A day of vertical disintegration. First Solar announced its 3rd quarter earnings yesterday. Highlighted weren’t the financials because the company announced the sale of Skytron to a German firm just two years after acquiring the company. It also made some mention on the analyst call that it could skip gen 5 of the module and focus on getting gen 6 out in to the market ahead of original plans. With $688 million in revenues during the quarter and $154 million in profits, the company is now refining its focus on module manufacturing and sales.
Florida, Florida, Florida. Solar advocates filed a lawsuit to bring the issue back to the Supreme Court and ask the Secretary of State to embargo the results. At the heart of the complaint is the leaked audio which offers “proof” that amendment backers mislead voters. SEIA also released a poll commissioned by SolarCity that showed that the voter education campaigns is working. In less than a month, support for the amendment went from 71% to 51%. It needs 60% to pass.
Paris for Oil&Gas Companies. 7 Oil and Gas company CEOs are joining forces in a renewable energy fund. The goal is to fund technologies, promote renewable energy and seek an active role against climate change according to Reuters. More details will be announced in London tomorrow.
Small dollars, big impact. Frank speaks with Dr. Jones-Albertus in today’s United States of Solar podcast about the $21.4 million DOE granted to 17 projects in an effort to cut soft costs. SunShot has now met their goal of $1/watt utility scale and it is great to see them find more areas to reduce the cost of solar to consumers across the Country.
State of the day. Solar policy fights are getting expensive. SolarCity is looking to put $2 million into non-profits for the Arizona ACC elections and promote solar while Pinnacle West will put in at least $1 million. Pinnacle West remains under subpoena and grand jury investigation by the US Attorney.
- SolarWakeup: Florida Polling Shows Anti-Solar Amendment Behind
- PV-Magazine: JA Solar settles $1 billion lawsuit with Hemlock
- PV-Tech: First Solar offloads skytron energy
- Recharge News: Suniva and Shunfeng betting big on US solar
- Reuters: Exclusive – Oil majors join forces in climate push with renewable energy fund
- Bloomberg: Solar Wars Draw Millions in Cash in Threat to Rooftop Industry
- Venture Beat: Tesla presses case for SolarCity merger saying it would add $1 billion to 2017 revenue
- Solar Industry: REC Silicon Laying Off 70 Employees At U.S. Plant
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann