Utility Math 101 by Duke Energy. PURPA contracts have been around for many decades, there was never an intention for them to create massive marketplaces for solar projects in places like North Carolina, Oregon, Idaho and more. Simply put, it makes utilities buy energy from power plants at the approved avoided cost. So when it comes to Duke Energy’s cry for help, saying consumers are overpaying for the contracts on solar projects, I wonder what they are really saying. Before solar, Duke never came forward to lower the avoided cost in the contract. Maybe Duke is saying that the rate was always too high and miscalculated for years but in reality they want to lower the value of the value so that less solar gets built. They have spent the last year blocking every application and is getting sued by developers. Watch for more PURPA attacks at FERC.
Help support independent media like SolarWakeup. If you are looking for investors or buyers of your projects, hit reply to this email and let us help you. Our expansive network is always looking to partner with you and helps us pay the bills to keep the newsletter free to you, as it has been for the past 4 years.
Don’t call it a comeback. Yet. NRG was early into the clean energy game when it comes to the IPPs and today they are far from the only one. You’ve seen several IPPs make the acquisitions and start business units to take advantage of the decentralized energy that gives consumers choice. Bridging this transition from producer to a consumer centric model takes time and some financial pain. It took the foresight and investments to create the path, and yes it took the firing of a CEO to shine the light on this venture. Looking at the progress from a financial perspective, it is fair to assume that the green energy vision outlined years ago will go forward.
If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for? Yes, solar is like telecom. It is the cutting of the cord from large, central, and top down approach to a consumer centered, decentralized power system. Most importantly it puts the choice in the hand of consumers instead of monopolies. There is much to lose and hence the fighting over this change is taken on by lobbyists and special interest groups. Until recently, the solar industry fought as if their lives depended on it, in many cases it did. With rumors of gutted policy teams, shrinking budgets and fear of being partisan, solar has taken a step back. In Indiana and Kentucky as well as other States, bills look to kill solar and it doesn’t look like much is happening to fight it. Where is the SEIA press release? Where are the national companies saving a market that doesn’t yet exist? We want to be the centered, well behaved children in a political battle. So in the words of Hamilton (the musical), if you stand for nothing, Solar Industry, what’ll you fall for?
- Utility Dive: Duke says North Carolina PURPA solar contracts too expensive
- PV-Magazine: NRG’s renewable investments begin to pay off
- EDF: What the US Electricity Sector Can Learn from the Telecom Revolution
- Think Progress: China smashes solar energy records, as coal use and CO2 emissions fall once again
- Renewable Energy World: Picking Up PACE After Federal Guidance
- Solar Industry: Solar Advocates Denounce Bill To ‘Undermine’ Georgia Regulators
- Courier-Journal: State senator ‘shocked’ by solar bill pushback
- CNBC: Oregon set to get 56 megawatt solar power plant, expected to be state’s largest
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann