As a producer of all America-made solar mounting goods, our supply partners bring most of their raw aluminum from Canada for processing, so the immediate effect is higher costs on our raw goods. Our raw goods cost is only about 30% of our total cost in production; the rest is value-add machine work and labor, so the increase is not “devastating”. But that is also not the worst of it. We also export finished goods to Canada. If Canada reciprocates like in kind on finished goods coming into their country from the US– that would be devastating, because we are now talking about four to six times more dollars. Our exports help the trade deficit many times more than the imports hurt it.

It’s not like there are a slew of bauxite mines in the U.S available to smelt in the U.S. So, it really does nothing intended by US policy– at least in our case. It just annihilates our exports to Canada increasing the trade deficit– the inverse of the intention.

I also see this as a ‘tell’ that the battery and energy storage industry is about to push hard to pivot to solid state batteries as soon as possible. Solid state manufacturing facilities designed from the ground up may be much more profitable than modifying old wet chemistry manufacturing lines to solid state manufacturing lines. This one concept may flesh out as companies vying for industry partners for their product runs of solid state cells over wet or slurry chemistry cells, kind of a battle between VHS vs Beta of days gone by. The LGES plant is said to be a total $5.5 billion dollar project with a total capacity of 53GWh of cells per year, both LFP BESS unit pouch batteries and 46xx cylindrical cells of some NMC chemistry for vehicles. KORE is in the unenviable position of pivoting to a different battery chemistry or staying out of the business for another say 5 years to see what happens to solid state cells and chemistries.

KORE may be telegraphing an industry pivot to the BIGs. BIG debt, BIG risks, BIG rewards or BIG failures. The final consideration is go BIG or go home.

I can see this as affecting insurance rates on riders for “alternative energy systems” added to home owner insurance policies also. This also helps installation companies to select solar PV panels that have thicker ‘tempered glass’ rather than thinner ‘heat treated glass’. One’s goal should be installing systems that can be in use for 25 plus years of service from mild ambient and weather swings to more harsh ambient and weather swings over those 25 years.

This is due to the abrogation of pure and simple 1:1 Net metering and on to a wholesale electric energy credit of Net Billing instead. Now at the wholesale electricity rate one is getting around $0.03/kWh credit which unless you have solar + battery for self consumption, your daily energy credit will be used up overnight for the majority of the time on a daily basis.

“By staying informed about policy changes, embracing innovations like energy storage and advocating for supportive policies, companies can continue to thrive and contribute to a sustainable energy landscape.”

I would submit for the consumer ‘policy’ or ‘what might happen’ is not their major concern. Price point, utility, reliability and longevity are important. So far one can get something on the order of a comprehensive system of solar PV panels of 13kWp, 15kW hybrid interactive inverter and 30kWh ‘kit’ for $26K the labor, and sometimes onerous ‘soft costs’ can make this a $35K to $40K installed system. Circuit breaker panel upgrades could be from $5K up to $15K more for smart home capability. The solar PV industry as a whole still needs training and hands on from companies and installers to get the right system on one’s home for the right price. It is becoming more obvious the TOU rate spiking periods are going to become front and center for electric utilities in the years to come. First it has been the attack on the initial 1:1 Net metering and there is still a push nationwide to abrogate existing PPAs from years past to be ‘foisted’ into Net billing with energy credits at wholesale pricing which may be 3 to 6 times less than bundled retail electricity throughout the day. The buzz word considerations now are solar + battery, self consumption, system hybrid interactive inverter, resiliency, with the proper programming and an automatic transfer switch could become a programmable custom system for each home to meet todays and tomorrows electric company revenue schemes in their favor. Grid agnostic is some better than off grid as with a smart system that is communication compliant with the local utility, one can use their system for arbitrage and grid services on demand as part of a local VPP with the electric company.

Was the root cause, improper equipment material? lack of system cleaning / passivation prior to start up? or was it operational? Whatever it was, they should tell all of the share holders. Don’t blame Hanwha for expecting conformance to requirements.

Vincent, I hope you are reading this as Craig makes some valid points. Renova was recommended to me but several people, so I moved forward. The whole experience has been sub-par and I personally have left message for you without answer and adding the automated system in front now makes it even easier for Renova to hid behind the system. All I ever get is the Marketing team calling me. I do feel totally abandoned by Renova and SunPower and my electric is only slightly lower and now I am saddled with a 25-year lease for a system that is no longer made and company that made it has closed its doors. I am sure you are going through a lot but transparent communication (even if it is negative information) is far better than no information or worse making calls and not being able to get a human on the phone to talk to.