This is your SolarWakeup for August 28th, 2023

Newsflash, It’s Still Hot (And Great To Invest In Batteries). Texas hit market price caps again, many times this year and something that has become somewhat of a norm since Uri. That comes days after Engie announced the acquisition of the largest storage development platform, Broad Reach Power. With some of the earliest storage projects working in Texas, BRP has shown that having assets in market unlocks revenue streams in peak demands especially. That is the thing with storage in ERCOT, the assets need to be ready to push the limits and show that they can unlock opportunities 24/7/365 and projects ultimately will change hands and that’s where the operating software (EMS) and performance analytics are incredibly important to back up the performance data comes in. As you add storage to your pipeline and want to get more intel about storage operating systems, EMS and data analytics, reach out to meet with my team at RE+.

Grid Reliability (And Security). NERC is highlighting the overlap of energy policy with grid reliability but so does the importance of grid security. As the grid has to evolve to be more resilient and intelligent, security will undeniably be linked to grid reliability. It may be up to the market participants to set the standards thou as grid policy is oftentimes years behind the actual growth in the market.

The Problem With Physics. Germany has a grid physics problem. One of the highest penetrations of renewables, a desire to retire coal and nuclear plus a less than optimal supply of natural gas matched with increased energy demand from economic growth and a transportation sector quickly transitioning to electric fuel. Put all of that together and the grid needs flexibility but little to no storage is going onto the grid.

Opinion

Best, Yann