Monday Flights To DC. I sat down in my seat to be surprised to have a member of congress sitting across the aisle from me. As we started our descent, I introduced myself to the Representative as working in solar. Right away, “Why do utilities in Florida make it so hard to go solar? The prices really dropped so much, I should look at it again. The Florida PSC is totally owned by the utilities.” As I explained that solar is making small advances, I brought up the tax reform issue and the 201 case. “We shouldn’t be increasing the price of solar, we should be incentivizing people to do more of it.” The member is a Republican. Solar needs to do a better job educating members, so we need to go back to discussing the idea from last month where everyone spends 10 hours a month on political outreach and education.
Conference Committee. Last night, the House voted to send the bill to conference committee which starts the next step in the process of reconciliation between the House and Senate versions. This is where a lot of the lobbying gets done once again, once the conference agrees there are likely to be no changes. If solar is looking to stop provisions like BEAT from becoming law, this is the point where it would happen.
Coal Tax Credit Request. Coming out of nowhere, in addition to the FERC NOPR process, the coal lobby is seeking a tax credit to the tune of over $60billion over the next ten years. The hypocrisy is thick on this one and it’s a topic I will be covering with Amy Harder on Wednesday at SolarWakeup Live!
Choice For TVA Customers. Solar is an underused political issue. A recent poll of 600 Tennessee residents showed overwhelming support for more solar. All three questions below came back in the mid 80% approval range including when residents were asked if they would use solar in their homes if offered at the same price, whether Tennessee should use more solar and letting their local power company buy solar from generators. All of this while TVA, a public entity, prohibits the use of power purchase agreements. I’d like to see this used by campaign staff in the upcoming elections.
New Tax Equity. Listen to the latest podcast from SolarWakeup and my discussion with SunWealth CEO, Jon Abe. In part of the discussion I ask him about his capital sourcing from tax equity investors. If you are worried about the tax reform bill, you may want to arm yourself with information on how to diversify the tax equity pool of capital.
Presented By True Green Capital. Our current partnership, Fund III, is actively seeking investment opportunities and channel partners to deploy capital in a scalable focused on DG and small scale projects. Fund III has ~$350million in equity commitments to build out a ~$1billion solar portfolio.
- CNN: The GOP tax plan is heading for conference committee. What happens next?
- Axios: Exclusive – Coal and nuclear firms seek billions in new tax credits
- Times Free Press: Tennesseans want more solar power and choices other than TVA
- SolarWakeup: Financing Small Solar With New Tax Equity and Power Of The Crowd With SunWealth CEO
- CleanTechnica: Under Trump’s Watch, Wind Energy Set To Blow Past Coal In Texas
- Think Progress: Republican climate caucus members face pressure to back up their words with action
- The Street: U.S. Solar-Panel Spat With China Makes Canada’s Leader Popular in Beijing
- NRDC: Three Reasons Why Renewable Energy Leaders Are Optimistic
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann