Virginia Sets Aggressive New Solar, Wind Goals

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Virginia is a solar state you on which you sleep at your own peril. It has long caught the eye of trend-spotters who believe it is on the verge of being the next solar boom state but, for various reasons (mostly political), it has never quite lived up to its solar potential. This week, however, Governor Ralph Northam took steps to change the future, unveiling a plan to build nearly 5 GW of solar and wind resources. The plan sets aside 2 GW for offshore wind and sets the other 3 GW aside for solar … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 3rd, 2018

SunPower Closes On SolarWorld. Count me in as pleasantly surprised that the acquisition has closed. Nonetheless SunPower is already in process of putting new equipment into the Hillsboro manufacturing plant in Oregon. The plant will be producing P-Series cells and modules to be able to sell American assembled panels. The interesting side stories are now the relationship between Senator Wyden and SunPower, who were on opposite sides of the 201 arguments and how SunPower proceeds with the first two phases of the AD/CVD charges against solar imports. More to come I guess.
Another Day, Another Trade Group. During SPI there was a launch of the Solar Rights Alliance which is targeting the solar consumers to engage them for the policy battles across the Country. In many ways this is the actual implementation of the Solar Pledge which this platform launched to extend the ITC. The power of the crowd is real and SRA will likely be seen and heard from more going forward. Vote Solar is also activating the solar consumer with one of the best supporter lists in the industry. Lastly, you have a new group that aligns solar and wind industries at the trade group level. The Wind Solar Alliance will put the renewable energy giants in bigger rooms by merging the voice on some issues, I’d expect PURPA and FERC issues to be front and center for the group.
Industrials Unite In Storage. ConEdison and Johnson Controls are getting involved in energy storage together. Great headline but I am missing the key differentiator here. JCI is competent with energy savings contracts and ConEdison has tax equity/asset ownership capabilities plus a viable trading capacity. However, absent an acquisition for a real differentiator and pipeline, this may not be as groundbreaking as it is made out to be. Maybe an acquisition is in the works?
NAFTA -> USMCA = Where’s Climate? The headline says it all. Will see how Congress feels about USMCA.
Developing New Jersey. New Jersey is a State with both rural and urban centers and farm lands where the land is both sacred and valuable. Developing solar in New Jersey has a level of complexity unmatched across the Country. This is why we invited Jim Spano from Spano Partners to join me on stage at SolarWakeup Live! Jersey City. Jim has been as successful as anyone in New Jersey and has his finger on the political pulse. Join us on November 6th and register at www.solarwakeuplive.com 

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Have a great day!
Yann

Wind, Solar Join Forces In New Wind Solar Alliance

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As wind and solar continue to grow as a percentage of U.S. electricity production, it makes sense for new groups to form to bring to bear the combined power of the industries in the political fights to come. That’s why it’s so exciting to see the formation of the Wind Solar Alliance (formerly the Wind Energy Foundation) to bring together the heavy hitters from both industries to work on mutually beneficial policy fights. Having led national wind-solar advocacy campaigns for several years through its “A Renewable America” program, WSA saw an opportunity for increased collaboration … Read More →

Puerto Rican Community Gets Solar Microgrid, Electricity Eight Months After Maria

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent The Hill has an interesting article about how one community in Puerto Rico installed a community solar project and restored power to the town for the first time in eight months. Setting aside the shame the rest of us should feel for leaving our fellow U.S. citizens in darkness for eight months, the story is inspirational and offers a window into how solar can help Puerto Rico improve the resiliency of its electrical system to build resiliency for future natural disasters. [wds id=”3″] I’m going to quote the entire lead because it was so good: … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 2nd, 2018

Let’s Talk Illinois Policy. I’ve been saving the interviews from Chicago so that the live audience could get the heads up and it’s been a busy summer! After the much listened to interview with Jon Carson, here is the second interview with the director of the Illinois Power Agency, Anthony Star. Mr. Star is responsible for putting the wheels in motion and implementing the rules for the solar market that allow the market to flourish. If you are interested in working in Illinois this is an interview you will not want to miss. As always you can subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platforms and if you enjoy it, leave a review on iTunes. It’s always great to hear from you.
Second Chance In Power. In many ways the growth of the solar industry was missed by the incumbent and displaced market participants. You could also say that the early false starts caused many to take a step back too far. GE is a great example, they tried their hand in solar. With modules, with new technology investments, inverters and also financially with GE Current and GE Energy Financial Services offering tax equity. The financial divisions have done well but the technology has largely failed. That seems symbolic of the larger GE Power unit, where the division president was largely expected to be the next CEO instead the division didn’t elevate the CEO and it’s taking down the short lived tenure of the current CEO. Now the clean energy market is at a crossroads with solar and wind being the cheapest cost while EVs and storage are getting into the mainstream. GE, other industrials and oil majors need to get into the game and take another chance in power. My hope is that if they do, they don’t silo technology and financial services. Use the amazing access to low cost capital to drive the price of money down on technology deployment instead of thinking of both as different.
Come On Kansas. Demand charges are unfair to solar customers anywhere, but they are especially ill conceived when solar hasn’t had the chance to take off yet. You would think that a free market oriented market would think less of the monopoly than the consumer choice, energy saving solar installer but I guess that’s too ideological of me.
SPI Thoughts On Utilities In Solar. I always enjoy to hear what people are thinking about specific questions, I may even replicate this format. Here are 9 solar and storage pros commenting about the market and how utilities could improve. I’ll save you the number 1 improvement, work faster!
SEIA’s Thoughts On New Jersey. You’ll have to join me as I interview Abby Hopper on November 6th. Abby has been out in the open a lot more in her second year, making the rounds and working with the industry to get everyone into the advocacy game. We don’t agree on everything but that’s what makes this conversation fun and useful for the industry. Only the best interviews make it to the orange chair, this one is it.solarwakeuplive.com

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Have a great day!
Yann

SolarWakeup Podcast: Anthony Star, Director Of The Illinois Power Agency, Discusses The Future Of Solar In Illinois

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By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor In this episode of the Energy Wakeup podcast, we sat down with Anthony Star, director of the Illinois Power Agency, to discuss the process for developing solar under the Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016, which will increase the amount of solar produced in the state in the coming years. Star discusses in detail the Illinois SREC procurement program, as well as what’s coming with the adjustable block grant that will inform what happens with distributed generation and community solar. He also provides background on how these developments came to be. Listen to the whole … Read More →

What’s The Matter With Kansas? Demand Charges, That’s What

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Ah, Kansas, why did you go and have to be the exception? The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) (which regulates its utilities) decided last week to grant the proposals made by the state’s two largest utilities – Westar Energy and Kansas City Power & Light to lower utility bills for everyone in their service areas except solar users. For some reason, the KCC decided it would allow solar users to be penalized for generating their own electricity by hitting them with a demand charge that could cost solar users anywhere between $27 and $36 a month, … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 1st, 2018

SB700 Becomes Law. This bill passed with the hard work of solar pros and solar supporters means cheaper energy storage in your future. Regardless of whether you work in California or not, take note of where storage makes sense and at what price point it breaks through.
Vote Solar Equinox DC. Would you be so kind to join me and some of the best solar advocates in America in DC on October 18th? Equinox DC is an event to celebrate the solar industry and raise money for a great cause. You can get super cheap tickets here and if you buy a lot of them you get to put a paragraph on SolarWakeup by sending me the receipt
Thoughts About Elon. This isn’t a statement about what Elon did when he wrote about ‘funding secured’ but my thoughts on why a settlement was required at all. Over the weekend, Musk had to settle with the SEC for the statement and process surrounding the go private actions. The SEC came after him quickly and sought to oust him as Tesla’s CEO. This is absurd in my opinion. Ford, GM and the other OEMs have had scandals that literally kill people (remember airbags and ignition switches?) which resulted in no action by the SEC. I personally had a Ford that put exhaust fumes into the car which made my kids sick and Ford nor the NTSB gave a damn about it. The SEC action is much like utilities coming after solar, changing an incumbent market with monopolies gets all sorts of pushback and the regulatory environment is embedded with those that are loyal to the system.
News About New Stuff. A good breakdown of the new stuff at SPI by the GTM team. Some are new and some are improvements to technology we already had in the market.
Gates and Bezos Tech. The Venture fund which pools some of the biggest names is focused on technology that can change the world. I support the initiative to find better technology but without a fund working in parallel to develop and fund projects, it will be hard to scale this initiative. The risk tolerant money needs to be available to make investments into projects where the technology risk falls on the project owner and not the offtaker.
Wholesale Storage Deals. One of the biggest questions I have for one of the speakers at SolarWakeup Live! Jersey City is how and when wholesale solar and storage can make sense in the markets. There are cost considerations and regulatory oversight to consider but I don’t think we are far from that reality in PJM markets. To hear the conversation live with Gabe Phillips from GP Renewables, register at solarwakeuplive.com.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Could Perovskite Solar Cells Be Close To Commercialization?

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent People are looking for the next big technical innovation that will revolutionize solar cells and, for the past several years, perovskites have been “the next big thing.” Perovskite is a mineral that has been shown to have significantly higher efficiencies than polycrystalline silicon. The problems were twofold: 1) The width of the perovskite film necessary to see the efficiency jumps had yet to be determined; and 2) The cost of commercialization was still prohibitive. But thanks to recent research out of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, both of those problems may be one … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for September 28th, 2018

SGIP Extended, SB700 Signed. You did it! You made the calls, you visited, and donated your time and money so that the industry led by CALSSA and so many other organizations were able to convince the legislators and the Governor to invest nearly $1billion to move energy storage farther into the future. This wasn’t easy, there were postponements, lost speeches and lastly the outcome we all wanted. You may not be in the California market but do not forget that the volume that will drive the innovation and cost decreases here will come into all other markets. SB700 is a bill for all of us and I couldn’t be happier for everyone. This is an example of the grassroots
Get More Solar Jobs. SEIA released a new membership level system with a lower barrier of entry to the trade organization. I think this is a good step forward in the path to be a bit more democratic. Keep in mind that this does not replace the work done by other entities so don’t think you can be one and done but all the work is important. On another note, it appears that SEIA members largely outnumbered others at the SPI registration desk.
Consumer Choice. A poll that comes back at 88% means everyone in my opinion. The poll in this case says that voters don’t want their access to solar reduced by their utilities. Any action, like changing net metering, increasing fees or placing other barriers on consumer choice should be viewed by politicians and regulators as a bad idea for the market as well as politically.
Earn Your Ratebase. Oklahoma is going to a performance based review system for the rate base but until the fuel costs are guaranteed by the shareholders, we have not accomplished the real goal.
Give Me A Nuclear Break. Vogtle nuclear power plant is going to continue on after a multiple day negotiation but I am fairly certain that it will never be completed. That being said, the future of energy isn’t going to be saved by modular nuclear reactors either.
Weekend Updates. solarwakeuplive.com for your registration to join us on November 6th in Jersey City. We have a great day and happy hour lined up and will be excited to talk about the great New Jersey solar market. I hope you all enjoyed SPI this year and made it back home in one piece.

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Have a great day!
Yann