Solar sells. Super Bowl 51 was inside NRG Stadium and last I checked there are few companies with as much coal and natural gas power plant in their portfolio. As the company was gearing up their PR for their big day, it was the solar power deal with the stadium that was the highlight. In a regional ad, Florida Power & Light had a commercial implying the need for natural gas baseload while showing their solar farms. Maybe companies are trying to tap into the 80% approval ratings enjoyed by solar.
Let’s Get Real. I’m a pretty positive guy but I also get rather annoyed at companies that make everything sound easy and great. Smoothing over the difficulties of this market is silly, nobody is buying it. This is especially true with storage and the new executives of Sonnen should be more careful with their PR. After a rather loud exit from the former US CEO as he went to Mercedes, I would expect management to be a bit more subdued. Storage is hard, let’s not sugar coat things. Same goes for solar companies, if margins are terrible, say so. Investors aren’t buying your talking points anyways as you share your books with them during a raise. The media is complicit in this. Bankers inside capital processes always leak and tell us the real story but we often act as cheerleaders and don’t want to write something that would be detrimental to our markets.
- EDF: This Year’s Super Bowl is Energy-Efficient. Shouldn’t Texas Be?
- Los Angeles Times: U.S. utilities seek solar power as Trump sides with coal, fossil fuels
- Greentech Media: Sonnen Execs Discuss Competitive Advantages, Growth Plans in Home Energy Storage
- PV-Magazine: PV magazine Exclusive – A conversation with Charlie Gay
- Recharge News: European PV additions fall by a fifth as global uptake rises 50%
- New York Times: Scott Pruitt Is Seen Cutting the E.P.A. With a Scalpel, Not a Cleaver
- ARS Technica: The state of residential solar power
- Engadget: China is now the biggest producer of solar energy
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann