Over the past 12 months, the US solar business has been on a rollercoaster ride, with the high-profile bankruptcy of SunEdison and the merger of SolarCity and Tesla stealing the headlines. Danielle Ola talks to the experts about some of the key trends shaping the world of solar finance
and investment in the US.
Summer wildfires across the West Coast of the US have significantly impacted the output of solar PV projects in the region with smoke cover reducing irradiance levels, according to environmental and industrial measurement firm Vaisala.
Ohio-based racking and mounting equipment installer Solar FlexRack has installed its TDP turnkey tracker solution in Nebraska’s largest solar PV plant.
Solar ranks lowest in terms of projected Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) for electricity generating technologies in 2030, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s 2016 Annual Technology Baseline (ATB).
Behind-the-meter storage is forecast to become a larger segment than grid-scale storage by 2021, and could pose a potential threat to utilities, according to Bloomberg Energy Finance (BNEF) senior analyst Logan Goldie-Scot.
The solar yieldco business model was “flawed from the beginning”, says a US bank executive, who downplays sentiment that it was the SunEdison yieldco disaster that tarnished the model for good.
Lazard, the financial advisory that advised SolarCity on its US$2.6 billion all-stock sale to Tesla, made an error in its analysis resulting in the solar installer being undervalued by US$400 million, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On Monday, a ruling by Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) chairman and presiding officer Paul A Thomsen barred SolarCity from intervening in upcoming proceedings concerning the grandfathering of more than 20,000 rooftop solar customers.
