Alongside the Sunshot Initiative, we need more venture capital to focus on the solar industry. The why is simple, $30billion industry in the US and the gateway to the home ecosystem. The problem is that solar is viewed as a hardware first industry that requires tons of money to commercialize. But that is changing, albeit slowly. kWh Analytics, for example, recently raised $5mm in their series A and there are plenty other startups doing well in their seed and angel rounds. Our ecosystem is still broken and part of that is that we don’t have that many accelerators, Powerhouse being the main and maybe only one. You’d be amazed how few startups pitch me to get into the blurb, those of you that have done it realize that it’s fairly easy. Our industry still fails on the role of advisors and networking outside of trade shows. Most accelerators have dozens of advisors that are there to help startups, give advice and impart wisdom on how to run a business.
- Rocky Mountain Institute: Accelerator Teams Are Defining a New Era of Utility Relationships
- PV-Magazine: Nevada – Governor’s task force recommends bringing back net metering
- GreenBiz: Tesla poaches SunPower’s money man – L.A. gets a new oil czar
- Recharge News: Bankrupt Verengo Solar cuts jobs as court weighs asset sale plan
- EDF: Is Mainstream Corporate America Jumping on the Clean Energy Bandwagon?
- Fortune: Energy Entrepreneurs Chart a New Path in the Wake of the Cleantech Crash
- Solar Industry: New York’s Largest Residential Solar Market Hits Milestone
- New York Times: Australian Government Wants Slower Switch to Clean Energy
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann