SolarWakeup Live! The big news you’ve been waiting for. The first SolarWakeup Live! event will be in Boston at the end of October and the second in early December in Washington DC. Over the next few weeks, I will be able to share the speakers with you and give you more information on the location. The mini-conference will go deep into the issues affecting the local market, no panels where panelists only get a few minutes to give talking points but a 1 on 1 discussion that goes in-depth on what you want to know. There will be limited sponsors for this event, if you are interested in discussing how to help please reach out.
The Contract Versus Subsidy. The BNEF summit in London is currently underway and the annual discussion about utilities in a solar era is underway. This year, there are more and more projects that are subsidy free. We have come to the point where most solar developers would choose length of contract (with good credit) over higher PPA rates. For example, most solar investors would take a 30-year 3 cent contract versus a 10 year (then merchant) 7 cent agreement. With the advent of dc-coupled storage, intelligent solar will be more focused on pricing signals from the grid as opposed to contract lengths which has been the principal attack on PURPA contracts.
Friday’s ITC Decision. On Friday the ITC will make a decision if injury was caused to US panel manufacturers. The answer is a resounding no, injury was not caused to SolarWorld and Suniva. Both companies were rewarded with many subsidies by various Government entities and in some cases simply failed to adapt to the solar market. In other cases, customers were left without timely deliveries when supply chain software wasn’t executed on properly or new manufacturing lines didn’t optimize in time. Solar is hard, that is no secret. But riding the solar coaster means we all have to go through the ups and downs together, nobody gets to skip the line and go to the finish line because they didn’t feel up to it.
- Bloomberg: Utilities Line Up to Profit From ‘Slowest Trainwreck’ in History
- Washington Examiner: Solar panels, washing machines, and free-trade cronyism
- NRDC: New York Stumbles in Finalizing Value-Based Solar Credits
- GreenBiz: The transformational power of corporate clean energy purchasing
- Utility Dive: Solar panel prices fell 30% in the first quarter of 2017, NREL report says
- New York Times: China Welcomes EU Decision on Solar Panel Import Prices
- Forbes: How Is First Solar’s Series 6 Transition Progressing?
- CNBC: The troubling ‘tactics’ politicians are using to attack rooftop solar
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann