PG&E CEO Leaves, Notices Coming? Geisha Williams, CEO of PG&E, has stepped down after running the company for less than 2 years. This comes amid speculation that PG&E will be providing notice of potential bankruptcy filing to the employees as required by the legislative bailout that passed the State legislature last year. The company is looking for a new CEO but from my perspective this is all about dumping the problem on Sacramento. Yes, the company doesn’t have $30billion in capital to pay for potential liabilities but I don’t see why today or next week the problem needs to be solved. PG&E as a monopoly is looking for the CPUC, State Legislature and Governor Newsom to make their move and show their hands.
What Happens Next? Wall Street is selling the news, see the chart below that shows the 60% declines in a few months, erasing billions of market value. PG&E will get out of this but the question is what opportunity is presented to consumers, including myself, about the type of company that PG&E can become. PG&E is private but it’s a monopoly. Newsom has the ability to fast-track his climate vision including transportation, solar and more, right now. I know who the next CEO should be, a CEO that believes that the future of PG&E is entirely clean and provides a service, not a hindrance, to all clean energy assets both distributed and centralized. I’ll be watching, eagerly, to see what happens next.
Solar Impacts. In the short term, expect solar to push hard for bailouts on the solar PPAs that lock in the solar capex from 5-10 years ago. PPA rates in the double digits but those projects are already paid for and bondholders bought into that pro forma. There are gigawatts of solar projects with PG&E as the off taker and solar can’t afford to show this downside scenario which would result in a capital markets tax for all other solar projects.
King For A Day. A legislator asked me last week what is the one thing that I would change if I were the Governor of a State and could pass a rule unilaterally. It was an obvious but interesting question, a question that we should probably all have answers for. What is your answer? You’ll get mine tomorrow.
Social Equality In Solar Lacking. Tufts is out with a study on the access and adoption of solar by socio-economic standings including race and ethnicity. There is a lot of data there and I hope you will find a time to read it. This is in line with the speakers’ messages at the Vote Solar Equinox event in DC.
- Bloomberg: PG&E CEO to Leave With Utility at Brink of Bankruptcy
- San Franciso Chronicle: Possible bankruptcy for PG&E – Company may notify employees Monday
- Nature: Disparities in rooftop photovoltaics deployment in the United States by race and ethnicity
- Greentech Media: Will the Renewables Industry Seize the Opportunity of Opportunity Funds?
- PV-Tech: Regional issues plagued global solar funding in 2018 – Mercom
- mLive: Residents worried proposed solar farm will disrupt scenery
- CleanTechnica: Solar + Storage Half The Cost Of Gas Peaker Plants — 8MinuteEnergy
- Vox: Texas’s wind and sunlight complement each other exceptionally well. That’s huge for its grid.
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann