This is your SolarWakeup for May 5th, 2022
The wait is over! Reduce Soft Costs and Shorten Cycle Times by 2 Weeks with TrueDesign™. EagleView is changing the way you sell and plan solar. EagleView's TrueDesign™ allows solar installers to auto-generate final, install-ready PV designs based on the most trustworthy data available—throughout the solar contracting process. That means fewer change orders and cancellations, lower soft costs, and better profit margins at every stage of the process. Learn more.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 4th, 2022
The 10 Year Is Here. Right before SPI this year, SolarWakeup will turn 10 years old. Hard to imagine that 37 of you got this newsletter that random day, of which over 10% unsubscribed. (don’t worry, I remember you) Since then, this daily newsletter has hit your inbox highlighting the growth of the solar market, expansion of companies inside of it, closures of others and of course the chronicles of my career. So with some 100 days to go, how should we kick off the next decade of SolarWakeup? Anything we should do to celebrate? It’s always been about the dialogue with the readers and this celebration will be as well.
The wait is over! Reduce Soft Costs and Shorten Cycle Times by 2 Weeks with TrueDesign™. EagleView is changing the way you sell and plan solar. EagleView's TrueDesign™ allows solar installers to auto-generate final, install-ready PV designs based on the most trustworthy data available—throughout the solar contracting process. That means fewer change orders and cancellations, lower soft costs, and better profit margins at every stage of the process. Learn more.https://hubs.li/
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 3rd, 2022
Fill The Ocean. Last night I stopped at a supercharger and without much thought saw that the car was charging at 96kW for nearly an hour. Plus there were 15 other cars in the lot charging at the same time. What will happen when there needs to be 100 charging ports all going at once? Who will pay for the service upgrade and who pays for the demand charges? The reality is that the grid is not meant to have multiple MW scale loads with sporadic consumptions without foresight. That would be like filling the ocean with your garden hose.
The wait is over! Reduce Soft Costs and Shorten Cycle Times by 2 Weeks with TrueDesign™. EagleView is changing the way you sell and plan solar. EagleView's TrueDesign™ allows solar installers to auto-generate final, install-ready PV designs based on the most trustworthy data available—throughout the solar contracting process. That means fewer change orders and cancellations, lower soft costs, and better profit margins at every stage of the process. Learn more. https://hubs.li/
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 2nd, 2022
California Priorities. Don’t get this post misunderstood about how I think about nuclear power but when it comes to energy policy that is supposed to think in decades and not years, how could it be possible to want to change how solar and storage participate in the grid operations. For diplomacy, optionality and consumer costs, every barrier should be removed in the growth of solar plus storage so that the grid can be as intelligent and resilient as the 21st century opportunity represents.
The wait is over! Reduce Soft Costs and Shorten Cycle Times by 2 Weeks with TrueDesign™. EagleView is changing the way you sell and plan solar. EagleView's TrueDesign™ allows solar installers to auto-generate final, install-ready PV designs based on the most trustworthy data available—throughout the solar contracting process. That means fewer change orders and cancellations, lower soft costs, and better profit margins at every stage of the process. Learn more. https://hubs.li/
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 29th, 2022
Be In The Know. Two companies are innovating more than anyone else in residential solar and they’re both very good friends of SolarWakeup. CommonBond and OpenSolar have been building quietly and fiercely, with an eye to make things easier, faster and cheaper for installers. Now they have partnered to bring you even more integrated value in the fastest platform of services. If you’re installing residential solar, you owe it to yourself to check out their integration here
Getting To 2022 COD. Join the Sustainable Capital Finance (SCF) team on May 4th, 10am PST, as they share solutions to industry wide challenges causing project delays. The goal for attending developers and Epcs is to undertake strategies enabling project reach energization in 2022. This free webinar is recommended for solar installers, developers and originators involved or interested in financing C&I, nonprofit & governmental solar as well as electric vehicle charging solutions. To register, simply click here.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 28th, 2022
Coal’s New Opportunity. Half a decade ago there was a decision by policy makers to lift the oil export embargo in the US. That shift in energy law would open the ability for a long term extension of clean energy tax credits but it didn’t come without an ideological fight within the environmental movement. Does it make sense to create bigger solar markets by expanding the opportunity for oil? While that question was fruitless because the embargo was going to be lifted regardless, the path opened up for the ITC extension. Today, there is a different issue, particularly for Europe but it bodes important for the key Senate vote sitting in West Virginia. Was gas the wrong bridge fuel for Europe and should the clean energy market put coal in its tent? Hear me out. Why wouldn’t there be some sort of policy that gives coal what they want, regardless of what they want, so that Europe feels diplomatic security in return for a certainty that clean energy wins the long run? Coal is basically impossible to finance, which gives its longevity the exact timeframe that policymakers want and in this case the vote that we need in the Senate. The world needs a standalone tax credit for storage, for our resilience and for our market to pave the way for the world to show that storage is centrally important and capable to have that responsibility. Solar, wind, hydrogen and others need tax credits to spur investments totaling trillions, so let’s do what has to be done to get going.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 27th, 2022
Europe’s Energy Transition Fast Tracked. With an ongoing war in the Ukraine and now Russia using their gas supply as an economic weapon against Poland and Bulgaria, it is clear that the European economies must diversify and create domestic energy control for their nations. Nothing can happen quickly but the capital is available from the infrastructure investors to get the build out to occur as long as the development processes can occur quickly and the revenue streams exist. While only Poland and Bulgaria were named by Russia yesterday, who is next is clearly on the minds of every nation currently relying on Russia’s supply.
Getting To 2022 COD. Join the Sustainable Capital Finance (SCF) team on May 4th, 10am PST, as they share solutions to industry wide challenges causing project delays. The goal for attending developers and Epcs is to undertake strategies enabling project reach energization in 2022. This free webinar is recommended for solar installers, developers and originators involved or interested in financing C&I, nonprofit & governmental solar as well as electric vehicle charging solutions. To register, simply click here.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 26th, 2022
Some Thoughts On Tariffs. One of the saddest parts of the decade of useless solar tariffs, besides increasing the cost of solar to consumers, is the impact it had and continues to have on domestic silicon production. Billions of new factories were coming online when the first duties were retaliated against with silicon tariffs that crushed the domestic market. On the other hand, the vilification of Suniva and Auxin provides the easy antagonist which is with almost 100% certainty, but pure speculation, not the right party to blame. These tariff cases are both complicated and expensive and neither of those firms have the upside to take on that expense on their own. At the end of the day, there are very few winners in this fight, financially, politically or ideologically.
Getting To 2022 COD. Join the Sustainable Capital Finance (SCF) team on May 4th, 10am PST, as they share solutions to industry wide challenges causing project delays. The goal for attending developers and Epcs is to undertake strategies enabling project reach energization in 2022. This free webinar is recommended for solar installers, developers and originators involved or interested in financing C&I, nonprofit & governmental solar as well as electric vehicle charging solutions. To register, simply click here.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 25th, 2022
On Earth Day, Policy and Tech Get Highlight. Last Friday was Earth Day and most everyone rallied around the need to do more to fight climate change, enable the energy transition and create a better global diplomatic environment. While some protested at the White House and billionaires texted each other over climate philanthropy and capitalism, the Wall Street Journal focused on the next big thing: CSP, concentrating solar power! I enjoyed that moment of levity and thought you may want to read this breaking news about mirrors in the desert. On another note, it’s policy that will really give the energy market the ability to diversify and create opportunity for the electrification to reach its maximum potential.
Focus On What Matters. As a solar installer there are two things that matter most to your bottom line, more approvals and lower dealer fees. Check out SolarWakeup’s preferred solar lending platform, CommonBond, to make sure you’re focused on the bottom line.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 22nd, 2022
Focus On What Matters. As a solar installer there are two things that matter most to your bottom line, more approvals and lower dealer fees. Check out SolarWakeup’s preferred solar lending platform, CommonBond, to make sure you’re focused on the bottom line.
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Have a great day!
Yann