Monopolies, Lobbying, Bribery and Indictments. The only major RPS to be eliminated happened in Ohio at the same time that the legislature bailed out coal in a nuclear bailout bill to the tune of $1.3billion. Ratepayers footed that bill and were sold a bill of goods by legislators and yesterday the FBI told us the other side of that legislative story. In an elaborate pay to play scheme with the Speaker of the House at the center, utilities are accused of bribing legislators for their support. The indictment is long and detailed and if you want to read the analysis, I recommend you read the twitter timeline from David Pomerantz. Meanwhile, the bill (HB6) remains law. Talk about bank robbers getting to keep the loot.
For Perspective. Solar companies closed down and people lost their jobs when HB6 was signed by the Governor of Ohio. That’s before ratepayers bailed out monopolies that are guaranteed a profit for power plants that are not financially viable. When legislators told us that the market will decide and we can’t pick winners and losers what they were trying to say is that solar can’t play with the big boys in the political arena. The regulatory capture for incumbents is real and I’m glad that the FBI investigated this case in detail.
Offtaker Before Development. In other news, that I view as one of the bigger game changers in the industry, Microsoft entered into an agreement with Sol Systems. The agreement calls for Sol Systems to develop, finance and operate 500MW and Microsoft will serve as the off taker. Great for corporate solar but even bigger for changing how solar development is done. By securing the off taker first, all of the development cost getting to that point is cheaper, faster and more confident. This is how every project should be developed going forward and until then, Sol Systems will have a huge advantage in the process.
New York Goes Big. The State, through NYPA and NYSERDA, launched a 4GW renewables procurement with 1.5GW coming from land based generation and 2.5GW from offshore wind. Big users should do big deals.
McConnell Drops The Ball. Corporates announced their support for the ITC extension with cash grant yesterday at the same time that McConnell downplayed any major inclusion of job creating policies in the next stimulus. I imagine that most solar companies would prefer an ITC extension than more PPP funds.
Biden Talks Climate. For a contribution of $100 or more you can join in an online discussion with the VP and the Veep. Joe Biden is joined by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Thursday at 4:45pm, RSVP is due later today.
- Columbus Dispatch: Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder arrested in $60 million bribery case
- Greentech Media: Microsoft and Sol Systems to Build 500 Megawatts of Solar, Boost Community Investment
- PV-Magazine: New York launches largest renewable solicitation in US history
- Axios: Apple vows to be carbon neutral by 2030
- The Hill: McConnell previews GOP coronavirus relief bill
- Politico: From green dreams to the real Covid world
- Utility Dive: New York investor-owned utilities to fund $701M make-ready EV infrastructure program
Opinion
Best, Yann