This is your SolarWakeup for December 14th, 2020

Spending Bill Pushed. Late Friday, Trump signed a one week continuing resolution that lets the government stay open. This came as Senators on both sides threatened to put holds on the measure in order to get stimulus paid to Americans and deal with the defense spending bill which Trump had threatened to veto. This is all relevant to solar because the omnibus bill still stays in limbo and tax extenders may fall to the wayside or sneak in if folks are focused on getting big items passed.

The Vaccine Ships. If you’re enthralled with logistics processes like me, you’ll find this deep dive into how FedEx and UPS will be getting the vaccine to your local areas. With 20million Pfizer doses expected to reach patients by year end, the logistics challenge includes ramping up the manufacturing of dry ice.

VPPs Take Different Shapes, Big Dollars. Last week there were two headlines with similar yet different takeaways. OhmConnect, which reduces existing consumers loads on demand, raised $80million for a demand shaped virtual power plant in California. A new player, Swell Energy, announced Friday that it raised $450million for a 14,000 home virtual power plant in California from Ares and Aligned Climate Capital. There are three ways that this project could yield monetization above the energy production: Swell could enter into a contract with a utility similar to Sunrun and the Bay Area CCAs, CAISO and other CA agencies could provide pricing signals in the market for distributed resources, or FERC order 2222 gets implemented which paves the path for DER revenue streams. Regardless, offsetting grid electricity will become only a part of the future financial value of distributed solar.

Mid-Atlantic Power Market. Several mid-atlantic utilities are proposing an energy exchange with state regulators and plan on bringing it to FERC in the future. While not a power market per se, it shows that utilities see the need for access to generation to reach beyond arbitrary service territories on a map.

EU Sees Carbon Decline Upside. No doubt that 2020 has reimagined energy consumption and carbon pollution, dropping emissions by 7% in some regions. The Paris agreement is 5 years old now and EU is increasing their speed of delivery of even greater reductions. Some of this is made possible by the change in societal behavior but it’s also because of the trends in solar and wind generation costs, battery pricing and capabilities and global belief that EVs are the exclusive future. Reporting out of China shows that there could be a reduction or elimination of coal project financing/development globally and a ramp up of shutdowns within their own borders.

Faster Permitting. This is your weekly reminder that the lowest cost, fastest path to putting solar on every roof in America is to make solar permitting online and instant. Hawaii is showing us the way alongside the great efforts of SolarAPP.

Hot Jobs. Starting today you will see the return of the jobs listings on our daily newsletter. This popular feature which was too difficult for us to maintain in house will now be a partnership with our friends at EnergeiaWorks. I invite you to check out their jobs listings which will be updated weekly and support SolarWakeup partners. At any point, if you’d like a personal introduction, please let me know.

Solar For Clubs. My friends at Sustainable Capital Finance (SCF) have seen an uptick in interest for solar PPAs from schools, country clubs, and golf courses, as these off-takers have been impacted differently than other C&I energy consumers during the COVID-19 crisis. Golf & Country Clubs have seen increased revenue from golf and other outdoor activities, while schools would install solar while students aren’t on school grounds. In both scenarios, savings from a solar PPA are extremely attractive.Click here to learn more about how their subscription-free, proprietary software, the SCF suite, can help to speed up your PPA pricing and transaction process.

Opinion

Best, Yann