A New (Gas) Tax. If most new car sales are going to be electric in a few years then imagine what will happen to gas tax revenues. Those taxes are largely used to pay for the infrastructure needed to move those cars around: roads, bridges and highways. The gas tax is already lacking in sufficient revenues, when electric cars circumvent the tax we need to look at a tax on energy consumption. Some States are looking at annual registration fees which don’t track consumption. Also, an energy tax for transportation makes more sense because it tracks across energy usage. Utilities will fight against this but even a $0.001/kWh gas tax would make a big dent in infrastructure revenue shortfalls.
SAII. Solar As Infrastructure Investments. The experimental marriage between SunPower and First Solar looks to be on the way to the end. Capital Dynamics has announced that it is acquiring 8point3 from the JV partners. Capital Dynamics has been aggressive and winning deals in the solar market. With this $1billion investment Capital Dynamics is making it clear that doing infrastructure and investing in solar is not mutually exclusive. 8point3 still goes down as the most clever branding venture with the ticker of CAFD, it was a great combination of name and ticker.
Nuclear Group Showdown. Grab your popcorn, there is trouble in nuclear paradise. NextEra has filed a lawsuit against NEI, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the trade group representing nuclear power’s interests in DC. Both NextEra and Energy have apparently left NEI as of the end of 2017. Within the details of the suit, it comes out that NextEra pays somewhere near $860k in membership dues. This makes me wonder what NextEra pays SEPA to be a member. It’s definitely not $860k and probably not even 10% of that number. This seems like an opportunity for SEPA to review its fee structure as its members leave other groups in the changing priorities.
Good Luck With That. Company comes up with the idea to put solar on the Trump Wall. Trump likes the idea. Trump doesn’t use the idea in the sample walls. Company plans on suing Trump for the solar wall which now has a patent applied for. The wall appears to be making people act in ways that are counter intelligent.
Worried About Solar Scale? You can go down the line and count up the billions of investments that automobile OEMs are making into energy storage. Porsche is now adding $7.5billion to that total. We will soon discuss in greater detail the role that our solar industry plays in the e-mobility space.
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- Washington Post: The Energy 202 – Gas tax divides Republicans as the oil industry may sit out the fight
- Reuters: Capital Dynamics to acquire SunPower, First Solar JV for $977 million
- Greentech Media: NextEra Sues NEI, Citing Efforts to ‘Distort Electric Energy Markets’
- Houston Chronicle: Designer of solar border wall threatens to sue Trump for taking his idea
- Business Insider: Porsche is making a $7.4 billion bet on electric cars – and Tesla should be nervous
- Utility Dive: Honolulu storage permits surge 1,700% in one year, new report says
- Renewable Energy World: Could ‘No Paris, No Trade’ Be the New Global Position on Climate?
- Lexington Herald Leader: Will GOP let utilities crush solar (and 1,200 jobs) in Kentucky? This could get ugly.
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann