Community Solar Goes Mainstream. The most relevant topic going on in solar, especially in the Northeast, is community solar. The benefits are giving access to solar for renters and consumers with lower FICO scores, lowering the cost by building bigger facilities and not needing long term contracts. That is why I am bringing the experts in the field for a super sized panel to SolarWakeup Live! in Boston. Reps from CleanChoice Energy, BlueWave Capital and Ampion know the space and will share their knowledge.
Fight For PG&E’s Board. Things are warming up in the PG&E board room. While a bailout bill is being floated in Sacramento, shareholders are fighting for control of the board room. BlueMountain Capital, which owns significant stake in PG&E, has written a letter to the shareholders and plans to nominate a brand new board of directors. There are some notable names on the list which you will recognize
- David Crane, former CEO of NRG Energy and on the board of Vote Solar
- Mark Lerdal, long time IPP executive including solar through MP2 Capital and others
- Jeffrey Ubben, CEO of ValueACT and director at AES. Ubben was active in pushing HECO towards a clean energy future
The other names on the list are recognizable as well but for our sector, the position of BlueMountain is that they want to increase the stock price but also recognize that to win in the court of public opinion, clean energy has to play a central role. We’ll come back to this but the future likely revolves around the legislature’s openness to wildfire indemnity. Look for this board battle to move quite a bit over the next week.
Real Time Markets. There is an imminent future where solar providers are able to include storage on the projects and participate in real time markets on behalf of the asset owners. This can be a lease, a loan or cash deal but the result is a dividend/cash benefit paid back to the home/business owner in addition to energy savings. That is un-contracted revenue to the upside and that’s the ballgame my friends!
Making Climate An Issue. Governor Inslee is running for President and his central issue is going to be climate change. While the campaign is considered a long shot by pundits, Inslee’s national recognition is going to give him the platform to make his case. He will likely rejoin Pod Save America and other major platforms to speak to millions of Americans about his platform.
A SunPower Tease. A promoted Linkedin post is quite actively targeting the solar community. No insight on what it is but I expect that it will be released at the Dealer Conference this week. Here is the video teasing the Next Gen Technology
The Winning T-Shirt Design. See below to see the winning t-shirt that my kids will be wearing on March 15th. Thanks to Mathew Sachs for remember the words of David Crane. “You knew…And you didn’t do anything about it? Why?”
- Reuters: BlueMountain names slate for PG&E board
- Utility Dive: FERC allows storage to access New England real-time energy markets
- Axios: Jay Inslee launches a climate-focused 2020 campaign
- Greentech Media: A Solar CEO’s 2019 Forecast – More Complexity, New Investors and Continued Growth
- Vox: Playing hooky to save the climate – why students are going on strike
- Illinois NPR: Clean Energy Jobs Act Aims To Make Illinois Completely Green By 2050
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann