EVs In Focus. Rivian has raised another $2.5billion. What is now becoming clear to me is that the existing OEMs are not able to get real on EVs. They have the teams, money and facilities but can’t get around to making EVs that actually do what they are supposed to, cannibalize their existing market. Tesla will be joined by Rivian and then another but until salespeople, dealers and designers see the benefits of change, they will resist it.
Effective Load Capacity. Twitter has the best headlines buried in it and I hope that reporters will take this one on. California utilities have studied the effective load carrying capacity (ELCC) of various forms of renewables, names solar, solar with 4 hours of storage, wind and wind with 4 hours. You’ll have to read the filing to get the full definition of ELCC but it is as it seems, how effective at providing electricity is each source when the grid needs it. Here’s the headline, tracking PV is 6.9% when judged as an as-available resource. Add 4 hours of storage to it and it jumps to 99.8%. This remains true even in 2030 when the ELCC for solar hybrid is still 93.2%. Let’s reevaluate the race to the bottom on energy cost and get projects built that monetize the value of the assets.
500 Million Solar Panels. Part of the Biden-Sanders plan brings back an idea from Clinton in 2016, 500 million solar panels. In my podcast from a few weeks ago with John Farrell, we talked about his plan for 30 million solar roofs and it’s similar to a memo I wrote a year ago pushing for no more naked roofs, i.e. solar on every rooftop. Biden’s plan is clear, we’re going to do more solar. Industry folks will push for a different metric but people understand solar panels more than they understand watts or kWhs. If you could write the plan for the Biden campaign, what are the bullet points?
Are Modules Fungible? Rinse and reuse as they say. The SolarWorld factory in Oregon was acquired by SunPower and now the factory in Germany is taken over by Meyer Burger. Meyer was historically a provider of factory solutions to OEMs looking to manufacture. Now they feel that their solution is fine branded under their own flag. So I ask you to think about this, what is the value of the label on the module? I’m not talking about quality or materials used, but the label itself. Residential solar modules range from modules in the 30s per watt to over $1. Brand names and names only solar pros know, silver on white and black on black. Is this fungible or drive a homeowner to make a decision one way or another.
Mobile But Stationary. Here is the corrected link for the podcast with Orison CEO, Eric Clifton. Orison is the storage company that makes storage for your home but plugs into your outlet. Podcast link for Apple and Spotify
Trivia Answer. Last week I asked who the largest pure play installer was now that Sunrun is acquiring Vivint Solar. Of course SunPower and Tesla follow Sunrun but they aren’t only installers. The answer is Trinity Solar out of New Jersey.
- TechCrunch: Rivian raises $2.5 billion as it pushes to bring its electric RT1 pickup, R1S SUV to market
- PV-Magazine: Biden-Sanders task force calls for installing 500 million solar modules in next five years
- Axios: Biden features energy R&D in economic push
- Greentech MEdia: Germany’s Fallen ‘Solar Valley’ Sees New Life as Meyer Burger Buys Former SolarWorld Factory
- Bloomberg: Elliott-Backed Utility to Boost Focus on Regulated Business
- Utility Dive: Deloitte – Intermittent renewables pass COVID-19 grid reliability test
Opinion
Best, Yann