Solar city

I have been watching solar city since reading about it on this board.

I found this article fascinating, and wanted to share:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2752295-utility-rate-changes…

Iain

8 Likes

Yes very interesting read, thanks for posting.

It is analogous to cable companies kind of, who charge a large “fixed” rate independent of what channels you actually watch. This model is being challenged because people are actually willing to cut cable as there are viable alternatives to it that are satisfactory.

In electricity, people are not going to want to be separated from the grid I bet. So while cable companies are seemingly forced to abandon bundle models, you can appreciate that the market forces are pushing the electrical/solar industry into exactly the opposite.

Interesting to think about. I am not smart enough to counter the thought.

Gator
short a few puts, no stock but have been sniffing around again after selling before

Yes, indeed, Iain, there’s a battle brewing between electric utilities and the solar industry. Electric utilities aren’t all that happy to lose revenues to distributed system solar installations. The utilities rather enjoyed their monopoly status and are loathe to relinquish market share to anyone. Quite understandable from their perspective.

The counter-perspective comes from homeowners and business enterprises who discover they can reduce their energy costs by installing their own electricity generating systems.

Battles will be waged on many fronts, from utility to utility, state-by-state. Utilities will strive to curb independent residential power generation. Homeowners will fight back if they see an economic benefit. Large enterprises (e.g. Amazon, Wal-Mart, “Cloud Farms”) are moving rapidly towards building their own power production capabilities. They will be formidable foes in any utility war (they gots big-time political clout). And, finally, utilities themselves are moving to build utility-scale solar energy production facilities (“if you can’t beat them, join them”).

Solar energy production is growing exponentially globally. There will be winners and losers. That’s why I’ve invested in an array of players, from panel-makers, residential rooftop contractors and utility-scale enterprises.

I’ve not the prescience to predict the ultimate winners. But I do know this: there will be winners and they’ll win BIG.

6 Likes

Thanks for the info and insights.

I read a little more today on California’s Title 21, that is putting rules into place for bi directional energy flow.

There was also an article about solar city working with the Hawaiian utility to improve residential solar.

I was also fascinated by a startup (private) that is transporting solar energy with data that identifies the source of the energy. Sort of combining networking and energy transport. They hope to make the transfer to utilities automatic.

Don’t know the players to invest, and I tip my hat to you for covering the bases.

Not sure how solar city will do over the long term. I would think that tesla battery technology would help if the benefit to selling excess to the utilities is reduced.

Iain