solar

Solar stocks fell sharply on Thursday, led by First Solar’s (FSLR) 10.3% plunge to a new 52-week low, as high borrowing costs add pressure to an industry that depends heavily on project financing.

Losses among solar stocks were broad, including Enphase

OMDURMAN: For almost a year, Randa al-Mansour, a 31-year-old Sudanese housewife, has relied on solar energy panels installed on the rooftop of her building to survive the recurrent blackouts triggered by the war-torn country’s deteriorating electricity grid.

“We are suffering big time,” said al-Mansour, who lives with her three children in Omdurman, just outside the capital of Khartoum.

“When kids arrive at school in the morning, they find no electricity there, so they are forced to head back home, where there is none either. It is very hard for them to study under such a high temperature.”

The Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been fighting since April 2023, killing at least 59,000 people, though aid groups say the number could be higher, and displacing some 13 million.

The conflict also has strained an already weak power infrastructure, forcing many Sudanese to seek alternative energy sources, especially during scorching summer heat. The United Nations Development Program has estimated the damage inflicted on the electricity grid at $3 billion.

“We resorted to solar energy as a way of adapting to this situation. However, not everyone in Sudan can afford this solution,” said al-Mansour, who supports her family with remittances from her husband working in Saudi Arabia.

In recent months, billboards advertising solar panels, batteries, and inverters have expanded in the capital as more Sudanese consider transitioning to solar energy.

“For a low-income family, installing a solar panel system is a huge sacrifice but an inevitable choice,” said Mohey Eddin Abu-Bark, owner of a solar systems business in Khartoum, adding that a typical household 10-kilowatt solar system costs nearly $5,000.

Manahel Madany, a 43-year-old diabetic civil servant, cannot afford the transition, despite needing steady electricity for her fridge for her insulin.

“Every three to four days, I am forced to throw away all my insulin stock after it goes bad due to heat and power outages,” said Madany.

She lives in a two-bedroom house with her mother and sister in Omdurman, and like many Sudanese, the three are forced to sleep in their house courtyard to escape the searing heat indoors.

“Not all pharmacies can afford to install solar panels for medical storage, and that’s why most medications have become unavailable,” Madany said.

The Sudan Doctors’ Network, which tracks violence across the country, warned that the continued electricity cuts could impact patients in hospitals, especially kidney patients who need constant care.

At least 30% of Sudan’s population has no access to electricity, with rural areas bearing the brunt, according to the World Bank. Conditions in grid-connected urban centers have also deteriorated, with power outages reaching up to 16 hours in many parts of the country in recent months, according to two electricity department officials who spoke to The Associated Press.

Electricity production has dropped from 4,400 megawatts before the war to 1,100 megawatts as many power plants were hit by drones launched by the RSF, while nearly half of Sudan’s best electricity engineers and technicians have also left the country since 2023, the officials said, citing a survey by a local labor union.

The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Sudan has limitless potential to generate solar energy given the long hours of sunshine that often exceed 4,000 hours per year, according to the U.N. However, the high upfront cost of imported solar energy systems and a depreciating local currency derail the transition to clean energy.

The California Legislature just passed two bills that advocates say will greatly improve access to small-scale solar for renters, people in condos and others who don’t have access to their roofs or can’t afford a full rooftop array.

On Sunday night, lawmakers approved Assembly Bill 1813, a third-time effort to force the California Public Utilities Commission to develop a more robust community solar program, in which residents sign up to participate in a small solar array near where they live and pay monthly at a discount on their electrical bills.

“California’s clean energy transition should benefit everyone, not just those who can afford rooftop solar,” said Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego), the bill’s author.

Last week, with Senate Bill 868, California’s Legislature also became the latest to legalize plug-in solar. Also known as “balcony solar,” these systems allow anyone — renter or owner — to set small panels on their patios or fences and plug them directly into wall outlets to lower bills without having to navigate utility permissions.

“It’s an idea whose time has come,” said bill author Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who noted the devices can bring down bills by hundreds of dollars a year. “It’ll be very beneficial for people who are looking to lower their cost of living.”

The votes come after some difficult years for rooftop solar in California thanks to strong pushback from utility companies. The state had been a leader nationally on solar energy in the 2000s. But installation rates plummeted in 2022 after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Public Utilities Commission sharply cut back incentives for customers.

Utilities that lobbied for the change argued that compensating rooftop solar at a higher rate meant that people without solar panels were disproportionately paying the costs of maintaining the overhead lines that everyone uses.

This year, utilities made similar arguments against both the community solar and balcony solar bills.

Pacific Gas & Electric was successful in inserting an end date for Wiener’s SB 868 balcony solar bill, so, if it is signed into law, the Legislature will have to reauthorize it before 2030.

“While the bill establishes additional guardrails, it also creates a period through 2030 during which plug-in solar devices not meeting key safety and certification requirements could be purchased and used in California,” PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said. “We believe customers and emergency personnel deserve the protections that come from clear safety standards and established interconnection processes from the outset.”

Both bills now go to the governor’s desk.

If signed, the balcony solar bill will go into effect once systems have been certified as safe for use in the U.S. by a nationally recognized testing laboratory like UL Solutions. Balcony panels are already certified in Germany, where plug-in solar is popular. Advocates say U.S. certifications will come through soon.

Community solar reform could have a harder time clearing Newsom’s desk, as the Public Utilities Commission, appointed by the governor, has previously opposed this type of program.

All the state’s big investor-owned utilities lobbied against the community solar bill, AB 1813, which would require them to compensate community solar developers and customers at higher rates than those established under the Public Utilities Commission’s current program.

That program, finalized this year, relies on canceled federal funding and incentives that developers say are too low for them to launch new projects.

“We remain opposed to AB 1813 because it would shift significant costs to customers who do not participate in the program,” PG&E’s Paulo said. “This legislation is about profits for solar companies, not customer affordability.”

The Public Advocates Office, the independent consumer advocate at the Public Utilities Commission, said recent amendments to the bill did not address its concerns about shifting costs from one group of ratepayers to another.

“We support expanding community solar so renters and other Californians who cannot install rooftop solar can benefit from clean energy. But the savings for participants should not be financed by raising bills for everyone else,” said Mary Flannelly, a spokesperson for the Public Advocates Office. “Our analysis of AB 1813 estimates that it could shift about $1.5 billion a year onto customers who cannot participate — roughly $12 more per month on average — a sizeable cost.”

Southern California Edison also has opposed the bill. SCE spokesperson David Eisenhauer said it would “expose customers to higher rates and unreasonable costs compared to more cost-effective clean energy sources.”

But Ward disputes that any costs will be shifted to people who don’t have solar. He cited two recent studies that indicate all consumers will benefit from reduced costs when community solar is more available. One found if the state added 5.4 gigawatts of community solar and energy storage, all ratepayers could save $6.5 billion by reducing costs for gas generation, electricity imports and transmission.

Ward and a coalition of environmental groups, solar developers and the Utility Reform Network, a ratepayer advocacy group, have tried for years to get the Public Utilities Commission to adopt their vision for a community solar program that would serve people who don’t own or don’t have access to their roofs. Several other states have them.

The bill would compensate community solar developers and customers at a rate that advocates say more accurately accounts for the savings solar brings to the grid, especially on hot days when the system is stressed.

Wiener said both bills are important for helping individuals and communities “to not be trapped in the monopoly utility model that is so expensive.”

“We should empower people to generate their own electricity and to lower their electric bills,” he said.

The Legislature also passed Senate Bill 913, which would allow batteries, electric vehicles, smart thermostats and other consumer-owned devices to be bundled together and counted as a reliable source of electricity for the state’s grid.

Brandon Garcia, California director for Advanced Energy United, an association representing clean energy businesses, said it would help reduce strain on the grid and keep electricity costs in check while “giving customer-owned resources a fair opportunity to compete and deliver reliable energy at an affordable price.”

The government hopes the plug-in panels will offer people a more affordable way into solar energy compared to roof installation, although savings will be lower because they generate less power.

A one-panel kit will cost £699 while two-panels will be £1,089, according to UK solar company UKSOL.

The current regulations only allow people to plug in one device per property, but this may be changed in future. A single device may include more than one panel.

The government expects prices to settle at £400-£600 as competition increases and more products are developed.

Its research shows a household could save between £70 and £110 a year on their energy bills.

The precise amount will depend on how the panels are orientated and how long they run. An unshaded south-facing spot is best.

Households which use energy during daylight hours will benefit most as the electricity must be used as it is generated.

Any power not consumed will flow back to the grid, but it’s unlikely homes will get any cash for this.

Unlike rooftop solar panels, these systems do not need to be certified under the official Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), which is the UK’s official quality mark for small-scale renewable energy systems.

But it also means they will not normally qualify for the Smart Export Guarantee that pays people for excess solar power.