Solar- Bright Future After All?

Nice article on Always On today in which Mark Zanoli, managing director at J.P.Morgan comments on the state of solar investing, which of course will determine the course of this industry on the cusp. He is the head of clean tech investing at his firm and he focuses on emerging technologies.

He does not see a shakeout in the solar industry ala the dot com bust due to recent market fluctuations but rather he sees the demand for solar fueling its rise in the market over the next few years.

He’s bullish on solar right now. A froth of over-eager financing in the last few years pushed valuations of unproven solar firms too high and a shakeout of weaker firms is inevitable, he said.

But voracious energy demand and the technology’s flexibility ensures plenty of solar firms will nonetheless succeed, according to the investor.

Businesses are gravitating towards solar as a way to keep operating costs down, he said. The cost of solar installation may be above market electricity rates today, but amortizing it over 25 years makes solar pricing competitive. Instead of facing volatile private energy prices, corporate bookkeepers get predictability, Mr. Zanoli said.