Don’t Ignore The Argument. Op-eds from across the spectrum appear in publications that have the intention of turning the readers against solar. In politics the decision is often to shift off an issue instead of making an argument for the position. In solar the decision to shape an argument is helped by the fact that the reader has an 80% chance of being pro-solar. To be more specific, a Koch funded argument appeared in The Hill a few days ago attacking net metering. Today you have the response from Vote Solar’s Zadie Oleksiw rightly taking on the argument.
Distributed Solar Consolidation. Another acquisition yesterday on the development platform side, this time by Constellation. The East Coast based utility has purchased PFMG Solar from Spear Point Energy. The Southern California developer has been actively developing on the West Coast for many years. Interestingly side note, I signed in to a meeting at PFMG Solar, circa 2011, and as I walked in, the Constellation team was walking out. Now the name on the door will change, congrats to all involved.
Google Continues Their Plan. It’s been over a year since my conversation with then Google’s Sam Aarons who is now with Lyft. Back then the search giant had announced it had reached 100% renewable energy with two follow on goals. First, match the energy needs with renewable energy within the same geography and lastly, match the geography and the need with renewable energy at time of day. The post highlighted here shows the goal outlined a year ago and the ability to execute on it in certain locations in the near future.
Storage In Carolinas. Doesn’t look like Duke will be the driver to get to scale doing storage in the Carolinas. $500 million may sound good on a press release but over 15 years it’s borderline offensive. Energy storage will be tens of billions in scale all across the Country in a few years and one filing from a utility shows how out of tune the incumbents are with the energy market of the 21st century.
To Dos. If you haven’t done so yet, make sure to fill out the Solar Sentiment Survey for Q3. Also, check out the agenda for SolarWakeup Live! Jersey City, not only a great event to learn about the market movements but also get some deals done. All the top folks in the market will be there.
- The Hill: Punishing solar customers for disrupting outdated electric model is wrong
- Solar Power World: Constellation acquires developer PFMG Solar
- Google: The Internet is 24×7. Carbon-free energy should be too.
- SolarWakeup: Duke Energy Plans To Invest $500 Million In Energy Storage
- Greentech Media: California Community Solar Isn’t Working. SoCal Edison Wants to Redesign It
- New York Times: The ‘Greatest Hoax’ Strikes Florida
- PV-Tech: Sunrun shifting solar panel selection to high-efficiency p-type and n-type mono
- SolarWakeup: DoE Grants Aim To Find Longer-Duration Batteries
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann