Big Florida Solar News. We’ve got some original news for you that is staying under the radar and it’s big. Everyone around solar knows that Florida is not a fan of allowing third parties to participate in Florida when it comes to financing solar projects. Sunrun has decided that now is the time to move forward and figure out how strong this prohibition is. The company quietly filed for declaratory judgement on their lease product at the PSC, asking the commission to basically allow them to conduct business without being considered a utility. The hearing is in a few weeks and if it passes could open up the Florida market for large scale growth that isn’t solely held by the incumbent monopoly. The story here.
BNEF Summit, Loop. It seems that Rick Perry and Tom Fanning are staples the BNEF Summit in New York. It’s a safe place for them which is the give and take for conference organizers. (If you don’t question their talking points, they won’t come) Rick Perry made the interesting comment that we [America] doesn’t want a free market in the energy sector. Maybe he means that literally but its a far cry from the ERCOT system in Texas he is used to. Perry did say that he doesn’t think 202 emergency declaration makes sense for the First Energy case but that he wants those plants to continue operating.
Big C&I Money, BUT Credit. CleanCapital has raised $250million of capital for projects to build a $1billion portfolio from CarVal Investors. If this capital is going to scale in C&I, then they’ll have to figure out how to drive volume and driving volume means figuring out how to do repeat transactions with unrated credits. My friends at CleanFund are growing commercial PACE that may have a way of helping that scale and leverage come together, wonder if they’ve spoken because more C&I solar is great for everyone, more on that tomorrow.
Solar Pays For Nuclear. Southern’s CEO, Tom Fanning, was also at BNEF Summit in New York yesterday. He mentioned that the future of Southern is carbon free with renewables, clean gas and nuclear. Vogtle is a nuclear plant that is still being supported by the regulators and consumer’s money but Southern needs more money. How do they get that extra money? They are selling a third of their solar portfolio! Who knew that solar investments can be so flexible.
More Solar In Mass, Need Money? I’m excited about the MA market going forward. More solar is needed especially with the power plants on track to close near to Boston. SMART development is starting up but it’s costly. If you are looking for development capital, let me know, there are investors eager to partner with you and your projects. (And I need to send my kids to summer camp)
- SolarWakeup: Sunrun Could Start Operating In Florida In Earnest Within A Month
- Bloomberg: The U.S. May Not Declare a Power Grid Emergency After All
- Greentech Media: CleanCapital and CarVal Investors Team Up on $250 Million C&I Solar Fund
- Bloomberg Quint: Southern Nears Sale of One-Third Stake in Its Solar Portfolio
- SolarWakeup: Massachusetts Moves To Make Energy Data More Transparent
- TechCrunch: Apple says its global facilities are now powered by 100-percent clean energy
- E&E News: Land of Lincoln chases low‑income solar access
- Forbes: The Evolution Of U.S. Electric Vehicle Charging Points
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann