Let’s Talk About Money. As you head into the weekend think of this positive victory. CALSSA let the industry know that SB700, a 5-year extension of SGIP, has cleared committee and is headed to the Assembly floor. This victory is due to the lobbying of the industry and the daily advocacy of CALSSA and a few larger companies with dedicated policy staff. We’ve all heard about the complaints from me and the advocacy groups is that there isn’t enough money flowing to the trade organizations. The typical response and justification is that we’re the solar industry and we won’t fight money with money, we will never have enough of it. I’ve bought this line over the years but I think it’s also become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let me elaborate. Inside the industry, not enough companies are paying enough dues to State chapters and solar advocacy groups. I get it, money is tight in an industry that is stingy with margins. At the same time, 260,000 people in solar and if each paid $10 per month in advocacy dues, we’d have $30million more per year. Companies that do pay advocacy dues should go out of their way to support other solar companies that do as well and given the choice of two, should choose to support the one that stands side by side with us. But there is another source of money that should be supporting solar groups, groups like Vote Solar. The millionaires and billionaires that talk about climate change and renewable energy should endow our industry with hundreds of millions of dollars. That money would go to ensuring a solar advocate at every town hall, County commission and regulatory body on a full-time basis. It would also push objectives like ‘instant permits’ and electing politicians that support our industries. If they want solar to really thrive, it is incumbent on us to educate them on the political and regulatory nature of our business. We can fight power with money, we just have to ask for it more forcefully.

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

In the birthplace of American independence, the solar industry will celebrate later this morning as the mayor, council and solar advocates gather for Solar Day in a ceremony designed to recognize the number of solar jobs in the Greater Philadelphia area and to unveil the latest class of young high school students that went through a vocational solar training. We talked with Laura Rigell, solar manager for the Philadelphia Energy Authority, to find out more. Frank Andorka (FA): Why does Philadelphia celebrate Solar Day? Laura Rigell (LR): The Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) has been working to grow the solar market in Philadelphia over the past year through Solarize Philly. Last year, Philadelphia was 4th in the country for solar growth and Solar Installer was listed as a High Priority Occupation for Philadelphia County. The Solar Training Network sponsored tomorrow's event "Solar Day for a Sustainable Philadelphia" to celebrate the growth in Philadelphia’s solar market and to highlight PEA's leadership on solar workforce development. Mayor Kenney, Council President Darrell L. Clarke, Mike Innocenzo (PECO president and CEO), and Harold Epps, Director of Commerce will join the Philadelphia Energy Authority and The Solar Training Network at City Hall. The event will also honor the Summer 2018 graduates of “Find Your Power,” a solar and energy efficiency training course administered by the Philadelphia Energy Authority with funding from PECO. FA: How many jobs has solar created in the city? LR: The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census found that solar employment increased by 24% in the Philadelphia metro area from 2016 to 2017, for a total of 2,319 solar workers in greater Philadelphia. After just one year, the three solar companies serving customers through the Philadelphia Energy Authority's Solarize Philly program created 42 new solar jobs. FA: What is Philadelphia doing to encourage solar development? LR: PEA administers Solarize Philly, a citywide program to help Philadelphians go solar at home. Since 2017, more than 3,500 households have signed up to receive discounted group pricing on solar energy options, and 236 have signed contracts for solar. PEA recently extended the deadline to September 30th, giving homeowners another chance to sign up for a free solar assessment at www.solarizephilly.org. The city received SolSmart Gold designation in 2017. SolSmart is a national program funded by the DOE that recognizes municipalities and counties for making it faster, easier, and more affordable to go solar. Local governments achieve SolSmart designation by evaluating programs and practices, such as permitting, planning, and zoning, in order to reduce obstacles to solar energy development and pass cost savings on to consumers. FA: What is the Find Your Power program? LR: The Find Your Power program is a solar and energy efficiency training course administered by the PEA with funding from PECO. The course is taught by instructors from Solar States and the Energy Coordinating Agency and is administered as part of the Philadelphia Youth Network's WorkReady program. PEA first piloted ‘Find Your Power’ in the summer of 2017 and expanded it as the first ever clean energy course offered to District students during the school year, receiving a $100,000 contribution from PECO. FA: How many graduates are there this year? LR: PEA offered "Find Your Power" to a cohort of 20 students this summer and placed 10 students who had previously completed the program in relevant internships at local clean energy businesses and other organizations. FA: What is the next step for those graduates? LR: All of the students in the Summer Find Your Power received OSHA10 certifications. 15 of the graduates from the program will be returning to high school this fall. Of the remaining 5, 1 is studying at Lincoln University this fall, and the other 4 are starting their job search. Graduates of “Find Your Power” will be well-positioned to join the city's growing solar jobs market. PEA will support these students to pursue employment in the clean energy economy.

The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon

The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon

The electric utility industry is undergoing rapid change. There used to be two types of utilities: investor owned utilities (IOUs, such as Pacific Gas and Electric and ConEd) and municipally owned utilities (MOUs, such as LADWP and Silicon Valley Power). Now there is a third hybrid type, called a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) utility. IOUs work for their stockholders — striving to maximize their profits by charging the most they can for electricity, maximizing their net assets and minimizing their expenses (often maintenance). MOUs work for their local cities — and try to provide affordable and reliable power in their territory. Not surprisingly, electric rates at IOUs are almost always higher than rates at nearby MOUs. Because IOUs profit by installing their own solar and storage systems and maximizing their own sales of electricity, they do not look favorably on homeowners and businesses installing their own systems. My biggest competitors for almost 20 years have been local IOUs. CCAs offer the potential for lower electric rates for customers in their territory, without changing completely to a municipally-owned business structure. CCAs buy power from large solar and wind farms, as well as hydroelectric facilities. They then distribute this power over the existing utility lines. The existing utility bills customers and maintains the power lines, while the CCA essentially just charges customers for the energy they use. CCAs offer customers cheaper electricity, and they offer better economics to solar customers. Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) is the new CCA serving most of the Silicon Valley area. My guest this week is John Supp, Manager of Accounts Services at SVCE. Please listen up to this week’s Energy Show as we talk about the operations, economics and effects that CCAs will have on both customers and the utility industry in general.