Author Archives: Frank Andorka

Florida PV Installations Increase 92% In 2017

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It’s not double, but it’s close.

The new net-metering statistics are out in Florida, and the number of PV installations increased 92% from 2016 to 2017, from 4,365 to 8,434.

It’s amazing what can happen when you rationalize your solar policy.

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Needless to say, the state’s installers are thrilled with the news.

“Florida’s solar growth has been explosive and it’s all due to the citizens who have been asking for solar for years,” said Michael Vergona, president of UrbanSolar. “Everyone wants another option for producing their own power and harnessing our abundant sun.”

One installer tied it directly to the passage of one piece of legislation.

“The passage of SB90 in 2017 told the world Florida was open for business, and we assumed it would finally breathe life into the solar industry in the Sunshine State,” said Justin Hoysradt, CEO of Vinyasun. “This month’s report is the verifiable evidence that those jobs are real, and they are coming, with the industry nearly doubling the solar installations occurring in 2017 versus 2016.

“Now, of the 62 investor-owned, municipal, and cooperative utilities in Florida, all but 7, have active solar energy markets creating well-paying jobs that cannot be outsourced to China or automated by robots,” Hoysradt added. “It is clear that the Florida legislature made the right decision supporting solar for Floridians and the economy.”

All we can say is that it’s about time. For the past decade or so – ever since a Navigant Consulting report revealed the immense potential of the Florida market – everyone wondered when solar would actually become a significant part of Florida’s electricity production. Two major obstacles to solar’s development existed:

    1) The overwhelming power of the utilities in the state, all of whom wanted to keep generation within their sole purview; and

    2) The plethora of inexpensive electricity.

But starting in 2016, sentiment started to shift significantly, in part because of an ill-conceived (and ill-fated) attempt by the utilities to deceive Florida voters about their solar rights. And since the 2016 election, solar development in the state has moved forward with breakneck speed.

Now, as the Florida Public Service Commission has ruled third-party ownership is not the equivalent of regulated utilities, the market seems to have reacted favorably – and perhaps the pent-up potential of the Florida solar market can finally be realized. This report certainly provides some signs that point in that direction.

Just Call Him Nostradamus Brandt: He Predicted The Moss Landing Storage Deal Two Weeks Ago

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

You know how some people claim to have the gift of seeing the future? Well, I’m lucky enough to know someone who actually does see the future, and his name is Yann Brandt.

OK, Yann won’t be doing palm readings at the Quick Mount PV booth at Intersolar next week or anything like that (note to Yann: a side business, perhaps?), but he was prescient enough to foresee the largest solar + storage deal announced yesterday at Moss Landing in California two weeks before it happened.

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On June 19, Yann wrote:

What if, Vistra’s portfolio is replaced by storage? I don’t mean around the edges but MW for MW of capacity. I know this is a hypothetical but if you read the expectations from the Vistra investor’s day presentation, you see that they expect big storage in CA and NY in particular.

And low and behold, 14 days later, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) announces that it has contracted with Tesla and Vistra to build the two largest storage projects in the country. Yann had it down even to the company (Vistra). It’s clear Yann has a knowledge of the market and can see things others can’t, and he deserves his props for getting this one right.

Of course, the bigger picture here is the doom it spells for natural gas peaker plants, which until recently had been the backup-power solution of choice for California and other utilities across the country. Then California’s Public Utilities Commission started clamping down on peaker-plant applications and telling utilities to get on the storage bandwagon right quick.

What the PG&E case tells everyone is that massive storage plants are possible and even preferable to natural gas – and that could spell the end of natural gas’ reign as a “transition fuel.” What is likely to happen now is that other utilities commissions are going to see what’s going on in California and start demanding the same storage commitment from their utilities. And as storage prices continue to fall, look for that to happen quickly around the country.

Now everyone email Yann and ask him what numbers you should choose for the lottery – the guy seems to have a knack for seeing into the future.

More:

PG&E Proposes World’s Biggest Batteries to Replace South Bay Gas Plants

Iowa Utility Backs Off Its Usurious Beyond Solar Program, Moves To Community Solar Instead

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

One year after making its request, Interstate Power & Light, an Iowa utility, has backed off its plan to offer electricity from existing solar and wind project at higher prices to its customers, formally withdrawing the proposal from before the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB), according to a report in Midwest Energy News.

Instead, the utility has issued requests for proposals for community solar projects ranging from 2 MW to 7 MW. It will take bids through July 25 and hopes to have a finalized plan before the IUB by September.

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The premium pricing scheme, called “Beyond Solar” (an odd name since the proposal included selling electricity generated from existing solar arrays – but we digress), came under sharp criticism from solar advocates because of the built-in discrepancy between what solar users would pay under the plan compared with what non-solar users would pay. The utility called it a “premium” service to justify the gap, but what it was really was a practice akin to usury.

As a non-solar utility, Interstate Power & Light must have surveyed the rest of the Midwest and realized they were quickly becoming a dinosaur in its own region. Illinois just passed its progressive Long-Term Renewables Resources Procurement Plan. Minnesota has a burgeoning community solar program. Even in Michigan, the utilities there have pledged to go coal-free by 2040 and invest heavily in solar energy over that same time period.

And while Iowa has been known for its wind development (having high-profile advocates like Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst didn’t hurt), solar has been slow to develop there. It’s unclear exactly what caused this about face, but it’s about time.

As Josh Mandelbaum from the Environmental Law & Policy Center told Midwest Energy News:

I think they are legitimately trying to engage with stakeholders. We’re certainly appreciative of the continued effort and the fact we’re headed in the right direction.

Perhaps this new community solar plan will light the solar fire in the state so it can join its other Midwest brethren and sistren in joining the solar revolution.

More:

After criticism, Iowa utility takes new approach with solar offering

Arizona Regulator Wants To Get Ahead Of The Voters (And That May Be OK)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

No one knows exactly what progressive billionaire Tom Steyer hoped to accomplish with his pro-solar ballot initiatives. Taken on their face, his amendments in Nevada and Michigan are designed to accelerate clean energy development in those states.

In the aforementioned states, the question is a little more clear: Steyer is not about putting ballot issues before voters simply for the sake of getting the vote. While the issue will go before Nevada voters, Steyer’s group in Michigan used the ballot initiative as a bargaining chip to extract clean energy promises from the state’s two largest utilities.

Arizona may be the next case where the overall strategy will become clearer.

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Tuscon.com is reporting that Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) Commissioner Andy Tobin will file a plan with the commission to set an aggressive 80% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by 2050 on Thursday – the same day Steyer’s group Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona is expected to file his petitions with the board of elections to have an equally aggressive 50% by 2030 plan on the ballot.

According to the report, Arizona Public Service (APS), the state’s largest utility, is trying to kill Steyer’s initiative because of one major difference between Tobin’s and plans: Tobin defines nuclear energy as “renewable;” Steyer’s plan does not.

Unlike other utilities in the state, APS actually owns two nuclear plants.

According to Tucscon.com,

Tobin, while not taking sides on the initiative, said he understands the concerns being cited by APS.

But he said his proposal is not based on any question of being supportive or opposed to nuclear power.

“I concentrated on what’s harming the quality of our air,” he said, specifically meaning things like coal-fired power plants.

Tobin is also pushing the biomass aspect of “clean energy.” Again, we turn to Tucson.com:

“I’m sick of these forest fires,” Tobin said, referring to blazes that get out of control because of overgrowth. He contends that promoting biomass means cleaner forests — and fewer, or at least smaller, blazes.

He said that’s part of the reason for a big push now. “If I miss this opportunity, I miss another fire season,” he said. “I can’t wait to 2019.”

Initiative supporters say nuclear plants are not clean energy, citing the effects of uranium mining on the surrounding communities. And there’s that whole “what to do with the nuclear waste once the fuel rods are spent” question no one seems ready to answer.

But…no matter what the outcome, Tobin’s filing on July 5 means he is concerned Steyer’s ballot initiative has the backing of the majority of Arizonans, and he wants to head it off at the pass. It will be interesting to see whether Steyer takes the Nevada approach of putting the issue before the voters or whether he’s willing to negotiate with the ACC over the nuclear issue. Stay tuned – this one could get really interesting really quickly.

More:

Arizona regulator’s proposal: Require 80 percent renewable energy by 2050