Trump Takes Credit For Utility Steadfastness On Closing Coal Plants

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Here we are again, discussing the future of coal – this time as it relates to CO2 emissions and the fact that emissions have fallen in the United States. And as usual, President Trump finds himself in the middle trying to take credit. So here is what’s really happening. Despite having pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (as reported by Reuters) suggests that CO2 levels have fallen in the United States by 2.7% in 2017, even more than the 2% it fell in 2016. [wds id=”3″] Interim … Read More →

Could DTE Proposal Kill Rooftop Solar In Michigan? Advocates Say Yes

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Just when you think Michigan is finally getting its solar act together, utilities like DTE Energy hatch plans to destroy rooftop solar in the state, at least according to the advocates that talked to our friends at Inside Climate News. Becky Standfield, the Midwest director for Vote Solar, isn’t one for hyperbole. She’s one of the most level-headed solar activists I’ve known. So to see her say this to ICC was both startling and arresting: “It is very clear that DTE is trying to put a dagger in the heart of rooftop solar in Michigan.” … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 17th, 2018

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Clean Energy Voter’s Guide. Two takeaways from the AEE guide to clean energy policies in the upcoming election. The first, obvious and sad is that the republican party candidates still feel like clean energy is bad politics for their donors. Two, it does appear that access to renewable energy is an issue that both sides are agreeing on. Especially in Florida, this is a topic that I first discovered in my interview with State Sentator Jeff Brandes.

States Matter. In case it isn’t obvious, State policy is disproportionally important when it comes to energy policy due to the State by State regulatory oversight. The politics of this get interesting because energy and climate change has become an issue in Congressional races even though those representatives don’t have much influence at the State. That’s why we, as a solar industry, need to do more to solarize the education of the electoral funnel. A county commissioner should know that voting solar is good for the race for State House and the votes in the House are good for the Senate and so forth. The opposite is also true, voting against solar should feel a campaign to stop the politician from moving up the ranks.  

Bailing Out On Bail Out. It seems that the Trump administration is bailing out on the nuclear and coal bailout. Frank has the complete story but the note from PJM that coal and nuclear generation could shut down without issue must have played a role in the decision. It’s a good decision. 

Rubio Digs Deeper. More on the interview from Sunday, Senator Rubio, whom I first met when he was the Speaker of the Florida House, said that moving to “all solar panels and did all that stuff, which is not realistic.” The message now is that climate change is too big to deal with and the assumption is that it would cost too much money and destroy the economy. Those are the talking points we need to educate the party with. 

Pass On Gas. Vote Solar’s Adam Browning highlights the technical case for a future without natural gas in order to keep the planet from warming too much. This tweet storm courtesy of Jonathan Gaventa of E3G. 

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Yann

AEE Releases Clean Energy Election Guide For Nine State Governors’ Races

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent In case you’ve been living under a rock, there are elections coming up in a little less than a month. In nine states, there are contested races for governor. If you’ve been wondering how your candidate stacks up on clean energy issues, national business group Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) launched online scorecards to help you out this election season. AEE will update candidates’ policy stands based on public statements and policy platforms adopted by Republican and Democratic nominees leading up to Election Day on Nov. 6. The project will be supported by targeted digital advertising … Read More →

Could The Coal/Nuke Bailout Be Dead? Definitely, Maybe

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent It’s been an article of faith among President Donald Trump supporters that he was going to – come hell or high water – “save” the coal industry. As part of that plan, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and his merry team have been working for months on a bailout plan that would use taxpayer money to support failing coal and nuclear plants. The solar industry has been living with this sword of Damocles this entire time, just waiting for the inevitable announcement of a policy that seemed set in stone. Well hold up – that … Read More →

kWh Analytics Compiles List Of Active Tax-Equity Investors

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As the tax incentives begin to wind down, it’s even more important than ever to be able to identify investors who can afford to take on sufficient tax equity to consummate solar projects. To do the due diligence to figure out who is currently interested in using equity to fund the project, however, can often increase costs and render deals undoable. Which is why having a company like kWh Analytics, a solar risk manager, do some portion of the work for you is such a boon. This morning, the company released its Solar Lendscape for … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 16th, 2018

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Solar And Taxes. SEIA is updating its popular tax guide. If one thing is for sure, its that solar investments will require a knowledge of the tax benefits associated with it. The more solar grows the more people get to invest in the medium so this resource becomes more widely read across the market. Just look at the impact the market has had in New York, with NYSERDA’s CEO, Alicia Barton saying: “Hot off the presses, the 2018 NY Clean Energy Industry Report is a good news reality check we need. Headline: Bold climate action feeds new jobs and economic growth. NY added 5,600 new clean energy jobs last year alone. Check out the full report! @NYGovCuomo#Rev4NY”
Lynn Jurich On Leadership. As the CEO of Sunrun, Lynn Jurich has plenty on her plate and she said down with Inc. to pass along some knowledge. One of the things that has separated Sunrun in my opinion is the value it places on policy. Others have dabbled and smaller companies find it hard to make a real impact. There are few events that I attend where an Sunrunner is not in attendance. Engie has picked up their regulatory presence as well which is always helpful to legislative outreach. 
Helpful Tax Equity Info. The solar lendscape outlines the players of the capital stack most often found in solar project investments. Take a look at the 2nd edition of the lendscape showing you the 28 most prolific tax equity investors. Some folks that are applying to capital markets jobs will sound a whole lot smarter now and maybe navigate the annual Rancho Bernardo circus a bit easier. 
Millennials See Solar Future. It doesn’t really matter what Vice said about solar, millennials saw the headline on Vox and are now all in on solar. Just kidding, we already had 100% of young people on our side. Combined with some of the internet ready content like this one from the Years Project, shortens the political argument to a tangible bite size. 
Survey et al. Last chance to be included in the SolarWakeup Sentiment Survey. Please make sure to come to DC on Thursday for Vote Solar Equinox DC, because at the very least I want to make sure they keep me on the host committee for next year!

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Have a great day!
Yann

SEIA Issues Comprehensive Update To Solar Tax Guide

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Even the most experienced tax advisers may not know how to navigate the complex matter of solar tax incentives and credits. That’s why it’s important to have solar-specific experts weigh in on projects. In particular, with the investment tax credits starting to phase out, understanding tax incentives becomes all the more critical. Oh, if only there were a guide of some sort that people could use to figure it out. Enter the Solar Energy Industries Association, which has been putting together various versions of a guide for the last 20 years. Now they’ve released Version … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 15th, 2018

Climate Change Shift. Climate change isn’t a topic that is too exciting to write about because it has been politicized as a topic. While I don’t understand how anyone can ignore it, I understand why political parties have taken the sides that they have. This week there was a shift however, IPCC started off with a dire warning and the President amplified it by not saying very much about it. At the same time, Hurricane Matthew ravaged the Florida panhandle. Matthew was originally expected to be a Tropical Storm but grew to a category 4 in the same waters that strengthened Hurricane Katrina. I see a society today that no longer wants to debate climate change, but maybe discuss what can be done about it. Spinning it to be a problem that is too big is bad, last year The Guardian wrote about the 100 companies that cause 70% of the global emissions. That type of viewpoint downplays the value of a 10kW home solar system or changing a single LED lightbulb. Both of this things are incredibly important and valuable to the energy economy.

17 F-22s. According to Lara Seligman of Foreign Policy, as many as 17 F-22 fighter jets may have been damaged or destroyed at Tyndall AFB in Florida. Each F-22 costs north of $300million and a single storm may have reduced the US inventory of F-22s by almost 10% at a cost of $5billion in addition to the cost of national security. This is a single line item in the cost of climate change, global warming and changing environmental landscapes. I did reach out to Coronal Energy, which operates a solar farm at Eglin AFB in Florida and they report a functioning solar farm on site with little to no damage.

Rubio Is Wrong. The IPCC report was big news on the Sunday shows and Marco Marco Rubio was asked about climate change and what he plans to do about it. “we’re going to have to do something about the impact on low-level coast areas...but I’m also not going to destroy our economy.” That is where Rubio gets it wrong because he is only hearing from the Koch side of the table. I hope that the folks at NextEra reading this make the call to Rubio to advise him on the financial benefits of solar and energy storage. Tell him where the future is for your billion dollar company, is it in coal, gas or renewables? This also shows the exact messaging we need to adapt for republican politicians. If we can’t argue the science or warnings, we need to argue the financial upside. The opportunity for bankers, lawyers, hedge fund managers and everyone else in the economy to make money saving the planet one solar panel at a time.

Orsted Joins Club. The Danish firm has been on a buying spree and taking its lessons learned across the globe. Being a clean energy major was originally coined by former Sunedison CEO, Ahmad Chatila, and GTM is bringing it back for their story on Orsted. They may be right, most of the other oil firms have dabbled but have yet to embrace the opportunity of the renewable future. It is more than a hedge on the core business units, its a full on replacement.

Coming Up. Thank you to everyone that joined me at the CALSSA dinner, it was a pleasure to see so many of you there. If you raised your hand to help raise money for the trade association that keeps the California market moving, thank you again! Next week I hope to see many of you at Vote Solar’s Equinox DC. As usual, if you spend more than $2,000 in tickets or sponsorships, you get to send me a paragraph to publish on this platform. Two weeks later, a big group of you has already registered to attend SolarWakeup Live! in Jersey City. The agenda is outstanding and the market is moving at breakneck speeds right now with new dockets starting almost every week. Solar is going to transition in NJ and if you want to learn how to make the appropriate changes, come and meet with us!

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Have a great day!
Yann

Minnesota Splits Difference On Residential Community Solar Incentive

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent In the wake of a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission decision to add an incentive to attract residential customers to the state’s booming community solar program, neither side – the utility or solar advocates – were particularly happy. On the one hand, the utility argued the incentive was too generous, shifting costs (there’s that mythical cost-shift argument raising its ugly head again) to non-community solar customers. On the other hand, solar advocates argued the incentive wasn’t generous enough, saying it won’t be enough to encourage more residential customers to subscribe to what are called in Minnesota … Read More →