Webber Research: Renewables Refresh – 04.20.22

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Webber Research: Renewables Weekly – 05.18.21

Webber R|A Renewables Weekly

Webber Research: Renewable Energy

Highlights:

• Orsted JV To Develop Clean Hydrogen In Copenhagen (page 1)
• US Extends Safe Harbor Deadlines (page 1)
• Next Generation EU (page 2)
• Saudi’s Alfanar Rumored To Be Senvion India Buyer (page 2)
• ENPH Collaboration With University of Washington (page 2)
• RUN Introduces Brightbox In Nevada & Colorado (page 2)
• ENS Board Changes & Dividend Declaration (page 2)
• SGRE SG 14-222 DD Backlog Updates (page 2)
• Vestas Expands 2020 Vietnam Intake To Over 300MW (page 3)
• Aerodyn To Develop 111-Meter TC1B Rotor Blade (page 3)
• US Net Electricity Generation (pages 3-4)
• Solar PV Pricing (page 4)
• LCOE Benchmarks & Timeseries (page 5)
• Global Wind Turbine Market Share (page 6)
• Solar PV Inverter Market Share (page 6)
• US Wind & Solar Projects Announced Or In Early Development (page 7)

Orsted JV To Develop Large-Scale Clean Hydrogen In Copenhagen: On 5/26 Orsted announced it entered into a JV with Copenhagen Airports, Maersk (marine), DSV Panalpina (logistics), DFDS (ferry), and SAS (aviation) to develop a hydrogen and e-fuel production facility. The project will be developed in three phases with the ultimate goal of providing renewable fuel sources for multiple transportation methods in the Greater Copenhagen Area. Phase 1 includes a 10MW electrolyser to generate renewable hydrogen fuel for buses and trucks – potentially operational as early as 2023. Phase 2 considers a 250MW electrolyser which would have the capacity to produce renewable methanol for maritime transport and renewable jet fuel for aviation – potentially operational by 2027 when the first offshore wind power is available from Ronne Banke off the island of Bornholm. Phase 3 would upgrade the electrolyser capacity to 1.3GW with the potential to displace 30% of fossil fuels used at Copenhagen Airports by 2030. Orsted said the project could reach FID as early as 2021 after receiving required regulatory approvals as well as a full feasibility study.

US Extends Safe Harbor Deadlines: continued…

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Webber R|A Renewables Weekly

Renewable Energy Weekly

*REGI (Outperform) – Virtual NDR Weds 5/27 To participate email us directly or at [email protected]

Renewables – Weekly Highlights:

• GE To Add 193MW Onshore Wind In Turkey – Blades Built In-House (page 1)
• SPWR Sells O&M Business, Clears Maxeon Regulatory Hurdle (page 1)
• ENPH Expands Commercial Presence (page 1)
• IEA Updates Renewable Energy 2020 & 2021 Outlook (page 2)
• BNEF EV Outlook (page 2)
• AMRC Begins Commercial Operations In Ireland (page 2)
• SGRE Launches 14MW Direct Drive Offshore Turbine (page 2)
• Ginlong Solis To Double Manufacturing Capacity (page 3)
• Jinko & LONGi Launch New Modules (page 3)
• Sungrow To Provide Inverters For Ibri II Project In Oman (page 3)
• Suzlon Restructuring Update (page 3)
• PLUG Prices 2025 Convertible Notes (page 3)
• NJ Clean Energy Equity Act (page 3)
• US Net Electricity Generation (pages 4-5)
• Solar PV Pricing Dynamics (page 5)
• LCOE Benchmarks & Timeseries (page 6)
• Global Wind Turbine Market Share (page 7)
• Solar PV Inverter Market Share (page 7)
…continued

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Webber Research: Renewable Energy Weekly

• ENPH Partners With 5B In Australia
• GE Renewable Energy Q1 Earnings
• Sunpower COVID Updates
• Safe Harbor Deadline Extension Brought To Treasury
• BNEF Semi-Annual LCOE Update (Page 2, Charts On Page 4)
• New York Approves Offshore Wind Plans, But Delays Action Due To COVID
• Orsted’s 120GW Skipjack Offshore Wind Farm Delayed 1 Year
• Q Cells Tops US Market Share
• Sunrun Hires New CFO
• Houston’s First Climate Action Plan
• California Confirms PV & Storage Installers Are Essential Workers
• Chicago Supporting EV Adoption
• Figures:
• US Net Electricity Generation By Type
• US Net Electricity Generation By Renewable Type
• Monthly Net Wind & Solar Generation State
• Weekly Solar System Pricing
• Grid-Tie Solar System Weekly Retailer Price ($US/Watt)
• Solar Panel / Solar Module 120W+ Weekly Retailer Price ($US/Watt)

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ENPH Partners With 5B In Australia: On 4/22 ENPH announced it would collaborate with Australian solar innovator, 5B in its role in the Resilient Energy Collective (REC) – aimed at providing solar power solutions to Australians disconnected by bushfires and floods. 5B selected ENPH’s IQ 7+ microinverters to pair with its portable Maverick solar array systems, which will also be outfitted with Enphase Envoy with (communication gateway) which connects the system to Enphase Enlighten for easy monitoring & maintenance. ENPH also announced a partnership with Sunlogics in Belgium on 4/29 as its exclusive microinverter supplier using IQ 7 and 7+ microinverters (also outfitted with Envoy). Separately, after the close on 4/27 ENPH was announced to replace Core Laboratories (CLB) in the S&P MidCap 400 index effective before the market open on 5/1. ENPH traded up 16% on 4/28 as a result.

GE Renewable Energy Q1 Earnings: On 4/29 GE reported a $302MM Q1 loss in its Renewable Energy segment, down from a $187MM loss in Q119. Orders declined 13% y/y to $3.1B, which GE attributed mostly to poor execution and only partly to COVIDrelated supply chain disruptions and delays. GE highlighted LM Wind’s sites closures in India and the US and capacity reductions at 3 other sites in its Onshore Wind business (previously disclosed). In its Offshore Wind business, GE remains on track for certification of its Haliade-X turbine and plans to start production after delivering its 80- unit 6MW commitments to EDF (expected completion 2021). In Grid & Hydro, GE is operating 15 factories at full utilization, 10 factories at less than 80% utilization, and 8 factories at less than 50% utilization. Its facilities located in China are operating at preCOVID levels, including Wuhan which was shut down for 6 weeks. Overall GE said COVID-19 has had a limited effect on its Renewables business but that it’s monitoring supply chain constraints and implementing cost-out and restructuring initiatives.

Sunpower COVID Updates: On 4/20 SPWR announced further actions to address the financial and operational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic including reducing base salaries of executive management another 35-50% (after cutting 25-30% and withdrawing 2020 financial guidance a month earlier), idling factories in France, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, and the US (with expectations to bring them back online in the coming few weeks), and temporarily transitioning a portion of its employees to 4-day work weeks in response to reduced demand and workload (affecting ~3,000 workers according to GTM), but it said it’s still on track to spin-off its manufacturing arm, Maxeon Solar Technologies by the end of Q2.

Safe Harbor Deadline Extension Brought To Treasury: Last week senators from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee wrote a letter to the Department of Treasury advocating a 1yr deadline extensions for the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Production Tax Credit (PTC) due to setbacks related to the COVID-19 outbreak. …continued

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Renewable Energy: The Next Generation

Initiating Coverage Of ENPH, TPIC, REGI, & ENS

Executive Summary ……………………………………………….Page  5
Industry Overviews………………………………………………..Page 9
Near-Term Drivers.…………………………………………………Page 11
Solar …………………………………………………………………Page 14
Wind …………………………………………………………………Page 20
Biofuels ……………………………………………………………..Page 25
Energy Storage …………………………………………………….Page 30
Enphase Energy, Inc. (ENPH) …………………………………….Page 33
TPI Composites, Inc. (TPIC) ………………………………………Page 47
Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REGI) ………………………….Page 59
Enersys (ENS) ………………………………………………………Page 70
Disclosures ………………………………………………………….Page 81

Rolling Out Our First Wave Of Renewable Energy Coverage: We are initiating coverage of REGI (Outperform, PT: $36), ENPH (Market Perform, PT: $33), TPIC (Market Perform, PT: $17), and ENS (Market Perform, PT: $55). As our historical energy infrastructure coverage has evolved, we’ve watched renewables consistently gain market share and play an increasingly competitive role in energy trade dynamics – particularly in the emerging markets, where we’ve seen prices come down, viability rise, and competitive flash points between traditional fuels, LNG, and renewables. Rather than focus solely on incumbent fuels and infrastructure, or solely on a potential bridge like LNG, we think it’s more prudent to cover energy transitions from every angle – hence our expansion into renewables.

Why These Names? We’re establishing a footprint in several renewable verticals: solar, wind, biofuels, and energy storage, creating a well-rounded platform that we can continue to expand. Within those verticals, ENPH, TPIC, REGI, and ENS were among the stocks most commonly highlighted by our clients as either underfollowed, misunderstood, or both. Although oil and gas (which remains the focal point of our legacy
coverage) still dominate global energy markets, it’s increasingly clear the future of energy is here – and it’s decarbonizing, innovating, and quickly becoming price competitive. We also think the group dovetails nicely with our skill-sets: analyzing SMID energy and infrastructure names with asymmetric risk/return profiles.

How Are We Tackling Renewables? There’s a reason why we were both drawn to and pushed toward this space – each company has a strong core business, at least one (or several) growth drivers, and the kind of significant shifting dynamics that can create particularly compelling risk/reward profiles.

COVID-19 Disclaimer: We continue to highlight our gratitude for health care providers and first responders during this time, and while our primary focus continues to be with the safety and well-being of our families, associates, and employees, the pandemic has certainly complicated our plans for initiation, however we think it’s important to have coverage through this period of uncertainty – rather than simply waiting for smoother seas. Each of our names have been and will continue to be greatly affected by the outbreak and associated economic downturn. Countries around the world have delayed energy auctions while agencies and data service providers have all begun to cut global supply and demand forecasts across all energy verticals. That said, it’s still too early to fully assess the potential impact on our industry- and company-level coverage. As a result, we are generally exercising caution with our ratings, price targets, and estimates until we get a broader view of the long-term disruption.

Investment Theses (Abridged)
Enphase Energy (ENPH) – Market Perform, PT: $33….continued (more…)