Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for May 28th, 2020

Commercial Solar In Trouble. Financing rooftop solar for commercial customers is going to be more complicated than ever before. Putting most companies through a pandemic risk assessment increases the return requirement in a market already tough to make the financials work. This is going to drive more developers to either propose cash purchases as opposed to financing where a third party owns the solar asset. The tax code was amended to allow for the depreciation losses to go back 5 years but this market desperately needs a grant in lieu to kick start again. How the community solar or virtual PPA market adopts these customers will be interesting.

EVs Are Better (And Cheaper). Anyone that has driven an electric car knows that it’s a better driving experience. Even car companies have accepted this and adopting full product lines in this decade. EVs will nationalize once a cultural icon like the F-150 gets an electric version and fleets actually roll out large scale implementation. How regulators and utilities execute on this will be important especially as the market seems to be trending towards utility ownership of charging stations. The best part in this new data set, EVs are drastically cheaper assets to own as well.

Southern Co Wants Headlines. I’d like to fast forward to every utility announcing a 100% clean by 2050 goal. With every coal asset or older power plant to be first moved to a gas investment and then magically by 2050 it will all be renewable. The issue with the headlines and details isn’t the goal, it’s that none of the executives in the board room today will be there in 30 years and the goal doesn’t impact this quarters financial performance. Until the incentive of rate basing a new gas plant next year is removed and replaced by building a better solar plus storage asset, we will get more lofty goals with short term gas power plants being built.

Podcast Mailbag. Make sure you catch my podcast about the 30 million solar roof idea by John Farrell. The podcast is now available on spotify as well as other streaming platforms. Next week’s episode will be a mailbag where I talk about the headlines and answer your questions, send over topics you want me to cover.

Act On FERC. During the coronavirus pandemic, a small shadowy association just launched an unprecedented attack on our solar rights, and we need your help to stop it. This secretive group is trying to end the fundamental, state-based solar energy policy of net metering that allows solar users to earn fair credit for the surplus electricity their solar panels produce. The deadline to stop this attack is in just a few weeks. Tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to immediately reject this destructive and dangerous attack on your solar rights! Thank you for lending your voice to this important issue during this challenging time. If you want more details on the petition before FERC, click here or join Vote Solar  on a webinar on May 28th at 3pm MT.

Presented By Suntuity. Do you sell solar and see an opportunity to expand the markets you serve in a digital sales environment? Suntuity is expanding its salesforce and looking for more sales leaders to join their growing team. Based in New Jersey and servicing over a dozen States, joining Suntuity could be the sales boost you need. Learn more about our company today. 

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for May 27th, 2020

30 Million Solar Roofs. A few weeks ago I linked to an article that talked about using solar to create jobs in the post-COVID recovery. The idea was bold, build 30 million solar roofs (fully funded) in the next half decade. John Farrell from ILSR was the author behind the idea and the subject of this week’s SolarWakeup podcast. I hope you enjoy, subscribe and rate the podcast on your favorite app.

Midwest Solar Rush. Alliant Energy, the Wisconsin based publicly traded utility, is looking to increase solar in Wisconsin more than fourfold. In acquiring 675MW of solar projects, Alliant will expand the 150MW of solar exponentially and looks to be taking some cues from utilities like Florida Power & Light. The announcement talks about asking the regulators to push the docket forward and (I’m assuming) letting the utility rate base the asset. Like in Florida, I am not opposed to the concept of having the utility rate base large power plant, as long as it allows the distributed market to flourish based on market conditions. It can’t be all for one and none for all.

Faster Solar Installs. Hawaii is taking a big cut to the timeline between contract signing and project install for solar. At this point in the market it is one of the most valuable market drivers that politicians and regulators can push forward. We talked about the cost of permitting in the past and how SolarAPP is the tool that enables markets and installers to provide faster solar and a more pleasant customer process for homeowners.

The FERC Fight. None of what the solar industry wants going forward is possible if FERC decides that States no longer have a say in matters affecting electricity rates and rate structures, including net metering. In the biggest attempt to remove States’ rights, the New England Ratepayers Association (NERA), is asking for FERC to remove net metering as a State by State regulation. NERA is likely fronting for someone else, though we don’t yet know who, but this is much bigger than solar alone. Vote Solar is asking you to get involved and make your voice heard, this is your call to action, Tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to immediately reject this destructive and dangerous attack on your solar rights! You can also join Vote Solar for a webinar tomorrow to learn more about this national attack on solar during this pandemic.

Presented By Suntuity. Do you sell solar and see an opportunity to expand the markets you serve in a digital sales environment? Suntuity is expanding its salesforce and looking for more sales leaders to join their growing team. Based in New Jersey and servicing over a dozen States, joining Suntuity could be the sales boost you need. Learn more about our company today. 

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for May 26th, 2020

Things Will Change. As the weeks of the pandemic move along, I am coming to realize that we don’t know what is going to happen in the future. There are predictions about peak carbon, peak oil and I’ve personally written about how the energy use will be redistributed with more people working from home. When will you get on a plane again and do you expect to work from home in 2021? These questions will drive much of what changes or not. For the solar industry, there is little that points to lower energy consumption in the home as opposed to the past. Self-reliance and backup generation will likely grow in importance during the sales cycle but the solar industry will not be alone in approaching this market with solutions. Utilities, generators and efficiency will also pursue the opportunity, look at how quick Generac was to get into California with generators during the wildfire crisis last year and with two acquisitions made themselves a real player in solar as well. The point is that every data point from every over analyzed consultant is based on a changed set of variables and the oil companies are front and center as well. No-one is driving and planes are grounded, oil usage is down and the postcard from the future has arrived in the form of a Mack truck. A world that doesn’t use oil at the same levels was something ESG and sustainability executives have been saying for years and predicted it would come some day. Oil companies must adjust they said, invest in solar and wind and batteries. How does an oil company get into the renewables space overnight and replace billions in quarterly profits? How would you do it? Can it be done? I don’t know who and how and where the battle by the big market will play out, but here is one thing that I am certain about. Those of you that service the homeowner, whether as a local installer, a regional one or a national player on the top 10 list, that market is going to top $20billion, $50billion and more. Today that market is slow, inefficient and lacks the transparency you expect in vibrant marketplaces. That will change with the growth and success of many, so things will change for everyone everywhere. For those of us fortunate enough to be in solar, hang on tight.

Catch Up. Subscribe to the podcast, no pod released today. Download the full survey results from the past 8 weeks. Catch the webinar with OpenSolar about digital solar operations and virtual selling. 

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for May 22nd, 2020

A Favor. If you enjoy this newsletter, please forward it to one or two solar friends. You’d be surprised how many people don’t get the daily solar news. If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.

Rumor Has It. You may have seen that Enphase stock slipped by over 10% at the start of trading yesterday. A major company shareholder is Chilean investor South Lake One LLC, an entity controlled by Quiroga Moreno Isidoro. Controlling as much as 13.5million shares after a buying spree of over 1.2million shares in November 2019 at a price just under $20. Isidoro participated in a fundraising round in February 2018 when he purchased 9.5million shares for $2.10 a piece. The rumor, which is well sourced at this point, is that he has sold his entire stake in Enphase for around $61 per share. This is typical, many early investors will sell some or all of their stake in companies when they have completed their phase into success. $2 to $61 is quite the investment for a 2 year period and his shares found new investors at these levels. This marks a key date in the corporate history of Enphase, what will the company do in their next growth phase?

Because You Asked. Not that it matters because it doesn’t influence my writing nor the stock prices. I own shares in basically every solar company including Enphase and Solaredge. I don’t pick winners, I am picking the solar industry as a winner and believe that those investments will be worth a lot more when my kids go to college than today. So if you work at a solar company, public or private, I’m rooting for your success at all times.

Tesla Energy Trading. Here’s the answer to anyone asking whether Tesla or any other battery company is better on energy trading. The answer is yes, absolutely. They are also betting and advocating that the grid will reward speed of power generation, revenue stacking and growth of monetization for microgrids. As revenue streams for batteries increase so does the development and integration of those technologies.

Have A Great Weekend. Stay safe and if it weren’t for the COVID situation I would invite you all over to help me pack the container!

Opinion

Best, Yann