Morning Brief: Energy transition SPAC spreadsheet, Ørsted goes big on solar, Tesla’s lack of diversity

Also in the brief: Tesla’s first-ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Impact report shows the Elon Musk-helmed EV pioneer’s U.S. leadership is 83% male, and 59% white. Joe Biden weighs the 25% China import tariff, Some Cadillac dealers choose not to invest in an EV future.

December 7, 2020 Eric Wesoff

Image: Tesla

Energy transition SPAC spreadsheet from Kevin Stevens.

Tesla’s first-ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Impact report shows the Elon Musk-helmed EV pioneer’s U.S. leadership is 83% male, and 59% white. (The Verge)

Ørsted has taken a final investment decision on the 430 MW Solar Center project, which is located in Fort Bend County, 40 miles from Houston, Texas, and is expected to come online in Q2 2022. Ørsted now has 1.1 GW of solar PV under construction, leading to a total of 3.4 GW of capacity in operation and under construction across onshore wind, solar PV and storage. The project will create a dependable income source for family ranches who lease their land for the project. Old 300 Solar Center will cover an area of 2,800 acres and utilize approximately 1 million bifacial modules, supplied by JA Solar and LONGi Solar. Inverters will be supplied by SMA America. Source: SEI

Joe Biden on the China tariff: On China, he said he would not act immediately to remove the 25 % tariffs that Trump imposed on about half of China’s exports to the United States — or the Phase 1 agreement Trump inked with China that requires Beijing to purchase some $200 billion in additional U.S. goods and services during the period 2020 and 2021 — which China has fallen significantly behind on. “I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs,” he said. “I’m not going to prejudice my options.” He first wants to conduct a full review of the existing agreement with China and consult with our traditional allies in Asia and Europe, he said, “so we can develop a coherent strategy.” Source: New York Times

Some Cadillac dealers choose not to invest for EV future: About 150 Cadillac dealers are choosing to take buyouts from General Motors Co. rather than invest thousands to support electric vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Cadillac’s 880 U.S. dealers were told in September they needed to invest $200,000 to transition dealerships for coming electric vehicles. The dealer network had until Nov. 30 to make the decision if they wanted to take a buyout. About 17% of Cadillac dealers took the buyout offer, the Journal reported Friday citing anonymous sources. Cadillac, GM’s flagship electric brand, is aiming to sell more vehicles powered by electricity than by fossil fuels by the end of the decade. Source: The Detroit News

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