Electrification, Not Generation Transition. This is becoming increasingly obvious to me, the energy transition is not primarily driven by the change of fuel creating electricity but by the fact that the end use of energy is in the form of electricity. Said differently, gas stations are becoming charging stations and stoves are going induction. Once you think about the energy system in this form, end use versus production type, you can see the change in business models that are ahead and allow you to build your solar business beyond the installation into the long term, what will the homeowner do with this self production?
Oil Major Pivot. I’ve said this before but oil companies are getting into electricity markets beyond where they’ve been for decades. This will represent the first time that oil majors and utilities will compete for consumers having stayed on their side of consumer spending for a century without getting in each other’s way. In deregulated markets, oil companies are far more advanced in energy trading than utilities, but within regulated environments, competition will be hard to come by. Bill Gates made the point that some oil companies could fail, which is possible but unlikely in my opinion. The truth in that statement is that electricity could be considered far easier to commoditize than oil or gas.
Your Voice In Solar. We need to make it easier for people to get solar, not harder. Rooftop solar gives everyday Californians the power to control their energy bills and keep the lights on. The Public Utilities Commission will make a decision on net metering on December 10, we must ensure that they see that California supports rooftop solar! It’s easy and only takes 30 seconds to sign here: https://bit.ly/SaveCASolarFriend
A Global Launch. Congrats to the team at OpenSolar for hosting their global launch event and creating version 2.0 of this incredible (and free) design, proposal and project management tool for installers. Check out the recorded event if you missed it.
- Utility Dive: Build Back Better, FERC actions on infrastructure could trigger ‘monumental’ renewable energy deployments
- Axios: Bill Gates – Some oil giants won’t make it
- Reuters: California, again, leans on natural gas to shore up energy supplies
- PV-Tech: NREL: Cost of solar, energy storage in US fell across all segments from 2020 to 2021
- Energy Storage News: Alberta government offers financial support for energy storage projects alongside oil and gas
- Canary Media: COP26 players pledge funding to shut down coal plants
- PV-Magazine: Energy efficiency is a good substitute for long-term storage, NREL study says
- New York Times: Resources for Teaching About Climate Change With The New York Times
Opinion
Best, Yann