Mediocre Sausage Making. The MA legislature passed a solar bill yesterday and pardon my lack of excitement. While a bill moving key features forward and a path to remove the fixed charges are included, the NEM cap continues to be punted and the opportunity to give consumers more ability to add solar has been lost for now. Nonetheless, there are important legislative wins and some messages to other utilities that hope to structure anti solar rates, for that this is a solar victory. Hats off to the advocates in solar for getting forward movement but the twitter statement from Vote Solar’s Sean Garren summarizes the final bill. “In like a lion, out like a lamb”

Reviewing California’s Solar Mandate. I appreciate the continued partnership with Barry Cinnamon and his wonderful podcast, The Energy Show. In the latest edition, you will hear him discuss the CA solar mandate on new homes. This is an important topic for me in my day job at Quick Mount PV. New homes represent a great opportunity to lower the cost of solar in a new installation while presenting ways to install attractive solar in a way that still holds quality for 30 years. That quality is sometimes missed because the transaction isn’t with the longterm owner so we appreciate the opportunity to educate homebuilders and installers on making sure its a leak free, quality installation.

Educated Consumers Consume Less. Last week during the heat wave in California (I can confirm that it is warm, but not Florida hot) consumers were asked to lower their energy consumption to ensure blackouts wouldn’t happen. That’s the funny thing about consumers, they can be helpful when educated and can be one of the best demand response tools if planned for properly. That’s the other side of renewables integration that folks don’t plan for. Consumers can, especially with new technology, adapt their habits to get what they want which is 100% renewable energy.

Solar Tariffs To Nowhere. Another great data point about the tariffs, this time the steel and aluminum tariffs. The tariffs are causing disruption more than innovation and in some instances result in worse installs for consumers. If aluminum prices rise, installers don’t replace tiles properly, take a look at the header image on the article. The installer did some sort of hack instead of using a proper tile replacement flashing, happy to show them one if they’d like.

Does Your Neighbor Solar? When I put solar on my home, my neighbors had lots of questions about it. How do you arm your customers and how do you respond to neighbors that are interested in solar? Would love to highlight great ideas here.

• SolarWakeup: Mediocre Massachusetts Energy Bill Closes Out Legislative Session To The Disappointment Of Nearly Everyone
• SolarWakeup: The Energy Show – California Requires Solar on all New Homes
• Greentech Media: Californians Slash Energy Use to Protect the Electric Grid
• Think Progress: Trump’s solar tariff isn’t working out how he hoped
• Utility Dive: Community solar can address renewables accessibility gap, report finds
• SolarWakeup: Georgia Group Offers Model Solar Zoning Guide To Streamline Project Siting
• PV-Tech: Ireland launches microgeneration grant for home solar-plus-storage
• Quartz: India just pushed its booming solar industry into chaos

Opinion

• Aiken Standard: Guest Editorial – Solar power in S.C. means competition for the big utilities

Have a great day!

Yann

8minute View On Solar. Frank interviews the CEO of 8minutenergy to discuss how one of the most successful developers views the solar market today. The conversation covers all of the topics that you would think about as a solar pro. It doesn’t matter what segment of solar you cover, you are worried about many of the same things.

Free Market Means Solar For Puerto Rico. I had to read the coverage several times but watching the members of Congress ask questions of the DOE Assistant Secretary on the topic of PREPA and energy in Puerto Rico. The questions are politically motivated and the answers are rooted in truth unable to be wrapped in the normal tone of partisanship.

Helping Grow Credit Unions And Community Banks. I had the pleasure of speaking with the team heading up the Clean Energy Federal Credit Union at the COSEIA conference and the mechanics of the credit union may be complicated but the benefits to the solar industry are immense. The interest alignment and the community benefit fit the vision of most credit unions and someone should find a way to make that deal flow access the local capital more efficient.

Flawed View Of Storage. I try not to be biased by the corporate donor ship to some university think tanks because the money should, in theory, be separated by those academics seeking their truth. As I read the view of the California market and the role that batteries will play, I can’t help but think (at almost every paragraph) who skewed the view of the future for the author. Storage is going to play a massive role in California and it will enable much more solar to be built. EVs and distributed generation will also do a great deal of good for the future but there is no doubt that storage is a massive opportunity for a clean energy future.

SunPower Updates On Impact Of Tariffs. After announcing Q2 earnings, SunPower held their call and some interviews to talk about their views of the solar market. Always great insight from the SunPower call as they are active in many geographies and market segments. The company continues to reduce exposure to large scale solar to focus on DG, announcing Fortune 50 portfolios that added SunPower systems. If you ever wonder where SunPower will be focusing, look at their EBITDA breakdown. Residential solar is where you want to be!

• SolarWakeup: An Interview With 8minutenergy – Martin Hermann On Battery Storage And Tariffs And Their Effect On The Overall Industry, Part II
• The Intercept: House Republicans Deeply Confused About Why Puertco Rico Might Benefit From Wind And Solar Power
• Solar Industry: NREL – Community Banks, Credit Unions Finding Success With Solar Loans
• MIT: The $2.5 trillion reason we can’t rely on batteries to clean up the grid
• Reuters: Solar panel glut is muting effect of Trump tariffs – SunPower
• SolarWakeup: The Scientists Are Screaming – Union Of Concerned Scientists Chastise U.S. Government On Storage Research Spending
• Los Angeles Times: The world’s largest solar farm rises in the remote Egyptian desert
• Greentech Media: Compromise Clears Path for Major Massachusetts Solar and Storage Incentive

Opinion

• Boston Globe: Care about climate change? Demand cheaper solar panels

Have a great day!

Yann

The Results Case For Politicians. Jobs, economic growth, and local investments. Those are the pillars of political talking points in an economic stump speech. That’s what solar delivers and we have to work harder inside campaigns to push for our data to get into those speeches. I’d love to hear both sides arguing who is more pro-solar, which is happening a bit in a State representative race I am watching in Florida. Try to get involved in a race and add some talking points to the candidate’s speech about consumer choice, job growth and putting money into the local community.

The $10Billion Deal. Last week I asked how you would invest $10billion in renewables and none of you had any ideas. And you missed your chance to make the pitch, instead, BP is putting it into shale gas. The point I am trying to make is that someone like Sunrun, First Solar or anyone else in the rundown today, would love to do $10billion in deals but can’t get that kind of scale on a single deal. The best thing for renewables is for this deal to be a bust, resulting in the investment lost which would cause the shareholders to demand another way.

We All Need To Stand With Resi. Anti-solar demand charges must be stopped by legislatures across the Country if the regulators won’t stand up for consumers. I’ve been thinking about a parallel to the solar industry. Why don’t utilities push back on LED lights, better AC’s or gas powered dryers/stoves and water heaters? The logic is exactly the same, consumers use less electricity. On the other hand, why wouldn’t consumers get a demand credit if they buy an electric car? The residential solar market is the lifeblood to the solar industry, no matter what segment you are in, you won’t see a growing market if consumers aren’t benefitting as well.

NV Energy Choice. This is an interesting twist to the ballot question on allowing corporations to go directly to generators. The Sierra Club and NRDC came out against the ballot question and sided with NV Energy. Apparently, some sort of side deal was made.

Quarterly Headaches. I’m not a stock analyst and seldomly play the markets, but one thing is certain. Running a company like First Solar that is deep in manufacturing, supply, and development with quarterly targets. A single project slipping by a few weeks could cause massive issues for the public company. How is the company supposed to work on 30-year projects if they have to think at 3-month time horizons? Same goes true for most other solar companies that are public, quarterly targets that adjust your cost of capital can’t be the best way to run a business.

Save On Labor, A Word From Quick Mount PV. You will start to see the innovative QRail from QMPV on the ‘shelves’ at your closest distributor. Gone are the days of splicing rails together on the roof using countless metal screws. With the bonded internal splice, QRail will save you time and money when you’re on the roof. Matched with the QClick clamps, you’ll love the way your installs get done in no time. quickmountpv.com

• SolarWakeup: Hey, Politicians – Clean Energy Jobs – Which Are Booming – Can Be An Electoral Winner If You Play It Right
• New York Times: BP Makes $10.5 Billion Shale Deal, Its Biggest Since Deepwater Horizon
• Greentech Media: Massachusetts Legislature Could Overturn Eversource’s New Demand Charge for Resi Solar
• Utility Dive: Green groups come out against Nevada retail choice ballot measure
• CNBC: Shares of First Solar tank 9% after big profit and sales miss
• EDF: What this summer’s heat waves tell us about America’s electric grid
• SolarWakeup: An Interview With 8minuteenergy – Martin Hermann On The Future Of Solar Module Price And Solar Development – Part I
• Renewable Energy World: U.S. Government Has $4.5B to Lend to Renewable Energy Project Developers

Opinion

• Rocky Mountain Institute: RMI Recommends Actions and Process for Rate Design Reform in Ohio

Have a great day!

Yann

The Module Future. Just when module prices started to stabilize, there is another word from the Chinese that may continue to manufacturer at higher levels. The official word is that the local market needs to cut costs and get competitive, in other words, it could mean to sell the modules for a lower price. I don’t know what this means for the US market but you’ve got to stay on your toes in this market for sure. 

Moving Forward State By State. What is it about Massachusetts that shows a prominent future in so many ways for solar that stops the simplest of net metering cap increases from not being able to go through? The same logic goes with Connecticut because both CT and MA have similar politics and great potential for solar. MA has already created thousands of solar jobs and one of the most robust development communities but the NEM cap has been fought for several years with limited success. I hope that this year it will be different and the MA politics go in our favor. That being said, there must be a truth to solar having trouble with legislators from both sides of the aisle that have been in office for too long. 

Offshore Wind. The concept of offshore wind is intriguing to me and for solar. Th reason is capital and the value that large capital investment flows means to renewable energy fund investors. The billions it costs to generate big energy in offshore wind will mean big funds that own that infrastructure. 

Painful Future For IOUs. It can’t be overstated what the liability docket regarding the California fires in PG&E area could be to the future of PG&E. The issue could result in PG&E being caused to have to pay billions in repairs and other liabilities. What it means for PG&E is they need a regulatory bailout in the form of a favorable decision. On the other hand, this may result in a different future for IOUs, what should they look like?

• SolarWakeup: Chinese Module Companies Boost Production Despite Reduced Domestic Capacity
• SolarWakeup: Time Running Out On Massachusetts Solar Legislation, So Act Now
• GreenBiz: What it will take for the U.S. offshore wind energy market to set sail
• Utility Dive: Los Angeles considers $3B pumped storage project at Hoover Dam
• Think Progress: California wildfire survivors fear officials will shift utilities’ financial liability to them
• Scientific America: How Coastal Communities Are Already Retreating from Rising Seas
• Bloomberg: China Solar Industry Told to Stay Calm, Cut Costs and Get Better
• Electrek: Watch a Tesla Solar Roof being dismantled in first responder training video

Opinion

• Greentech Media: Commercial Solar Markets – Scalable or Snowflakes?

Have a great day!

Yann