This is your SolarWakeup for November 15th, 2018
Let Mayors Help You. Mayors want to do big things because at the city level, big doesn’t take a lot. I’ve passed plenty of policy through the local council and that is where the solar industry should go more often. Let’s get some bright minds in solar together and draft the resolutions that are important in a State, take those resolutions and put them in your hands so that you can show it to your Mayor. Overnight, we’d be on the agenda for hundreds of municipalities and doing some important work at the local level. Solar permitting perhaps?
Be Aware Of Bad Solar. Florida will be ground zero for this, plenty of people want to make money overnight. Having spent the past 4 months talking to installers across the Country, I share their frustration about bad actors in solar because homeowners always call the right contractor after something has gone wrong. I don’t say this with bias, but you can tell a lot about a contractor by what type of solar mounting hardware they use.
Let’s Make A Deal. Will folks in Arizona make a deal around an RPS type structure? I am surprised at the headline given how handily APS won the ballot amendment, I would have thought they would be entrenched in doing nothing.
Alanis Would Be Proud. The irony is thick as the oil coming out of the ground. But when the land is available and the sun is shining, why not use solar energy to pull dead dinosaurs from the ground. Obviously add some energy storage to ensure top notch power quality and your solar power oil pump is ready to go!
Here We Go Again. Initial reports are coming in about the cause of the Camp Fire in Paradise, CA. The fire that has claimed more than 8,500 homes and 250 businesses. It has burned over 110,000 acres and is the deadliest fire in California history. According to those reports, power lines could be the reason that the fire initially started, a topic that was loudly debated in the California legislature this summer.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 14th, 2018
Your Help Is Still Needed. Dozens of solar workers have lost their homes due to the fire north of Sacramento. CALSSA has set up a donation page and your generosity is greatly appreciated, any amount helps get solar pros that lost everything back on their feet.
I’ll Take The Usual. Can’t argue with the data on new generation, solar and wind are the default fuel when it comes to every day interconnections. The issue sits with the existing portfolio of generating capacity especially within ratebased portfolios at the utilities across the Country. A lot of the portfolio is not that old either, which means replacing it will take decades unless regulatory oversight chooses to sunset the plants early. That being said, that would require an insane increase of solar generation to be built including distributed resources that likely includes power dense fuel cell or generating equipment alongside TWh of storage. Point is, it’s doable but difficult to execute within today’s regulatory environment.
Fight For Your States’ Rights. Here is your typical letter from 5 State Attorneys General saying that they will fight for clean energy if the Trump administration tries to slow the progress. One of those AGs works in a State (MD) that has a republican Governor. Reality is that this is not typical but notable progress for the clean energy issue to be taken up within a week of the election. Yesterday, a climate change sit-in happened in Nancy Pelosi’s office and Congresswoman-elect Ocasio Cortez joined in. More to come on the creation of the Select Committee on Climate Change.
The Almighty Pricing Signal. Locational pricing, short term pricing, and anything that else that allows intermittent and solar plus storage to create revenues without offtake agreements would be the fastest way to increase adoption of solar. The reason is that it decreases the gap between PPA and default scenario. It also eliminates some of the risk for post term energy valuation in qualifying facilities. How to make this happen however…
It’s Not What, It’s How. I see plenty of articles about solar on farm land across America. Illinois has this conversation right now and I discussed this with Jon Carson of Trajectory Partners. The key in my opinion is not that NIMBYism on the solar farm but the desire for neighbors to know who will be their neighbor during construction and for the next 25+ years. If the development team does it properly during the initial process, they are much more likely to be successful.
Making Utility Changes (Staffing Update). RMI and Advanced Energy Economy are out with a report on the future business models for utilities. Also of note, former SEIA Chairman, Nat Kraemer, was announced as the new CEO of Advanced Energy Economy this week.
Be Subscribed. Good reminder to make sure that your colleagues are subscribed to this newsletter. They can do it with an email by clicking here.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 13th, 2018
Your Help Is Needed. The solar family is looking for your help during the tough times impacting some of our colleagues in the Camp Fire in Paradise California. CALSSA has set up a donation page and your generosity is greatly appreciated, any amount helps get solar pros that lost everything back on their feet.
008.3 Solar Bonds. Duke Energy is going out for the poorly marketed green bonds. I look forward to seeing the spread between these and the corporate bonds and hope that they are aligned given the risk profiles.
Does Resilience Sell? Last week I asked what the sales pitch was for energy storage and many of you responded that the recent storms are part of it. I agree that storms cause people to think about it but pulling the trigger for backup power alone is a 1% problem. Unless I am wrong, I don’t think resiliency is a sales tool but more of a lead generation tool.
Barrier In Community Solar. Community solar is growing rapidly and with that comes innovation. Some folks have said that the hardest part is the subscriber enrollment and management which equates to new companies coming up with ways to service developers looking for off takers. Frank fills you in.
IOU To Retail Market. This may not be a serious endeavor, I hope the Arizona readers fill me in on what this really means politically. But any PUC looking at the value of IOUs and allowing retail competition seems like a giant leap in the right direction, undoubtedly where we end up anyways. In order for a 100% renewable future, we must have wires companies and retail competition, rate basing generation means staying stuck in antiquated transactions.
Solar Jobs In Midwest. This is a great time to look for a great job in the midwest, at the jobs fair you will see hundreds of solar jobs competing for installers, electricians, sales consultants and more. This means higher wages and a great future for Americans in the midwest.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 9th, 2018
Corporate Ventures. It is true that the most active investors in clean tech startups are the corporate venture arms. Utilities have historically been the most active in the space while oil majors have recently been very active, especially in solar. All of this activity is a positive sign not just for the funding but the inevitable stream of acquisitions that follow the successful ventures. A path to liquidity is what drives early stage capital so the industry needs as much of both as possible.
100% RPS Plan. There’s been much written about the Gubernatorial races where the winning governor-elect supports 100% clean energy. It’s hard to put them all in the same bucket and when appropriate, the idea could be a good legislative plan. In other cases, depending on the State’s current success with solar, the goal should be to put the right market mechanics in place. Uncapped net metering and interconnection access may be more valuable to focus on. Keep in mind that very few States, given fair market access, have a negative financial return on rooftop solar.
Utility Spiral. It’s been some time since we talked about the utility death spiral. This time I’m not bringing it up either, it’s a report based on utility executive sentiment talking about earnings pressure. At least they’re thinking about this 6 years in advance but if yesterday’s ACC vote in Arizona is a signal, it could come before. The ACC voted unanimously to study the idea of deregulating utilities and allowing retail energy choice. The effort is expected to be supported by corporations and opposed by the monopolies.
NYTimes Analyzes. In only the way that national media can. States matter. Feds don’t. Carbon tax doesn’t work. Bipartisan support failed. That last one got me, Curbelo (from South Florida) didn’t fail to get re-elected because of his support for climate change reality. His district was the second largest margin of victory for Clinton in 2016. It also includes the Florida Keys and the results probably say that his acknowledgment and work on the climate change caucus kept him close. He even received an award from SEIA this year. It’s so easy to take solar and throw it into the blue bucket but then you’ll fail to acknowledge the political and market realities of SC, TX and FL.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 8th, 2018
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The Wins. Solar was on the ballot in a couple of ways on Tuesday so I wanted to give you my initial thoughts. On the plus side, clean energy executive was a career that was embraced. Several candidates ran on their clean energy experience and a few won which means that there will be members of Congress that understand our work and provide some insight to our trade groups. The biggest win may have been the ballot question in Nevada which was a direct question of more solar for corporations. The voters supported the motion and will have to do so once more at a future election. Another notable plus is the number of Governors that won while supporting a 100% clean energy future, the list includes CO, OR, MI, WI, CA, IL, and ME.
The Losses. First, you have to note that the RPS in Arizona was overwhelmingly defeated and the eulogy on carbon tax may have been written in Washington State. Notable is the $23million spent by NextGen to push for the RPS in Arizona and I can only imagine the policy that could have enabled the market if solar advocates were given $23million into their advocacy platforms. I’ve said it before, solar advocates are some of the most effective advocates in the process and are largely hampered from being able to fight more fights by financial resources. The candidate for NC-9, Dan McCready, was as solar as a candidate that was running across the Country and he almost won his race, losing by less than 2,000 votes.
The Trends. Solar as a political issue continues to be non-existent, these political times mean that secondary issues get little focus. However, with the solar favorability index, it is important to let all legislators know the political reality of supporting or opposing the issues important to us. More trend discovery by GreenBiz in the rundown.
GE Sells Current. GE has sold their esco/lighting/sometimes solar business to an investment firm. The notable solar transaction was for Home Depot. Best of luck to the team.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 7th, 2018
Thank you all for showing up at SolarWakeup Live! in Jersey City. It was an amazing crowd of 180 top solar executives and first round of feedback says that the conversations with the speakers had great content. The excitement of the day and the yet to be digested election results means that the column will be back on Thursday.
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This is your SolarWakeup for November 5th, 2018
Greetings from 37,000 feet. I am on my way to New Jersey for SolarWakeup Live! in Jersey City. Big thanks to the sponsors and the attendees that have registered. I look forward to a week of meetings in New York following the biggest Wakeup event to date.
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Incentives Not Taxes. Over time, the headlines go away and reality sets in. Shortly have the solar 201 tariff was implemented, a few factories were announced. Factories that would open in the US and caused the public to show support for the assessment. However, as the year has gone by, more tariffs on Chinese imports have been implemented and the overall support for doing manufacturing appears to have left the solar game.
Build A Community, Part 2. A month ago Facebook announced a solar farm for their data center in New Mexico, this month the data center is in Alabama and so is the solar farm. Alabama doesn’t have policies that enable Facebook users to go solar with limited or no access to net metering and high fees by some utilities.
Is Florida Really? Just south of the Alabama border is Florida, a State that is very similar politically. The headlines last week spoke clearly about the market growth which was largely talking about the recent utility owned solar farms that were approved. So in short, Florida is growing massively and has a ton of upside. Most importantly, Florida has strong building departments that will fight against some of the dodgy solar engineering that happens across the Country. You can’t just build things in Florida that look pretty but don’t meet the building code.
Election Week, Climate Change Edition. This week I hope everyone heads to the polls. A lot of the issues on the ballot are centered around what is happening in States. Regardless of your political persuasion, solar is still not a defining issue on the ballot for politicians which means you still have the ability to choose elected officials that are very much different on the issue. One will support net metering, one will not. One will fight for solar interconnection streamlining, one will not.
Standing Up In Congress. Over the past 2 years, as climate change becomes a more important topic politically, members of Congress have joined the climate change caucus. The caucus sounds good but it has failed to adequately provide political cover mostly because climate change issue hasn’t come to the forefront yet. Don’t be surprised if that changes soon though.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 2nd, 2018
Have a wonderful Friday. Monday’s SolarWakeup will be coming to you from the air as I fly to New Jersey for the 5th SolarWakeup Live! event. Most of the previous interviews are available online at solarwakeup.com. Join us on Tuesday in Jersey City and make sure you vote!
Making Resi Storage Pencil. Sunnova announced yesterday the addition of their solar plus storage offering to the Texas market. This continues the market trend of giving consumers a choice to have storage with CleanChoice making an offer for storage in the Maryland market. What is driving the consumer’s demand for storage given that storage still needs to drive price down?
Can California Grow More? California is 50% of the US market and it will have to work hard to keep that number steady, not because California is declining but because other States are growing nicely. That being said, companies are investing big in the growth here. In this case, Vivint Solar, is announcing a 20 year fixed price offering to consumers which locks in a rate for electricity and could cause consumers to jump into the deal. Will be interested to see how it does.
Coal? PJM CEO spoke about the coal bailout needs yesterday as covered by Utility Dive. The bailout, he says is unnecessary, would choose generation mix by fuel choice instead of pricing the service that is most desired. With GTM reporting that more than 30GW of coal is ready to be retired in the next few years, it is imperative that the policies are future proof. I.e. if the goal is to have backup power from offshore wind and solar energy, than price the value of keeping electrons standing by instead of marking a price to how much coal is sitting in the backyard.
NIMBY Partners. The Department of Interior approved a massive three square mile project near Joshua Tree and now solar is fighting against the Sierra Club. Understanding the fight is straightforward, this is about wildlife preservation and habitat conservation while the solar development is about adding more renewable energy to the grid. I don’t want to argue the right and wrong about the complaint by Sierra Club but this is a valuable time to point out to donors that Sierra Club and solar industry advocacy groups are different. Sierra Club can’t go to donors and tout their desire to expand solar (taking tens of millions of funds that donors think go to solar advocacy) when those donors really should be looking at solar focused advocacy. I’m not knocking environmental groups and the mission, which I support. I am pointing out that fundraising for solar is made harder by the grab for the dollars that want to support solar.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 1st, 2018
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Happy Halloween. Like solar, it is clear that snickers and twix are the candy of choice for kids. Anyone that passes out something else loves fossil fuels. Regardless, a long evening of trick or treating means that there is no column today. More to come tomorrow. In the meantime, please support the gracious sponsors of SolarWakeup Live! by learning more about them on the links by clicking on their logos.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for October 31st, 2018
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Storage Study. Just a few days before our keynote interview with the NJ BPU President at SolarWakeup Live! the BPU has awarded Rutgers the grant to study energy storage and how it should be implemented. The $300k grant will allow the BPU to implement the clean energy rules around energy storage. The BPU has also released information about SRECs for projects before the new plan is put in place.
Storage Implementation. Just north of NJ and PJM, ISO-NE is working on its own implementation of energy storage. In addition to the ISO-NE, storage will be prevalent in the market within MA through SMART. All this to say that the storage integration future is well underway. Count 2020/2021 as the key breakout years while the markets work through development and capital education in the next year.
Retail Energy Storage. An interesting twist to buying clean energy through retail choice programs. CleanChoice, the clean energy retail energy provider, is working with homeowners to have them add energy storage in the home for backup purposes. The interesting marketing angle is that this could lengthen the relationship between the homeowner and the retail company, creating a stickiness in the home between the two similar to cable or alarm providers.
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Yann