The Solar Jobs Census Needs Your Help

 I need your help! Please get this information to your executives and HR departments. we need everyone around the Country to fill out the jobs survey. The importance cannot be understated especially now. Solar is a unifying issue in politics but we need more information to ensure the politicians are aware of the magnitude that this is reality. Follow this link to the Survey: http://bwresearch.com/pl/useer2 The Solar Foundation is working with the U.S. Department of Energy and BW Research Partnership on the United States Energy and Employment Report and our annual National Solar Jobs Census reports. This year, the U.S.  … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for November 10th, 2016

My two cents. The pity party won’t be covered here much beyond today. The politics of energy are such that the President has great powers especially with a Senate and House from the same party. That being said, don’t expect solar to advance from a policy standpoint in the future. You can expect that the predictable cuts in policies will be put into effect, namely Clean Power Plan, Paris agreement and Keystone XL. Tax reform could render the tax equity markets non-existent, assuming the economy holds. But note this. Trump voters agree with Clinton voters that more solar is good. Mining jobs in Ohio won’t be coming back because Trump is in the White House because they weren’t lost because Obama was. Solar jobs aren’t growing in Ohio because Kasich did anything positive, quite the opposite, he froze the RPS. Andrew Winston said it right, follow the money. The administration will be coal and oil heavy but as long as their CEOs are billionaires, our government will always be influenced by the sector. Focus on the States, focus on your business and your people.
Buying votes and influence. While FP&L and other Florida utilities were not able to pass horrible anti-solar policy with $26 million. In Arizona the result was different for an entry fee of $3.5 million spent by APS, their picks for the regulatory body won. Imagine that, a corporation that is supposed to work for the welfare of their customers, entrusted with a monopoly, is able to spend unlimited money to campaign for the people that will regulate them.
Free markets should be free. In Nevada, voters were asked if they wanted to end the electric utility monopoly. Dubbed question 3, backed by Switch and Las Vegas Sands, voters agreed to start the process to open the market to other suppliers. The next step is another vote in 2018 to fully implement the policy. I wonder if more of this is coming, just last week the Florida Speaker of the House said, “Free markets are either free or they are not.”
A (carbon) tax too small? I-732 in Washington was a true carbon tax of $25/ton. A tax that would go to the State and used to offset other State costs. We’ve already discussed that this policy was not supported by all environmental groups which put some groups like the Environmental Council and Sierra Club on the same side as the fossil fuel interests. It failed, so there will be no carbon tax, however small and uninspiring some felt this one was.
Earnings and market coverage. SolarCity and SunPower both had earnings yesterday after market close. With all solar companies on edge from the election, the public company struggle is real. More detailed coverage to come but expect that the SolarCity quarter was good enough to get a positive vote from the shareholders on the 17^th of November and become part of Tesla.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for November 9th, 2016

No Commentary. Energy is going to be on the agenda in the next White House and the next Congress. Energy is where the money is at. Folks like Forrest Lucas from Lucas Oil and Harold Hamm from Continental Resources are high on the list for cabinet positions. The White House is covered in each corner by the Senate and House of Representatives. Tax reform, FERC, PURPA, it's all on the table over the next legislative session. Stay tuned for more.
Solar beats utilities in Florida. Amendment 1 was backed by $26million from the utilities. Solar advocates were able to push back the amendment and defeat the attempt from the utilities to eliminate net metering. The amendment came about from an ill advised attempt by the environmentalists to fundraise on their own amendment, this was a self inflicted wound that could and should have been avoided. Solar should learn its lesson next time and not let itself get hijacked into an issue. More on this to come….

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Yann

Vivint Solar Raises $200million in Tax Equity, Installs 59MW in Q3

   By Yann Brandt; Vivint Solar announced today that it has raised $200 million in new tax equity, a day before announcing it’s 3rd quarter financial results. The $200 million were critical given the delay the company was having in raising new tax equity after a failed acquisition by Sunedison. Vivint Solar even went out of its way to negotiate a new compensation deal with Thomas Plagemann, the EVP of Capital Markets. Plagemann is entitled to 0.15% of tax equity raised as part of the bonus compensation. The $200 million will go a long way to and help finance 123MW … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for November 8th, 2016

Vote. Vote. Vote. It can’t be understated that today is an incredibly important day for our industry. Solar is supported by over 85% of Americans from both sides of the aisle except in DC and State capitols were incumbent interests have financial interests counter to our sector. We need strong support in the Senate and the White House that believe in the future growth of solar.
Useless tax credits. The law firm, Chadbourne & Park, comes out with an interesting analysis of the future of tax credits in a Trump White House. Cutting corporate tax rates means less money is owed which means less demand for tax credits. Let’s be thankful that Congress writes the tax code.
21st century jobs in energy. There is no doubt that our electric infrastructure is worn out. A new book chronicles the details. With half a million Americans losing power for two or more hours every day, the average American loses power for 360 minutes per year. With the addition of renewable energy, the job impact could be much broader than just the generation but also the implementation of how to move those electrons.
The cost of uncertainty. If you look at the market over the past few weeks, you can see that a politically uncertain environment costs money. In the UK, post Brexit, the uncertainty casts deep shadows on the renewable energy industry. Government’s biggest role for long term investors is to create a system with as few unknowns as possible. Whether at the State level, a la Nevada, or Federal level i.e. tax credits, it is vital to create known-knowns for investors.
The future is certain. Climate change wasn’t asked about once during the debates and barely made an appearance during the campaign. Energy was a talking point here or there but one thing is certain. Renewable energy will be a central part of the future of politics in the US. State politics are seeing unprecented grassroots and incumbent money fighting over it. Federal election voters are changing their votes based on a candidates position on issues like solar. Going forward the politics of energy will be a central part of our coverage. The politics of energy policy will be front and center on both sides of the aisle going forward.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for November 7th, 2016

Pants on fire. A firefighter’s union that had been supporting the Amendment 1 question in Florida withdrew its support on Friday. In the press release, the group asked the utilities to remove all TV ads from the web and cable. Some ads were reportedly still airing over the weekend but the withdrawal may be too late after two weeks of non-stop coverage.
Trumping clean energy. In a speech a week ago, Trump made the promise to eliminate all spending related to climate change. Bloomberg went out and asked what this $100 billion savings entails and with the response it is apparent that clean energy deployment including solar.
Ready for Tesla take off? Tesla received an important stamp of approval from Institutional Shareholder Services which gave three reasons. 1. It allows Tesla to become more diversified, 2. Save the combined companies $150million, 3. Tesla is getting a good deal. In other news, Elon Musk personally guaranteed SolarCity debt in the combined company on Twitter.
The electric new deal? 25,000 miles in 35 States covering 55 corridors. The Department of Energy announced that it is seeking to create these alternative fuel corridors by working with 28 utilities. The goal is to have a charging station every 50 miles across America’s highways.
YOU MUST VOTE. For SolarWakeup and what we represent in the solar industry the choice is clear. A Clinton administration has strong backing to retrain workers for, understand economic benefits of and increase the amount of solar energy across the Country. The Senate is also important so for Pennsylvania voters, vote for Katie McGinty to come to the US Senate with knowledge of the power industry and how more solar can be valuable for everyone. In Florida, you must vote NO on Amendment 1, an anti-solar bill backed by monopolies that want nothing to do with solar.

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Yann

Florida Firefighters Withdraw Support for Anti-Solar Ballot Question

 By Yann Brandt; In a stunning November surprise, the Florida Professional Firefighters (FPF) have withdrawn their support for Amendment 1 in Florida. Amendment 1 is the utility backed ballot initiative that could remove net metering altogether. In a press release on Friday, FPF sent out a press release announcing the news to no longer support the amendment.

 By Yann Brandt; In a stunning November surprise, the Florida Professional Firefighters (FPF) have withdrawn their support for Amendment 1 in Florida. Amendment 1 is the utility backed ballot initiative that could remove net metering altogether. In a press release on Friday, FPF sent out a press release announcing the news to no longer support the amendment. Firefighters have been featured in TV commercials on a continuous loop. The message is the importance of amendment to protect first responders and properties. There is no message about the existing building and fire codes that already cover this concern through the many different … Read More →

These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for November 4th, 2016

Net Metering Appeals. Vote Solar appealed a district court ruling in Nevada. The original lawsuit complaint asked for the reinstatement of net metering to existing customers and provide net metering to all future customers as required by Nevada law. While existing customers got NEM back, new customers did not and Vote Solar is seeking to change that. Our coverage.
Managing the pricing deterioration. As pricing deteriorates market wide, First Solar announced ways to counteract the pure pricing battle. At some point, price of the modules will be taken into consideration with land costs and efficiency of the modules. Wall Street was not comforted by the transparency and the stock traded down 15%.
The Florida saga continues. After filing for relief to the Supreme Court, solar advocates got news today. The Supreme Court will review the ballot question again. The voters are unlikely to see any action prior to Tuesday’s voting day as Floridians have been voting for over a week already.
Total eclipse of the heart. Normally, comments from the CEO of Total about solar would not raise eyebrows but Total is controlling stakeholder in SunPower one of the largest players in the US market. This time the CEO called the coming of a ‘new winter’ with the double threat of over capacity and lower demand. Global forecasts still see growing demand but his reference may be about SunPower focused markets.
The nuclear struggles are real. A 5th nuclear power plant since 2013 has been announced to be closed. This time Fort Calhoun in Nebraska which is owned by Omaha Public Power. The 5 plants have an output roughly equal to the total output of all solar power in the US which means the next iteration of solar needs to make up the difference once again.

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Yann

Vote Solar Appeals Court Ruling – Seeks Full Net Metering in Nevada

 Vote Solar is appealing the district courts ruling that reinstated net metering for existing customers, grandfathering the policy for those customers. The original lawsuit called for net metering to be put back in place for all customers after the PUCN eliminated it. The appeal calls for net metering to be offered by the electric utilities to all customers as required by Nevada law. The solar advocacy group is represented by local counsel and Earthjustice. Attorney from Earthjustice, Sara Gersen, said, “Nevada law requires utilities to offer net metering. By ensuring the Commission follows the law, the Nevada Supreme Court can put clean energy … Read More →