A Nuclear Mea Culpa? Citing customer frustrations, South Carolina’s SCE&G will be canceling a set of rate increases stemming from the construction of the failed VC Summer nuclear plant. The shareholders of the utility will be ‘paying’ for $2.2billion in construction costs in what appears to be future reduced ratepayer earnings over the next 50 years. In short, it seems like the ratepayers are lending the write down of the losses. While the reporting appears to show a utility showing ‘remorse’ over its business actions – utility monopolies continue to operate in a dreamland far away from reality.
In Murphy We Trust. With the election of Phil Murphy, who ran strong on the solar issues, New Jersey is looking to reinvigorate its market. While projects are happening, it is nowhere near the scale as previous eras in the New Jersey solar market. David Crane has been named to the transition team which bodes well for us looking at markets for a long term sustainable sector. I look forward to seeing how that plays out as he takes the Governor’s mansion.
Subsidy Prescription. The DOE NOPR is looking like FERC is open to the idea, Commissioner Chatterjee is quoted wondering why anyone would consider it controversial. The article also goes into the concept of resiliency and focusing on the power plant as opposed the distribution lines. When I was in Boston a few weeks ago, a million customers lost power – some for as long as a week. They didn’t lose power because generators went down, they lost power because trees and wind took down the transmission infrastructure. In my mind the controversy is based in the cost to consumers. If ISOs offered $10billion in incentives for resiliency, I doubt a single coal plant would be offered. My interview with Jon Wellinghoff covers much of this.
MA NEM Cap. If you haven’t listened to or read the latest podcast (there is a full transcript on the page) you are missing on vital information for your business or understanding the impacts to your customers’ business. The other interview that will come out next week is with Senator Boncore about the NEM cap in Mass. While the takeaway is muted, there are a bunch of crumbs that would make me look hard to ignoring NEM caps for my business. More to come on this.
Kentucky Coal. Even in coal country with what I would assume to be a utility friendly regulatory body, PPL is shutting two coal plants that are old (~50 years) and would cost too much to make compliant with environmental standards. These aren’t the first and far from the last coal plants to close – this is purely a consumer induced move since customers want cheaper energy and clean air & water.
Live! DC. The event will now feature Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, the resident representative of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is more than a goodwill story, it has been one of the most enticing solar markets plagued with external issues. Now that the grid is torn apart and people have no energy, it represents a challenge to rebuild the grid in a 21st century way. I look forward to having this discussion and finding the path to the opportunity that it represents for the solar industry to help.Get your tickets now.
- Washington Post: Post-nuke debacle, utility wants to cut S. Carolina rates
- EDF: New Jersey’s new governor campaigned on a robust clean energy plan. Let’s get started.
- Reuters: U.S. grid regulator: interim plan could aid nuke, coal plants for years
- Vox: Here’s a road map for solving 3 of the world’s biggest problems
- Utility Dive: PPL Corp. to shutter 2 older coal-fired units in Kentucky
- PV-Tech: Green Bond issuance surpasses US$100 billion in 2017
- Santa Fe New Mexican: PRC approves PNM energy plan despite hearing examiner’s objections
- Midwest Energy News: Illinois solar developers optimistic about state’s draft power plan
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann