7 People President-Elect Trump Should Consider For Secretary of Energy
With Steven Chu and Ernest Moniz as Secretaries, the Department of Energy (DOE) under Obama has done much good work to support advanced energy: the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), major investment in smart grid under the stimulus package, the SunShot initiative, new appliance and fuel efficiency standards, a loan guarantee program that has supported solar, wind, biofuels, nuclear, battery storage, and advanced vehicles, and more. Though the Obama Administration exhibited a favoritism towards renewable technologies, it still embraced an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. In fact, EIA data shows that natural gas production is up over 25% and … Read More
News Roundtable: Presidential Election 2016 and What Will Trump Do? (Podcast)
The marathon Presidential election is over and Donald Trump is the next President. Join the podcast as Yann Brandt and Frank Andorka try to make some sense of what the election means to solar and how the industry did on the State level votes. Coverage includes what Trump’s moves could be on energy and votes in Arizona, Nevada and Florida. This is part 2 of 2.
This is your SolarWakeup for November 16th, 2016
Make sure you visit back later in the day, we have been hard at work for a week to write an important article. “7 people that President-Elect Trump should consider for Secretary of Energy” which we will be releasing sometime today.
More money, no problems. We have some news for you this morning about $500 million that went to a solar lender the morning after the Trump election. In all, almost a billion dollars went to developers and lenders this week in just two transactions. Let’s highlight the good news instead of just the trumped up pessimism we are currently surrounded by.
The constituency of 209k. A friend of SolarWakeup’s and the all around good guy got a nice write-up from The Hill yesterday. Scott Hennessey has been a solar lobbyist for a decade, starting as one of the first employees at SEIA before moving to SolarCity. Definitely worth the read.
Solar is good for all. A Boston University professor did some solar analysis in Massachusetts on an hour by hour basis. The results were interesting mostly in the wording. In the report, solar customers were found to provide value to non-solar customers while also benefitting from the infrastructure for those kWh that weren’t purchased. The balance is created using a simple but ‘wrong’ incentive structure.
Illinois shenanigans. This is a quick moving story because Illinois is in a special session, one apparently famous for pushing legislation through without much debate. The long story, in short, is that demand charges are in an SB amendment buried deep in a couple hundred pages. We will have more coverage on this but get ready to activate in Illinois, grassroots will make or break this.
Crane’s thoughts on Trump. David Crane, as an editor at large for GreenBiz, has some advice on giving Trump a chance. There are some caveats to that advice to set the expectations….not too high. The best advice in the column is a recognition that we are fortunate that this is 2016 and not 2012 because solar is in a much better place and leadership can come from the States.
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Yann
Investors Keep Faith in Solar Post Trump Election – MMA Raises $500mm
If you measure the impact of the election on investor sentiment, take one look at the $500 million that MMA Energy Capital announced at 8am the morning after election day. On November 9th, MMA announced a new joint venture named “Renewable Energy Lending” with TSSP, a TPG platform. TSSP is a dedicated credit and special situations platform with over $18 billion of assets under management. SolarWakeup spoke with MMA Energy Capital’s Bob Hopper about the transaction and to discuss the current state of renewable energy lending. MMA has been operating the lending platform for just under 2 years and has committed … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for November 15th, 2016
My two cents. In a new format for our podcast, Frank and I got to digest the elections a bit. Of course we talked about the Federal implications but mostly we talked about the State initiatives in FL, NV and AZ. Florida in particular has an interesting twist. We should never have been there. The ballot question was defensive in the beginning because a group wanted to put a solar amendment on the ballot. Unless you have $20million in the bank, do me a favor and stop talking about a ballot amendment. Part 2 of the podcast out later today.
The new freedom fries? Nicolas Sarkozy, who is making another run for President in France, said that if the USA were to leave the Paris Agreement, Europe should tax US imports to make up for the carbon cost. Until this moment, there was little economic repercussion obvious for leaving the climate deal but here you go. Follow the money, always.
Coal was just a tool. Don’t take it from me, listen to the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell. Admitting that the vibrant coal sector was lost due to private sector activity, McConnell says we must now focus on helping the communities rebuild in a post-coal economy.
A sunny 2030 goal. Sunshot crushed their 2020 goals well in advance and now it is stepping up to the next level. In line with the manufacturing goals, Sunshot is seeking a 60% drop in utility-scale solar LCOE down to $0.03/kWh. Don’t expect much DOE money to get added to the budget going forward, time for a private Sunshot fund to come out. They’ve done quite well and it’s time it gets replicated.
Environmental consequences. When you get scared about the environmental regulations for the future, drive right past the White House and head to Capitol Hill. The rules that make up the Clean Air and Water Acts, PURPA, ITC and more, it gets done at the Hill. Hope for the best and plan for the worst.
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Yann
News Roundtable: Presidential Election 2016 and State Solar Votes (Podcast)
The marathon Presidential election is over and Donald Trump is the next President. Join the podcast as Yann Brandt and Frank Andorka try to make some sense of what the election means to solar and how the industry did on the State level votes. Coverage includes what Trump’s moves could be on energy and votes in Arizona, Nevada and Florida. This is part 1 of 2.
This is your SolarWakeup for November 14th, 2016
A cabinet pick to get behind? The New York Times put together the inside favorites on President Trump’s cabinet picks. In the transition team you have a climate denier in Myron Ebell for the E.P.A. and Mike McKenna for Energy. For Secretary of the DOE you have a familiar name in James Connaughton, the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality for President Bush from 01-09. Connaughton has also spoken favorably about some form of Cap and Trade. He is definitely not Governor Jennifer Granholm but he has policies that we can work with.
Speculation is the new sport. What will happen under the next administration? What will the government focus on with one party in power in each chamber? Plenty of material to work with but keeping investors comfortable is starting to happen, just look at the comments from Array Technologies.
Jobs, veterans, and jobs for veterans. In 2020 there will be more veterans in the solar industry than in the entire coal sector, it doesn’t matter what the agencies and President do to change that. As we paused for Veteran’s Day on Friday, let’s recall the great work solar is doing to bring great paying jobs for great Americans. Saving the planet is just another employee benefit.
Both sides of the table. Half of a gigawatt was commissioned by NextEra last week sitting on 6 square miles of public lands. As the project was being built, NextEra was also fighting distributed solar in Florida. The point is that motivation is money. Follow the money, always.
Your solar duty! I am reiterating my request for your company to fill out the survey. We can only win political battles if we have the jobs to prove it. Make sure your CEO and HR managers get this done, Today. CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY
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Yann
These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
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The Top 10 is ranked by the number of SolarWakeup.com readers that clicked on the news article during the previous week. It is the poll of the most relevant solar news of the week as judged by your colleagues and competitors.
Have a great day!
Yann
Solar Is The Olive Branch President Trump Needs To Unify The Country
By Yann Brandt; I am a pragmatic person. On Tuesday night before it was called I went to bed knowing I would make up to the news that Donald Trump would become the Country’s next President. I hold the office in high regard and though I differ on many policies, I will respect the office. To my friends that voted for Trump and my friends that did not, let’s discuss the political reality. The GOP holds all three houses and with a nuclear option in the Senate can pass any legislation they want. I don’t know if the option will … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for November 11th, 2016
Jobs census needs you NOW! It’s that time of the year once again and this year it is more important than ever before. When solar goes to the Hill or a State Capitol, it touts first and foremost the number of jobs our industry has created. Fill out the census, pass it on to your friends. Click here and click the link to get the survey done!
Time for time of use. Xcel in Colorado got its settlement approval from the utility regulators. The solar grid charge is out, another victory for solar. A test of a time of use structure will be piloted in its place with some demand charges. Another 400MW of solar in various segments is also approved moving Colorado forward once again.
Tag, you’re it. A few weeks ago D.E. Shaw made the offer to take over the sponsor position for SunEdison in the Terraform projects. Now, Brookfield which owns about 12% of the company is offering to do the same but also offering to buy the shares from all the other owners for cash; i.e. Brookfield is making an offer to buy Terraform.
Regulators go distributed. The most exciting ballroom in the Country next week will be in California. NARUC, the national regulators association, is having their meeting and top of their agenda is distributed energy resources. If you go, bring your redbull and espresso.
RUN don’t walk. All the main solar players have put their earnings for the 3rd quarter out. Sunrun went yesterday and had a better than forecasted quarter. Their sales and marketing costs are higher than the competition but that is likely due to their high end customer focus. New interconnect requests in California are trending lower so keep watching that.
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Yann