Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for July 17th, 2019

Great ITC News. Last week I asked for your help and you came through. Almost 1,000 solar companies signed on to an important letter showing that we, as an industry, support the ITC. Here is the complete list in case you are interested. More importantly, this is sending a huge message to members of Congress and our advocates will be able to leverage this. Get your marketing teams to send out a message to your representative and on your social media using the #DefendtheITC hashtag. 

More Info On 201. Yesterday I spoke with SEIA about the letter I described about the meeting at with the Deputy US Trade Representative. The next event in the 201 process was a mid term review of the original tariff where the parties come together to lobby for changes, reductions or eliminations of the original impact. Trump has broad authority during this process to make other changes as well, which could include changes to exclusions. 201 is a seldom used trade tool and not all processes are clear to the participants but the common thought is that the mid term review sets up the next lobbying effort. 

A Pod On SMART Solar. In this episode I speak with Michael Judge of the MA DOER about the SMART implementation. We talk about the issues that the program needs to resolve and where there have been successes. If you are active in the MA market, don’t miss this episode and while you are at it, leave a 5 star review!

Road Less Traveled, Won’t Travel. LADWP is on its way to get off coal. By 2025, the municipal power department will close the only remaining coal plant which sits in Utah and buy the output of a newly built natural gas plant. Not only is that a ridiculous financial move, I know for a fact that solar with storage would be faster and cheaper to replace this generation within existing LADWP transmission. For a City that touts the need for climate progress, the utility department still moves to the beat of the 1990’s. 

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 16th, 2019

201 Plaintiffs Strike Again. On June 21st, executives from First Solar, Suniva and Q-Cells met with the Deputy Trade Representative to fight back against the 201 tariff exclusion for bi-facial modules. The fact that Suniva is still actively undermining the solar industry is incredibly frustrating. First Solar has a great product with Series 6 and should let its product do its talking instead of trying for a regulatory band aid. The claim is that wall street’s bullish outlook on the exclusion shows that this is an undue advantage for bi-facial manufacturers, a technology that none of the three plaintiffs are showing on their product websites. If you have more information on this, go ahead and send it to me confidentially by hitting reply. 

Impact If Successful. This impacts utility-scale solar since that is where the bi-facial market is largely focused. Companies like NEXTracker have been hyping the benefits of bi-facial on trackers for over a year and the exclusion gave some lift to the more expensive technology. The meeting was held to ask for the exclusion to be rescinded or place a 500MW quote on the exclusion. If either of those is granted, it will likely depress the market once more creating greater urgency on extending the ITC. What is clear is that the plaintiffs have no regard to the crisis caused by climate change, this is pure financial motive. 

Bill Gates’s Nuclear Concerns. Bill Gates is concerned that an advanced nuclear technology that he is invested in will not find a home for its demonstration project. Originally slated for China, Gates hopes that this technology will be given a chance in the US. Gates is outspoken about the need for advanced nuclear research and development to create a carbon-free future and in this case, is putting his money where his mouth is. 

Sunnova’s Raise. The initial offering hopes to sell north of 17million shares between $16 and $18 with the upper range providing $365million in the raise. I think this is a good time to go out with installers giving a very positive outlook to the residential market and Sunrun (similar but different) doing well in the public markets.

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 15th, 2019

Cypress Turnaround Continues. The new leadership team at Cypress Creek, with a positive reputation in the market, is making more changes to the business model. One of those changes is eliminating the in-house EPC division so that the development can contract with external EPC partners. EPC is one of those internal cost centers that has benefits on multiple fronts including financial structuring ones. The core expertise at Cypress will remain with the early development, knowing how to take a piece of land and get it to NTP. 

The Storage Market. Yes, private equity firms and infrastructure investors are keen to get into the storage market and deploy capital. The same is true for integrators, companies that take the parts and pieces and make a system, and storage OEMs, which are focused on longevity and warranty bankability. It is hard to build one of these companies which is making it a ripe market for acquisitions as well as a less obvious reason, talent. Talent that really knows and understands storage is still incredibly fragmented.

Needs Some Markets. The storage sector also is lacking what has taken solar more than a decade to get, markets. Look at the aches and pains that it has taken SMART to get off the ground and even how slow storage has been to take off in California. That’s why trade reports like the one about DERs in New Jersey is particularly important for the continued growth of the up and coming markets. 

Energy Choice Fight. There isn’t much detail here and the number isn’t big enough to fight against the IOUs but Florida is going to gear up for a discussion about energy choice. The proposed constitutional amendment wants to open up energy retail choice for consumers and the fight got $3million to get it started. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one!

New Pod. Go to your podcast apps and check out the latest pod with Michael Judge of the DOER to talk about SMART, if it’s helpful to your business then share it with your friends online, make sure to tag #solarwakeup!

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 12th, 2019

PG&E Bailout. It’s coming and ready to be signed, what did solar get? 

Speaking Of Solar. PG&E is still warning its customers that power outages may be coming and they should think about backup generators. Generators, not solar and storage, (only in the fine print) because solar plus storage would be too permanent. 

Judge Isn’t Happy. The WSJ is out with some in-depth reporting about PG&E and the Judge wants a paragraph by paragraph response. 

New Pod. Over the next few weeks you will get the recordings of SolarWakeup Live! Boston starting with my conversation about opportunity zone funding for solar projects. Subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating!

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann