Solar prices jumped in the second quarter, reversing recent trends, on material costs and supply chain issues

Published

3 years ago

September 14, 2021

admin

Peter Cade | Stone | Getty Images

The solar industry is among many sectors feeling the pinch of higher prices, according to a report released Tuesday by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie.

Prices rose quarter over quarter and year over year across every solar segment during the period. It’s the first time that residential, commercial and utility solar costs have risen in tandem since the energy consultancy began tracking prices in 2014.

The most-significant cost pressures came from a jump in prices for raw materials, including steel and aluminum. Elevated shipping costs also played a role. The bulk of these impacts will likely start to show in 2022, since many companies have enough inventory to see them through the end of the year, according to the report.

Overall, the U.S. added 5.7 gigawatts of solar capacity during the period, a record for second-quarter installations. That also marks a 45% jump over 2020’s level as the pandemic roiled the industry.

“The solar industry continues to demonstrate strong quarterly growth, and demand is high across every segment,” Wood Mackenzie principal solar analyst Michelle Davis said. “But the industry is now bumping up against multiple challenges. … Addressing these challenges will be critical to expanding the industry’s growth and meeting clean energy targets.”

A separate report from Rystad Energy released Friday said global solar panel prices have jumped 16% this year compared to 2020’s levels. Overall costs, which include soft costs like labor, are up 12% in 2021. Rystad said this could potentially hurt the demand outlook for the next few years.

More from CNBC Climate:

Read more about how businesses and consumers are fighting and adapting to climate change:

Fusion gets closer with successful test of new kind of magnet at MIT start-up backed by Bill Gates

California’s battle with climate change is at stake in Tuesday’s recall election

The day the climate crisis came home

In the U.S., the industry is also facing regulatory overhangs and policy uncertainty. In June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a Withhold Release Order on silica-based products from Hoshine Silicon Industry due to forced labor concerns in China’s Xinjiang region. Separately, some U.S.-based companies have filed a petition with the Department of Commerce asking that tariffs on imported solar goods be extended to Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, according to SEIA.

All this comes as lawmakers debate the $3.5 trillion spending package, which will have significant implications for the solar industry.

“What the industry needs is certainty,” SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said. She believes the most-important provision is an extension of the Investment Tax Credit, which has been instrumental to solar’s growth. The ITC, which was extended in December 2020, was included in The American Jobs Plan, but did not make it into the infrastructure bill’s final iteration.

Hopper said support for domestic manufacturing is another priority for the trade group, noting that incentives around U.S.-based production could alleviate some of the supply chain bottlenecks the solar industry is currently facing.

Rising costs and a lack of clarity for the industry could harm President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate goals. Solar costs have dropped more than 70% over the last decade, according to the Department of Energy, but they need to decline further for increased adoption.

The department issued Wednesday a blueprint detailing how solar could go from around 3% of electricity generation today to 45% by 2050, but it will be nearly impossible without supportive policies. The study said the U.S. installed a record 15 gigawatts of solar during 2020.

Installations will need to double each year through 2025, before quadrupling from 2020’s levels annually between 2025 and 2030 if the U.S.’ climate goals are to be met.

“This is a critical moment for our climate future but price increases, supply chain disruptions and a series of trade risks are threatening our ability to decarbonize the electric grid,” Hopper said.

Environment

Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

Published

3 hours ago

November 5, 2024

admin

Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s Cybertruck is now available in Canada – and, like in the US, there’s no waiting! Plus, we’ve got an “actually” smart summon Tesla that’s actually stuck, GM reaches a sales milestone, and we get a brand-new title sponsor!

Today’s episode is the first with our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems.

Source Links

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonusLucid proves than an EV company can keep its promises while Xiaomi teams up with Chevrolet and Honda to prove – at least conceptually – that records are made to be broken. audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news!

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Environment

This ‘supercharger on wheels’ brings fast charging to you [update]

Published

5 hours ago

November 4, 2024

admin

This 'supercharger on wheels' brings fast charging to you [update]

Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”

November 4, 2024 update: Yoshi Mobility will only be charging EVs on the side of the road now – it announced today that it’s selling its fleet fueling operation to EZFill Holdings (Nasdaq: EZFL).

It was originally founded as a direct-to-consumer, mobile fueling business in 2016, but now it’s going to focus on mobile EV charging, virtual vehicle inspections for partners like Uber and Turo, and onsite preventative maintenance.

Bryan Frist, Yoshi Mobility’s CEO & cofounder, said, “By spinning off our fuel business and focusing all of our energy on solving hair-on-fire problems that fleet owners face, we are meeting the changing needs of enterprise customers while making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.”

May 22, 2024: Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.

“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.

The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I asked for more details, and they replied that they won’t disclose client names or the manufacturer of its DC fast charger yet.)

Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)

Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.

The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.

To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.

If you’re an electric vehicle owner, charge up your car at home with rooftop solar panels. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing on solar, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –ad*

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Environment

Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Published

5 hours ago

November 4, 2024

admin

Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Marqeta celebrates its initial public offering at the Nasdaq on June 9, 2021.

Source: The Nasdaq

Marqeta shares tumbled more than 30% in extended trading on Monday after the company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter.

Here’s how the company did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Loss per share: 6 cents adjusted vs. a loss of 5 cents expected
Revenue: $128 million vs. $128.1 million expected

While third-quarter results showed a slight disappointment on the top and bottom lines, Marqeta’s forecast for the current period was more concerning.

The payment processing firm said revenue in the fourth quarter will increase 10% to 12% from a year earlier. Analysts were looking for growth of more than 17%, according to LSEG.

Marqeta, which primarily functions as a card-issuing platform, attributed the guidance miss to “heightened scrutiny of the banking environment and specific customer program changes.” The company has been struggling for a while, and its stock is now down more than 80% from its peak in 2021, the year it went public. The stock was down 15% for the year prior to the report.

Total processing volume of $74 billion was up more than 30% from a year earlier. Net revenue and gross profit were up 18% and 24%, respectively.

Marqeta’s digital commerce business sells payment technology designed to detect potential fraud and ensure that money is properly routed. It also issues customized physical cards that look like a credit or debit card that can be used for point-of-sale purchases.

The company has been trying to break into the buy now, pay later business with a recently launched product called Marqeta Flex. The service brings BNPL from lenders such as Affirm or Klarna to any credit card wherever Mastercard and Visa are accepted.

“It’s an orchestration layer, but it’s tied to issuing and processing and disputes and chargebacks,” CEO Simon Khalaf told CNBC at Money2020 in Las Vegas last week. “So it is not actually a Wild West in BNPL. It is actually very well established. And there is a reason why a lot of people are jumping to it.”