This is your SolarWakeup for February 19th, 2020

ERCOT Known Knowns. Here are some things that you may not have known before this week that are important about the Texas grid. First, ERCOT doesn’t cover all of Texas, it leaves out the El Paso and Northern rectangle. You’ll find it interesting that neither of those sections were really impacted by outages. Why? That’s a great question and leads to the next thing you’d want to know which is that ERCOT is essentially an islanded grid. This means that Texas operates it’s electricity ‘market’ with true isolationism. They do this to avoid FERC oversight, I’m told, because in Texas they like things cheap. Cheap you ask? Yes, almost none of the infrastructure is build to withstand winter events and this year is not the first time it has happened. David Crane reminds us that on two previous occasions, NRG assets lost tens of millions of potential revenue because their power plants were not able to operate during winter events. So when wind developers ordered wind turbines, they did not spring for the heating elements for ice conditions which bodes well because neither did any of the thermal power plants.

The Solution? Sunrun and Freedom Solar send in their first images of how you can mitigate infrastructure problems in grid and gas. I am on the hunt for more pictures of a house with lights on because you installed solar with batteries next to neighbors without it. We can fight lies with facts, the visual kind. Send them my way please.

Texas Gas Embargo. Texas implemented a gas export ban, focusing on exporting only their Senators to Mexico instead. This impacted power markets nationally including California where electricity prices reached over $1,000/MWh but only during non-solar times. This price volatility is going to cause major hiccups throughout the Country and hopefully result in some changes to how markets react. 

Speaking of Markets. ERCOT, as you know, operates as an energy market and does not have a capacity market. In true free market philosophy, the thesis is that increasing the price will lower demand and therefore make sure that there is always enough electricity available. Texans learned this week, once again, that electricity alone do not make a resilient and flexible energy grid and that their market needs reform.

Why Texas? For everyone that is moving to Texas, I ask you why? Do you enjoy snowboarding on your Austin driveway while your power is out for 40+ hours? Join me in Florida instead, we eat hurricanes for breakfast with the lights on. (My brother is the best realtor in Fort Lauderdale, so he claims, so I’d be happy to intro you anytime) The best part of my neighborhood is that I see solar trucks everywhere I go now, and if you’re running one of them don’t be surprised if I mystery shop with your local branch to see if they are well trained.

Deal News. Sunnova has acquired SunStreet, Lennar’s solar installation business. This puts Sunnova in the origination game on a national level and one step closer to the vertical integration Sunrun has achieved over the years. Nuveen has acquired Greenworks Lending, the commercial PACE provider.

Save California Net Metering. Sign this petition if you want to see the largest solar market continue thriving. 

C&I PPA Webinar. My C&I solar friends at Sustainable Capital Finance (SCF) are hosting an exciting free webinar for EPCs and Installers on Feb 24th, demonstrating how their software users were able to improve PPA project conversions by 25% or more. Learn best practices in executing C&I solar & storage PPAs, helpful strategies for a remote sales process, industry insights, and more. You can sign up here or contact the SCF team at info@scf.com for more information.

Opinion

Best, Yann