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SunPower

SunPower Reports Topsy-Turvy First Quarter Earnings

by Joshua S Hill May 9, 2018

Despite its recent acquisition of embattled solar manufacturer SolarWorld Americas, SunPower this week reported mixed results in its first quarter financial results, in which it succeeding in narrowing its net loss and beating earnings expectations, but could not promise much in the way of strong guidance.

It’s been a rough few months for American solar manufacturer SunPower, with the company’s recent share price looking like an homage to the Swiss Alps. In SunPower’s fourth quarter and full year 2017 financial results published in February, the company announced revenues down 35% year-over-year and first quarter and full year 2018 revenues well below expectations , which it blamed, in part, on the impact of the imposition of a 30% tariff on all imported solar cells and modules in the US.

A week later SunPower announced that it would lay off an estimated 250 employees and incur restructuring costs of anywhere between $20 million and $30 million. The aim of the restructuring, as explained to the SEC, was to reduce operating expenses and overhead, while also focusing on improving the company’s profitability in the wake of the newly-announced US solar tariff.

On the flipside, however, GTM Research published figures in late March that revealed SunPower is the leading US commercial solar provider, supplying 231.2 megawatts (MW) of capacity in 2017, beating out Tesla which had 156 MW.

And, in a move which seemed to blow expectations apart, SunPower announced in the middle of April that it would acquire 100% of SolarWorld Americas — a company which was one of the two involved in the Section 201 trade case which led to the aforementioned 30% solar tariff. In a way, this was completely unexpected, but looked at from another point of view, it makes perfect sense, and follows in the wake of several other companies making moves to build up or create manufacturing capacity in the United States, thus circumventing any need for imposing a tariff on their products — especially for a company which relies on products made primarily in the Philippines and Mexico.

“We are thrilled to announce this agreement to acquire SolarWorld Americas, one of the most respected manufacturers of high-quality solar panels for more than 40 years,” said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO and chairman of the board, at the time. “The time is right for SunPower to invest in U.S. manufacturing, and SolarWorld Americas provides a great platform for us to implement our advanced P-Series solar panel manufacturing technology right here in our home market. P-Series technology was invented and perfected in Silicon Valley, and will now be built in SolarWorld Americas’ factory, helping to reshape solar manufacturing in America.”

Given the topsy-turvy nature of SunPower’s 2018 so far, then, it is not a complete surprise that its earnings for the first quarter of 2018 reflect some of that fluctuation and instability.

SunPower reported revenue (on a GAAP basis) of $391.9 million for the first quarter, well down on the $651.1 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2018, but up 19% on the $329.1 million taken in during the first quarter of 2017. The company’s gross margin stepped out of the red at 2.6%, compared to negative 2.1% in the fourth quarter and negative 13.9% in the same quarter a year ago.

Maybe most importantly, SunPower reported a much lower net loss than previously and against analyst expectations — a loss of $116 million for the first quarter, compared to a loss of $527.7 million in the fourth quarter and a loss of $219.7 million year-over-year.

“Our solid execution, ability to meet project deadlines and commitment to controlling costs enabled us to exceed our forecasts across all of our business segments,” said Tom Werner.

“Our strong first quarter performance was driven by solid execution in all markets while prudently managing expenses,” added Chuck Boynton, SunPower chief financial officer. “Financially, our efforts remain focused on improving cash flow, managing our working capital and executing on our restructuring initiatives. With our asset monetization plans on track and continued cost control, we are well positioned to retire our $300 million convert in June as well as having the resources to fund our growth plans this year.”

However, investors were still not hugely impressed, with the company’s share price falling slightly due to the light guidance provided for the second quarter. Specifically, SunPower provided guidance of revenue between $360 million and $410 million, a gross margin between 2.5% and 4.5%, and a net loss of between $125 million to $100 million.

May 9, 2018 0 comment

Solar $

SunPower Sells Off 110 Megawatt Chilean Solar Plant To Actis

by Joshua S Hill January 26, 2018

written by Joshua S Hill

SunPower, one of the world’s leading solar companies, has announced this week it has sold off the 110 megawatt Pelicano Solar Plant in Chile to leading investor Actis.

SunPower announced on Thursday that Actis had acquired the Chilean 110 MW (megawatt) Pelicano Solar Plant in the municipality of La Higuera (Coquimbo Region) near Vallenar (Atacama Region), which is expected to deliver 300 gigawatt-hours (GWh) each year of electricity to the Metro de Santiago, Santiago’s underground railway system.

The Pelicano Solar Plant was completed on January 11, and Metro de Santiago will purchase the electricity generated by the project under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

“With a supportive regulatory environment and abundant solar resource, Chile is a market we know extremely well through our investments in the Aela Energía and Atlas Renewables platforms,” said Javier Areitio, director at Actis. “We are confident that in partnership with Metro de Santiago and SunPower, the El Pelicano plant will be a terrific illustration of clean, sustainable energy for many years to come.”

The move by Actis joins existing Chilean investments, including in the 1.2 GW (gigawatt) Pan-Latin American renewable energy platform and other plans which is targeting 330 MW worth of renewable energy.

“Actis is focused on sustainable value, which makes the El Pelicano Solar Plant a great fit for its portfolio,” said Chuck Boynton, SunPower chief financial officer. “High performance SunPower Oasis technology is designed to cost-effectively maximize power generation for decades. Forward-looking organizations like Actis and Metro de Santiago are a global model for the development of solar power, reducing reliance on unsustainable energy sources.”

January 26, 2018 0 comment

PV Solar $

SunPower Misses Q4 Earnings & Reports Net Loss, Investors Remain Confident

by Joshua S Hill February 19, 2017

written by Joshua S Hill

Originally published on CleanTechnica
by Joshua S Hill

The number two US solar PV manufacturer SunPower reported its earnings for the fourth quarter and full year 2016 this week, reporting a larger net loss than expected, and missing analyst expectations for revenue.

It’s been a rocky few quarters for SunPower, America’s second solar PV manufacturer. In November the company reported solid earnings, but dire warnings for the future, which saw the company’s shares tank. Tom Werner, SunPower president and CEO, explained that ““While prospects for long term solar industry growth remain strong, we are seeing a significant near term market dislocation in the solar market that we expect will impact our financial performance through 2017.” SunPower also announced a restructuring program which would lead to workforce, production, and capital cuts.

Unfortunately for SunPower, reporting its fourth quarter and full year 2016 earnings this week, the company reported 2016 revenue of $2.5 billion — well within the guidance it presented a quarter ago, and well up on full year revenue for 2015 ($1.5 billion) — but fell well short of its gross margin guidance (7.4%, down on guidance of between 8% to 10%) and reported a much larger net loss than was expected (a net loss of $471 million, compared to a guided net loss in the range of $295 million and $320 million). This equates to a net loss attributable to stockholders of $275 million, or $1.99 per share.

“SunPower’s diversified business model enabled us to meet our revenue plan and exceed our operating cash flow target in the fourth quarter,” said Tom Werner. “While overall industry conditions remain challenging, we are encouraged to see continued solid demand for our complete solutions offerings in all three end segments.”

“Despite the difficult industry environment, our solid execution enabled us to achieve our key financial metrics for the quarter, including generating $485 million in operating cash flow, which we used to reduce our debt by approximately $500 million,” added Chuck Boynton, SunPower chief financial officer. “Our focus this year remains on improving cash flow, prudently managing our working capital and deleveraging the balance sheet. We believe that this will position us well for success as the solar industry transitions through the current challenges to sustainable profitability.”

Despite the doom and gloom, and a mild downtick in the company’s shares following the quarterly earnings announcement, SunPower shares retained their value and finished trading on Wednesday actually up a few cents. This likely has to do with the company’s firm guidance for 2017, which appears to take note of the difficult challenges ahead for the industry. Specifically, SunPower is guiding revenue for the full year 2017 to be in the range of $1.8 billion to $2.3 billion (GAAP — $2.1 billion to $2.6 billion non-GAAP) and a total of between 1.3 gigawatts (GW) and 1.6 GW deployed. The company is also expecting to incur GAAP restructuring charges totaling between $50 million to $100 million.

For the first quarter, SunPower is expecting revenue of between $315 million and $365 million, a gross margin of -2% to 0%, and a net loss of between $175 million to $150 million.

February 19, 2017 0 comment

Solar $

SunShot Beats Its Solar Cost Goal 3 Years Early

by Adam Johnston February 14, 2017

written by Adam Johnston

Originally published on CleanTechnica
by Adam Johnston

According to Greentech Media, SunShot has shattered its 2020 goal of reaching $1.00 per watt for utility-scale solar utility costs 3 years earlier.

Founded back in 2011 when Stephen Chu was the US Department of Energy Secretary, the SunShot goal was to get utility-scale costs down to $1.00/watt.

Initial projections had the cost at $4.00 a watt in early 2011, GTM said.

Chu envisioned the SunShot initiative would cut 75% of the total costs of PV solar energy without subsidies before 2020, to reach cost competitiveness with other energy forms. Chu pointed to 4 key areas where SunShot would focus to bring solar costs down:

Solar cell & array technology
Power electronics to maximize installation performance
Enhancements in solar manufacturing operations
Design, permitting & installations for solar energy systems.

Other areas besides solar systems have benefitted the overall industry, including falling labor, inverter, and tracking costs, according to GTM, but as noted above, the target has already been achieved.

However, despite SunShot reaching its mission, various soft costs — including customer acquisition costs — increased.

The debate goes on regarding what impact the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative made on pushing prices down. Ben Gallagher, a GTM Research solar analyst said SunShot provided monetary and market signals to entrepreneurs and investors to “make the market” more efficient for them. He said SunShot boosted the solar industry by giving consumers and merchants the faith to endure more risk.

However, Gallagher pointed out that “pure market forces,” including an imbalance in global supply & demand and Chinese scaling also has played a part in the overall dramatic drops in solar system costs.

The US Department of Energy loans program also contributed to declining solar costs. This is because First Solar and SunPower used this program to create large-scale solar plants with cheap capital, which meant lower costs then and going forward.

The loans program provided $32 billion with a fail rate of 2.33%, which, according to former SunShot head Peter Davids, was better than most bank failure rates. This loan program has also created $1.65 billion in interest payments, according to Bloomberg.

SunShot and the US loans program made a great contribution in scaling solar power projects, cutting costs, and stimulating a brighter future (no matter what Trump tells you). Although, it is hard to tease out how much of the USA’s nearly 36 GW of solar capacity is because of these programs versus other domestic and global economic factors and initiatives. Nonetheless, these two programs provided much-needed support in getting an emerging industry off the ground in the 21^st century. It is astonishing that total US solar capacity back in 2008 was 9.18 GW.

Given the ongoing falling costs (expected for decades without breakthroughs), solar will become more cost competitive with fossil fuels as utilities, businesses, and people see its economic benefits. Well, it’s already typically cheaper than fossil fuels, but it will become much, much cheaper. Gallagher said even renewable energy skeptics couldn’t deny solar’s compelling and improving cost competitiveness in today’s market.

This is important in an age where the Trump administration has denied climate change and is threatening to cut renewable energy investments, despite 2016 being the hottest year on the planet (after 2015 and 2014 were), and despite solar and wind energy creating 12x more jobs than the US economy as a whole in recent years.

Solar power plant photo via lbl.gov

February 14, 2017 0 comment

Other Renewable Energy PV

3 Ways Donald Trump’s Climate Approach Is A US Economic Disaster

by Zach February 12, 2017

written by Zach

Originally published on CleanTechnica
by Zachary Shahan

To be fair, we don’t yet know what Donald Trump’s precise climate approach will be, but it seems all but guaranteed that he will slow and obstruct climate action and will do a “great deal” to increase pollution and CO2 emissions from the out-of-date oil, coal, and gas industries.

This is idiotic not just because it puts all of human society at great risk, but also because it’s one of the worst economic moves a politician can make. I’ll run down three reasons why in the bulk of this article, but let’s first highlight some positive climate policy news from other economic and energy giants — India isn’t going to pull back its climate efforts no matter what Trump does (CleanTechnica exclusive) and China is already announcing that it’s willing to take the lead on climate action (a position it will milk as part of an overall global power grab in the coming years). To be frank, no country with sane leadership is going to hurt both itself and the world by going slow on cleantech growth. Here’s why:

Cleantech Jobs > Fossil Jobs

At the opening of the World Future Energy Summit earlier this week, former president of Mexico Felipe Calderón had some powerful energy statistics from the US to share — there are approximately 70,000 coal mining jobs in the US today, whereas there are over 200,000 solar energy jobs there (exclusive video and more commentary coming).

In a separate interview with Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Amin dropped some similar stats on us — 85,000 people work in the coal industry in the United States, whereas approximately 400,000 people are employed in renewables in the US. For a little further context, that equals ~5% of the global renewable energy workforce.

Even today — with coal accounting for ~30% of US electricity and solar accounting for ~1% of US electricity — solar jobs outnumber coal jobs. Solar power and wind power have both become cheaper than coal power (by far) and almost no new coal power capacity has been added in the past few years (renewables have dominated new capacity and natural gas has accounted for almost all of the rest).

Hastening the energy transition would create thousands and thousands of new jobs, whereas delaying it would make the US economy more stagnant and weaker. Hastening the energy transition would result in many more solar and wind energy power plants and distributed systems on homes and farms across the country, whereas delaying it just means burning more coal and natural gas in old power plants, polluting the lives of more Americans, and allowing coal and oil billionaires to stuff more cash into their over-inflated bank accounts.

The basic economics of renewables isn’t going to change, but weakening or crushing the Clean Power Plan would allow old, dirty coal power plants to remain open (and cause premature death to countless American citizens), which would mean a slower increase in renewable energy jobs. Put very frankly: the number of renewable energy jobs that approach would keep off the market is a larger number than the number of coal jobs that would be saved for a few more years.

Coal mining is largely automated at this point and the old coal plants the Clean Power Plan would shut down are, of course, already fully built, but the renewable energy projects that would be created to more quickly replace these old coal plants would create renewable energy design, manufacturing, sales, and installation jobs for Americans in need of work.

Any efforts to let oil & gas companies pollute more and any efforts that allow more natural gas power plants to get built will of course harm human health — they will harm the health, quality of life, and lifespan of real American citizens. However, again, there is also likely to be a jobs hit. Part of the beauty of wind and solar power is that these are highly distributed power-generation technologies that require a great deal of local work for installation. Additionally, some of the largest manufacturers are American (GE for wind turbines, SunPower and First Solar for solar panels, etc.). Much of the cost of natural gas is simply for the fuel and is funnelled to billionaires and multimillionaires at the top of this industry — buddies of Donald Trump, perhaps. Renewable energy is the real job creator, not natural gas.

Efforts to hurt electric vehicle growth will hurt US manufacturing as well — Tesla is based in California and Nevada, the Nissan LEAF is built in Tennessee, the Chevy Bolt is produced in Michigan, and other electric cars are or will be manufactured in the US.

At one point last year, we highlighted that the fastest-growing job in the US was the job of a wind turbine technician. It seems that Trump won’t promote this job or industry since he has a long history of anti-wind behavior, but for his own sake (and the country’s) it would be quite helpful if he didn’t obstruct continued wind energy growth. When the US wind market grows, US wind turbine manufacturing grows. The best way to hurt US wind turbine manufacturing is to hurt the US wind energy market.

February 12, 2017 0 comment

New Technology

Drones And Robots Help Make Solar Farms More Efficient

by Steve Hanley September 24, 2016

written by Steve Hanley

Drones and robots are being used more regularly to help build and maintain solar installations. SunPower is one of the leaders in using new this new technology. It is about to begin construction of its new “Oasis” power plants in North America and China. These massive projects utilized drones to fly over proposed sites to gather data. That information was then fed into computers that use cutting edge software to evaluate thousands of designs and make recommends for the best options to pursue. That allowed project managers to easily compare potential sites. then customize configurations in order to make the best use of the available space.

SunPower uses drones and robots

Tom Werner, president and CEO of SunPower, said in a press announcement:

“An Oasis solar power plant may be designed 90 percent faster than the time required to design conventional solar power plants. While flat, rectangular-shaped sites are required for other trackers on the market, Oasis can take advantage of unused irregularly shaped areas and slopes up to ten degrees to generate up to 60 percent more energy than conventional technology installed at the same site. Each additional ten acres of usable land on a site may represent two to four more megawatts of power, which can significantly impact a project’s bottom line.”

The new systems are also being designed with room for agriculture. As solar power becomes widely accepted, it’s not always easy to find space to locate large solar arrays. That’s one reason that floating solar projects are becoming more common around the world. The distance between rows leaves just the right amount of room for certain farming activities. SunPower is partnering with the University of California, Davis to find out which crops will grow best in these specialized circumstances.

September 24, 2016 0 comment

Solar Leaders In Universities, In The Air, & In The Solar Industry

by Zach June 17, 2016

written by Zach

A society-wide transition to clean energy requires action on many levels. Private consumers, commercial-level consumers, institutions, and government need to aid the transition. Additionally, of course, the production side of the industry has to continually advance the technologies and improve their competitiveness.

An exciting story out of California combined with a worldwide journey above the clouds help to tie these different sectors together and inspire faster change. As we’ve stated before, the key aim of the Solar Impulse 2 crew isn’t just to set aviation and technology records. Rather, the key aim is to show the world that these technologies are ready, and to thus inspire more people to switch to cleantech for their energy and transportation needs.

One recent story on the ground in California, using tech from two core Solar Impulse 2 partners, further demonstrates that this tech is ready now. Additionally, it sets an example for what universities and other institutions around the world can do immediately to cut a significant portion of their pollution and carbon emissions. I encourage you to check out the video above (if you haven’t yet) for a lot more details and perspective, but below are some of the highlights.

A 16.3-megawatt SunPower solar farm using SunPower* solar panels and ABB* inverters is now providing electricity for UC Davis (the University of California, Davis). UC Davis noted when the project started that the solar farm would be “the largest solar power installation in the University of California system, and the largest solar power plant to offset the electricity demand of a U.S. university or college campus.” Let’s hope the records don’t last for long.

The solar farm is estimated to be generating 14% of UC Davis’ electricity needs and reducing the university’s carbon footprint by an impressive 9%. Overall, UC Davis aims to have 60% of its electricity needs provided by renewables by 2017. That even surpasses California’s goal of 50% renewable electricity by 2020.

With solar prices hitting record lows that are lower than the price of electricity from natural gas, coal, nuclear, or even wind, why wouldn’t an ethical and penny-wise university transition to clean power that ensures a better future for the youth it is educating? Providing a good example is, after all, a solid component of a good education system.

Aside from the ethical imperative to transition away from fossil fuels, UC Davis notes, “solar power is finally becoming cheap enough to make sense for large-scale energy users like UC Davis.”

One of the nice things about this project from a CleanTechnica perspective is that the technologies being used come from companies that serve the industrial sector, the commercial sector, and the residential sector. SunPower and ABB offer a wide range of solar products that serve the varying needs of these customers. Can you see why Solar Impulse 2 chose them to help power their pioneering flight around the world?

*Full Disclosure: ABB kindly sponsored this article, and I own stock in SunPower and ABB (for what I think are obvious reasons).

June 17, 2016 0 comment

Going Solar Market Research PV Rooftop Solar Solar $Solar Modules Solar PV Manufacturing Solar Research

Top 10 Solar Power Companies, & Top 5, & Top 10 Again

by Jake Richardson May 18, 2016

written by Jake Richardson

When you ask who the top solar power companies are, you will probably want to distinguish between residential installers and solar panel manufacturers. Solar power generally is thought of as home solar power, though utilities and businesses also are investing in it. This article looks at the top residential solar contractors / residential solar installers as well as the top American solar panel manufacturers.

According to Solar Power World Online, the top solar residential contractors are:

1. SolarCity
2. Vivint Solar
3. Sunnova
4. RGS Energy (Real Goods Solar)
5. Solar Universe
6. Bland Solar & Air
7. Amergy Solar
8. Smart Energy Solar
9. KDH Solar
10. Direct Solar Energy

However, this doesn’t really cover the full story. GTM Research’s US residential installer leaderboard for the end of 2015 was as follows for the top 5:

SolarCity 34.1%
Vivint Solar 11.6%
Sunrun 2.6%
NRG Home Solar 2%
Sungevity 1.9%

Clearly, the two rankings look at different matters and come to different results. Anyhow, diving into the companies in the GTM Research ranking, here’s a bit more info from Solar Love:

1. SolarCity is located in San Mateo, California, and has about 10,000 employees. It installs solar power systems, but the homeowners often don’t own them — they lease them (or buy the electricity from them) from SolarCity, presumably for a lower price than they’d buy electricity from the grid. It makes sense that SolarCity is a leader, because its customers have very little in upfront costs and the company had a lot of financial support to grow quickly and establish strong relationships with bankers & financiers. This company is well known for its association with Elon Musk, chairman of the company and cousin to founders & CEO + CTO Lyndon Rive & Peter Rive. SolarCity operates in: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, and Washington DC.

2. Vivint Solar is located in Lehi, Utah, and it has a similar kind of service provided by SolarCity, except that it typically uses power purchase agreements (which SolarCity sometimes uses) instead of leasing. Also, it goes door to door to get customers, and its larger parent company sells various other home products, like alarm systems. Vivint has about 3,200 employees and has installed 228 MW of solar panels. Vivint Solar currently operates in: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington DC.

3. Sunrun was one of the first companies to offer solar leasing, but it also offers systems via loans and cash purchases now. It is based in California, but is now working in the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

4. NRG Home Solar is a subsidiary of energy giant NRG. Like the companies above, its main pitch is $0-down solar leasing. It doesn’t yet seem to offer solar loans like the other companies above. In a market that is shifting back toward straight purchases and loans, it seems NRG Home Solar will have to broaden its offering in order to remain competitive for long. NRG Home Solar operates in: California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.

5. Sungevity, based in Oakland, California, also has a long history in solar leasing, but it offers solar power installations via solar loans and cash purchases as well. Sungevity CEO Andrew Birch has said the company was agnostic regarding financing, agreed the shift is going back toward system purchases, and is typically keen to highlight Sungevity’s competitive advantages from its iQuote system, which provides a solar power quote using satellite technology quickly and remotely, and “also provides customers with dedicated project managers so that they don’t have to go through any automated customer support or deal with different people (who need to be caught up on their project) every time they call or email.” Sungevity operates in: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington DC.

Regarding the remaining companies from the Solar Power World Online ranking, here’s a little more info:

3. Sunnova is located in Houston, TX. This company offers the ability for a homeowner to own his or her own system, sign a power purchase agreement, or get a solar lease. Sunnova operates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.

4. RGS Energy (Real Solar Goods) is located in Louisville, Colorado. It offers solar leases, service agreements, and home solar systems for purchase. It operates in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

5. Solar Universe is located in Livermore, California. It offers $0-down solar financing when installing home solar systems, or fully prepaid solar contracts. It operates in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico.

6. Bland Solar & Air is based in Bakersfield, California. It installs solar power systems, but has expertise with air conditioning as well. It recommends using the nonprofit Educational Employees Credit Union for financing (getting a loan) if one isn’t able to or doesn’t want to self-finance the project. “Educational Employees Credit Union offers a number of Energy Efficiency Loan choices, including a $0 down payment option,” the company writes.

7. Amergy Energy is a New Jersey–based company. It installs, finances, and leases solar power systems for homes, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. It operates in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.

8. Smart Energy Solar is located in Corona, California. It has installed thousands of solar systems, including solar PV, solar hot water heaters, and solar pool heating.

9. KDH Solar is located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It installs both residential and commercial systems.

10. Direct Energy Solar is located in Annapolis, Junction. It is focused on residential solar power systems.

Solar panel installers typically don’t make their own solar panels, they install panels made by manufacturers. SolarCity is going to be making its own solar panels and installing whole systems, so it is the exception.

Is there any advantage to a solar panel installer making its own technology? It might be that there could be better communication about the solar panels with the installers, if it comes from within the same company. It also might be easier to get defective panels replaced if there is better communication, rather than one company trying to communicate with another. Additionally, vertical integration like this could bring down costs. The downside would be if these in-house solar panels ended up being more expensive and the company was tied to using them.

Also, if the installer makes solar panels in the same country, communication may be enhanced because there is no cross-culture or cross-language issues. However, because of globalization, international business is common now, so cross-cultural situations might not be an issue.

Another consideration is that some consumers like to support companies based in their own countries. In this case, an American home or business owner who wants to invest in solar power might consider working with a company like SolarCity, or try to locate solar panels made in America by a company like SunPower.

Obviously, solar panels need to be manufactured before they can be installed, and fortunately, a number of American companies make them.

Top American Solar Panel Manufacturers

1. First Solar has its headquarters in Tempe, Arizona, and has solar panel manufacturing sites in the US, Germany, and Malaysia.

2. SunPower has its headquarters in San Jose, California, and manufactures panels in the US and the Philippines.

3. SolarWorld has its US headquarters near Portland (it is originally a German company) and most of its manufacturing is done in Germany.

4. SolarCity is based in San Mateo, California, and it is working to build a very large solar panel manufacturing site in New York state.

5. Suniva has its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and manufacturing sites in Michigan and Georgia. It was founded in 2007.

While it is important to know the names of these companies, their locations, and what they provide, there is something of equal importance that doesn’t get talked about enough, or at all. These solar power companies are accomplishing something important for the country—they are helping the United States very gradually shift away from fossil fuel use to clean, renewable energy.

There are a raft of benefits linked with solar power: it’s better for climate change, reduces harmful air pollution, and is better for the national economy because it reduces reliance on imported fossil fuels. Eventually, all coal mining and burning might also be eliminated, and coal mining clearly is very unhealthy for mine workers. Sometimes it is fatal. Making and installing solar panels is relatively safe, so it is better for American workers.

Solar power creates a lot of jobs, and more solar jobs are expected to be added in the US in 2016 than oil-related jobs.

The solar power trend is taking off and it is has never been more affordable. Though, many of us may not be aware of how much solar power prices have fallen. American solar power companies have accomplished a lot so far, and yet they are poised to do much more. At the same time, they seem to have been given almost no credit for their achievements. Currently, the US gets less than 2% of its electricity from solar power, but that figure is set to increase as solar companies continue to install more and more of it. Also, the costs are dropping, so solar power is becoming more accessible all the time. Additionally, the costs will most likely continue to decrease and demand will likely grow. So, solar power is going to be a bigger part of the American energy future.

Image Credit: CHAK 001, (Creative Commons BY 3.0)

May 18, 2016 0 comment

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Cheapest Solar Panels? Google’s Project Sunroof Partners Compete For Your Signature

by Jake Richardson December 2, 2015

written by Jake Richardson

As we wrote months ago when it launched, Google has a free online service that uses its mapping information and partner offers from solar installers to try to hook you up with the cheapest solar panels on the market — by providing fast estimates of how much a homeowner might save by investing in a solar power system from various solar companies. Dubbed “Project Sunroof,” it also provides information on things like the number of square feet available for solar panels on your roof based on 3D modeling, the number of hours of usable sunlight per year based on weather pattern analysis, net savings over 20 years, an average monthly electric bill, and recommended solar power system size.

Currently, the Google service can provide information in the Boston area, the San Francisco area, Fresno, Napa, Sacramento, and Long Island. Partners for the project were not initially listed in the press releases, blog posts, and media coverage, so we decided to dig in and see who they are. Seeing offers from SunPower, American Solar Direct, Pick My Solar, Sungevity, SunEdison, NRG Home Solar, we can see that these are the highly regarded solar companies Google decided to partner with (in the initial San Francisco area where I live, at least).

Providing this information for free is a great service, because it brings rapid clarity to those who are curious or interested but don’t know how to gather basic information about what kind of solar power system might work with their home and how much they could save by going solar.

For example, do you know the square footage of your roof? Everyone knows how much they pay for their electricity each month, but you also know what size solar power system would cover your electricity usage?

December 2, 2015 1 comment

New Technology PV Solar $

SunPower Unveils New Solar Products & Low-Key 2016 Guidance

by Joshua S Hill November 13, 2015

written by Joshua S Hill

Following in the wake of a respectable Q3 financial earnings report, US solar manufacturer SunPower has revealed a new line of solar panels and low-key financial guidance for 2016.

SunPower announced its third quarter earnings late-October, revealing the continuing efforts of its new business focus, that of retaining assets rather than selling them. Specifically, SunPower is gearing up to drop a number of held assets down to its new yieldco, 8point3 Energy Partners, which has affected the company’s overall revenue and net intake.

Subsequently, and revealed on Thursday, SunPower has forecast moderate fiscal guidance for the financial year 2016. In its Q3 earnings report, SunPower executives predicted 2015 would finish with GAAP revenue between $1.5 billion and $1.55 billion, and a gross margin of between 15% and 16%. Announced on Thursday, SunPower is expecting similar goals for 2016, with GAAP revenue of between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion, and a gross margin of 16% to 18% — in addition to a net loss of $415 million to $365 million.

As the company revealed in the Fiscal Year 2016 Guidance press release, the company’s “2016 financial guidance reflects the impact of planned project sales to 8point3 Energy Partners.”

The company’s non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principals) revenue for 2016 is expected to be in the range of $3.3 billion and $3.5 billion, with a gross margin of 13% to 15%. (To understand more of the intricacies of the difference between GAAP revenue and non-GAAP revenue, especially as it applies to SunPower’s focus on feeding its yieldco 8point3 Energy Partners, Bloomberg’s Chris Martin has a very helpful explanation.)

At the same time, however, SunPower also revealed a new product line of solar panels that it intends to market under the product name “Performance Series.” The new solar panels “utilize a proprietary manufacturing process to assemble conventional silicon solar cells into panels with increased efficiency and reliability compared with conventional panels.”

“Our new line of Performance Series products continue the SunPower tradition of higher efficiency, superior reliability and enhanced aesthetics compared with conventional panels, all in a lower priced product configuration,” said Tom Werner, president and CEO of SunPower. “Together with our best-in-class E-Series and X-Series back-contact panels, we are expanding our product line to offer customers a wider range of product choice and increase our reach to additional markets, further enhancing company growth.”

The technology behind the new Performance Series range is at least partly due to the acquisition earlier this year of Fremont, California-based Cogenra Solar.

“SunPower’s new Performance Series is a powerful combination of Cogenra’s innovative cell interconnect technology, with more than 30 patents issued and pending, together with our extensive solar panel intellectual property, manufacturing experience and scale,” Werner continued. “These new products will provide our customers with up to 15 percent more power than conventional panels with improved reliability and shade tolerance.”

November 13, 2015 0 comment

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