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<ul><li>Burmese restaurant chain <keyword id="4045846" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="burma-burma" source="Orion">Burma Burma</keyword> has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Negen Capital.</li><li><keyword id="276931" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ankit-gupta" source="Orion">Ankit Gupta</keyword> and <keyword id="10784273" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="chirag-chhajer" source="Orion">Chirag Chhajer</keyword> in 2014 founded the restaurant.</li><li>The funding will be used to open eight new outlets in the next fifteen months.</li></ul>Vegan Burmese restaurant chain Burma Burma and Tea Room has raised over $2 million in a seed funding round led by Mumbai-based Negen Capital. The round also saw participation from Bbigplas Poly and other angels. <keyword id="10784272" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Burma-Burma-Restaurant" source="Orion">Burma Burma Restaurant</keyword> and Tea Room were founded by Ankit Gupta and Chirag Chhajer. It was founded to introduce Burmese cuisine, offering Myanmar’s authentic taste and cuisine and providing a window into its culture. “I’ve grown up eating the Burmese dishes we serve at Burma Burma, as my mother learnt these recipes while growing up in Burma before the migration in the 1960s,” said Ankit Gupta, cofounder, Burma Burma. The restaurant was started in 2014 by the duo in Mumbai. The duo has opened seven outlets across Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Kolkata in the last nine years. With this funding, the company plans on opening eight new outlets in the next fifteen months, taking the total to fourteen outlets. “Nine years in this business, we’ve thoroughly tested all four zones of the Indian market for Burmese cuisine across six cities in India. With this round, we’re committed to entering new cities and expanding our base in existing ones,” said Chirag Chhajer, cofounder, Burma Burma. “With our 450+ member strong team, our next target is to take Burma Burma beyond India; we’re now ready more than ever,” Chhajer added. In addition to a restaurant, the duo also sells <keyword id="15658550" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="burma-burma-pantry" source="Orion">Burma Burma Pantry</keyword> products across the country. The retail products were launched in May 2022 and are sold through the company’s e-commerce website. “Burma Burma is a perfect fit for a fund like Negen Capital. Niche, profitable and a very strong brand name, we believe in the food sector of India and its growth trajectory. We are very confident that Burma Burma will be able to scale further with our growth capital,” said <keyword id="117800" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="jigar-shah" source="Orion">Jigar Shah</keyword>, director, Negen Capital. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/noise-fire-boltt-and-boat-lead-the-smartwatch-market-in-india/articleshow/95875410.cms">Affordable smartwatches make India the biggest smartwatch market in the world</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/whatsapp-introduces-the-message-yourself-feature-working-on-voice-status-updates-and-more/articleshow/95851566.cms">WhatsApp introduces the “Message Yourself” feature, working on voice status updates and more</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/iphone-15-features-roundup-ultra-variant-solid-state-buttons-usb-type-c-port-and-more/articleshow/95820166.cms">iPhone 15 features roundup – Ultra variant, solid-state buttons, USB Type-C port, and more</a>

Burma Burma, a Burmese restaurant chain, raises over $2 million in seed funding

Welcome to <keyword id="933977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="power-line">Power Line</keyword>, a weekly <keyword id="6357014" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="energy">energy</keyword> newsletter brought to you by Business Insider.Here's what you need to know:<ul><li>Want to get Power Line in your inbox every Friday? <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/power-line">Sign up here</a>. </li><li>Most of our content is available to BI subscribers. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/prime-discount?r=birefer-bjoneshttps://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/prime-discount?r=birefer-bjones">Click here for 20% off</a>. </li><li>Got feedback or tips? Email us at <a href="mailto:energy@businessinsider.com">energy@businessinsider.com</a>. </li></ul>And there goes July. That was a fun month. Not really. Last week, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-documents-exxon-changed-performance-reviews-cut-workers-2020-7">we reported on a change Exxon made to its employee ranking process</a> amid an <keyword id="6359072" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oil">oil</keyword> price collapse. This week, we dug in a bit more, uncovering documents and audio files. We also talked to 20 current and former employees, including people with direct knowledge of the process. Here's what we learned. <h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-managers-dub-some-employees-poor-performers-cut-staff-2020-7">Exxon is forcing managers to rank thousands of employees as poor performers, in an effort to push them out</a></h2>In case you missed it, we're in a pretty severe oil price downturn. That's why big oil companies like BP, Chevron, and Schlumberger are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-top-oil-companies-are-responding-to-the-price-shock-2020-3">laying off loads of employees — more than 35,000 combined</a>. <ul><li>Price check: Today, the cost of crude is about <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti">$40 a barrel</a>, down about 34%, since the start of the year. </li></ul><keyword id="6383208" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="exxon">Exxon</keyword> has taken a different approach. The company is relying on performance-based cuts. <ul><li>Employees ranked as poor performers are effectively forced out of the company.</li><li>This year, Exxon told managers to rank as many as 10% of workers in that category, up from a minimum of 3% before the downturn. </li><li>Newer employees could be hit with bigger cuts. Staff overseas are impacted as well, though the extent of those cuts isn't clear. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-managers-dub-some-employees-poor-performers-cut-staff-2020-7">We have lots of details on how the process is working here</a>. </li></ul>It's clear from leaked audio and comments from supervisors that not everyone ranked in the bottom was, in fact, a poor performer. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-managers-dub-some-employees-poor-performers-cut-staff-2020-7">Read the full story here.</a>If you're a current or former Exxon employee and have information to share, you can reach me at <a href="mailto:bjones@businessinsider.com">bjones@businessinsider.com</a> or through the confidential messaging up Signal at 646-768-1657. <h2>3 things smart people told us this week</h2>Lee Jourdan, Chevron's chief diversity officer: "It's a challenge determining how transparent you're going to be about demographic data," he said.<ul><li>"You need to show where you are and where you want to be in order to make progress."</li><li>"In 2019, we became the first oil-and-gas major to <a href="https://www.chevron.com/sustainability/performance/chart-generator">share that disaggregated data publicly</a>." </li></ul>Jigar Shah, Generate Capital's cofounder and president: "I'm more bullish than ever," Shah said, about clean energy. <ul><li>"We're going to have 10% unemployment rates for a long time, and that's devastating. The only way to solve that problem is to have real fiscal stimulus from the government to fix it." </li><li>"The only thing that everyone knows how to fix is climate change. What can we construct right away? It's climate solutions. That's what we're ready to construct and scale." </li></ul>Emily Reichert, Greentown Labs' CEO: "A lot of people in my industry were very worried when all of this started happening in March, that it would really knock us off course in terms of how corporations and investors and others are thinking about" clean energy funding, she said. <ul><li>"And I'd say, if anything, I've actually seen quite a few instances of people doubling down." </li><li>"It's making people realize how unprepared we were for a global pandemic and how unprepared we're going to be for the rapidness of climate change if we don't act sooner."</li><li>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-succeed-as-a-clean-energy-startup-green-industry-2019-12">The CEO of the biggest clean-tech incubator in North America reveals the 3 key things that startups need to survive</a></li></ul><h2>This week's top stories</h2><ul><li>Earnings: Shell and Total saw earnings tumble, as expected, but both European oil majors still made money, largely thanks to their little-known oil trading businesses, per <a href="https://www.axios.com/shell-total-oil-earnings-profits-q2-2020-4e6c9fb9-7f52-4109-87c6-9266865ebe5c.html">Axios</a>. Meanwhile, Exxon and Chevron reported "the worst losses in a generation," <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-31/exxon-hit-with-deepest-ever-loss-after-covid-19-destroys-demand?srnd=premium">according to Bloomberg News</a></li><li><keyword id="49089" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sustainability">Sustainability</keyword> commitments: A closer look at Apple's ambitions to become carbon neutral by 2030. (<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-28/esg-investing-apple-s-climate-plan-will-cut-carbon-footprint">Bloomberg</a>)</li><li>Rooftop solar: Elon Musk said Tesla sells the cheapest solar in the country, but at what cost? (<a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/tesla-record-low-residential-solar-prices">Greentech Media</a>)</li><li>Big Oil backs clean tech: Oilfield services giant Halliburton, among the companies hit hard by the oil-price downturn, is opening a new lab devoted to clean-energy technologies. (<a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Halliburton-launches-tech-lab-to-speed-15445542.php">Houston Chronicle</a>)</li></ul>That's it! If you've got any feedback on this newsletter, please send it my way at <a href="mailto:bjones@businessinsider.com">bjones@businessinsider.com</a>. Have a great weekend. - BenjiPs. This is a lil praying mantis I saw last night. I love them. Watch out, boys! <div type="image" title="baby praying mantis" height="2016" width="2688" msid="77285860" hostid="261"></div>

Insiders and leaked audio reveal new details of job cuts at Exxon

ShutterstockWall Street analysts say the renewable energy industry may be more insulated from a recession than other industries.<ul class="summary-list"><li>Wall Street analysts are warning that the US is teetering on a recession. Some say it's already here. </li><li>No industry is spared, but analysts and investors Business Insider spoke to said that the clean-energy sector may be dealt a softer blow. </li><li>"Anyone in the renewable sector is better than most," one investor said. </li><li>The cost of capital is the primary driver of renewable energy projects. That means low interest rates will spur demand. </li><li>Utility-scale projects are best-insulated, while residential solar companies may face a greater risk.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The US is teetering on the edge of a recession, Wall Street analysts are warning - with <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/coronavirus-recession-already-hit-us-economy-pandemic-bank-america-gdp-2020-3-1029012857">some saying we're already there</a>. "We are officially declaring that the economy has fallen into a recession," Bank of America economists led by <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/coronavirus-recession-already-hit-us-economy-pandemic-bank-america-gdp-2020-3-1029012857">Michelle Meyer wrote in a note to investors on Thursday</a>. "It is a deep plunge." A recession spares no industries, but four Wall Street analysts and investors that Business Insider talked to said the clean-energy sector - which was the target of more than $360 billion of investment last year, according to the research firm BloombergNEF - might be dealt a relatively soft blow. <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/power-line">Click here to subscribe to Power Line</a>, Business Insider's weekly clean-energy newsletter."Anyone in the renewables sector is better than most," Jigar Shah, the president and cofounder of the investment firm Generate Capital said. "People like this asset class better than any other." <h2>Low interest rates are especially beneficial for renewable energy projects</h2>The price of renewable electricity is largely determined by the upfront cost of construction - what a company charges to build a solar or wind farm, for example.Once those farms are set up, the input is minimal, unlike a natural gas or coal power plant, which require fuel to operate. And that's especially true for solar facilities, says Colin Rusch, an analyst at Oppenheimer &amp; Co., "because there are no moving parts and limited maintenance." With the cost of energy tied to an initial injection of funds, renewable energy projects - like any construction project - stand to benefit from low interest rates that typically accompany a financial crisis. Now, those rates are close to zero. "The cost of capital is the biggest lever in the supply chain for all renewable energy projects," Rusch said. "As we see the cost of capital come down we see increasingly compelling economics for solar projects."Low interest rates make it easier for clean-energy companies to borrow money. And by lowering the upfront cost of power plants, they also lower the cost of the electricity those plants generate. Both forces fuel demand. Natalie Behring/ReutersInnovation is what drives down the cost of renewable energy, Sophie Karp, an analyst at KeyBanc, said.<h2>Other forces will drive down the cost of renewable energy, even within a recession </h2>The cost of electricity that comes from fossil fuels, such as natural gas or coal, is determined by commodity prices, which are volatile and unpredictable, says Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James. Meanwhile, the price of renewable electricity has fallen consistently over the last decade in step with innovation, according to Sophie Karp, an analyst at KeyBanc.Since 2009, for example, the price of solar panels <a href="https://www.irena.org/costs">has fallen by 80%</a>; wind turbine costs have seen similar declines. "There's no reason to believe that the longer-term trend will stop," Karp said.And that's true whether or not the price of oil continues to slip, analysts said. In most parts of the world, oil is not an electricity source, so its cost is not a meaningful benchmark. The last time the price of oil collapsed, starting in 2014, it "didn't affect renewable growth at all," said Angus McCrone, chief editor at BloombergNEF, a clean-energy finance research firm. There's no reason to suspect a different outcome this time around. <h2>Utility-scale projects would be better insulated from a recession </h2>According to Molchanov, large, utility-scale solar and wind projects are "recession resistant" because they're generally managed by developers that have utility contracts. "That has nothing to do with the economy," he said. "Whether GDP is up or down, it makes no difference for a utility investment decision because utilities are regulated businesses."<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-renewable-energy-stocks-could-be-first-to-bounce-back-2020-3">Analysts at JPMorgan also note</a> that utility-scale solar is typically constructed in remote locations, so the spreading coronavirus will be less likely to hamper those projects. Utility-scale developments also have "long deployment cycles," the bank said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-renewable-energy-stocks-could-be-first-to-bounce-back-2020-3">in a recent research note</a>, which makes them even more resilient to short-term impacts. David GreerApple's 14 megawatt solar array in Maiden, NC<h2>Corporations who buy renewable energy may delay projects</h2>Big companies like Google and Facebook are some of the largest buyers of renewable energy in the world. In 2019, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-10-clean-energy-firms-sold-most-power-last-year-2020-1">they bought a record 19.6 gigawatts of power</a>, which amounted to 10% of the clean energy added, globally, that year. In a recession scenario, corporations may be inclined to delay purchasing of renewable energy, Jeff Osborne, an analyst at Cowen, said, though he doesn't think that's "lost business." "It's more of a deferral," he said. The cheap price of oil could also shrink clean-energy spending by oil and gas giants, such as BP or Shell, McCrone said. "Oil companies - particularly European ones - have become pretty significant investors in renewables," McCrone said. "So if they're feeling under pressure, then it could be that they become not so keen to invest in renewables quickly." Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-10-most-active-clean-energy-investors-in-2019-bnef-2020-1">Private investors poured $10.5 billion into clean energy in 2019. This list shows that oil and gas giants are among the most active private investors.</a>But Molchanov didn't agree with that idea. He says the oil price shock could actually steer these companies' strategies towards renewable energy. "This shock, showing just how violent the oil market can get, will steer some management teams into looking at wind and solar because they're not nearly as volatile or difficult to predict," he said. REUTERS/Mike BlakeCompanies that sell rooftop solar may take a hit in a recession, analysts said.<h2>Residential solar is likely to take a hit</h2>The impacts of a pandemic-fueled recession on residential solar are mixed, the analysts said. On one hand, cash-poor consumers are not going to be looking to make big purchases, and rooftop solar arrays cost around $20,000, according to Osborne. "I just don't see many couples saying 'Hey honey, let's drop $20,000 to put up the solar panels on the roof right now, even though we can save money and might have a five-year payback period,'" he said. That said, many companies including Sunrun and Sunnova offer leasing and loan options, which could be attractive deals in a recession. "Cash sales will definitely drop," Mochanov said. "Leasing and loans will be more protected." It's also possible that more customers will pursue rooftop solar for their homes to ensure a more stable supply of energy in the wake of the pandemic. "You couple this with extreme weather events and fires and I think this just increases demand," Brook Porter, a partner at the venture fund G2VP, said. "Just thinking about what happens when the grid goes down and thinking about resiliency, those thoughts drive capital investment."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackouts-and-superstorms-are-new-fuel-for-rooftop-solar-companies-2020-3">A global pandemic and fear of power outages could fuel an emerging $50 billion market for rooftop solar companies like Tesla and Sunrun</a>Karp says residential solar companies may also be more secure in a recession, compared to companies that own large-scale arrays that deliver energy to corporations through power purchase agreements (PPAs). If the corporation goes bankrupt, the PPA could be subjected to bankruptcy, she said. But when your panels are distributed across the homes of thousands of customers, "it's a diversified risk." <h2>Policies support renewable energy </h2>At least <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/tracking-progress-on-100-clean-energy-targets">12 states and Puerto Rico</a> have made 100% clean energy commitments. And many more utilities across the country are required to meet what's called a renewable portfolio standard - meaning a percentage of their electricity must come from clean energy sources by a certain date. "The laws about decarbonization and renewable portfolio standards are going to still be enforced," Molchanov said, though he mentioned that most of them are set 20 or 30 years out in the future. There are also tax incentives for installing wind and solar energy called the Production Tax Credit (PTC) that are expiring in the next year or two. If they don't get extended in the government stimulus package, they could spur short-term growth. Utilities that own wind and solar assets have "tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars at stake," Osborne said. "There's a clock that you're up against."<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-renewable-energy-stocks-could-be-first-to-bounce-back-2020-3">Renewable-energy stocks could be the first to bounce back after the pandemic peaks, JPMorgan says. These are the bank's top 4 picks.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackouts-and-superstorms-are-new-fuel-for-rooftop-solar-companies-2020-3">A global pandemic and fear of power outages could fuel an emerging $50 billion market for rooftop solar companies like Tesla and Sunrun</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bnef-analysts-slash-projections-for-2020-renewable-energy-installations-2020-3">The leading clean-energy research firm just slashed its outlook in response to the coronavirus pandemic, revealing that solar energy installations could decline for the first time in decades</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/8-experts-explain-how-coronavirus-is-impacting-the-clean-energy-sector-2020-3">Shuttered factories, tangled supply chains, and cratering demand: 8 experts told us how the coronavirus pandemic and oil price war are hitting clean energy</a></li></ul><a href="https://store.businessinsider.com/products/banking-briefing-subscription?itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=wallstreet&amp;itm_campaign=banking-briefing-subscription-2"></a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/economist-weighted-voting-could-help-save-us-democracy-2018-5">A top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote: weighted voting</a></h3>

Wall Street analysts told us exactly what they think will happen to the $360 billion clean-energy industry during a recession

Gleason Partners LLCA rendering of a solar border wall proposal by Gleason Partners LLC, a Las Vegas-based architecture firm.<ul><li>A solar border wall would generate approximately 7.28 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity each day (2,657.2 GWh annually), according to one solar installation firm</li><li>Other estimates reach as high as 8,431 GWh annually</li><li>The electricity production would be worth approximately $106 million per year</li><li>Not considering the multi-billion-dollar construction cost of the wall itself, the solar array installation could cost between $1.4 billion and $4.2 billion</li></ul>During a White House meeting with Republican Congressional leaders on June 6, President Trump discussed plans for his proposed US-Mexico border wall. As Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-pitched-republican-leaders-on-a-solar-paneled-border-wall-2435037888.html">reported</a>, he pitched covering the wall in solar panels and using the generated electricity to pay for its construction.Estimations of how much energy a solar border wall would actually produce vary, depending on the size of the array and the wall itself. But some companies are already imagining what it would look like.<h2>How much electricity a hypothetical solar border wall could generate</h2>Oregon-based solar installation firm called <a href="https://www.elementalenergy.net/">Elemental Energy</a> <a href="https://www.elementalenergy.net/news/2017/4/27/solarwalls">calculated</a> that a wall with 10-foot-high solar paneling would generate approximately 7.28 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity each day.Elemental's co-owner, John Grieser, broke down the math to Business Insider like this:In his hypothetical calculation, the solar panels would be mounted to the wall at a fixed tilt and orientation (meaning they wouldn't move to track the sun, which is a more expensive option), Grieser says. Each panel would feature 72 solar cells, and measure 78 inches high.The US southern border measures nearly 2,000 miles across four states, but only <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602494/bad-math-props-up-trumps-border-wall/?utm_term=.b016f0dd7095">about half</a> of that length is on unobstructed land. A thousand miles converts to 63.36 million inches. When you divide that by the size of each panel (78 inches), you get 812,308 columns of panels (oriented in landscape).Typically, fixed tilt solar arrays feature five rows of panels, and a 30-degree tilt would create a 10-foot-tall array. Trump reportedly <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-pitched-republican-leaders-on-a-solar-paneled-border-wall-2435037888.html">said</a> the wall would be 40 to 50 feet high, but Grieser says Elemental's calculations are for a shorter array.Multiplying 812,307 by five, you get 4,061,538 panels in total. Since 72-cell modules usually produce 350 watts (W), you end up with about 1.4 billion W (or 1.4 GW) of power. Grieser says that's enough to power 220,000 average-size homes annually.He notes the US-Mexico border is very sunny. Even with a system efficiency of 80% the 1.4 GW array would generate about 7.28 GWh of electricity daily (or 2,657.2 GWh annually) - worth over $106 million per year via a competitive utility-scale <a href="https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/sector/energy/energy-power-agreements/power-purchase-agreements">Power Purchase Agreement</a> (PPA) at <a href="http://www.utilitydive.com/news/cheapest-power-in-the-us-palo-alto-muni-eyes-solar-at-under-37mwh/414372/">$40/MWh </a>(i.e. a contract between the electricity seller and buyer that sets the price of the solar energy from the grid)."It was a late night of napkin math," Grieser says. "I don't support a wall, but if it has to be built, and it's completely out of my control and influence, then we might as well put some solar panels on it."Other analysts predict a solar wall would generate much more electricity. Jigar Shah, co-founder of Generate Capital, estimates <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/giving-mainstream-media-credit-getting-things-right-solar-jigar-shah?trk=hp-feed-article-title-like">6,600 GWh</a> annually, while clean energy consultant Adam Siegel places the wall's capacity at <a href="http://getenergysmartnow.com/2017/06/07/powering-america-from-trumps-solar-border-wall-how-many-kilowatts/">8,431 GWh</a> annually. Gleason Partners LLC, a Las Vegas-based architecture firm, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-solar-border-wall-mexico-images-2017-6/#the-panels-on-the-proposed-wall-would-be-offset-to-avoid-casting-shadows-as-solar-panels-are-usually-installed-on-roofs-not-walls-the-panels-on-the-roof-would-move-to-track-the-sun-1">proposed</a> a solar border wall to the Department of Homeland Security in its official open call in early 2017.<h2>The possible cost of a solar array installation on a border wall</h2>When Trump floated the idea of a solar wall to GOP leaders, he mentioned that the electricity produced would help pay for the wall itself. Mexico <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/politics/can-mexico-pay-for-wall-trnd/index.html">has said</a> it will not foot the bill.A ground-mounted solar array without trackers will likely cost $1 per watt by 2020, <a href="https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot/pdfs/dpw_white_paper.pdf">according to</a> the US Department of of Energy (DOE). But as MIT Technology Review <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601615/finally-in-sight-1-a-watt-solar-milestone-shows-long-road-ahead/">notes</a>, that figure doesn't consider other costs, like transmission lines to deliver the power, software to regulate the flow of intermittent solar power onto the grid, and energy storage systems.Today, the average price per watt is about $3, <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/the-price-of-solar-is-declining-to-unprecedented-lows/">according to</a> a recent report from Berkeley.A 1.4 GWh array that costs $1/W to install would cost $1.4 billion. At $3/W, the solar array would total $4.2 billion.That cost also does not take into account the price of the wall's construction and maintenance, which other analysts have estimated could reach anywhere from <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-wall-exclusive-idUSKBN15O2ZN">$10 billion</a> to <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/see-stephen-colbert-experts-help-blueprint-trumps-wall-w471677">$2 trillion</a>.At the Department of Homeland Security's estimate of the wall's construction at <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-wall-exclusive-idUSKBN15O2ZN">$21.6 billion</a>, a solar-powered barrier would eventually pay for itself (if it continues to produce over $106 million per year of electricity), Grieser says. But it would take decades. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/major-changes-apple-ios-iphone-11-2017-6">Here are all the major changes coming to your iPhone</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

How much power Trump's wall could generate if it was covered in solar panels

Gleason Partners LLCA rendering of a solar border wall proposal by Gleason Partners LLC, a Las Vegas-based architecture firm.<ul><li>A solar border wall would generate approximately 7.28 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity each day (2,657.2 GWh per year) and power 220,000 average-size homes annually, according to one solar installation firm</li><li>Other estimates reach as high as 8,431 GWh annually</li><li>The electricity production would be worth approximately $106 million per year</li><li>Not considering the multi-billion-dollar construction cost of the wall itself, the solar array installation could cost between $1.4 billion and $4.2 billion</li></ul>During a White House meeting with Republican Congressional leaders on June 6, President Trump discussed plans for his proposed US-Mexico border wall. As Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-pitched-republican-leaders-on-a-solar-paneled-border-wall-2435037888.html">reported</a>, he pitched covering the wall in solar panels and using the generated electricity to pay for its construction.On Wednesday, President Trump<a href="https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/us/politics/trump-air-force-one-excerpt-transcript.html?referer="> told reporters</a> aboard Air Force One that he is seriously interested in putting solar panels on the wall. "There is a chance that we can do a solar wall," he said. "We have major companies looking at that. Look, there's no better place for solar than the Mexico border - the southern border." Estimations of how much energy a solar border wall would actually produce vary, depending on the size of the array and the wall itself. But some companies are already imagining what it would look like.<h2>How much electricity a hypothetical solar border wall could generate</h2>Oregon-based solar installation firm called <a href="https://www.elementalenergy.net/">Elemental Energy</a> <a href="https://www.elementalenergy.net/news/2017/4/27/solarwalls">calculated</a> that a wall with 10-foot-high solar paneling would generate approximately 7.28 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity each day.Elemental's co-owner, John Grieser, broke down the math to Business Insider like this:In his hypothetical calculation, the solar panels would be mounted to the wall at a fixed tilt and orientation (meaning they wouldn't move to track the sun, which is a more expensive option), Grieser says. Each panel would feature 72 solar cells, and measure 78 inches high.The US southern border measures nearly 2,000 miles across four states, but only <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602494/bad-math-props-up-trumps-border-wall/?utm_term=.b016f0dd7095">about half</a> of that length is on unobstructed land. A thousand miles converts to 63.36 million inches. When you divide that by the size of each panel (78 inches), you get 812,308 columns of panels (oriented in landscape).Typically, fixed tilt solar arrays feature five rows of panels, and a 30-degree tilt would create a 10-foot-tall array. Trump reportedly <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-pitched-republican-leaders-on-a-solar-paneled-border-wall-2435037888.html">said</a> the wall would be 40 to 50 feet high, but Grieser says Elemental's calculations are for a shorter array.Multiplying 812,307 by five, you get 4,061,538 panels in total. Since 72-cell modules usually produce 350 watts (W), you end up with about 1.4 billion W (or 1.4 GW) of power. Grieser says that's enough to power 220,000 average-size homes annually.He notes the US-Mexico border is very sunny. Even with a system efficiency of 80% the 1.4 GW array would generate about 7.28 GWh of electricity daily (or 2,657.2 GWh annually) - worth over $106 million per year via a competitive utility-scale <a href="https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/sector/energy/energy-power-agreements/power-purchase-agreements">Power Purchase Agreement</a> (PPA) at <a href="http://www.utilitydive.com/news/cheapest-power-in-the-us-palo-alto-muni-eyes-solar-at-under-37mwh/414372/">$40/MWh </a>(i.e. a contract between the electricity seller and buyer that sets the price of the solar energy from the grid)."It was a late night of napkin math," Grieser says. "I don't support a wall, but if it has to be built, and it's completely out of my control and influence, then we might as well put some solar panels on it."Other analysts predict a solar wall would generate much more electricity. Jigar Shah, co-founder of Generate Capital, estimates <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/giving-mainstream-media-credit-getting-things-right-solar-jigar-shah?trk=hp-feed-article-title-like">6,600 GWh</a> annually, while clean energy consultant Adam Siegel places the wall's capacity at <a href="http://getenergysmartnow.com/2017/06/07/powering-america-from-trumps-solar-border-wall-how-many-kilowatts/">8,431 GWh</a> annually. Gleason Partners LLC, a Las Vegas-based architecture firm, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-solar-border-wall-mexico-images-2017-6/#the-panels-on-the-proposed-wall-would-be-offset-to-avoid-casting-shadows-as-solar-panels-are-usually-installed-on-roofs-not-walls-the-panels-on-the-roof-would-move-to-track-the-sun-1">proposed</a> a solar border wall to the Department of Homeland Security in its official open call in early 2017.<h2>The possible cost of a solar array installation on a border wall</h2>When Trump floated the idea of a solar wall to GOP leaders, he mentioned that the electricity produced would help pay for the wall itself. Mexico <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/politics/can-mexico-pay-for-wall-trnd/index.html">has said</a> it will not foot the bill.A ground-mounted solar array without trackers will likely cost $1 per watt by 2020, <a href="https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot/pdfs/dpw_white_paper.pdf">according to</a> the US Department of of Energy (DOE). But as MIT Technology Review <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601615/finally-in-sight-1-a-watt-solar-milestone-shows-long-road-ahead/">notes</a>, that figure doesn't consider other costs, like transmission lines to deliver the power, software to regulate the flow of intermittent solar power onto the grid, and energy storage systems.Today, the average price per watt is about $3, <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/the-price-of-solar-is-declining-to-unprecedented-lows/">according to</a> a recent report from Berkeley.A 1.4 GWh array that costs $1/W to install would cost $1.4 billion. At $3/W, the solar array would total $4.2 billion.That cost also does not take into account the price of the wall's construction and maintenance, which other analysts have estimated could reach anywhere from <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-wall-exclusive-idUSKBN15O2ZN">$10 billion</a> to <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/see-stephen-colbert-experts-help-blueprint-trumps-wall-w471677">$2 trillion</a>.At the Department of Homeland Security's estimate of the wall's construction at <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-wall-exclusive-idUSKBN15O2ZN">$21.6 billion</a>, a solar-powered barrier would eventually pay for itself (if it continues to produce over $106 million per year of electricity), Grieser says. But it would take decades. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-nasa-do-with-us-military-budget-2017-7">Here's what NASA could accomplish if it had the US military's $600 billion budget</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

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