Solar Energy - Green Chip StocksLatest Articles with topic 'Solar Energy'2015-06-24T13:55:24Z2020 Solar Investment OutlookJust in case you needed another reason to investing in the fastest growing energy sector on the planet ...<p>It took the solar industry forty years to reach a cumulative global capacity of 100 gigawatts …</p>
<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/26/31711/solaria.jpg" border="0" alt="solaria" width="231" height="130" />By 2020, more than 100 gigawatts will be installed in a single year!</p>
<p>According to a new report from the good folks over at Greentech Media, the solar industry will install a mind-blowing 135 gigawatts of solar PV projects all across the globe in less than five years. This will push the cumulative market to nearly 700 gigawatts - or about the size of all the electrical generating capacity in Europe today.</p>
<p>And consider the following estimates:</p>
<ul>
<li>55 gigawatts in 2015. This represents 36% y/y growth.</li>
<li>Emerging markets will account for 17% of growth of the next 5 years. Historically, they’ve accounted for only about one percent.</li>
<li>By 2020, 45% of total solar PV demand will come from just three countries - China, Japan and the U.S.<br />
Admittedly, I still see China as a potential wild card based on the fact that if China’s economy implodes - which is not only possible, but probable - there will be significant solar market contraction as China is not only a major producer, but consumer, too.</li>
</ul>
<p>This is why, as I’ve explained before, I’m trying to limit our exposure to China solar stocks.</p>
<p>On the flip side, however, U.S. solar manufacturers and developers can only continue to get stronger. If you want exposure to the solar space, Sunpower (NASDAQ: SPWR), First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR), or SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE) should definitely be a part of your portfolio.</p>
<p>All three, by the way, should also get a very nice bump if a select group of lawmakers in California get their way.</p>
<p><strong>No Subsidies Needed</strong></p>
<p>The California Senate recently passed a new bill that, if signed into law, would require the Golden State to get 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030.</p>
<p>It wasn’t long ago when California upped its renewable energy mandate from 20 percent by 2020 to 33% by 2020. Now here we are today looking at the possibility of a 50% renewable energy portfolio.</p>
<p>On the surface, it seems quite aggressive. And in all fairness, right now, it is. But in another few years, costs will fall so low, solar will actually be the most cost competitive source of electricity in California. And that’s without subsidies.</p>
<p>Of course, it seems like every day the need for additional subsidies dwindles, anyway.</p>
<p>Solar superstar and founder of SunEdison, Jigar Shah, has been quite vocal on this issue, insisting that if we phase out the solar tax credits and other solar subsidies in mature markets, the result will be more robust growth.</p>
<p>Check it out …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As the Founder of the largest solar services provider, SunEdison, I had a hand in putting in place subsidies so that we could reduce costs through scale in local markets. This strategy has resulted in an average system cost reduction of over 50% since 2008.</p>
<p>But today, solar subsidies in maturing markets like the United States are actually holding us back, not propelling us forward. In fact, Germany has hit an all time high for solar capacity with 30-gigawatts peak (GWp) of solar power installed. Germany has done this by installing solar at far cheaper prices than we are in the United States. That is because solar subsidies are manipulated by investors like me to maximize our returns. The truth is that installers in the United States can, and do, install solar at roughly the same cost as German installers – save for some increased soft costs. If we want to reach higher growth, we need to phase out the solar tax credits and other solar subsidies in mature markets and watch the price of solar fall.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And just the other day, First Solar CEO, Jim Hughes, actually called the expiration of the solar investment tax credit “irrelevant,” saying …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Within 18 months, we will overcome the cost delta resulting from the drop [of the ITC] from 30 percent to 10 percent. It actually opens up new markets, in our opinion, because you'll see an increased interest in utility generation once the distortion of the ITC is behind us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hughes also made an important point that I’ve been making for years …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The growth in corporates interested in direct acquisition of photovoltaic power is not driven by climate change concerns -- it's driven by economics. When you look at data centers, when you look at electricity-intensive industries, they are all interested in locking in a significant cost as a fixed cost rather than a commodity-priced variable cost -- and that's driving a whole lot of procurement on a global basis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indeed!</p>
<p>So here we are, looking at a global market that’s growing incredibly rapidly, and even in the absence of direct subsidies, will continue to break records.</p>
<p>When it comes to energy investing, there is simply no greater growth opportunity than solar.</p>2015-06-24T13:55:24Z2015-06-24T13:55:24Z2357Jeff SiegelInvesting in Hawaii Renewable EnergyWill Hawaii become the first state to go 100% renewable energy? If not, complacency will win out over progress.<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/20/30856/hawaiisolar.jpg" border="0" alt="hawaiisolar" width="253" height="190" />I’ve been all over the world, and without a doubt, there is no place more beautiful than Hawaii, particularly the island of Kauai.</p>
<p>The weather, the ocean, the rain forests, the food - it just doesn’t get any better.</p>
<p>Although if state lawmakers get their way, there could soon be a cherry on top for renewable energy supporters.</p>
<p>As recently reported in Greentech Media …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Lawmakers in Hawaii passed legislation last week (in a 74-2 vote) requiring the state to generate 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy resources by 2045. If HB 623 is signed into law by Governor David Ige, Hawaii will become the first U.S. state to attempt complete decarbonization of the power sector.</p>
<p>Today, Hawaii’s energy mix is more than 80 percent fossil fuel, with oil providing the majority of electricity generation on the islands.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now I’ll be the first to admit, I find free market solutions superior to mandates and legislation. In a real free market, the government wouldn’t even be necessary in this situation. The better mousetraps - in this case, solar, wind and energy efficiency, would quickly replace the islands’ heavy dependence on oil.</p>
<p>Of course, to assume there’s a free market in energy is not a safe assumption to make.</p>
<p>I won’t get into all of that here, but if you’re a regular reader of these pages, you know full well that the oil and gas industry has long enjoyed extremely generous subsidies - both direct and indirect. And it is for this reason that renewables in Hawaii have faced such a long, uphill battle.</p>
<p>But with renewables enjoying a rapid decrease in production costs, even the unleveled playing field that exists in the world of energy won’t be enough to stop this clean energy juggernaut.</p>
<p><strong>A Great Opportunity</strong></p>
<p>The fact is, Hawaii has access to some of the greatest renewable energy resources in the world - solar, wind, tidal, and geothermal. The fact that 80 percent of the state’s energy mix is more than 80 percent fossil fuel-based is despicable. It highlights a long-standing exercise in complacency that has been facilitated by lawmakers, corporate interests and the relationship between the two.</p>
<p>In any event, if this bill becomes law, we will see a great opportunity for a number of publicly-traded solar companies, including, but not limited to …</p>
<ul>
<li>SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY)</li>
<li>SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR)</li>
<li>First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR)</li>
<li>SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE)</li>
<li>SolarEdge (NASDAQ: SEDG)</li>
</ul>
<p>I suspect Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) new battery storage systems could also find a nice home here.</p>
<p>Invest accordingly.</p>2015-05-14T15:02:44Z2015-05-14T15:02:44Z2349Jeff SiegelInvesting in the Sunrun IPOWill Sunrun be the next big solar IPO?<p>Good news for solar investors …</p>
<p>Another solar financing/installation company is about to go public. And if history serves as any indicator, this could be yet another opportunity to land some pretty solid gains.</p>
<p>As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Sunrun, Inc. is set work with banks including Credit Suisse Group AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on an IPO.</p>
<p>No final price has be set at this time, but currently the company is valued at more than $1.3 billion, which puts it roughly in the same box with Vivint Solar (NYSE: VSLR). The fastest horse in this race right now is SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY), which is valued at just under $5 billion.</p>
<p>SolarCity was certainly a great opportunity for investors back in 2012, when the company first went public. At it's highest, the stock had climbed more than 700% since debuting. Check it out …</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/12/29850/sctyipo.jpg" border="0" alt="sctyipo" width="659" height="499" /></p>
<p>SolarCity is currently taking on a very aggressive growth strategy, and with this growth has come growing pains which have resulted in a sizable sell-off since last September. Still, overall I like SolarCity and believe it's a force that will continue to eat up market share. But for investors, 2015 is going to be a bumpy ride.</p>
<p>Now Vivint Solar has only been public for about six months. After the initial enthusiasm of its debut, the stock fell a bit and found support around the $8.00 level. However, since the start of the year, the stock is up about 40%.</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/12/29851/vslripo.jpg" border="0" alt="vslripo" width="680" height="515" /></p>
<p>Vivint Solar is also a force and should not be taken lightly.</p>
<p>Of course, Sunrun is no slouch either. Solar installation and financing companies aren't typically valued at more than $1 billion. The company has been in the game since 2007, has more than 60,000 customers, and is in the right business, as residential solar installation is expected to grow by 50% this year.</p>
<p>I will be curious to see how they price this thing, though. With so many investors so incredibly giddy over solar again, I won't be surprised if Sunrun gets a rather large price tag attached to it. In which case, I'll happily wait for the sell-off and scoop up a few shares after the smoke has cleared.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="315" width="560" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qtglkOdPuts" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>2015-03-20T16:59:49Z2015-03-20T16:59:49Z2340Jeff SiegelInvesting in India SolarWhen the sun shines in India, these companies get paid!<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/11/29648/indiasolar.jpg" border="0" alt="indiasolar" width="231" height="167" />If you think the war on coal in the U.S. is bad, you ain't seen nothing yet!</p>
<p>We recently got word that India is set to double the tax on coal production, while promoting electric vehicles and renewable energy projects.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure there's some Luddite reporter in Mumbai right now who's head's about to explode.</p>
<p>But that's neither here nor there.</p>
<p>While I'm no fan of regulatory regimes of any kind, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to know that a crap-ton of money is getting funneled into renewable energy and electric cars in India, and not coal. This is for two reasons …</p>
<p>1.) India is one of the most polluted countries in the world. And while fuel wood, biomass, and traffic congestion are bigger culprits when it comes to air pollution, certainly reducing coal-fired power isn't going to hurt.</p>
<p>2.) Thanks to India's latest hard-on for renewable energy, we're now presented with even more opportunity to profit from from the inevitable transition of the global energy economy.</p>
<p><strong>This is Huge</strong></p>
<p>As it stands now, India plans to add 175 gigawatts of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022. 100 gigawatts of that will come from solar.</p>
<p>To put this in perspective, the U.S. currently has less than 18 gigawatts of solar capacity installed.</p>
<p>This is huge!</p>
<p>Analysts over Deutsche bank issued a report about a week ago which indicated that by 2022, 25 percent of India's power will come from solar. Analysts also suggested that solar will ultimately become the dominant source of electricity around the globe, generating $5 trillion in revenue over the next 15 years.</p>
<p>Deutsche bank notes that over the next 5 to 10 years, new business models will generate a significant amount of economic and shareholder value, and that “within three years, the economics of solar will take over from policy drivers (subsidies).”</p>
<p>I love it!</p>
<p>Here's more …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As we look out over the next 5 years, we believe the industry is set to experience the final piece of cost reduction – customer acquisition costs for distributed generation are set to decline by more than half as customer awareness increases, soft costs come down and more supportive policies are announced.</p>
<p>While the outlook for small scale distributed solar generation looks promising, we remain equally optimistic over the prospects of commercial and utility scale solar markets.</p>
<p>We believe utility-scale solar demand is set to accelerate in both the US and emerging markets due to a combination of supportive policies and ongoing solar electricity cost reduction. We remain particularly optimistic over growth prospects in China, India, Middle East, South Africa and South America.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The biggest solar player in India is Tata Solar Power, which is a subsidiary of Tata Power.</p>
<p>Other solar companies with a solid foothold in India include SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE) and First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR).</p>
<p>Definitely keep a close eye on India throughout the rest of this year as new laws, regulations and incentives kick the Indian solar market into overdrive.</p>
<p></p>2015-03-09T20:15:20Z2015-03-09T20:15:20Z2334Jeff SiegelSolar Stocks are Crushing it!In case you're wondering, solar stocks are booming.<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29626/iinnssttaall.jpg" border="0" alt="iinnssttaall" width="251" height="141" />Solar stocks crushed it yesterday …</p>
<p>Vivint Solar (NASDAQ: VSLR), in particular shot up in excess of 33%, and Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ), got a nice boost after the company announced plans for a yieldco. This news, by the way, came only a couple of weeks after news hit that First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) and SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR) were joining forces on their own yieldco.</p>
<p>As you likely remember, I told readers last year that 2015 would be the year of the yieldco. We're off to a good start.</p>
<p>But overall, how have solar stocks performed so far this year? Let's take a look …</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE)</strong></span></p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29610/ssune.png" border="0" alt="SSUNE" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Vivint Solar (NASDAQ: VSLR)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29611/vslr.png" border="0" alt="VSLR" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29612/csiqq.png" border="0" alt="csiqq" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Daqo New Energy (NYSE: DQ)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29613/ddqq.png" border="0" alt="ddqq" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29614/fslrr.png" border="0" alt="fslrr" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29615/jasoo.png" border="0" alt="jasoo" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29617/ssttyy.png" border="0" alt="ssttyy" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29618/spwr.png" border="0" alt="spwr" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Trina Solar (NASDAQ: TSL)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29619/tsltsl.png" border="0" alt="tsltsl" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29620/ygeyge.png" border="0" alt="ygeyge" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Amtech Systems (NASDAQ: ASYS)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29621/asysy.png" border="0" alt="asysy" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>ReneSola (NYSE: SOL)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29622/solsol.png" border="0" alt="solsol" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29623/jksjks.png" border="0" alt="jksjks" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sky Solar (NASDAQ: SKYS)</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29624/skysskys.png" border="0" alt="skysskys" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Enphase Energy (NASDAQ: ENPH)</strong></span></p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29625/enph.png" border="0" alt="enph" width="700" height="530" /></p>
<p>Assuming we don't see any major destruction in the broader market this year, solar stocks will likely maintain a slow and steady rise in 2015.</p>
<p>The renewable energy market is fertile, solar's growing faster than any other form of energy (including natural gas), and from a technological standpoint, solar is following a Moore's Law trajectory. Before you know it, solar will be as ubiquitous as supermarkets and cell phones.</p>
<p>Invest accordingly.</p>
<p></p>2015-03-06T16:43:00Z2015-03-06T16:43:00Z2333Jeff SiegelSolar Grid Bolsters SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE) LeadAnother reason SunEdison is a top-notch play on solar.<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29587/sune4.jpg" border="0" alt="sune4" width="231" height="145" />While the solar industry continues to heat up, I maintain that one of the best plays in the space is SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE).</p>
<p>This is an aggressive operation, run by incredibly smart people. The company is well-capitalized, fairly liquid, and well-diversified in the energy space, boasting both a top-notch, vertically-integrated solar operation, and a basket of healthy wind assets, too.</p>
<p>The company is also now advancing on energy storage – the final obstacle to the creative destruction necessary to alleviate the world's reliance on fossil fuels.</p>
<p>In a press release this morning, SunEdison made the following announcement …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>SunEdison, Inc., the world's largest renewable energy development company, and Solar Grid Storage LLC, a leader in deploying combined energy storage and solar PV systems, today announced that SunEdison has acquired the energy storage project origination team, project pipeline, and subject to customary consents and assignments, four operating storage projects from Solar Grid Storage. SunEdison now offers battery storage solutions to complement solar and wind projects worldwide, providing solutions that can benefit utilities, municipalities, businesses, and consumers alike.</p>
<p>"Storage is a perfect complement to our business model and to our wind and solar expertise," said Tim Derrick, General Manager of SunEdison Advanced Solutions. "Our strategy is to increase the value of the solar and wind projects that we finance, develop, own, and operate by improving their availability and ability to interact with the grid. With this acquisition we have added the capability to pair energy storage with solar and wind projects, thereby creating more valuable projects and positioning ourselves as a leader in the rapidly growing energy storage market."</p>
<p>The growth in the energy storage market is being driven by commercial and municipal customers who are interested in both immediate energy savings from solar and emergency back-up power from storage, and by electricity grid operators, who place a high value on storage for its ability to make the grid more resilient and less susceptible to failure. Renewable generation-plus-storage has proven to be a cost-effective way of integrating renewable energy such as solar and wind into the grid.</p>
<p>"Solar Grid Storage is unique in the storage industry in that we approach storage from a solar perspective. Understanding the core solar customer value proposition, as well as the ways that energy storage can add customer benefits and economic value to solar projects, enables us to deliver renewable energy projects that are more valuable for both customers and grid operators," said Tom Leyden, Chief Executive Officer of Solar Grid Storage. "Becoming a part of SunEdison, a renewable energy market leader with a strong pipeline of customers and development projects, positions us incredibly well to accelerate our growth and integrate energy storage with renewables to help create the electricity grid of the future."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interestingly, this news comes less than one month after Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) genius Elon Musk announced that his company is about six months away from unveiling a new kind of battery that'll be able to power your home.</p>
<p>I'm telling you right now, the elusive storage dream is about to become reality. And it's companies like SunEdison and Tesla that are going to make fat wads of cash by getting this stuff out of the labs and into the marketplace first.</p>
<p>Invest accordingly.</p>
<p></p>2015-03-05T15:18:52Z2015-03-05T15:18:52Z2332Jeff SiegelSunEdison (NYSE: SUNE) Saves the World!Solar will bring power to the people!<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/10/29541/sunesune.jpg" border="0" alt="sunesune" width="242" height="161" />A good friend of mine is a non-stop world traveler.</p>
<p>He's barely missed being bombed by Al-Shabab in Somalia, he's ridden in the House of Saud's Hummer fleet, and he's had cozy meetings with South American presidents. He's raced across Mongolia in an ancient hatchback and scaled Mt. Everest three times.</p>
<p>He's got a life Indiana Jones would be jealous of.</p>
<p>As a filmmaker and photographer, he often captures images of things that are unusual to even the most seasoned world traveler.</p>
<p>One of my favorites was an image of a cappuccino machine in an East African restaurant. It was powered by coal fire.</p>
<p>He said the drinks that came from the coal-powered machine tasted no different from an electric machine, but it highlighted one of the most shocking disparities between the developed world and the developing world.</p>
<p>Nearly one quarter of the world lives “in the dark,” cooking over open fires and burning oil lamps at night.</p>
<p>1.25 billion people have no electricity. They are located almost entirely within the developing world.</p>
<p>Things we Americans take for granted: hot water, illuminated bathrooms, and being able to walk into a shop and pay with a credit card, are not standard amenities in a huge chunk of the world.</p>
<p>And the spread of electricity is growing slower than the population.</p>
<p>That means if the trend continues unchanged, the amount of the world with power would actually shrink. It's moving backward.</p>
<p>The United Nations has an initiative to make sustainable energy universally available by 2030, but the International Energy Agency and the World Bank aren't optimistic about that goal being met. It's extremely difficult and expensive to construct a grid from scratch, and could cost in the trillions of dollars.</p>
<p>Off-grid power solutions are necessary if the whole world is to be electrified.</p>
<p>Fortunately, it looks like technology might sweep in to save the day.</p>
<p>Last week, SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE) announced its own internal goal of bringing electricity to 20 million people living off the grid in underserved communities across the globe by 2020. A cornerstone to this initiative is a unit called the SunEdison Outdoor Microstation.</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/09/29495/sunedison-sune-outdoor-microstation-solar-power-panel.jpg" border="0" alt="sunedison sune outdoor microstation solar power panel" width="500" height="333" /></p>
<p>The unit, ready for deployment now, is a standalone solar power generation unit for off-grid areas. It looks somewhat like a bus stop rain shelter with solar panels along the roof, and an inverter and transformer underneath. It can be installed in less than six hours, is modular, and can operate either on- or off an existing grid.</p>
<p>SunEdison says the unit is ideally suited for public lighting, households and businesses, clinics and health centers, irrigation or water pumps, or retail and telecommunications.</p>
<p>It comes with a peak capacity of 3.4 kW, and a nominal AC output of 3,500 VA capable of 7,900 Watt hours per day. It can provide power to 25 homes for five hours a night for three days straight.</p>
<p>Units like this seize the near ubiquity of sunlight and turn it into energy generation for areas with no energy infrastructure. It's the ideal solution for rural electrification.</p>
<p>Free market solutions are wonderful things!</p>2015-03-03T16:11:39Z2015-03-03T16:11:39Z2331Tim ConneallyInvesting in SolarEdge (NASDAQ: SEDG)SolarEdge is ready to go public<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/08/29375/solaredge.jpg" border="0" alt="solaredge" width="296" height="115" />From a <a href="http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/israel-cleantech/932">huge crop of Israeli cleantech companies,</a> solar power optimization and management startup SolarEdge has filed for a $125 million initial public offering on the NASDAQ exchange.</p>
<p>SolarEdge has been talking about IPO since 2011, but opted instead to work with venture capital through three separate funding rounds. By the time it completed its Series D, SolarEdge had raised a total of $37 million from more than ten venture capital groups.</p>
<p>The company's CFO recently told Bloomberg that it was difficult to grow such a large company with only private money. An IPO was a given, it was just a question of when it would happen.</p>
<p>Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission published SolarEdge's S-1 filing that revealed the nuts and bolts of this offering.</p>
<p><strong>What SolarEdge offers</strong></p>
<p>A major problem for solar panels is how easily their output can be lessened. When even a portion of a solar panel loses its direct sunlight, the energy output is compromised. SolarEdge claimed to maximize efficiency of panels to mitigate the effects of things like partial solar shading.</p>
<p>By correcting inefficiencies in DC to AC conversion, SolarEdge claimed to be able to boost energy output by as much as 30 percent.</p>
<p>The value of the company is in its patented power inversion technique. It's an upgrade to the dominant method of harvesting solar power. In short, the system uses a distributed architecture of power optimizers. The SolarEdge system hooks up each photovoltaic (PV) module in the array with its own low-cost optimizer. The whole network of optimizers is monitored and managed by a cloud-based interface.</p>
<p>In the company's SEC filing, it describes itself in the following way:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Our system enables each PV module to operate at its own maximum power point ("MPP"), rather than a system-wide average, enabling dynamic response to real-world conditions, such as atmospheric conditions, PV module aging, soiling and shading and offering improved energy yield relative to traditional inverter systems...Our architecture allows for complex rooftop system designs and enhanced safety and reliability.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>SolarEdge is a B2B company. It sells this solution to solar providers of various sizes in 45 different countries so far. It works with big installers like SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) Vivint Solar (NASDAQ: VSLR) and SunRun and claims to have shipped more than 4.5 million power optimization units and 201,000 inverters since its founding in 2006. Approximately 95,000 installations are hooked up to its cloud monitoring platform.</p>
<p>In 2013, the company's revenue was $79 million. In 2014, revenue grew to $133.2 million. The comany's revenue for the first six months of fiscal 2015 have been double that of the previous year. After a history of losses and negative cash flow from operating expenses, the company is posting a net gain for the first six months of this fiscal year. The first six months of fiscal 2014 resulted in a $13.1 million net loss. So far this year, it's tracked a $5.9 million gain.</p>
<p>But that's an extremely limited run. The company's ability to generate a profit seems to be the biggest question, and it's marked as the number one risk factor in the SEC prospectus. Sure, they market their ability to optimize solar panels for output, but can they optimize their operating costs so they can turn a consistent profit?</p>
<p>SolarEdge will trade under the symbol (NASDAQ: SEDG), and it will not yield cash dividends at any point in the forseeable future.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>2015-02-19T19:43:36Z2015-02-19T19:43:36Z2329Tim ConneallyInvesting in First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) Big news for First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) and the solar industry as a whole. <p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/07/29223/firsttsolar.jpg" border="0" alt="firsttsolar" width="225" height="169" />Kudos to the lucky First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) employee who landed the recent $850 million deal with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)!</p>
<p>According to Bloomberg, First Solar has just entered into a solar farm partnership with Apple. The deal is worth $848 million!</p>
<p>As reported by Tim Higgins …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The iPhone maker already powers all of its data centers with renewable energy. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive officer, has advocated taking more steps to combat climate change. He unveiled the initiative during a presentation at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. The agreement is the largest in the solar industry for a single commercial customer, he said.</p>
<p>Construction on the 2,900-acre (12-square kilometer) California Flats Solar Project will begin in the middle of the this year and be completed by the end of 2016, the companies said. Additional output of about 150 megawatts from the solar farm will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Co.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It's hard to believe that less than ten years ago, we were being mocked by the knuckle-draggers of Wall Street for being so bullish on solar. “It'll never amount to anything,” they'd tell me.</p>
<p>Today, First Solar, which boasts a market cap of $4.8 billion, is basking in the glory of an $850 million solar deal with one of the biggest, most successful companies on the planet. And mark my words, this is just the beginning.</p>
<p><strong>Solar Exposure</strong></p>
<p>Michael Liebreich of New Energy Finance was interviewed in a piece the other day where he said …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"I put solar panels on my home back in 2004 when most people thought it was fringe. I have done a lot of study on this issue of solar and wind. If there is one thing I try to get across to clients, it is that now is the time to buy into solar. First Solar may become the first trillion-dollar company in ten years. I know that sounds audacious, but watch the video. Denmark gets 40% of their electricity from wind and Texas now gets 30% from wind. And wind is small potatoes compared to what will happen once 5 cent/kilowatt hour solar becomes standard pricing around the world. I’m saying that even natural gas cannot compete with solar. It may well be the worst nightmare the Koch brothers can imagine. Exxon will be a smaller company than many solar companies ten years from now. This is happening. It is real.</p>
<p>“...This is massive. It is the biggest revolution you will see in your lifetime. The fracking revolution is small potatoes. Solar and wind will swamp the frackers. No one will argue about climate change once the cost of solar is down to 4 cents/kwh everywhere. That is where it will be by 2017!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While I share Liebreich's enthusiasm, I'm not sure I completely agree with him on his timing. I suspect it'll take at least until the end of the decade before we see 4 cents/kwh. Of course, in all fairness, Liebreich is a lot more knowledgeable than me. So maybe he's absolutely on point. It wouldn't be the first time.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, with today's announcement from Apple, we are once again reminded that the integration of solar is no longer going to be a slow one. And at this point, no energy investor should be without exposure to the solar space. Unless, of course, you hate money. In which case you should stay far, far away from companies like First Solar, SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE), and SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR).</p>
<p>Here's more from Michael Liebreich:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="315" width="560" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pxHKRI2Cbas" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>2015-02-11T16:01:02Z2015-02-11T16:01:02Z2326Jeff SiegelCommunity Solar with Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL)Xcel Energy Loves Solar. Well, kind of ...<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/04/28865/xcelsolar.jpg" border="0" alt="xcelsolar" width="238" height="158" />We've been saying it for a couple of years already, but it bears repeating: Community solar projects just make sense.</p>
<p>When 85% of the residential market doesn't have appropriate space for a solar project, solar gardens are kind of a no-brainer. Pick a place that's good to build a solar farm, open it up to consumers who can't build their own, and massively multiply the market size.</p>
<p>However, it's really not that simple. The rollout of these types of projects has been anything but smooth.</p>
<p>In early December, First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) partnered with the Clean Energy Collective in its first move into community solar. At just around the same time, Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) launched its community solar program in its home state of Minnesota.</p>
<p>It was a follow-up to the company's community solar project in Colorado, which showed promise for the builders of solar gardens, but has consistently hit regulatory snags.</p>
<p>First, let's look at the Minnesota program.</p>
<p><strong>Xcel Energy Community Solar in Minnesota</strong></p>
<p>As of 2013, Xcel Energy provided approximately half of all of Minnesota's retail electricity sales and had 1.2 million customers.</p>
<p>Its portfolio is dominated by coal and natural gas, but in the last few years it's become a major provider of wind power, as seen in the chart below.</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/04/28862/xcel-energy-mix-2011.png" border="0" alt="xcel energy mix 2011" width="365" height="301" /></p>
<p>In the interest of increasing the amount of solar energy generation in Minnesota, the state legislature passed a bill that placed new solar requirements upon Xcel in 2013.</p>
<p>Part of the “Made in Minnesota” solar initiatives (Minn. Stat. § 216B.1641) required that Xcel begin operating solar gardens in the state. These gardens could be owned by a utility or any other entity, their capacity would be limited to 1 megawatt, and there would be no limit to the number of gardens that could be built within the state.</p>
<p>As in other places, subscribers to these solar gardens would receive energy bill credits “for the electricity generated in proportion to the size of their subscription.” The minimum subscription would be 200 Watts, and the maximum would be 120 percent of the average annual subscriber energy consumption.</p>
<p>The situation is nearly identical to Xcel's community solar incentive in Colorado which drew huge interest from developers in 2012. So far, that project has yielded five solar arrays around the Denver area.</p>
<p>It appears to have the same initial developer frenzy that the Colorado project had. Within one month of the program's beginning, Xcel received some 400 applications from developers who wanted to build the solar gardens.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, some of the companies that want a slice of the action are coming from Colorado.</p>
<p>Last week, Denver-based SunShare announced it had teamed up with construction company Mortenson to build solar gardens under Xcel Energy in Minnesota. SunShare is responsible for two solar gardens in Colorado Springs, and has five others in development in the Colorado Springs and Denver metro areas. It's already partnered with both Xcel Energy and Colorado Springs Utilities, and it's accepting subscriber reservations for its as-of-yet unbuilt Minnesota gardens.</p>
<p>But as I mentioned earlier, Xcel's move to actually offer solar energy to consumers has been a reluctant one.</p>
<p><strong>Colorado Friction</strong></p>
<p>Like Minnesota, Colorado voted to increase its renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in 2011. The goal was to have 30% of the state's electricity coming from renewables by 2020.</p>
<p>Xcel is Colorado's biggest publicly-owned utility, and it's been fighting tooth and nail to keep its energy incumbency.</p>
<p>This manifested itself in a proposal to restructure net metering credits. Net metering is the practice in 43 US states that gives consumers credit for generating their own solar electricity and feeding it into the grid. Xcel wanted to change the net metering policies, or else cut its solar rewards program by some 80%.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the city of Boulder thought it could do better than 30% RPS if it could gather its own energy. Boulder's City Council voted to form its own municipal energy utility company several times, and it passed unanimously on May 6, 2014.</p>
<p>It was at that point that Xcel put its foot down, and it sued the city.</p>
<p>The problem was that the city needed to figure out where it would be acquiring its assets, and how its municipal grid would be separated from Xcel's.</p>
<p>Competiton is at the heart of all of Xcel's complaints.</p>
<p>But Xcel's competitive incumbency has come back to bite it in the ass. Xcel's Solar*Connect program was shot down by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in December. The PUC said solar gardens would give Xcel an unfair competitive advantage over other rooftop solar and community solar projects in Colorado.</p>
<p>Even though community solar gardens open up the majority of Americans to solar power, they can still be anti-competitive when they're at the hands of a near-monopolistic energy company.</p>
<p>While they help encourage the adoption of clean energy, it stifles the market in a field where smaller companies actually stand a chance to compete.</p>
<p></p>2015-01-23T19:06:19Z2015-01-23T19:06:19Z2321Tim ConneallyCongress Attacks SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) for being SuccessfulArizona has the best solar resource in the country, but the biggest douchebags running the show.<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/03/28674/cactusmiddle.jpg" border="0" alt="cactusmiddle" width="228" height="171" />A group of congressmen is looking to paint solar Power Purchasing Agreements as predatory tricks akin to subprime mortgages. </p>
<p>While I'm not the biggest fan of the PPA, it exists for a reason, and the congressmen who have begun the inquiry with the FTC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have clear and obvious agendas.</p>
<p>Before I get into it, let's recap one of the basic things about consumer rooftop solar: how you buy it.</p>
<p>There are three main ways to finance your rooftop solar project. Each way has its own benefits and drawbacks.</p>
<ol>
<li>You can buy the hardware and erect it yourself. You can generate electricity and sell it to power companies, which brings you a steady source of income. This is known as the Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC). Unfortunately, it incurs a huge upfront cost to begin cashing in on SRECs.</li>
<li>You can lease the solar panels. Like option 1, the panels generate energy and income to the homeowner with SRECs. Since they're leased, however, you don't actually own the panels and the monthly lease cuts into their income.</li>
<li>You can sign a power purchase agreement or PPA to have the panels installed for free, but at the cost of your solar renewable energy credits. With this system, the homeowner lets a company put up solar panels on his or her house in the understanding that he or she will buy energy at a discounted rate. The idea is that the solar company makes money from the SRECs, and uses it to offset the cost of the energy the homeowner buys.</li>
</ol>
<p>They all have advantages and disadvantages, but the third option can be the most off-putting for people doing it strictly to save money on their electric bills.</p>
<p>A PPA is as long term a commitment as a home loan, and once your solar equipment is paid off, you can't use it for energy independence. Basically, you're paying your entire life to make electricity for the electric company and tax credits for the solar company. It's not that appealing when you think about it in that way. Because of this, a handful of congressmen are now leaning on companies like SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) saying they're deceptive to consumers.</p>
<p><strong>Here's the thing...the bigger picture thing</strong></p>
<p>The more people who put up solar panels – through self-funding, loans, leases, or PPAs – the less reliant on fossil fuels we become.</p>
<p>And more solar panels generating electricity means less money for fossil generators.</p>
<p>This is the root of Congress' attack on PPAs.</p>
<p>Arizona Republican Representative Paul Gosar and 11 republican co-signatories wrote a letter to Edith Ramierez, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, while Arizona Democratic Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick, Ron Barber, Kyrsten Sinema and Texas Representative Gene Green sent a similar letter to Richard Cordray of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.</p>
<p>Both letters complain that it's a deceptive sales and marketing practice to offer a zero down, 20-year lease in a PPA, yet offer no guarantee for a locked-in discount on utility rates.</p>
<p>The letter to Ramierez says the “deceptive marketing strategies...overstate the savings the homeowner will receive, while understating the risks associated with agreeing to a decades-long lease that is often secured by a second deed of trust to the house – a financial commitment that will likely exceed both the life of the roof and duration of the lessor's home ownership.”</p>
<p>The letter to Cordray compares PPAs to subprime mortgages, saying “easy initial financial terms, increased demand and a rapidly expanding industry can be high risk and ultimately harmful to consumers and the industry.”</p>
<p>It should be no surprise that both of these letters can be found hosted on the American Public Power Association, a lobby group representing electric utilities. This organization has variously taken an anti-net metering, anti-smart meter, pro-nuclear, pro-fossil fuel stance.</p>
<p>Naturally, the spread of solar power would be devastating to these interests.</p>
<p>Why have I taken this latest congressional action with a grain of salt?</p>
<p>Because the bipartisan body of representatives who led this charge are all Arizonans.</p>
<p>In case you missed it, in 2013, Arizona's largest electric utility ran a huge smear campaign against solar energy companies. The Arizona Public Service Company (APS) hired two nonprofits (60 Plus and Prosper) to run marketing campaigns that compared SolarCity and Sunrun to Solyndra, the solar company that went bankrupt on federal funds. Arizona politicians have proven to be decidedly anti-solar.</p>
<p>The rest of the signatories of Gosar's letter are consistent opponents of renewable energy themselves.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<p><strong>Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)</strong>: “If you blanketed the entire State of Ohio with wind turbines, it would produce annually the equivalent amount of energy as one square mile of Wyoming coal.” (Floor Statement, May 2009)</p>
<p><strong>Alan Nunnelee (R-MS)</strong>: “The President continues to drag his feet on American energy production because he is beholden to an environmentalist fringe that is hostile to energy development.”</p>
<p><strong>Morgan Griffin (R-VA</strong>): “We need to expand coal production and eliminate the harmful regulations that are killing the industry.”</p>
<p>These congresspeople have taken up the mantle against SolarCity because the company has shown an incredible ability to grow through PPAs, and it is a tangible threat to their fossil fuel interests.</p>2015-01-14T15:00:07Z2015-01-14T15:00:07Z2319Tim ConneallyInvesting in the Sol-Wind IPO (NYSE: SLWD)Taking a closer look at the Sol-Wind IPO.<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2015/02/28535/sol-wind.jpg" border="0" alt="sol-wind" width="220" height="165" />The pool of public solar yieldcos keeps growing.</p>
<p>Just before the Christmas holiday, Sol-Wind Renewable Power LP filed for a $100 million initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This will be the eighth Yieldco to debut since 2013, and the stock will trade on the NYSE under the symbol SLWD.</p>
<p>But there's something different about this one.</p>
<p>Sol-Wind is a yieldco that utilizes a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) structure, so it will be taxed differently from the other Yieldcos.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, a Yieldco is similar to MLPs by nature, but the taxation rules are very different.</p>
<p>The offering from Sol-Wind merits a closer look.</p>
<p><strong>What it is, Why it's different</strong></p>
<p>Sol-Wind is a New York-based company that has only existed for a year. It has already booked $15 million in PPAs across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada. It has a portfolio of 184.6 MW of generating capacity which is made up of 131 discrete solar assets and 16 wind assets.</p>
<p>According to the IPO prospectus, Sol-Wind intends to put the proceeds of the IPO toward acquiring more assets. The document states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We are focused on acquiring assets from middle-market developers, which is an area where we see particularly compelling opportunities. We define "middle-market developers" as those developers who typically, in the case of solar assets, develop projects of between 100 kW and 5 MW in nameplate capacity and, in the case of wind assets, between 1 MW and 10 MW in nameplate capacity.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems pretty straightforward, but Sol-Wind is attempting to structure itself in such a way so that it can receive the tax benefit of an MLP instead of a typical yieldco.</p>
<p>A regulation known as I.R.C. § 7704 allows certain publicly-traded master limited partnerships to be taxed as partnerships instead of corporations, and Sol-Wind has the ability to meet that exemption.</p>
<p>It's a tricky arrangement that's often used by private equity and hedge funds to avoid taxation. A blocker corporation is set up to absorb the 35% corporate tax that would otherwise be applied to the partnership's assets. However, the corporation makes nothing, and any income made by the MLP is taxed only at shareholder level.</p>
<p><strong>Why is this structure necessary?</strong></p>
<p>“By statute, MLPs have only been available to investors in energy portfolios for oil, natural gas, coal extraction, and pipeline projects. These projects get access to capital at a lower cost and are more liquid than traditional financing approaches to energy projects, making them highly effective at attracting private investment,” Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) says on his website. “Investors in renewable energy projects, however, have been explicitly prevented from forming MLPs, starving a growing portion of America's domestic energy sector of the capital it needs to build and grow.”</p>
<p>Currently under federal law, qualified sources of income for tax-free partnerships include: interest, dividends, rents, capital asset sales, real estate, and natural resources (including oil/gas/petroleum, coal, timber, etc).</p>
<p>Several bills known as the MLP Parity Act (MLPPA) were submitted to congress in 2012 and 2013, seeking to amend the tax code for publicly traded partnerships to treat all income from renewable and alternative fuels as “qualifying income”.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, senate bills and house resolutions known as the MLP Parity act all died in committee.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>2015-01-08T16:19:27Z2015-01-08T16:19:27Z2318Tim ConneallyNuclear Meltdowns make me Love SolarNuclear power is safe, but people aren't. <p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2014/01/28359/fukufuku.jpg" border="0" alt="fukufuku" width="240" height="156" />So who's next?</p>
<p>This was the subject of a brief conversation I overhead between three energy traders who work in my building.</p>
<p>While waiting in line at Chipotle, the boisterous trio of thirty-somethings were trying to figure out which country would be next in line for a massive nuclear meltdown.</p>
<p>As morbid as this is (particularly because the banter was peppered with hearty laughter), it's really not a bad question to ask.</p>
<p>Who is next? Because if you think Fukushima was the last meltdown, you're kidding yourself.</p>
<p><strong>Catastrophe</strong></p>
<p>As I've written in the past, Fukushima was not a nuclear crisis because nuclear power is unsafe. It was a crisis because of human error. Sub-par safety procedures and poor logistical planning were to blame, not the splitting of isotopes.</p>
<p>The problem is, there is no human or group of humans capable of stopping acts of God or acts of ignorance. Both are out of our control, and both have been responsible for every nuclear power accident we've ever had. Whether it's full-blown meltdowns like we saw in Fukushima and Chernobyl or “minor” safety violations and “low-level” leaking risks, utilizing nuclear power to light and heat our homes will always be a very dangerous activity. And it will always be at risk of catastrophe.</p>
<p><strong>A Glitch?</strong></p>
<p>Although I didn't join in on the nuclear conversation this afternoon, I have been giving this some thought.</p>
<p>Even after the Fukushima disaster, most folks still don't take meltdown threats seriously.</p>
<p>In a recent RT piece, it was reported that a radioactive leak had been detected at Ukraine's Zaporzozhye nuclear power plant. This is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.</p>
<p>The article notes that on Sunday, one reactor at the plant was automatically shut down after a glitch.</p>
<p>A glitch?</p>
<p>Glitches are for high-definition televisions and toaster ovens, not for nuclear power plants!</p>
<p>We also recently got reports that a “low-risk” worm was removed at a hacked South Korea nuclear power plant.</p>
<p>Folks, there's no such thing as a “low-risk” anything when you're talking about someone hacking into a nuclear facility.</p>
<p>As humans, this lack of responsibility regarding nuclear power utilization should be alarming. Yet it's not. So does that make me an alarmist? Maybe it does. But doesn't the threat of another nuclear meltdown demand an alarm?</p>
<p>In any event, while we can't control the actions of the arrogant and foolish, we can at least invest in alternatives to nuclear power. And in 2015, solar is the way to go.</p>
<p>If you only invest in public companies, SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY), Vivint Solar (NYSE: VSLR), and SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE) are solid choices for 2015.</p>
<p>Outside of those, in many states, an investment in your own solar power system can actually reward you with a positive ROI over the course of anywhere between six to twelve years.</p>
<p>Either way, whatever you think about nuclear power and solar, one thing is for certain …</p>
<p>If your solar panel has a “glitch,” you won't have to evacuate.</p>
<p></p>2014-12-30T21:26:31Z2014-12-30T21:26:31Z2316Jeff SiegelFirst Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) Embraces Community SolarFirst Solar offers serious muscle for new community solar projects.<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2014/50/28108/commsolar.jpg" border="0" alt="commsolar" width="241" height="162" />A family that I know desperately wants to switch to solar power.</p>
<p>But there's a problem. They live in the woods.</p>
<p>Even though they'd be more than willing to shell out the money to have solar panels installed on their roof, there's no use for them there.</p>
<p>The painful truth about residential rooftop solar is that it's often not available to those who really want it because it's only available to a small percentage of homes.</p>
<p>The vast majority of U.S. residences are either permanently obscured by trees, facing the wrong direction, structurally unsuitable for rooftop panels, or are within apartment buildings or other multi-family structures.</p>
<p>The limiting factors can be overwhelming.</p>
<p>For First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR), community solar projects will provide the perfect workaround.</p>
<p>This week, the solar panel manufacturer announced it has partnered with the Colorado-based Clean Energy Collective (CEC) to start offering solar solutions to consumers who might live in a place where rooftop isn't possible.</p>
<p><strong>Community Solar</strong></p>
<p>The idea is simple, and it goes by lots of different names. Sometimes, projects are called “solar farms,” other times, they're called “solar gardens.”</p>
<p>Either way, they are the same thing. They are ground-based solar installations that feed into the grid. Consumers in a single community buy the installation and the electricity it generates earns credit against their grid-based electric bills.</p>
<p>The result is the same as if consumers had their own rooftop solar installation, but it doesn't have to actually be on their roof, and the array can be purchased with a whole community's money.</p>
<p>So the benefit is that it opens up solar power to the 85% who can't have rooftop solar, and it makes the whole process a bit more affordable since buying is a group effort.</p>
<p>In a statement this week, First Solar clearly expressed why it's taking part in such a partnership:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Community solar significantly expands the addressable market beyond solutions limited to rooftop only, especially in urban residential settings.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For the multitude living in rented, urban properties, community projects are literally the only way they can participate in solar energy generation.</p>
<p><strong>The Partnership</strong></p>
<p>Under the terms of the partnership, CEC will continue to do what it has been doing since 2012: developing community solar projects.</p>
<p>It has projects with Xcel Energy, Green Mountain Power, NationalGrid, Nstar, Western Massachussets Electric, Colorado Springs Utilites, Kit Carson Cooperative Comunity Solar, City of Fort Collins, Holy Cross Energy, and more. The majority of the projects are in Colorado, but they have projects in Vermont, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New Mexico.</p>
<p>All told, CEC has 40 community solar projects with 18 partners that come to approximately 36 MW of capacity.</p>
<p>First Solar has purchased an equity stake in CEC, and its CEO Jim Hughes, and Vice President of Strategic Marketing Marc van Gerven will take positions on CEC's board of directors.</p>
<p>Further terms of the deal were not made available, so it is not yet known how much money CEC will be getting to expand its footprint.</p>
<p><strong>Why it Matters</strong></p>
<p>This partnership expands the scope of First Solar's wholesale and retail generation, and gives it a viable inroad to areas that are already underrepresented in solar generation.</p>
<p>By off-siting solar farms, people whose houses can't accommodate rooftop installation are suddenly available as customers, and by utilizing the community, the cost barrier of entry is padded for individuals.</p>
<p>According to data compiled by the Clean Energy Collective, community solar projects expand the potential solar market to more than 148 million homes!</p>2014-12-12T19:16:10Z2014-12-12T19:16:10Z2313Tim ConneallyInvesting in Retail Solar with SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY)SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) continues to strengthen despite its falling stock price. <p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2014/50/28070/sctyud.jpg" border="0" alt="sctyud" width="242" height="182" />I've come to the conclusion that SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) is that really beautiful girl in high school that no one notices.</p>
<p>She doesn't wear a lot of makeup or dress in fancy clothes. But underneath that cloak of invisibility is an absolutely stunning woman. And one day, some extremely successful and handsome man (or woman) will sweep her off her feet and make him (or her) one of the happiest people on earth.</p>
<p>I'm telling you right now, SolarCity is going to be the one that got away. At least for those who never seem to look beyond the next quarter.</p>
<p>Now I won't belabor my crush on SCTY here, as I've filled enough pages with that in the past. Both in good times, and bad. However, it's worth sharing some good news about SCTY today.</p>
<p>This morning we got word that SolarCity and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) have created a new program to finance about $400 million worth of residential solar projects. Just tack that on to the other hundreds of millions of dollars worth of similar financing deals, I suppose.</p>
<p>The stock is up a bit today on the news, but I don't expect much in the way of big movements for SCTY until next year. At this point, I'm not buying and I'm not selling. I'm just waiting impatiently for this ugly duckling to turn into the swan it truly is.</p>
<p>In the meantime, check out this great article by Robert Ferris over at CNBC. It's called<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/102254283"> “No, Cheap Oil will not Kill Solar Power.” </a>Something, as you already know, I've been saying since oil prices started to collapse, dragging down solar stocks down even further.</p>
<p></p>2014-12-11T16:46:00Z2014-12-11T16:46:00Z2311Jeff SiegelSolar Thrives on Low Oil Prices The market isn't confused about solar stocks. Investors are. <p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2014/49/27873/solaragain.jpg" border="0" alt="solaragain" width="214" height="142" />I huffed and I puffed, but no one paid attention.</p>
<p>I suppose you need the swagger of an Elon Musk, Alan Greenspan or Kim Kardashian to move the needle. I think I'm going to need about 26 million more Twitter followers before I'm relevant enough to join the likes of these heroes and villains.</p>
<p>In any event, my temper tantrum last week was directed at the illusion that falling oil prices are bad for solar stocks. I suppose my first mistake was to hold my breath over an illusion. This is something a number of armchair analysts and media blowhards opined about on Friday when oil prices slipped again. It's also a line of thinking that's severely flawed.</p>
<p>Oil is used primarily as a transportation fuel while solar is used to generate electricity. It's pretty simple, really. In fact, if we're really looking for a connection here we can only find one – and it actually benefits the solar industry.</p>
<p><strong>Benefits, Not Handicaps</strong></p>
<p>One distinct advantage of lower oil prices for solar manufacturers is that it's now cheaper to ship their products. Panels, racking mounts, inverters – basically anything that needs to be driven, flown or sent across an ocean or down a river can be done so at a significant discount compared to where we were just a few months ago. CEOs love to look at their margins after feeling the warm embrace of a 30% cut in fuel costs!</p>
<p>This holds true for solar installers, too. Whether its the sales people driving around their territories or installers driving to their next job – cheaper fuel costs are benefits, not handicaps.</p>
<p>Of course, all this being said, the market responds only to the actions of human investors and fancy algorithms. It spits out what we put in. And as long as folks believe that falling oil prices are bad for the solar industry, solar stocks will struggle. Fortunately, most solar stocks aren't tanking today like they were yesterday. Take a look ...</p>
<ul>
<li>Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL)– Up 5%</li>
<li>Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ) – Up 4.5%</li>
<li>JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO) – Up 5.29%</li>
<li>Yingli (NYSE: YGE) – Up 3.57%</li>
<li>First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) – Up 2.19%</li>
<li>SunPower (NADAQ: SPWR) – Up 0.08%</li>
<li>Sky Solar (NASDAQ: SKYS) – Down 0.65%</li>
<li>Vivint Solar (NYSE: VSLR) – Down 2.79%</li>
<li>SolarCity (NASDAQ; SCTY) – Up 0.49%</li>
</ul>
<p></p>2014-12-02T16:17:02Z2014-12-02T16:17:02Z2307Jeff SiegelThe Great Solar Oil BurdenThe irrational connection between oil prices and solar stocks. <p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2014/48/27843/solaropec.jpg" border="0" alt="solaropec" width="245" height="163" />Sitting here on the day after Thanksgiving, I watched solar stocks tumble.</p>
<p>Oil prices fell below the $70 mark, and as a result, solar stocks were down.</p>
<p>Wait, what?!</p>
<p>Although there is little to no correlation between solar stocks and oil prices, many investors are still under the illusion that cheaper fuel means less of a demand for alternative energy.</p>
<p>The truth is, oil is used primarily as a transportation fuel while solar is used for electricity. So unless you're one of the few hundred folks in the world who actually fuels your electric car with solar panels, there's no connection here.</p>
<p>Of course, that doesn't matter to the market.</p>
<p>The market simply provides the output, responding to irrational input.</p>
<p>The truth, however, is that lower oil prices, resulting in lower fuel prices, should actually benefit solar companies by alleviating fuel cost burdens associated with distribution. And certainly all those SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) and Vivint (NASDAQ: VSLR) trucks are saving a few bucks at the pump right now, too.</p>
<p>Still, the market doesn't compute logic. So we sit here today, less than 24 hours after destroying a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and bite our lips as we review a lot of red:</p>
<ul>
<li>Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL)– Down 7.2%</li>
<li>Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ) – Down 11.69%</li>
<li>JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO) – Down 7.86%</li>
<li>Yingli (NYSE: YGE) – Down 7.72%</li>
<li>First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) – Down 5.41%</li>
<li>SunPower (NADAQ: SPWR) – Down 4.32%</li>
<li>Sky Solar (NASDAQ: SKYS) – Down 7.76%</li>
<li>Vivint Solar (NYSE: VSLR) – Down 0.98%</li>
<li>SolarCity (NASDAQ; SCTY) – Down 2.67%</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>2014-11-28T18:26:09Z2014-11-28T18:26:09Z2306Jeff SiegelInvesting in Sky Solar Holdings (NASDAQ: SKYS)There's big money in solar parks. Just ask Sky Solar!<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2014/47/27735/skysolar.jpg" border="0" alt="skysolar" width="252" height="141" />China's downstream solar sector -- that is, distribution and wholesaling, physical installation, and project development-- has been seeing an increase in activity over the past couple of years.</p>
<p>With a glut of low-cost solar panels at home, and anti-dumping tariff disputes overseas, Solar companies began to seriously investigate their downstream options in 2012.</p>
<p>So far it's looking like a wise move for China's biggest solar companies.</p>
<p>Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) for example, expects to build 400-500 MW of solar projects this year, accounting for some 12% of its total megawatt realization for the year. In 2013, not even five percent of its overall business came from its downstream projects.</p>
<p>Jinkosolar (NYSE: JKS) meanwhile, is considering a spin-off and relisting of its downstream business. The division posted a strong third quarter of 2014, with 15 projects totaling 488.5 MW under construction.</p>
<p>Both of these companies, however, have been concentrating on downstream opportunities within the Chinese market. 80% of Trina Solar's downstream projects, for example, are within China.</p>
<p>But there's a newly-public Chinese downstream solar company that has been shifting its downstream focus too. Where it was once building capacity in other countries, it's now focused on the wholesaling aspect. We feel it's worth a look.</p>
<p>It's Sky Solar Holdings Limited, now listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the memorable ticker SKYS.</p>
<p><strong>SKYS</strong></p>
<p>Sky Solar Holdings bills itself as an Independent Power Producer (IPP), and it has built solar parks in every continent except Australia and Antarctica since its formation in 2009.</p>
<p>The company started out strictly as one that built solar parks, but it expanded in 2013, and moved into the sale of electricity from the parks it builds. Now that makes up the larger portion of its business.</p>
<p>The majority of its work thus far has been in Greece and Japan, but it's also built parks in The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Spain, Germany, The United States and Canada. In total, it's developed and completed 198 parks with a total of 181 MW of power.</p>
<p>It also operates 53 MW worth of these parks, specifically ones in Japan,Greece, Canada, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Spain.</p>
<p>The company is currently expanding its footprint in South America and Africa, and there are over 1.3 GW of projects in development in nations such as Chile, Uruguay, and South Africa, as well as more projects in Japan and Canada. The company broke out this figure a little further in its IPO prospectus, and said 4.6 MW of this figure is fully under construction, 280.3 MW of this is "shovel ready", and the remaining 850 MW is in early development.</p>
<p>It expects 546.6 MW of this final number to move into the "shovel ready" category within 12 to 18 months.</p>
<p>On November 14, Aafter a couple of delays and a couple of major reductions in its target income from its planned IPO, Sky Solar officially went public.</p>
<p><strong>The IPO</strong></p>
<p>Sky Holdings had revenue of $14.4 million and gross profit of $6.1 million for the first half of 2014. It incurred a loss of $8.2 million during this time because the company was "shifting our focus from selling solar energy systems to selling electricity as an IPP. "</p>
<p>Originally, the company planned to raise $138 million with an offering of 12.5 million shares at a range of $10 to $12, giving it a market value of around $604 million at the midpoint.</p>
<p>In early November, the company cut its range by more than a third, to as little as $7 per depository share (ADS).</p>
<p>It did a little better than that in the actual IPO on the 18th of November, with 6,353,750 ADSs with a price of $8 per ADS. These ADSs represent eight ordinary shares, so SKYS debuted at essentially $1 per share.</p>
<p>The net proceeds of this offering were estimated to be $46.1 million, and it enjoyed a decent pop on the first day of trading, rising as high as $13.30 per share.</p>
<p>The timing of this IPO was crucial. It occurred exactly one week before the company was scheduled to post its full-quarter earnings and reveal how its done since filing its prospectus at the end of the Spring.</p>
<p>If the company's numbers improve upon the progress made earlier in the year, SKYS will enjoy an immediate, post-IPO boost.</p>
<p>The company believes its position in the downstream market is sound.</p>
<p>"There has been a meaningful reduction in the cost of solar energy systems over the past five years. As a result, the levelized cost of energy, or LCOE, of solar is increasingly economically competitive compared to other forms of energy. Downstream market participants, which develop --and in many cases retain-- solar power projects, are benefitting from these favorable market trends, capturing higher margins and long-term income from power generation."</p>
<p>We'll see if the numbers agree.</p>2014-11-21T16:23:33Z2014-11-21T16:23:33Z2303Tim ConneallyWalmart Loves SolarCity Finally, some good news for SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY)<p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2014/47/27720/slarwmt.jpg" border="0" alt="slarwmt" width="255" height="153" />SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) investors are a bit giddy this morning.</p>
<p>The company is enjoying a nice bump right now after it was announced that Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has hired the company to install new solar projects at Walmart facilities in up to 36 different states over the next four years.</p>
<p>SCTY has actually been working with Walmart since 2010, so it's not particularly surprising that Walmart's next round of solar installations is being carried out through SolarCity.</p>
<p>Now while I'm certainly pleased to see SCTY continue its healthy relationship with Walmart, it's not the actual solar installations I'm so excited about this morning. You see, this deal includes energy storage projects as well.</p>
<p>As I've mentioned in the past, it's the company's storage initiative that I believe will help keep it ahead of the curve. And for the past few years, SCTY has been testing storage projects at 13 Walmart locations. This new deal adds another ten storage projects to the list.</p>
<p>Of course, despite today's news and the nice push, SCTY is still trading below $60. Well below where I expected to see it this time of year. So it's still a pretty good bargain if you're looking for a long-term play in the solar space.</p>
<p>I currently have a one-year price target of $70.</p>2014-11-21T15:12:36Z2014-11-21T15:12:36Z2304Jeff SiegelI Still Love You, SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY)SolarCity's taking some lumps, but coffee, chocolate, Tesla and Whole Foods makes me feel better. <p><img style="float: right;" src="https://images.angelpub.com/2014/45/27462/mescty.jpg" border="0" alt="mescty" width="231" height="154" />The good news is that my brother-in-law came through with some delicious Ethiopian coffee he roasted himself last month. A fresh cup of that, plus a giant bar of organic dark chocolate is soothing the pain of SolarCity's (NASDAQ: SCTY) rapidly deteriorating stock price this morning.</p>
<p>Revenues fell short, and Bloomberg correctly revealed an inconvenient truth followed up by a not-so-rosy picture …</p>
<p>Excluding a loss of $89.3 million that was attributed to non-controlling interests, the company lost 75 cents a share, beating the $1.11 average loss of 11 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 20 percent to $58.3 million.</p>
<p>Quarterly losses attributable to non-controlling interests can cause significant swings in income. Analysts typically exclude those variations from their estimates. Today’s profit likely won’t be repeated soon, said Chief Financial Officer Brad Buss.</p>
<p>“I don’t expect that to continue,” Buss said today on a conference call. A higher share of the company’s losses during the quarter was allocated to these non-controlling interests, he said.</p>
<p>It is unlikely SCTY will be profitable anytime soon. But I guess I'm a glutton for punishment, because I still believe in the company. I'll take my lumps and sit tight. My loss at this point isn't big enough to sell for a tax loss, and quite frankly I don't want to bail on a company that's aggressively embarking on a long-term plan of massive growth. Sure, my timing could've been better, but they can't all be “quick doubles.”</p>
<p>All this being said, I am lowering my one-year price target to $70.</p>
<p>Of course, it's not all coffee, chocolate and tears this morning.</p>
<p>Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) delivered, thereby giving shorty a nice kick in the nuts today. That always gives me a good sinister giggle.</p>
<p>With strong Q3 earnings and an outlook that indicates a 50% annual growth for the “foreseeable future,” the market rewarded TSLA with a 6% bump this morning.</p>
<p>Also helping me turn my SolarCity frown upside down is Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM).</p>
<p>The stock so many toxic slop loyalists love to hate is up 10 percent this morning after getting a vote of confidence from Morgan Stanley analyst Vincent Sinisi. Sinisi echoed an argument I've long argued regarding competition, saying …</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"While other retailers can sell nat/org products, the WFM experience remains unparalleled."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Damn right!</p>
<p>Whole Foods is currently trading at around $44 a share. My one-year price target remains at $52.</p>
<p>All in all, it's a pretty good day for <em>Green Chip Stocks</em>. The only downside is SCTY. This, unfortunately, is a heavy burden to bear as my expectations for this one have well exceeded the reality of what lies ahead for this solar superstar.</p>
<p>Such is life!</p>
<p></p>2014-11-06T16:36:17Z2014-11-06T16:36:17Z2297Jeff Siegel