Infra 1 To Pass Senate. Late last night the Senate ended the threat of filibuster on the bipartisan infrastructure bill with 18 GOP members joining the democrats. This puts the bill to pass the Senate sometime today or as late as Wednesday depending on procedural moves to delay. As we head into the recess, look for the House to decide how to get their votes in order as it appears that it could be really close to not being able to pass without a move on the budget reconciliation bill which would be the vehicle for the ITC extension. Democrats in the House aren’t particularly fond of this infrastructure bill and may hold it hostage for ensuring that the Senate passes the reconciliation bill.
The EV Gas Station Business. It’s already happening, when I don’t charge at home, I use a supercharger that is collocated with a WaWa gas station. Last night I added over 200 miles for around $6 in less than 20 minutes. EV infrastructure spending was largely removed from the infrastructure bill and it begs the question why this is needed anyways. Tesla, Chargepoint, EVgo and others have already proven that you can grow a network infrastructure with charging and the delta between fuel mile and electric mile is wide enough to charge a nice premium and run a business. Speed is the argument, I think, to get more stations up and running and get more people into EVs earlier but that’s what the other OEMs should be doing. Obviously EVgo just went public, but why hasn’t GM bought that business yet? Ford already did a deal with Sunrun for a car powered home backup system, why wouldn’t they own that business and expand into EV stations?
Hydrogen As A Solar Market. Green hydrogen is starting to look like the best path to greening dense energy consumption and I think it’s one of the best opportunities to speed up the growth of renewables by expanding the offtaker need and market. Would be great to see some numbers on this.
Solar (Freakin) Roadways. Secretary Pete thought he was hyping a fun thing in Georgia, their solar roadway pilot. Have you given him some love for showing off solar on his Instagram?
- Politico: Biden’s infrastructure bill on cruise control to Senate passage
- Utility Dive: Entergy touts hydrogen as tool to meet industrial customers’ green goals
- Axios: The long road to Biden’s electric vehicle goal
- Grist: Big Three’ automakers join Biden in electric car promises
- Energy Storage News: What we know about Europe’s ‘largest grid-connected battery project’ so far
- Pv-Magazine: Sunrun names Mary Powell as CEO and looks to faster growth to finish the year
- Canary Media: California’s biggest utility plans to bury 10,000 miles of power lines. How much will that cost residents?
Opinion
Best, Yann