Calling All US Solar Warriors: We Need to Stand Up for the Industry
We’ve all heard the solar statistics. Like how our industry has grown from $800 million in 2006 to $15 billion today. Or the fact that we’re now installing 20 gigawatts globally in two years, which had taken 40 years to complete before. Three consecutive years of growth, more than 150,000 Americans directly employed, nine out of ten Americans support solar, solar’s responsible for more than half of the new electric generation capacity installed in Q1 and Q2 of this year, etc. etc. It’s easy to get lost in all the milestones we’ve reached and the positive impact we’re having on our local economies, our aging grid, our energy independence—and let’s not forget — the environment.
The transformation taking place in the electricity system is enormous, and the prescribed solution — a version 2.0 electric utility — offers a way for utilities to remain financially solvent, even profitable, in a massively decentralized and renewable energy system. The prescription is powerful: radically change the desired outcomes of the electri
In recent years at Clean Edge, we’ve been tracking and reporting on three major shifts in clean-tech investing: 1) the shift to expansion-stage corporate and institutional investing from early-stage venture capital; 2) the shift from equity investments in technology companies to debt finance for projects; and 3) the advent of investment vehicles for retail investors.
David Greene woke up one day and fired his power company. It wasn’t that hard to do. Greene, 48, is neither a hippie nor a survivalist and his environmental leanings are middle of the road. He runs an air conditioning repair service out of his home and lives in the suburbs, not the woods.
Hawaiian Electric Company’s (HECO) recent vow to break the logjam of 4,800 stalled applications for new residential PV in its territory by April relies in substantial part on the utilities’ ongoing study and expected future requirement of advanced inverters. The utility expressed hope in August that the use of advanced inverters, among other key grid modernization steps, will enable it to ultimately triple the 300+ MW of PV connections on its grid.
The latest deal involving an insolvent solar panel maker is seeing a group led by GCL-Poly Energy (HKEx: 3800) take control of bankrupt Chaori Solar, in a takeover that looks slightly ominous but also potentially interesting for investors. The ominous element comes from the fact that these bankruptcy proceedings are occurring Chinese courts, where