Transparent Power Plant. OhmConnect has raised $100mm of which $80mm is going towards a virtual power plant. The capital is coming from the Alphabet backed Sidewalk Infrastructure fund. OhmConnect is known for its demand response platform, typically working off utility signals. Those signals cause Ohm to reduce participating homeowners’ demand by shutting off their AC/refrigerators/other loads with smart appliance connectors. How much opportunity is in this market? Shaping demand is one of the cornerstones of CAISO’s look into the future and how California can get to pure renewables because shaping supply isn’t always the most effective way of managing the grid. It’s easy to see how Ohm could deploy $10bb plus in the next few years to operate smart homes.
100% Is Feasible. Yesterday I wrote about Mary Nichols potential nomination to lead the EPA and today a draft report from the CPUC, CEC and CARB is released showing the technical feasibility of reaching 100% renewables by 2045. CARB is led by Mary Nichols who talked at the release about the transformation ahead for Californians. With reliability and grid resilience as the core concern, look above to Ohm’s platform and distributed solar with storage to be the central stabilizing tendon in the infrastructure.
The Climate Diplomats. Biden will enter his term having to play catchup on climate policy. While he will re-enter the Paris agreements, many of our global counterparts are already working towards or attempting to exceed the targets. Biden will also have a Senate and States that fight every step of his agenda to improve the quality of air and cleanliness of water across the Country.
Michigan Has Insights. Consumers Energy has a rate case that is the parting policy from their former CEO who has now moved to run California’s PG&E. Consumers had attempted to squash solar and is now pushing for more revenue in a rate case. How much of this DNA is transported to the San Francisco based utility is to be determined.
Supply Chains Choke Up. If you are a buyer of products, now is the time to expand your time horizons to ensure continuity of supply. Manufacturers and research companies are underestimating the size of the market over the next two quarters and likely most of 2021. That means that there will be a limited amount of product to go around and if you’re not allocated, you may get hung out to dry. SolarWakeup Buyer’s Group is here to help, ensuring allocations for our members now.
- TechCrunch: Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners looks to make CA power grids more reliable with a $100 million investment
- Utility Dive: California’s pathway to 100% clean electricity begins to take shape, but reliability concerns persist
- Axios: Biden faces new climate diplomacy as Paris deal turns five
- PV-Magazine: Michigan’s solar industry awaits order in Consumers Energy’s rate case
- Solar Power World: McDonald’s signs three more virtual PPAs for 1.13 GW of renewable power
- PV-Tech: 36 markets to deploy more than 1GW of solar by 2029 – Fitch
- Greentech Media: Dynamic Line Rating – Expanding Transmission Grid Capacity for Clean Energy
Opinion
Best, Yann