US Army Posts. The military is one of the biggest energy users in the US economy and here is their Linkedin post on climate change from this week. This is inline with climate goals but also the recognition that climate change is a national security and base infrastructure issue.
F-150 Release Day. President Biden took the Lightning, F-150’s electric version, for a ride yesterday. Today, Ford is doing the official release that you can follow at this site if you so desire.
IEA’s Slim Hope. The IEA still sees a narrow path to getting to net-zero carbon by 2050. It requires the continued exponential growth of renewables and eliminating all new investments in oil and gas developments. In reality, it is likely that over the next 30 years technology shifts continue to spur capitalism’s focus on clean energy infrastructure while also halting new dollars to investments that don’t benefit from the positive trend lines. Not all governments will adopt policy that accelerates this shift but others will likely make up for it, think about it like different States taking on the issue with different philosophies.
Post Install Software. Power Factors, which recently acquired Greenbyte, has now acquired 3megawatt. 5 years ago, the ecosystem for software as a service in solar was minimal at best. In reality, investors were still making the case that solar didn’t really need very much O&M (mostly so they didn’t have to put the cost into their model). When assets end up in the hands of long term investors this shifted and not only did O&M start becoming a real market, so did the operational software that maximized the efficiency and speed of keeping assets operating at peak performance. The same correlation is coming true in storage, except for the fact that operating storage needs robust software to maximize revenue while also complying with ISO and NERC standards. We talk about storage as a pure hardware market but it’s very much a multi-billion dollar software market. Congrats to the team at 3megawatt!
Black Solar Professionals Database.The Society of Black Solar Professionals and Black Owners of Solar Services invite you to fill out this 5 minute survey. With this information we are creating an opportunity ecosystem to serve the needs of Black people in the solar space. The database formed by this information will serve as an opportunity matcher between Black people in the industry and industry opportunities (jobs, RFPs, Financing opportunities etc.) Thank you to Savannah Whitfield from Black Bear Energy for highlighting this.
PPAs For C&I Deep Dive. On May 26th, 10am PST, Sustainable Capital Finance (SCF) will host the next webinar in its 2021 webinar series analyzing solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) for Non-Profits and Municipalities, including SCF’s 8-Step PPA process. Additionally, SCF will examine a series of project case studies illustrating common challenges specific to school, non-profit and municipal projects, and requisite solutions. This webinar is recommended for anyone looking to provide solar PPAs for schools, non-profits and municipalities, as well as solar developers & installers looking to increase their knowledge on SCF’s PPA solutions.Click here to sign up for this exciting, free webinar!
- Energy Storage News: FERC denies grid operator MISO’s request to delay distributed energy storage market participation
- Canary Media: IEA – World still has ‘narrow’ path to reach net-zero carbon by 2050
- PV-Tech: Power Factors acquires asset management software firm 3megawatt
- PV-Magazine: Price pressures may delay 15% of utility-scale solar projects this year, Roth Capital warns
- Bloomberg: How the Clean-Energy Revolution Is Sweeping Through Markets
- Utility Dive: Major Duke investor calls for utility to break into 3 companies, unlock up to $15B in shareholder value
- Los Angeles Times: California’s next climate challenge – Replacing its last nuclear power plant
- New York Times: Hackers and Climate Change Threaten U.S. Energy Independence
Opinion
Best, Yann