Category Archives: oud

U.S. Solar Markets ‘Will Fail’ Or Install 1 Terawatt By 2040: BNEF

In 2040, solar installations will account for 30% of U.S. installed energy generation, Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst Hugh Bromley predicted Wednesday during SunPower ‘s ( SPWR ) Sustainable Energy Symposium in San Francisco. That would be 1.6 terawatts — an as-yet unneeded metric for the solar industry. In 2015, cumulative U.S. solar installations hit 24.7 gigawatts, and industry tracker IHS expects the U.S. to add 5.6 GW before the end of the year. Worldwide, the installed base is expected to surpass 310 GW in capacity. To reach the 2040 target, the U.S. will have to transform the way it funds solar, Bromley said. Navigating The Regulatory Flux Last year was a landmark year for the U.S. solar industry. Congress extended the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) — a key subsidy underpinning the solar industry — and President Obama unveiled his Clean Power Plan in an effort to combat global warming. California set a goal of 50% renewable energy by 2030. On the other hand, net-metering debates spooked potential customers and became fodder for lawsuits. In Nevada, regulators cut payments to solar customers for energy fed back to the grid, prompting residential installers SolarCity ( SCTY ) and Sunrun ( RUN ) to exit the state. “If the economics go the way we think they will, what that would suggest is the energy markets we have today at the wholesale level trickling down to retail simply won’t work as they do today,” he said. “They will need to change. They will fail.” And therein lies the risk, Bromley says. Customers buying or leasing solar systems for 15-20 years, on average, have little to no visibility into the future of the solar industry which SunPower CEO Tom Werner earlier called “turbulent.” Customers are “exposed to several layers of price risk,” Bromley says. “What is your energy bill going to look like? Will there be increased fixed charges and demand tariffs? How is your asset going to be positioned in whatever retail billing looks like in 10 to 20 years’ time?” That’s where SunPower shines, Werner argues. Unlike rival developer SunEdison which “went bankrupt in spectacular fashion,” and SolarCity which is growing rapidly but not profitably, SunPower is diversified and has cash on hand to make it long term. SunPower reported a 30-cent per-share loss ex items for its Q1. It was SunPower’s first quarter in the red in three years vs. residential installers like SolarCity and Vivint Solar ( VSLR ), which have never been profitable. Top rival First Solar ( FSLR ) reported a loss once in the past three years. Solar: ‘A No Brainer’ Balance sheet aside, SunPower’s tech innovations — which combine hardware with software — will weather the upcoming regulatory flux, Werner says. The company’s Helix product isn’t a “cut and paste solar system,” it’s a complete solution that includes storage and energy management. Wall Street often considers solar storage a pie-in-the-sky ideal that could allow solar customers to entirely cut ties with the electrical grid, thereby avoiding net-metering and other regulatory pain. As it is, the grid fills in at nighttime and on cloudy days. Already, software-run energy management allows customers to see “in dollars and cents” the crux of their energy usage and then manipulate it for better economic value, Werner said. Adding storage is a game changer. “Solar is becoming a no brainer because it makes economic sense,” he said. Companies like Google ( GOOGL ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Facebook ( FB ) have figured that out, Bromley says. The quartet is among the country’s top solar users. Investor pressures will continue to push the Fortune 500 to renewable and sustainable futures, he said. Now, Bromley is waiting on a new tech that can gap up on renewable leaders solar and wind. Between 2016 and 2021, Bromley expects those sectors to install 18 GW and 19 GW, respectively, by far outpacing other renewables. But any new renewable innovation faces a steep uphill battle. “Any new tech needs to lobby support from the government and come up with an argument as to why we need a third cheap, clean tech,” he said. “Unless, it’s something that deals with intermittency issues.”

Alibaba Has Worst Day In Over A Year On SEC Accounting Probe

Alibaba ( BABA ) unnerved investors Wednesday by disclosing that the Securities and Exchange Commission is probing whether its accounting into its Singles Day event and various other practices violate U.S. securities laws. Shares of the e-commerce giant fell 6.8% to 75.59 on the stock market today , Alibaba’s worst one-day percentage loss since a 8.8% dive on Jan. 29, 2015. Alibaba dived below the 50-day moving average where the stock had found support in recent days. Alibaba fell as low as 74.12 intraday, nearly undercutting its 200-day line as well. Alibaba’s losses also took their toll on Yahoo ( YHOO ), which fell 5.2% Wednesday. Yahoo has sought bids for its core U.S. assets, but most of its value is in stakes of Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. IBD’s Take: How healthy is Alibaba’s stock, and how does it compare vs. key rivals such as Amazon? Find out at IBD Stock Checkup Alibaba reported the SEC probe in an SEC filing. Here is the key passage. “Earlier this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, informed us that it was initiating an investigation into whether there have been any violations of the federal securities laws. The SEC has requested that we voluntarily provide it with documents and information relating to, among other things: our consolidation policies and practices (including our accounting for Cainiao Network as an equity method investee), our policies and practices applicable to related party transactions in general, and our reporting of operating data from Singles Day. We are voluntarily disclosing this SEC request for information and cooperating with the SEC and, through our legal counsel, have been providing the SEC with requested documents and information. The SEC advised us that the initiation of a request for information should not be construed as an indication by the SEC or its staff that any violation of the federal securities laws has occurred. This matter is ongoing, and, as with any regulatory proceeding, we cannot predict when it will be concluded.” Singles Day — Nov. 11 — has become the world’s largest e-commerce event, far above Cyber Monday or the new Amazon ( AMZN ) Prime Day last year. Alibaba had $13.7 billion in sales in last year’s event, with JD.com ( JD ) and other Chinese retailers also taking part. JD stock fell 3.4%, perhaps in sympathy with Alibaba. 020 Fuels China Internets Separately, Alibaba, Baidu ( BIDU ), Tencent ( TCEHY ) and other Chinese Internet companies should should see continued strong growth in online-to-offline spending, Moody’s says. Moody’s sees Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, sometimes referred to as “BAT,” should deliver 15%-30% revenue growth over the next  12-18 months, partly due to O2O efforts that have increased customer engagement and monetization. Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent have spent billions of dollars on O2O-related initiatives in recent years. “For all three companies, we expect that their investments will remain high, as they establish or acquire end-to-end logistics capabilities,” Moody’s said.

Microsoft Takes $950 Million Charge To Revamp Smartphone Unit

One week after Microsoft ( MSFT ) sold its low-end feature phone business, the company on Wednesday announced plans to streamline its remaining smartphone business and take a $950 million impairment and restructuring charge. Microsoft expects to cut up to 1,850 jobs as part of the realignment. It will record the financial charge in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ends June 30. “We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation — with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement . “We will continue to innovate across devices and on our cloud services across all mobile platforms.” Microsoft acquired the feature phone and smartphone businesses from Nokia ( NOK ) for $7.5 billion in April 2014. Microsoft wrote off the entire value of the deal in July 2015 when it recorded an impairment charge of $7.6 billion related to the Nokia assets. At the time, it also laid off 7,800 workers from those operations. On May 18, Microsoft announced it is selling its entry-level feature phone business for $350 million to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based contract manufacturer Foxconn, and HMD Global, a newly created company in Finland that has licensed Nokia’s brand and intellectual property. Microsoft has had a tough time competing in the mobile phone market against Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) iPhone and handsets using the Android operating system from Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google. Microsoft’s Windows phones accounted for less than 1% of smartphone sales to end users worldwide in the first quarter, research firm Gartner said. Microsoft shares rose 1% to 52.12 on the stock market today . RELATED: Microsoft Stock Oversold, Gets Upgrade On Cloud Prospects