The Energy Show: Avoiding a Global Warming Disaster

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The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon The bad news about global warming continues unabated. This fall the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (fondly referred to as the IPCC) sent up an emergency flare. According to Amjad Abdulla an IPCC board member and chief negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States, “The report shows that we only have the slimmest of opportunities remaining to avoid unthinkable damage to the climate system that supports life, as we know it.“ Obviously, small island states are at the most immediate risk. But if the earth’s warming trend continues, many populated areas … Read More →

Home Solar Capacity Could Triple If Other States Follow California Mandate

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent A new study from Environment America Research & Policy Center urges other states to follow California’s lead in requiring all new buildings have solar on them. If states would adopt such mandates, which California adopted earlier this year, the home solar market could triple by 2045. It would also cut carbon dioxide emissions from electricity production by more than 9% over the same time. [wds id=”3″] “Every home and structure built without solar is a missed opportunity,” said Bret Fanshaw, Go Solar Campaign director with Environment America Research & Policy Center. “Generating renewable energy from … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for December 4th, 2018

Do You Vote Solar? Last evening some of the biggest solar supporters came together to celebrate Vote Solar and the entire team of passionate solar advocates. There are few teams that have done so much, so quietly to advance our market. We had some fun talking about past victories that are the foundation of solar markets across the Country. So I raise my glass for a toast for Vote Solar and all solar advocates that do the policy work that allows installers to sell solar to homeowners and creates the market that creates my job. Without the policies that enable our market, most of us would be doing other work. 
Reality Of Nuclear. Every few months there seems to be a nuclear should make a comeback for the sake of fighting climate change. This storyline seems a bit tired given that it’s been used for years. It is ingrained in so many higher education institutions and think tanks studying the issue. I understand the argument but the political reality is that nobody looking to fight climate change is leaning in on nuclear. I will hear from some of you that the portfolio has to include nuclear but I am here to tell you that the market has moved on. One small pet peeve, calling renewables ‘buoyed by subsidies’ while arguing for nuclear is laughable. Without early cost recovery and government subsidized insurance, water and waste, nuclear would be non-existent. 
Has COP Lost The Luster? COP24 has started and if I wasn’t following the Solar Impulse team on social media, I wouldn’t know. First, it’s in Poland which hasn’t exactly been the leader in climate policy. Second, without the US leading the marketing of it in the US media, it seems to be lacking any coverage at all. As an aside, various forms of renewables shouldn’t put other forms down in order to gain an edge, there are plenty of antagonists to focus on. 
Green New Deal et al. New leaders in Congress have surprised me with the pedestal that the green new deal has been placed on as one of the signature areas of focus going into the new Congress. Ocasio-Cortez, who is humanizing the role of member of Congress in a great way, has been actively pushing for co-sponsors and ignoring the ‘freshmen members stay quiet’ status quo. I look forward to speaking with co-sponsors of the bill and understand how the pivot from macro, big idea like green new deal can leverage the political power that solar has within the voting public.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Commercial Solar Starts To Thrive in Wisconsin

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Commercial solar, one of the most underserved segments of the solar industry, is taking off in Wisconsin, according to a report by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The driver of the push is falling solar prices, which takes the decision to add solar out of the realm of “it’s a nice thing to do” and into the realm of “from a business perspective, this is a must do.” In other words, the money-saving aspect of it has become so overwhelmingly compelling that there’s now an undeniable business case for it. As Larry Schmidt Jr., chief financial officer … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for December 3rd, 2018

41. “The United States is strongly committed to the IPCC process of international cooperation on global climate change. We consider it vital that the community of nations be drawn together in an orderly, disciplined, rational way to review the history of our global environment, to assess the potential for future climate change, and to develop effective programs. The state of the science, the social and economic impacts, and the appropriate strategies all are crucial components to a global resolution. The stakes here are very high; the consequences, very significant.” - President H.W. Bush on February 5th, 1990
Tariff Update. Trump had a trade talk dinner with China over the weekend and the two Countries have come out with a momentary pause to the trade war escalation, waiting to increase the tariffs from 10% to 25% while talks continue. For solar this would have larger impacted the raw material increases which could have trickled up to the end product costs that you pay every day for your projects.
Trickle Up. David Roberts from Vox uses comparison to economic theory to highlight the future potential of a grid centered around distributed generation instead of central power plants. This flows with the goals of the solar market and also plays into the future where electric vehicles are the default condition in the auto market. Good to see this in the mainstream media.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for November 30th, 2018

DC Goes 100%. This has been talked about for some time but now it’s becoming law and it makes DC the 3rd State to go 100% renewables. DC has some limitations on how to execute on this but being in the PJM market it does have the flexibility, much like the deal for the solar output by George Washington University. The rooftops are not widely available but we saw a community solar project announced yesterday as well. Local sources sound optimistic about the opportunities in Maryland as well with a legislative path to an increased RPS. Frank speaks to MDV-SEIA’s executive director about the victory in DC. 
Empower Ratebase, Not Thoughts. I appreciate the sentiment from Rocky Mountain Institute in the 1st part of the 4 part serious about empower utilities to participate in the clean energy transition. The problem isn’t that they are against the clean energy transition, the problem is the lack of short term, quarterly profits within the current regulatory framework. Utility execs like other execs will tend to do what their compensation is aligned against. If utilities were to be told that they would make money to participate in the clean energy transition, execs would sing a different tune. The issue now is that the clean energy transition is trying to replace and eliminate utilities, not make them more money. 
In-no-va-tion. I meant to write about this last week but this is an important topic within the political conversation on climate change. Climate change is not a bi-partisan topic which originally was a hoax. When hoax stopped working with the American people, skeptics went with the unsettled science and not being scientists. The public has largely stopped buying the unsettled science line and we have advanced to the latest political talking point. “Climate change is here, it doesn’t matter who causes it but whatever we do can’t impact the economy.” Then, to buy time, politicians will pivot to the need to drive innovation within the demographic of their audience. Innovation is such a broad topic that clean coal and 50% efficient solar modules could fall into the category. Additionally, everyone loves innovation which gets listeners of the talking points to nod in agreement that we need to find more solutions. I call BS though, we need more execution and less talk about innovation because innovation is driven by larger markets and the hopes by people to disrupt the market with new products, services and ideas. 
Have a great weekend! Please send me a note when you travel to San Francisco, always great to meet you in person and stay tuned for great new podcasts dropping next week.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Q&A With David Murray Of MDV-SEIA On DC’s 100% RPS

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Earlier this week, Washington D.C. announced it had passed a law saying that it would produce all of its electricity from renewable energy by 2032. Though the bill still has to be passed on a second reading, signed by the mayor, approved by Congress and pro-coal President Trump – so who knows if it will actually get approved – it is the most aggressive 100% renewable energy mandate in the country. SolarWakeup decided to discuss the plan’s chances with someone whose offices are right in D.C.’s backyard – David Murray, executive director of MDV-SEIA. Here … Read More →

Nevada PUC Denies Apartment Dwellers Rooftop Solar Access

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Nevada has long had a love/hate relationship with the rooftop solar industry. Despite having one of the highest insolation rates in the nation, it’s rooftop solar segment experienced a near-death experience when the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (NPUC) decided to eviscerate net metering at a December meeting in 2015. After nearly killing off the segment, the legislature and governor came to their senses and reinstate net metering under a modified program, but serious damage was done – such damage, in fact, that the rooftop industry is still recovering from it. On the other hand, the … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for November 29th, 2018

Quick rundown today as it’s been a long week after the holidays and everyone wants their racking and mounting before the holidays. Don’t forget to check out all the fun stuff Quick Mount has to offer for your stockings this holiday season. 
More On SRA. Frank speaks with the Solar Rights Alliance’s Executive Director, Dave Rosenfeld. Check it out. 
The Future Of The CA Grid. Sunrun’s Chief Policy Officer, Anne Hoskins, a former utility regulator posts a really smart op-ed about the role distributed solar plays in the future where fires are bigger and badder. 
Big EV Infra Money. ChargePoint raises $240million and has now surpassed half a billion in funding. Some of the smartest names in solar are now at the competitor EvGo, some new interesting ones coming soon I think. I like watching this infrastructure race taking off. 
Solar Powered Oil. Orsted has done a 12 year deal with Exxon. This is likely through an energy forward contract of some sort and shows that shorter term contracts in tradable markets is the way to get deals done. Exxon is using solar to increase profits on oil, the irony. 
Slowing Militaries Resiliency. The military using solar, wind, energy storage and microgrids to make its facilities safer and less expensive to run is a good thing. Stopping that momentum is a bad thing. 
I’m All In On 180kWh Beast. This week at the LA Auto Show, a formerly stealthy company, Rivian, rolled out its 180kWh pickup and SUV trucks. I’m not saying I miss my F-250 but I’m all in on big electric trucks and the load they add to the grid that can be met with giant solar farms.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Q&A With Dave Rosenfeld Of The Solar Rights Alliance

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent SolarWakeup sat down with Dave Rosenfeld of the Solar Rights Alliance to discuss how the group came to be, what their goals are this year and where they expect to be in the year ahead. SolarWakeup (SWup): Tell us why you decided to found the Solar Rights Alliance. Dave Rosenfeld: Our Board of Directors and the leadership of the CA Solar & Storage Association should get the credit for founding the organization and seeding it with the resources to get started. I was brought in after they did that initial lift. Solar Rights Alliance was … Read More →