar use #5 HuffPost: 20 Best Cities For Solar As America Prepares For A ‘Revolution’ #6 Solar Industry: Solar Monetization Option Challenges Third-Party Ownership #7 FOX 13: Power company proposes new charge on homes with solar panels #8 GTM: Do You Wash Your Solar Modules Often Enough? #9 … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for April 18th, 2014
It's been fun counting down the ways anti-solar policy has been attempted. I want to be fair to utilities though. It's their business to protect the monopoly, most IOUs are avid solar investors outside of their territory. So remember that policy is not a spectator sport but most participants are doing their job. #3: The utilities love solar; we have no problem with it and welcome it If you missed the others, read the SolarWakeup original article.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 17th, 2014
Last Week, a Florida State Rep. stopped a solar initiative from going to the ballot in November. What followed (surprisingly) was a Twitter conversation between @SolarWakeup and the Rep which got some press coverage (see first article) and therefore you get #5: Kill solar legislation in committee; it’s just too popular with the people. If you can't defend a no-vote then stop a vote from happening. If you want to see all 5 anti-solar policy tricks, read the SolarWakeup original article.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 16th, 2014
As we count down the top 5 policy tricks being used by anti-solar groups, we continue with #2: Get rid of net metering, for something that’s better (Pinky Promise?). It can come in many shapes and sizes but in almost every case two things will be true. 1. The utility will want the production to come to the grid and 2. The utility will own the hedge against future electricity rate hikes. If you want to see all 5 anti-solar policy tricks, read the SolarWakeup original article.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 15th, 2014
As we count down the top 5 policy tricks being used by anti-solar groups, we start with #1: Allow solar leasing…but only if provided by the investor owned utility. 3rd party ownership has been the driver of much of solar's growth and some legislatures (by virtue of their campaign donors) want to take this business and bring it into the utility monopolies. If you want to see all 5 anti-solar policy tricks, read the SolarWakeup original article.
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Yann