Let’s Recap. The big news this week comes from Biden’s plan to get 45% solar by 2050, which means adding an average of 65GW per year over that time. That is going to require many gears to line up in sync with each other including issues like trade and training.
And Aligned Policy. With such a large goal in mind, it would behoove the administration to work with States including California where regulators and legislators are threatening to take a giant leap in the wrong direction by favoring incumbent 20th century generation over a more resilient grid.
The Right Direction. An excellent piece from WSJ at the top today highlights the things that will enable a more resilient grid. I may be biased but Kelcy Pegler, CEO of FlexGen, puts it best, “We’ve exhausted all reasonable excuses for not making our grid more intelligent.” Plus check out FlexGen’s new logo and job opportunities on the Linkedin page.
Tesla’s Vertical Integration. In the past two weeks, Tesla has announced a few different grid related strategies that show signs of complete vertical integration beyond being a hardware supplier. First was the filing to become an energy retailer in Texas, interesting for the fact that non-stationary power (in potential energy form) exists in the driveway of every Tesla car owner. I’ve always been curious as to why Tesla referred to its battery business as stationary power but for the reason that the opposite also exists. Second, Tesla appears to be building an energy trading arm which could either be a monetizing effort for the first fact or even go beyond to building out a fleet of stationary power and building the IPP. I clearly play checkers against Elon’s chess moves but I wouldn’t be shocked to see Tesla customers being a segment of this total integrated effort to monetize the energy transition.
Have a great weekend!
- Wall Street Journal: Battery Makers Tied to Power Grid Attract Big Investors
- Utility Dive: DOE study calls for ramping up solar installation to 60 GW per year by 2025, but getting there could prove challenging, analyst says
- Reuters: U.S. Democrats unveil details of $150 bln clean electricity plan in budget bill
- Energy Storage News: US grid-scale battery storage developer Key Capture Energy acquired by SK E&S
- Politico: Biden taps D.C. utility regulator Phillips for FERC
- Los Angeles Times: California records its hottest summer ever as climate change roils cities
- Solar Builder: 347 organizations make last push to preserve the power of net metering in California
- PV-Tech: LONGi, Jinko and JA Solar launch module standardisation drive
- Solar Power World: Report finds new solar projects — not grid operators — are paying for upgrades to transmission network
Opinion
Best, Yann