Have a wonderful Friday. Monday’s SolarWakeup will be coming to you from the air as I fly to New Jersey for the 5th SolarWakeup Live! event. Most of the previous interviews are available online at solarwakeup.com. Join us on Tuesday in Jersey City and make sure you vote!
Making Resi Storage Pencil. Sunnova announced yesterday the addition of their solar plus storage offering to the Texas market. This continues the market trend of giving consumers a choice to have storage with CleanChoice making an offer for storage in the Maryland market. What is driving the consumer’s demand for storage given that storage still needs to drive price down?
Can California Grow More? California is 50% of the US market and it will have to work hard to keep that number steady, not because California is declining but because other States are growing nicely. That being said, companies are investing big in the growth here. In this case, Vivint Solar, is announcing a 20 year fixed price offering to consumers which locks in a rate for electricity and could cause consumers to jump into the deal. Will be interested to see how it does.
Coal? PJM CEO spoke about the coal bailout needs yesterday as covered by Utility Dive. The bailout, he says is unnecessary, would choose generation mix by fuel choice instead of pricing the service that is most desired. With GTM reporting that more than 30GW of coal is ready to be retired in the next few years, it is imperative that the policies are future proof. I.e. if the goal is to have backup power from offshore wind and solar energy, than price the value of keeping electrons standing by instead of marking a price to how much coal is sitting in the backyard.
NIMBY Partners. The Department of Interior approved a massive three square mile project near Joshua Tree and now solar is fighting against the Sierra Club. Understanding the fight is straightforward, this is about wildlife preservation and habitat conservation while the solar development is about adding more renewable energy to the grid. I don’t want to argue the right and wrong about the complaint by Sierra Club but this is a valuable time to point out to donors that Sierra Club and solar industry advocacy groups are different. Sierra Club can’t go to donors and tout their desire to expand solar (taking tens of millions of funds that donors think go to solar advocacy) when those donors really should be looking at solar focused advocacy. I’m not knocking environmental groups and the mission, which I support. I am pointing out that fundraising for solar is made harder by the grab for the dollars that want to support solar.
- SolarWakeup: Texas Is Next State To Get Sunnova Solar + Storage
- SolarWakeup: Vivint Solar Plans To Grow California Operations Aggressively In Anticipation Of 2020
- Utility Dive: PJM CEO pans coal bailout but says plant payments needed in mid-2020s
- Greentech Media: Report – US on Track for Record Coal Retirements in 2018, With More on the Way
- Tampa Bay Times: Neighbor sues over Tampa Electric’s solar farm plan in Pasco
- Independent News: Sierra Club Asks For Full EIR on Solar Array Plan
- Kansas City Star: KCP&L changes include lower rates soon, and a pilot selling solar power to residents
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann