The Koch Brother’s War on Solar

January 10, 2015

Good discussion of the developing split in the US right wing on solar and renewable energy.

Posted by greenman3610
Filed in Crock of the Week

5 Comments »

5 Responses to “The Koch Brother’s War on Solar”

Phillip Shaw Says:

January 10, 2015 at 11:04 am
I think that Austin’s municipal power utility, Austin Energy, still has net-metering but there have been changes to the rebate program for homeowners who install solar. They view residential and small business solar as cost avoidance rather than revenue loss since peak solar generation is closely aligned with peak afternoon demand and thus reduces that need for using expensive peaker plants.

It will be interesting to see what Austin does as more utility customers adopt solar. Austin Energy is a cash cow that the city milks for about a million dollars a week that goes into the general budget. If that revenue stream is impacted I think we’ll see some major changes.

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andrewfez Says:

January 10, 2015 at 4:45 pm
And GM’s war on Tesla:

General Motors (NYSE:GM) plans to introduce a new all-electric model with a driving range of close to 200 miles.

The automaker will unveil a concept version of the Chevrolet Bolt at the Detroit Auto Show next week.

The Bolt will be priced in a range of $30K to $35K, below that of several other EV entries including the anticipated selling price of the Model 3 from Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA).

A more advanced battery from LG Chem is promised than the one used in Chevrolet Volts.

2014 GM EV sales: Chevrolet Volt 18.8K, Cadillac ELR 1.31K (full EV report)

http://seekingalpha.com/news/2216115-an-electric-bolt-from-gm

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andrewfez Says:

January 10, 2015 at 4:53 pm
3:05 – First Solar is ‘threatened’ by U.S. rooftop Solar:

1) First Solar has projects around the world

2) First Solar is now gearing up to get into the rooftop solar market.

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- andrewfez Says:
  
  January 10, 2015 at 4:56 pm
  http://seekingalpha.com/news/2171505-first-solar-goes-after-residential-solar-market
  
  First Solar (FSLR) is partnering with Clean Energy Collective (CEC), a builder of large-scale solar installations for individual neighborhoods, to “develop and market community solar offerings to residential customers and businesses directly on behalf of client utilities.”
  
  As part of the deal, First Solar as obtained a stake in CEC, and taken two seats on its board. CEC has developed, or is working on, 40+ community solar projects
  
  The alliance gives First Solar (historically focused on utility-scale solar projects) a way to go after the residential market. Though its thin-film solar cells generally have a cost advantage over crystalline silicon (C-Si) cells, their lower conversion efficiencies make them less effective for most residential rooftop deployments.
  
  Last year, First Solar bought TetraSun, a developer of high-efficiency C-Si cells, to target rooftop deployments. Shares fell 4.4% today amid a market selloff.
  
  Reply
dumboldguy Says:

January 11, 2015 at 7:38 am
OT, but Inside Climate News is offering their Keystone XL book free online. Everything you need to know about how we got to where we are.

http://books.insideclimatenews.org/keystone-browser-version?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=87c6fafbfc-1_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-87c6fafbfc-326471785

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