Morning Brief: Joe Biden weighs the 25% China import tariff, plus the chart of the day
Also in the brief: Loanpal closes largest residential solar securitization to date, and a model for solar-plus-storage assets.
Moody’s gives US utility issuers a transition risk wake-up call
The credit rating agency’s new CTA scores will inform Moody’s analysts, bankers and investors’ thinking about the risks and opportunities that will shape the revenues, costs and capital deployment in the U.S. power sector.
Venture capital funding in solar, storage and energy intelligence sees a year-end surge
At least a dozen energy transition startups are getting their start during the pandemic holiday season.
If I were Secretary of Energy
If you recognize that energy is most of the problem with climate change, you’d like the DOE not to be the bastard child of a weapons organization. (Warning/TLDR : You can’t fix the DOE in 1,000 words.)
Aurora Solar raises $50M for remote photovoltaic sales and design
This substantial investment signals software’s critical role in driving the mainstream adoption of solar.
The once obscure, derided financial product that just might transform deep tech venture capital
Many of my VC compatriots in Silicon Valley still sneer at the SPAC, and several I know actively encourage their portfolio companies to avoid SPAC sponsors.
“A product for also-rans who can’t go public the normal route.”
“Frankenstein financial engineering for speculators and amateurs.”
To which I say, BALDERDASH!
Morning Brief: Ambri deploying its calcium-antimony battery? China could install 75 GW of solar next year
Also: Despite a rosy forecast, creating energy storage projects with competitive economics has been an elusive endeavor. Plus, rate design innovations are boosting the energy transition and Plug Power raises $1 billion for U.S. green hydrogen infrastructure build-out.
How does the US retire 236 GW of coal and 1,000 gas peaker plants?
Victory in the economic realm (increasingly the case with solar, solar-plus-storage and wind) is no guarantee of market victory if the regulations are stacked against renewables.
New York is launching a $10 million program to support climate tech startups, following Massachusetts’ lead
“Because economies were shut down, we also had concerns about the companies in which we had investments, and we had to think about how we could help those companies get through the pandemic.”
Best ways to close the income equity gap in solar adoption
Researchers from Clean Kilowatts and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed software that predicts the most important business model interventions for closing the gap of residential PV adoption between high-income and low-to-middle-income areas.
