Solar Held Hostage. Extortion seems like the right word right now. SQN seems to be openly saying that if someone buys the Suniva assets for $55million, the petition will go away. Hopefully the words will be used to show that Suniva does not speak for the industry when it comes to determining the eligibility of the petition. Also, a better offer for shareholders is being proposed by a competing lender, Lion Capital. This means the Judge could have Suniva use someone other than SQN for debtor in possession lending and the petition could go away. Stay tuned.
Hard Day in Oregon. SolarWorld is giving itself some options by issuing WARN notices to employees in Hillsboro. That means the factory could close within 60 days and some 800 employees could be terminated. Hardware remains hard and consolidation in the module supply segment is bound to become reality.
The Energy Storage Road Show is moving forward now scheduling the week of June 5th in Los Angeles!
The Road To IPO. Many people have been talking to me about cancellations in the residential solar market for over a year, not just with Sunrun but across all sales organizations. These are cancellations by homeowners that occur between the signing of the deal and application for permits typically. I never considered this to be a big deal, much like going to get a car and cancelling before signing the title paperwork. Some rates I have heard to be quite high but nonetheless, I didn’t see any obvious victims because I figured many homeowners just decided to shop around and perhaps own the projects themselves.
- Bloomberg: Chinese Solar Makers Shown $55 Million Path to Avoid Tariffs
- Oregon Live: SolarWorld files notice of potential mass layoff or closure in Hillsboro
- Seeking Alpha: WSJ – Sunrun may have manipulated sales data at time of company’s IPO
- PV-Magazine: California utility re-starts gas plant using battery system
- Renew Economy: Market reform, not subsidies, needed for battery storage market
- EDF: What we know so far about Rick Perry’s power grid “study”
- CleanTechnica: Consumer Protection For PV Systems — Finally In The Limelight
- New York Times: China and India Make Big Strides on Climate Change
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann