The Positive Outlook. I am pleased to see some positive signs that the solar industry is adapting to the new normal, some of which could make the industry more resilient in the future. Don’t get me wrong, the work ahead is going to be grueling and long but the work has begun. In this week’s survey I ask where the leads are compared to before the pandemic because word has it that leads are up, including based on recent polling done by LG Solar. Participate in this week’s survey so that we get a clear view of the market and can act accordingly. More on the positive future outlook on building departments coming this week.
What Are Your Questions? Wednesday, bright and early, you can join me and other residential solar execs as we discuss the state of the market. This is the third such call which covers distribution, loans and installations. I’ll also be going over the results from this week’s survey. Like all the cool cats and kittens today, you can join the zoom call by registering here.
SunPower Idles Plants. In an already challenging year for SunPower, they have to contend with the pandemic while still carrying the manufacturing capacity. This is the downside of controlling both the supply and demand of your business since the SunPower downstream business makes up most of the demand for the factories. That being said, the dealer network appears to be building new momentum as sales are picking up for the downstream side of the business. What this means for the split is yet to be determined.
Options Fireworks. The oil markets made for great television yesterday as expiring May crude contracts were left without anyone to actually use the oil. Without a place to put the oil, those futures (which are current) went negative, i.e. whoever took the oil got paid to take it. I enjoy trading options and the upside of those is that worst case scenario, they go to zero. In physical commodities, traders now learned that negative pricing is possible.
Not NEM, Just Federalism. Last week I wrote about the FERC filing asking for energy sale to be considered a federal issue. Here’s the thing though, this has very little to do with net metering regardless of intention. This is a broader statement that most of what State regulators oversee is actually a federal issue. With this case, FERC is being asked to render utility commissions meaningless for pretty much any issue (maybe a good thing I didn’t take the Florida PSC job). I’ll be looking for some regulators to interview on the topic to see how they feel about this.
- Reuters: SunPower idles factories as coronavirus hits solar demand
- Los Angeles Times: Oil prices collapse below zero, scrambling the clean energy transition
- Greentech Media: Solar Net Metering Under Threat as Shadowy Group Demands Intervention in State Policies
- Axios: Biden signals expanded climate plan as a “key objective”
- PV-Tech: IRENA – Green energy boom could be world’s ticket out of pandemic-driven recession
- Vox: Coronavirus stimulus money will be wasted on fossil fuels
- Solar Power World: CALSSA launches solar training webinar series
Opinion
Best, Yann