2016 was a wild year and not just for solar and after decades of reliance on government incentives, subsidies and mandates the global solar industry may be inured to unpredictability but the industry as a whole should be wary of global trends. Solar PV expert Paula Mints looked at a number of the developments for solar companies in the December edition of SPV Market Research‘s Solar Flare. Adapted for AltEnergyStocks.com, this series of articles is reprinted with permission.
In 2015 SunEdison (SUNEQ) was still buying up companies, developing projects, sponsoring conferences and was viewed – though skeptically by some – as an industry leader. Now pieces of the company, including projects in various stages of development, are available for pennies on the dollar.
What it means for solar: For developers and investors looking for a good buy there is a lot available at, again, pennies on the dollar. Not all of SunEdison’s orphaned projects will be developed, and not all will be developed by the buying company, but many will be developed and at the bargain they were acquired may even be profitable.
SunEdison’s failure, one of poor executive decision making and lax, poor oversight, cast good people adrift. Most will find their way back to solar jobs and some will not. The true victims of the SunEdison debacle were its own employees.
SolarCity and Tesla (TSLA) merge their debts and companies.
No one should have doubted that Mr. Musk would prevail in the merger of one highly flawed business model and two highly leveraged companies. A SolarCity failure would have had repercussions far beyond those of SunEdison as employees and residential lessees and PPA holders would have been affected. This is not reason enough to cheer bad business, but it is something salvaged.
What it means for solar: As with Tesla’s non-announcement about its non-existent solar roof tiles and its non-enforceable MOU with Panasonic Solar, expect a lot of PR an-nouncements about upcoming product releases as well as a lot of slipped release dates. All this marriage of debt means for solar right now is, basically, nothing.
Paula Mints is founder of SPV Market Research, a classic solar market research practice focused on gathering data through primary research and providing analyses of the global solar industry. You can find her on Twitter @PaulaMints1 and read her blog here.
