Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for January 25th, 2020

A Fed Response. Looking at the policy landscape, especially on solar and renewables, I wonder how close folks have looked at what ESG first monetary policy would look like. Solar on a roof can be a $1,200 per year stimulus for those living in the house or similar benefits for community solar customers. All we’d have to figure out how to lower the cost of money to the point that the capex of the investment is offset by the cost of staying with the status quo.

Infrastructure Week. Joe Manchin, with a bright spotlight on him at the 50th Senator, is calling for a $4 trillion infrastructure bill. He’s not ready to jump into renewables head first but he also knows that infrastructure spending won’t be building new coal plants, he just can’t say it out loud.

Fixing RTOs. There is no doubt that the last four years of attempted Federal takeover of state and regional energy policy has caused problem. Starting with the MOPR, RTOs and ISOs have to come back to the starting block and then implement state by state energy standards and goals. Moreover, they are looking at an energy demand that has been turned on its head and now is very residential. And then you add the electrification of transportation as well as the money losing power plants that are closing and you realize that the energy markets have to figure out how to price signal to developers the value of DERs and other distribution level grid investments. This is an important time to be a regulator.

Solar For All. With everything that we are talking about, in the market and in policy rooms, we have to ensure that the access to solar and solar generated electricity isn’t just for those that own a single family residence with southern exposure. Renters, low income families, and others without access to onsite solar must have reasonable alternatives with similar benefits. Low income families spend a giant percentage of their income on utilities and it would be a bad signal by our industry and supporters to forget that.

A Supply Chain Mess. Solar is growing everywhere and the US market continues to be underestimated. With our path to 1million solar homes installed in a few years, Australia at over 25% penetration, suppliers are having a hard time keeping up with demand. The SolarWakeup Buyer’s Group was meant to not only lower costs but also increase access by consolidating demand amongst its members. We’re doing that now, reducing lead times and saving money. Get in touch with us through our portal or hit reply to this email. 

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 22nd, 2020

Star Spangled Weekend. Yes, The Dead’s Bob Weir played at the Clean Energy for America Ball on Wednesday night but it was solar’s own, Dan Shugar, that played the intro Anthem. It was like having the Battle of the Bands back for a moment. 

Click To Run FERC. Commissioner Glick, former counsel to the Senate Energy Committee, has been chosen by Biden to chair FERC. He’s a vocal opponent of the MOPR, the flawed plan to save fossil fuel power plants through massive subsidies. As chair he will oversee an energy transition and implementation of FERC orders 841 and 2222 amongst many others.

A Biden Prediction. Before the end of the first Biden term and more likely by the end of 2023, the US solar market will install solar on more than 1 million homes. It is very likely that in 2022, residential solar will sell solar to more than 1 million homes. Training and supply chain will be the only limiting factor whether it happens in 2023 or 2024. #timestamped

Sentiment Plus ESG. The tailwind of sentiment matched by regulatory support is now propped up by the 2021 word of the year, ESG. More to come on this.

Join The Residential Solar Rocketship. Suntuity Solar is one of the fastest growing solar companies in the Country and we’re looking to hire the best to join us. Our executive team is hiring for VP of Operations, HR Director, Director of Talent and more positions at all levels of experience. If you or someone you know is looking to expand their career, send Suntuity an email!

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 21st, 2020

A Poet, A Poem, Capture America. “For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us, This is the era of just redemption” That comes from the Inaugural Poet, Amanda Gorman. A lyrical rockstar who stole the show, just so you know. See it here. 

An Oath And A Plan. President Biden took the stage and the oath before walking to the White House and quickly got to work. Look for a long set of climate-related, solar positive, actions coming from the oval office. You can see his announcements on Twitter.

The Climate Team. During the Inaugural Ball last night, Governor Granholm and Administrator McCarthy who are nominated for Secretary of Energy and Domestic Climate Coordinator respectively spoke to the large crowd of cleantech pros. They, along with dozens of others, will forge the arteries across the vast Federal government to ensure that climate positive actions are pulsing throughout the body of politics. Personnel is a policy and the personnel is in place and growing. One vote multiplied 80 million times brings resurrection to a future with the hope that we can nurture nature and leave a planet for our children that is in better shape than the one we’ve inherited.

Au Revoir Means Coming Back. Biden initiated the return to the Paris Climate Accords because when we left the global agreement it was not goodbye.

What Does It All Mean? I’ll be discussing this in a live webinar at 11am eastern this morning. The discussion is hosted by Roth Capital. Words you will hear on the call include, policy, supply chain, loan originations and SPACs. Maybe a word or two about President Biden.

A New FERC. The President’s party gets the majority of the seats on FERC, and yesterday Chair Danly chaired his last meeting.

Big Markets. BNEF is forecasting 192GW of solar in 2021, a trillion dollar market in the making.

California NEM 3.0. CALSSA is hosting a webinar to its members about the net metering 3.0 rule making and regulator proceedings. You can register for that here. If you’re not a member and would like to be, as the board member of CALSSA, I welcome your inquiry. If you’re not a member but operate in California, you can absolve your oversight by joining to ensure NEM 3.0 is solar friendly.

Join The Residential Solar Rocketship. Suntuity Solar is one of the fastest growing solar companies in the Country and we’re looking to hire the best to join us. Our executive team is hiring for VP of Operations, HR Director, Director of Talent and more positions at all levels of experience. If you or someone you know is looking to expand their career, send Suntuity an email!

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 20th, 2020

A New Day. In 5 hours, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as President and Vice President. With the Georgia Secretary of State certifying the election yesterday, Warnock and Ossoff will also be sworn in today. While DC looks and feels different today, not just because of the pandemic and threat of insurrection but also because it’s getting back to a normal DC. A normal DC isn’t normal by any stretch of the imagination but it’s normal in the way that deals are made and bills are passed with everyone getting something. I’ve often said that the founders admired the mediocrity of the center where no-one gets everything and everyone gets something. Celebrate today and tomorrow get back to work because politics isn’t a spectator sport.

Have A Ball. Tonight you can join me and Billie Eilish at the Clean Energy for Biden Inauguration Ball. Tickets are available until 2pm Eastern. You can learn more and buy tickets here.

#Ride4Solar. No better way to start today than taking a ride for solar with your friends on the Peloton. Join us at 8am on the live ride with Cody Rigsby and invite your friends to join us. West coasters can join the ride later in the day, the highest output riders get to write a paragraph on SolarWakeup one day.

Shoals Road Show. On New Year’s Eve, Shoals filed for their IPO and now is managing their roadshow getting investors excited for the upcoming transparency and liquidity in the market. If at the end of the month their IPO goes well, and I expect that it will to the tune of a potential market cap over $1b, there is going to be a run on the markets including by those that are not ready for it.

Who’s Next? Most executives haven’t looked into it and realized that Shoals is only $150million in revenue with market margins. In many ways this is a trade that comps with Array Technologies as well as Enphase and Solaredge which will drive Shoals stock price higher. There are other solar companies in this range of revenue and margin and they are going to ask themselves how they can exit. First, you need to talk to the right people. Second, Shoals as well as Array before it, brought in a majority investor in Oaktree which gave the company years of professionalism and decades of relationships on wall street. There is no fast and easy path to what they’re doing but it can be done. Happy to chat with you if this is talking to you. Lastly and most importantly, I would be shocked if activist investors don’t get louder and more aggressive with Flex in the effort to spin out Nextracker. This is the most withheld value in solar public companies today.

The Rivian Raise. I don’t see Rivian as a Tesla competitor, in many ways it’s a sibling that also started a venture to compete with the status quo that is simply moving too slow. The Rivian SUV and pickup are great looking vehicles that will start shipping later this year. With another $2.6billion on the balance sheet, it looks like a good year for them as well.

Join The Residential Solar Rocketship. Suntuity Solar is one of the fastest growing solar companies in the Country and we’re looking to hire the best to join us. Our executive team is hiring for VP of Operations, HR Director, Director of Talent and more positions at all levels of experience. If you or someone you know is looking to expand their career, send Suntuity an email!

Opinion

Best, Yann