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bananas

(27,509 posts) Thu May 29, 2014, 11:16 PM May 2014

Solar Energy Dominates First Quarter With 74 Percent of New Electric Capacity

Source: EcoWatch

Solar energy was clearly the top choice when it came to new, electric generating capacity installed during this year’s first quarter.

Power generated from the sun accounted for 74 percent of that new capacity, according to a quarterly report produced by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. That figure outpaced all other forms of energy by at least 54 percent. Natural gas checked in with a paltry 4 percent.

In all, 1,330 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) were installed in the first three months of 2014. That figure—a 79-percent increase over the same period last year—brings the U.S. total installed solar capacity to 14.8 gigawatts. That’s enough to power 3 million homes.

“Solar accounted for 74 percent of all new U.S. electric capacity installed in Q1 2014, further signaling the rapidly increasing role that solar is playing in the energy market,” Shayle Kann, senior vice president at GTM Research, said in a statement. “Expect to see a resurgence in the non-residential market, combined with continued incremental residential growth, throughout the rest of this year.”

For the first time, since SEIA and GTM have been tracking the numbers, residential PV installations outpaced commercial in a quarter. Additionally, this quarter marked the best-ever for concentrating solar power, led by that sector’s largest plant, Ivanpah, located near the California-Nevada border.

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Read more: http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/29/solar-energy-first-quarter-2014/

13 replies

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Highlight:

Solar Energy Dominates First Quarter With 74 Percent of New Electric Capacity (Original Post) bananas May 2014 OP

Barclays Downgrades Electric Utility Bonds, Sees Viable Solar Competition bananas May 2014 #1

SolarCity offers its largest online discount, with Groupon MindMover May 2014 #2

Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe May 2014 #3

Very exciting. byronius May 2014 #4

K&R! DeSwiss May 2014 #5

But but but but but.... nikto May 2014 #6

Thanks for running this issue up the flagpole vlakitti May 2014 #7

YAY! We're doing it here, too: freshwest May 2014 #8

It's a ray of sunshine packman May 2014 #9

I see what you did there. :) Adrahil May 2014 #11

I am actively researching putting solar cells on my rooftop. Adrahil May 2014 #10

Tax this, Dave and Charlie Koch! Jack Rabbit May 2014 #12

Where are the Koch brothers ? They have to put a stop to this through their lackies in Congress . geretogo May 2014 #13

bananas

(27,509 posts)

1. Barclays Downgrades Electric Utility Bonds, Sees Viable Solar Competition

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Thu May 29, 2014, 11:34 PM

May 2014

the cost of solar + storage for residential consumers of electricity is already competitive with the price of utility grid power in Hawaii. Of the other major markets, California could follow in 2017, New York and Arizona in 2018, and many other states soon after.

From last week:

http://blogs.barrons.com/incomeinvesting/2014/05/23/barclays-downgrades-electric-utility-bonds-sees-viable-solar-competition/

Barclays Downgrades Electric Utility Bonds, Sees Viable Solar Competition
By Michael Aneiro
May 23, 2014

Barclays this week downgrades the entire electric sector of the U.S. high-grade corporate bond market to underweight, saying it sees long-term challenges to electric utilities from solar energy, and that the electric sector of the bond market isn’t pricing in these challenges right now. It’s a noteworthy downgrade since electric utilities which make up nearly 7.5% of Barclays’ U.S. Corporate Index by market value. From Barclays credit strategy team:

Electric utilities… are seen by many investors as a sturdy and defensive subset of the investment grade universe. Over the next few years, however, we believe that a confluence of declining cost trends in distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation and residential-scale power storage is likely to disrupt the status quo. Based on our analysis, the cost of solar + storage for residential consumers of electricity is already competitive with the price of utility grid power in Hawaii. Of the other major markets, California could follow in 2017, New York and Arizona in 2018, and many other states soon after.

In the 100+ year history of the electric utility industry, there has never before been a truly cost-competitive substitute available for grid power. We believe that solar + storage could reconfigure the organization and regulation of the electric power business over the coming decade. We see near-term risks to credit from regulators and utilities falling behind the solar + storage adoption curve and long-term risks from a comprehensive re-imagining of the role utilities play in providing electric power.

Barclays says bond risk premiums for the electricity sector indicate investors are ignoring these risks for now:

Valuations suggest credit investors are depending on the “regulatory compact,” (whereby the monopoly utility agrees to invest in assets to service customers in return for prices that are set to allow them a reasonable return) to give sufficient protection from industry changes. While the regulator/utility construct has usually resulted in low-risk returns to credit in the past, technological change creates precisely the environment where slower-moving incumbents and their regulators can fall behind the curve, risking credit volatility, or disrupt the regulatory compact, possibly leading to unexpected losses for bondholders. Investors may be also wary of optimism about solar power, given a recent history of losses in that industry. We believe that sector spreads should be wider to compensate for the potential risk of regulator missteps and/or a permanent change in the utility business model.

Whether because of biases or analytical complexity, the market (and its constituent prognosticators) has tended to be late in pricing technology-driven shifts, particularly in industries that have had stable operating models (such as telcos and airlines).

Barclays says it sees “a rare opportunity for investors to express views about a potential for a major change at low cost and with good liquidity,” and recommends investors who can do so should underweight the electric sector versus the broader U.S. Corporate index, and rotate out of bonds issued by utilities in areas “where solar + storage is closer to competitiveness” into bonds issued by companies “where solar + storage grid parity are more distant.”

MindMover

(5,016 posts)

2. SolarCity offers its largest online discount, with Groupon

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 12:10 AM

May 2014

SolarCity offers its largest online discount, with Groupon

SolarCity announced today that the company is partnering with Groupon, the online deals marketplace, for a limited time to provide the largest online discount SolarCity has ever offered.

In an attempt to push residential solar energy systems even more into the mainstream, SolarCity will offer a $400 discount on a home solar system. SolarCity told SmartPlanet the discount should provide roughly 3-4 months of free solar energy, depending on solar setup for each individual customer.

"This is the first solar Groupon," Jonathan Bass, SolarCity's vice president of communications, told SmartPlanet. "It's a mainstream moment for solar." Groupon offers over 200,000 active deals globally. The deal will be available in the 15 states and 84 metropolitan areas in the U.S. where SolarCity provides its services.

SolarCity has reached the point where it's installing around one in four of all new residential U.S. solar systems, Bass says, in part because it gives customers plenty of options for financing solar. Of course, you can buy or lease the solar panels. Or, like 90 percent of SolarCity customers, you can choose the solar service agreement option. That means that solar panels are installed on your roof or at your residence, but SolarCity owns them. The customer only pays a fixed price for electricity, generally lower than your utility bill, the company claims. And the customer has no high upfront costs to install the system.

"Most people want to do something positive for the environment but don't want to make the financial sacrifice," Bass said. With the solar service agreement, you basically allow SolarCity to install the solar panels on your roof and in return you get a cheaper electricity bill.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/solarcity-offers-its-largest-online-discount-with-groupon/

This is just a WIN WIN WIN for everyone ...

Uncle Joe

(58,424 posts)

3. Kicked and recommended.

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 01:12 AM

May 2014

Thanks for the thread, bananas.

byronius

(7,401 posts)

4. Very exciting.

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 02:14 AM

May 2014

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)

5. K&R!

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 02:54 AM

May 2014

nikto

(3,284 posts)

6. But but but but but....

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 03:25 AM

May 2014

What about Clean Coal?

vlakitti

(401 posts)

7. Thanks for running this issue up the flagpole

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 03:33 AM

May 2014

It is so encouraging these days to see the basic financial and material support for an ecologically sane world view.

You might even forget there are Republicans dominating one House of Congress.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)

8. YAY! We're doing it here, too:

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 05:05 AM

May 2014

Seattle City Light

Formed 1905: The first municipally owned hydro facility, Cedar Falls, begins generating power for Seattle.

Seattle City Light is the public utility providing electrical power to Seattle, Washington, US, and parts of its metropolitan area, including all of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park and parts of unincorporated King County, Burien, Normandy Park, Seatac, Renton, and Tukwila.[1] Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public utility in the United States and the first municipal utility in the US to own and operate a hydroelectric facility.

Seattle City Light is a department of the City of Seattle and is governed by Seattle City Council. Socialist Council Member Kshama Sawant heads the committee that oversees Seattle City Light...

Seattle City Light was the first electric utility in the nation to become greenhouse gas neutral (2005)[3] and has the longest running energy conservation program in the country. The utility owns a large portion of its generation, which is predominately hydro, so is able to offer some of the country's lowest rates to its customers (of utilities in urban areas)...

Seattle City Light residential customers currently pay about 8 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity. Seattle has the lowest residential and commercial electrical rates among comparably-sized cities in the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_City_Light

It also has a discount of 60% for lower income, which is higher than most state programs nationally, based on the average wage of $48K+ annually, or so they say.

And they promote solar energy:

http://www.seattle.gov/light/solarenergy/solarfaq.asp#save

http://www.seattle.gov/light/solarenergy/commsolar.asp

Other city agencies are giving information for solar hot water heating and cooking, encouraging the use of rain water to save water, recycling, composting, etc.

Of course, this is known as a *cough* blue area. Other than I love it here, what can I say?