This is your SolarWakeup for March 2nd, 2020

Granholm Talks Grid. “Clearly the grid, its reliability and its capacity are a huge focus.” That’s the Secretary of Energy talking to the Washington Post about the things that need to happen to adapt to the new normal of stresses on the grid by climate as well as the transition to renewables currently happening. The secretary also teases the inclusion of smart grid and infrastructure investments in an upcoming bill being prepared by the White House.

Carbon Pricing Meets Oil. The American Petroleum Institute is preparing to endorse a carbon pricing policy. As the trade group for oil and gas industries, the move is likely to create a dialogue but unlikely to yield actual legislation. Count me in as skeptical.

Holding The Power Bag. One of the oldest electric cooperatives serving dozens of local distributors and 1.5million of consumers received a rather large bill from ERCOT. Instead of passing that bill along, Brazos decided to file for bankruptcy instead. Assuming the reporting is directionally correct, Brazos expects to have debts in the $5-$8billion range which it will seek to restructure. This means that ERCOT could have a financial shortfall given that they are in between a buyer and seller, assuming that they have or intend to pay the seller. All eyes on Texas legislators to see how they handle this.

A Book On Jobs. A solar executive and development professional, Eric Pasi, has written a book on one of the most important topics in the industry, jobs. Not on how we create or grow them but a guide to success in this incredible wealth opportunity that is the green recovery. Check it out at https://www.cleanwavebook.com/

Solar Market Webinar. On Wednesday at 10am you can join me and Phil Shen from Roth Capital to talk about the solar market. This is also a great opportunity to subscribe to Phil’s mailing list, with his great coverage of the public companies in the industry. 

Opinion

Best, Yann