This is your SolarWakeup for January 28th, 2020

Shoals IPO Boom. It was a 24-year overnight success story for the man you all know, Dean Solon the founder and former CEO of Shoals. Shoals do simple things well and in the past few weeks introduced me to the category of eBOS. I said that it would be a boost to the industry if Shoals IPO went so well that the company would be valued at $2billion, but it closed at over $5billion in market cap on its first day of trading. While Oaktree sold around a 70million shares for a major gain for its investment, Dean Solon appears to be in it for the long run, still holding over a 65million shares of the company started and still operating in Tennessee. Trading under the ticker SHLS, count this as the entry ticket that says to every founder, executive, and operator in the solar industry that the billion-dollar exit and valuation can be in your future as well. Congratulations to the entire team.

Side Note. Shoals has a market cap of $5.2billion as of yesterday close of the market and FLEX has a market cap of $8.7billion. FLEX just happens to also own Nextracker, the largest supplier of tracking in the world.

Biden Climate Orders. There was a waterfall of climate-related activity from the White House yesterday as expected. The executive order for tackling the climate crisis ties in all aspects of the federal government. It also establishes the Office of Climate Justice at the Department of Justice, one of the most consequential paths for achieving the overarching goal of decarbonizing the electric grid by 2035 as called for by the executive order.

Envoy John Kerry Speaks. The foreign policy on climate change was a central part of John Kerry’s tenure as Secretary of State and now he’s taking the issue on full-time. What Biden is creating is a domestic/offshore 1-2 punch on climate policy with two executives that know the issue better than most.

Gina McCarthy Sets Tone. Gina McCarthy unveiled the administration’s tone on climate yesterday and through the accent, the policy tailwinds were loud and clear. It will now be up to the industry to coordinate, plan and lobby the administration in order to set the rules that actually implement the goals ahead. The plethora of goals is too long to handle, releasing more climate positive news in a day than the federal government has done since declaring independence.

Granholm Doubles Down. In her hearing on the hill, Jennifer Granholm explained to the Senators that a climate positive future is exactly what the economy and the Country needs right now. Jobs, from construction, manufacturing to finance and legal, are the lifeblood of the renewable energy markets. If the solar industry is set to sell a million solar homes, we will need to labor and management staff to install it. Granholm looks to join Pete Buttegieg in a quick confirmation in the Senate.

Deal Thursday. Joining the Shoals gangbusters day is EnterSolar and Loanpal. EnterSolar solidified its relationship with EDF by selling its remaining ownership to the company while Loanpal, which is just about 3 years old, raised a new $800million.

A Supply Chain Mess. Solar is growing everywhere and the US market continues to be underestimated. With our path to 1million solar homes installed in a few years, Australia at over 25% penetration, suppliers are having a hard time keeping up with demand. The SolarWakeup Buyer’s Group was meant to not only lower costs but also increase access by consolidating demand amongst its members. We’re doing that now, reducing lead times and saving money. Get in touch with us through our portal or hit reply to this email. 

Opinion

Best, Yann