If You Mustache, You Must Give. Several of my colleagues at FlexGen have been participating in Movember this month (Zoom calls have been invaded by less than appealing mustaches). Movember is the leading charity changing the face of men’s health and works to tackle the biggest health issues faced by men – prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health and suicide prevention. Since 2003, Movember has funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects. Please consider supporting the FlexGen Movember Team.

Managing Installer Cash Flow. Interest rates are the highest in 22 years, increasing solar financing costs and softening consumer demand for loan products. Businesses are feeling the pain of strained cash flows, labor costs and profitability pressures. Palmetto, a B2B technology company accelerating the adoption of clean energy, has announced a new partnership offering for solar installers to help stabilize cash flows and grow faster in today’s market. Built on top of Palmetto’s Clean Energy Operating Platform, this is a comprehensive suite of tools and services enabling installers to streamline operations, optimize performance, and increase profitability. Visit https://www.palmetto.com/finance or contact capital@palmetto.com for more.

• Renewable Energy World: EIA – CO2 emissions declined, solar was largest source of new generation in 2023
• Politico: Harris to attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai
• Associated Press: Coal-producing West Virginia is converting an entire school system to solar power
• PV-Magazine: Fluence Energy achieves profitability, posts 85% revenue growth
• Utility Dive: Amazon turns to brownfields, other ‘challenging’ projects to accelerate clean energy progress
• Axios: The COP that was: Where pledges stand now
• PV-Tech: Maxeon investigates ‘several companies’ for US TOPCon cell patent infringements
• Energy Storage News: Michigan’s new 2.5GW energy storage target sets pace for US Midwest clean energy transition

Opinion

• Canary Media: New investment firm aims to scale up urgently needed battery materials

Best, Yann

Managing Installer Cash Flow. Interest rates are the highest in 22 years, increasing solar financing costs and softening consumer demand for loan products. Businesses are feeling the pain of strained cash flows, labor costs and profitability pressures. Palmetto, a B2B technology company accelerating the adoption of clean energy, has announced a new partnership offering for solar installers to help stabilize cash flows and grow faster in today’s market. Built on top of Palmetto’s Clean Energy Operating Platform, this is a comprehensive suite of tools and services enabling installers to streamline operations, optimize performance, and increase profitability. Visit https://www.palmetto.com/finance or contact capital@palmetto.com for more.

• Bloomberg: RWE Backs Wind Energy With €55 Billion Green Technology Plan
• Reuters: EU Commission announces electricity grid action plan
• PV-Tech: Interconnection queues and permitting issues among obstacles to US transmission upgrades
• New York Times: Could Biden’s Clean Energy Push Be a Victim of Its Success?
• Energy Storage News: US – Interest rate rises and longer development timelines causing project ‘M&A mania’
• Canary Media: America’s first ​‘enhanced’ geothermal plant just got up and running
• PV-Magazine: Michigan passes 100% clean energy mandate

Opinion

• Renewable Energy World: ‘Massive’ federal solar investment could mean big utility savings in Kentucky coal country

Best, Yann

Real Estate, From A Bird’s POV. Parking Lots, rooftops and flexible substations. These are the simple steps to a grid taking advantage of the technologies that drive us forward. We even have the technology to put solar farms on the land without having to tear the land up in terrain following trackers. 250,000 rooftops in DC is a fourth of the original million rooftop goal set in California but in an area more similar to a Sacramento than the 5^th largest economy in the world.

Managing Installer Cash Flow. Interest rates are the highest in 22 years, increasing solar financing costs and softening consumer demand for loan products. Businesses are feeling the pain of strained cash flows, labor costs and profitability pressures. Palmetto, a B2B technology company accelerating the adoption of clean energy, has announced a new partnership offering for solar installers to help stabilize cash flows and grow faster in today’s market. Built on top of Palmetto’s Clean Energy Operating Platform, this is a comprehensive suite of tools and services enabling installers to streamline operations, optimize performance, and increase profitability. Visit https://www.palmetto.com/finance or contact capital@palmetto.com for more.

• PV-Magazine: D.C. area targets 250,000 solar rooftops by 2030
• Utility Dive: BlackRock nabs $1B for energy transition infrastructure fund
• Reuters: In 2024, Republican EV attacks may fall short as swing states reap investment
• Blooomberg: Britain Enters EV Subsidy Race With Time ‘Running Short’
• New York Times: Former Coal Towns Get Money for Clean-Energy Factories
• Axios: COP28, OPEC create double dose of drama for oil
• PV-Tech: “Toxic inventory” of PV modules building in Europe with fire sales flourishing in distributed generation
• Renewable Energy World: How solar developers can overcome clean energy permitting roadblocks
• Energy Storage News: ‘Biggest energy policy change’ – 32GW CfDs could put Australia on track for 2030 climate targets

Opinion

• The Atlantic: Photos – The Growth of Solar-Power Stations

Best, Yann

Plans Leading To Action. If I can sum up 2023 it’s all about ‘what we’ll do’. By that I mean it was a year of setting aspirational goals and developing plans, goals and guidance. When it comes to doing, it left something to the imagination. As I shifted from solar to storage nearly three years ago, I didn’t know that I would see myself transitioning into a trillion dollar market that would set the foundation for another leap in solar’s growth potential. But ultimately, when the IRA passed in 2022, we thought 2023 would create uncapped execution in 2023 as we all held our breath for the elusive guidance and of course interconnection queues. Storage, unlike solar, is also doing self discovery for the source of capital that wants to own an asset that does not generate electricity and oftentimes does not have an offtake agreement. Heading into December, you can see the what if becoming the we’re doing because unanswered questions are finding their solutions.

Managing Installer Cash Flow. Interest rates are the highest in 22 years, increasing solar financing costs and softening consumer demand for loan products. Businesses are feeling the pain of strained cash flows, labor costs and profitability pressures. Palmetto, a B2B technology company accelerating the adoption of clean energy, has announced a new partnership offering for solar installers to help stabilize cash flows and grow faster in today’s market. Built on top of Palmetto’s Clean Energy Operating Platform, this is a comprehensive suite of tools and services enabling installers to streamline operations, optimize performance, and increase profitability. Visit https://www.palmetto.com/finance or contact capital@palmetto.com for more.

• Bloomberg: EU to Put Forward Plan for €584 Billion Overhaul of Power Grids
• Politico: Europe’s grid is under a cyberattack deluge, industry warns
• Utility Dive: Colorado regulators want to move quickly on Xcel virtual power plant
• New York Times: In Biden’s Climate Law, a Boon for Green Energy, and Wall Street
• Reuters: Brazil signs on to global climate deal to triple renewable energy
• PV-Tech: REC Group abandons Norwegian polysilicon facility, ESMC says outlook is ‘grim’
• Energy Storage News: US BESS manufacturing won’t meet demand unless ‘challenges’ are addressed, says SEIA
• PV-Magazine: Maximizing the advantage of IRA energy credits

Opinion

• Canary Media: Chart: Here’s where utility-scale solar is located in the US

Best, Yann