This is your SolarWakeup for August 10th, 2023
The Storage ITC Is Here. Years of talk, years of advocacy and one giant piece of legislation leads to this, a successful portfolio raise for tax equity on a stand-along storage project. In this case, SMT Energy is showcasing their raise in a way to show that a good project with bankable & capable partners developed by an experienced team can put the money to work. I’ve known the SMT team for many years and super happy to see them get this done.
News
1 Energy Storage News:
SMT Energy and SUSI secure tax equity investment for 100MW ERCOT projects
2 Bloomberg:
Big Oil Is Getting Serious About Lithium
3 Reuters:
RWE must watch its leading role in German power market, cartel office says
4 PV-Tech:
Array Technologies reports revenue of US$507.7 million in Q2 2023
5 Wisconsin Business:
Alliant Energy - Solar energy battery projects get green light
6 Canary Media:
Tesla bets $76M on wireless EV charging. Can the tech go mainstream?
7 PV-Magazine:
Developer challenges Massachusetts town on solar zoning restrictions
8 Politico:
Biden says he has ‘practically’ declared a climate emergency. But he actually hasn’t.
Opinions:
9 Utility Dive:
California must act quickly or risk losing billions in federal community solar incentives
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 9th, 2023
Possibility Doesn’t Pay The Bills. GM will follow Ford in marketing that the vehicles are capable of vehicle to grid (V2G). The theoretical use case of V2G, especially in aggregate, is really interesting. The actuality of getting vehicles to discharge the right amount (so that drivers can get home) is much more complicated. But this is all in the name of nothing at all if grid operators don’t start actually paying for the resources even on a standby basis. Some of the most expensive power plants in the Country run less than 10 times per year while solar has been saving the grid during this last run of heat waves without getting paid for the resilience.
Shortsighted Economics of Innovation. I’m saddened to see Proterra file for bankruptcy protection. It is my hope that the company will be acquired or recapitalized, logically by an OEM. Proterra is the national interest for large vehicle electrification, maybe a few years early. I had the pleasure of meeting former CEO, Ryan Popple, and interviewing him for the SolarWakeup podcast prior to his untimely passing. Let’s all root for the next chapter in Proterra’s future.
News
1 New York Times:
G.M. Will Add Backup Power Function to Its Electric Vehicles
2 Utility Dive:
Constellation Energy CEO ‘disappointed’ to see peers opposing EPA’s power plant carbon rule
3 Reuters:
Tesla's finance chief Kirkhorn unexpectedly steps down
4 PV-Tech:
Solar added 2.7GW of capacity in Q2 2023 in the US, half of all clean power installs
5 Energy Storage News:
Grid-scale battery boom as US quarterly installs go up 32%, pipeline grows 45% year-on-year
6 Canary Media:
Proterra, biggest EV bus maker in the US, files for bankruptcy protection
7 PV-Magazine:
Community solar to exceed 6 GW in 2023
Opinions:
8 Axios:
How COVID and Biden's climate law could usher in an era of green housing
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 8th, 2023
The Physics Of Funnels. Fill a funnel too fast and it all ends up on your face. Make the funnel too wide and you have too much momentum in the receiving reservoir. You have to pour it at the right pace for the type of ratio from big to small or you have to have the right ratio for the speed of the pour. The same is going to be true for large points of interconnection from offshore wind farms. The larger the farm and the more specific the interconnection point needs to be designed for or it risks disrupting the grid stability on the receiving end.
News
1 Energy Storage News:
Leading Light Wind NJ offshore wind proposal includes 253MW BESS option
2 Canary Media:
The grid isn’t ready for the EV boom. Can better data fix that?
3 Politico:
Next frontier in Fla. education wars - Climate
4 New York Times:
Microgrids Are Giving Power to the People
5 Reuters:
New Zealand, BlackRock to launch $1.22 bln climate infrastructure fund
6 PV-Tech:
Brookfield Renewable to commission 18GW of renewables in next three years
7 Yale Climate:
Just how fast will clean energy grow in the U.S.?
8 PV-Magazine:
California puts multi-meter rooftop solar at risk in proposed decision
Opinions:
9 GreenBiz:
Clean energy buyers raise the bar, seeking greater co-benefits
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 7th, 2023
Sometimes, It Feels Hopeless. More drilling, less clean energy. What a sentence, and yet completely believable when it comes to politics. But what does drilling and clean energy really have to do with each other? Oil and electricity have no overlap. Gas does, but is there a shortage of gas supply? Are utilities having a hard time building gas plants? Let’s be clear, this is a market dynamic that has little to do with politics. Oil and coal plants won’t be built again and the auto sector is electrifying. On the other hand, what is the reason for the anti-clean energy stance from a republican standpoint? I see plenty of free market activity and job creation every day from this industry and continue to see the opportunity for the solar and storage markets to be completely bipartisan.
News
1 New York Times:
A Republican 2024 Climate Strategy
2 Utility Dive:
FERC interconnection rule may not speed process in much of US - experts
3 Bloomberg:
Texas Power Prices to Surge 800% on Sunday Amid Searing Heat
4 Globe and Mail:
Alberta’s next renewable energy challenge? Places to store the power being generated
5 Reuters:
World Bank to help fund 1,000 mini solar power grids in Nigeria
6 PV-Tech:
AEMO receives 3.1GW of power generation applicants in latest round of NSW energy tenders
7 Solar Power World:
One year later - Where the IRA stands
8 Canary Media:
Rivian backs massive solar plant atop old coal mine in Kentucky
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
Local zoning ordinances play important role in predicting solar output
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 4th, 2023
Play By Play Corporate Commenting. You’ve probably never heard of this company, Azelio, which filed for bankruptcy recently. It’s a hardware technology company based in Sweden and covered in today’s top story. The only reason I am somewhat familiar with this is because at every step of the way, the company sent not just the press releases but updates to industry media email address in which my SolarWakeup email was included. From their quarterly announcements to their delays in filings and changes to their board and executives. Every update was chronicled via email to the media in a way that I’ve never seen before, so I wanted to share that with you given that it’s being covered by the industry reporters when in reality, it likely would have just disappeared had it not been so public about the demise.
News
1 Canary Media:
Is Azelio’s abrupt bankruptcy a bad omen for long-duration energy storage?
2 Bloomberg:
UK Green Subsidies Need Revamp to Meet Net Zero, SSE Says
3 Reuters:
Alberta pauses approvals of some new renewable projects, greens unhappy
4 PV-Tech:
FERC publishes new guidance for US grid interconnections
5 Energy Storage News:
Nova Scotia - Energy storage key to Canadian province’s transition away from coal
6 GreenBiz:
Looking back at the Inflation Reduction Act
7 PV-Magazine:
WoodMac predicts 270 GW of new global PV capacity in 2023
Opinions:
8 Utility Dive:
Despite headwinds, US offshore wind is poised for a breakout
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 3rd, 2023
Bureaucracy For The Sake Of. It’s a positive sign that FERC and the White House are looking to accelerate the work around net metering and permitting. It still leaves the lack of focus by the ISOs to not only accelerate their work, i.e. it takes 6 years for a cluster to go through in CAISO and PJM is PJM. ISOs are also delayed in a more progressive price signals that will enable more sustainable construction of the pipeline.
News
1 Canary Media:
White House proposes new rule to speed up clean energy permitting
2 Utility Dive:
New York must triple its renewable capacity in eight years to meet 2030 target
3 Reuters:
US doubles renewable subsidies to $15.6 billion in last seven years, EIA says
4 Barrons:
Rooftop Solar Is in a Slump. This CEO Sees 2 Ways Out.
5 PV-Magazine:
SolarEdge stock trades down despite record revenue in Q2
6 Bloomberg:
Home-Power Suppliers Face Slump Despite Grid Outages
7 Energy Storage News:
Software-centric’ home battery company Electriq Power gets NYSE listing
Opinions:
8 Politico:
Are EV sales really slowing down?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 2nd, 2023
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
Offshore Wind Industry Is Caught In a Financial Hurricane
2 PV-Tech:
US$450 million allocated by US govt to install rooftop solar PV for Puerto Rico residents
3 Utility Dive:
Young workers are flocking to renewable jobs, but the sector remains short on labor, reports show
4 Axios:
Phoenix is first U.S. city with a monthly temperature above 100°F
5 Reuters:
Texas power use hits record for second straight day as heat wave lingers
6 Energy Storage News:
Ameresco
7 Canary Media:
Tesla alum aims to build the power company of the future
8 PV-Magazine:
Solar decommissioning plans for 36 U.S. states
Opinions:
9 New York Times:
Solar Supply Chain Grows More Opaque Amid Human Rights Concerns
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 1st, 2023
The IRA Certainty Problem. There’s the downside of the political system and primarily of the rhetoric that comes out of DC. The IRA is an economic behemoth and were it not for the rhetoric that threatens to cut the IRA if political winds shifted, the onshoring of factories would be far greater than they already are. As a country, the United States cannot create the economic environment that requires every pro forma to turn positive before the next election but in many ways that’s already happening and it is unfortunate.
News
1 Axios:
2024 elections complicate climate tech startup investing
2 Canary Media:
FERC takes a big step to get more clean energy on the US grid
3 Utility Dive:
Southern California Edison eyeing ‘substantial investments’ in grid resilience and reliability, CEO says
4 Bloomberg:
US on Alert as It Enters Two Historically Super-Hot Weeks - Weather Watch
5 Reuters:
Texas power use hits record for sixth time this summer as heat wave lingers
6 Solar Builder:
SEIA to develop 11 new solar, energy storage ANSI standards
7 PV-Tech:
China’s installed solar capacity reaches 470GW as of H1 2023
8 PV-Magazine:
Stiff competition predicted for USDA $9.7 billion focused on renewables
Opinions:
9 Houston Chronicle:
Are batteries the future of the power grid? In Texas the experiment is already underway
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 31st, 2023
Electrify Everything And Future Thing. This summer has caused challenges across the spectrum and some that haven’t been recognized yet. When we say electrification is the energy transition, we usually focus on EVs and gas stoves. But in reality there’s much more. One of those is that many more Americans and people across the globe want and need cooling solutions. This additional load will be additive to the load peak on the grid when the heat is most straining it, exacerbating the grid operators’ challenge.
News
1 Bloomberg:
Cooling Technology’s Next Act Could Be Even More Important Than Today’s Heat Pumps
2 Axios:
White House makes its move on permitting
3 Los Angeles Times:
California has new weapons to battle summer blackouts
4 PV-Magazine:
Enphase lowers revenue guidance as U.S. residential solar stagnates
5 PV-Tech:
Nextracker’s quarterly revenue rises 19% year-on-year
6 Solar Power World:
Biden Administration proposes new rules for solar permitting on federal lands
7 Canary Media:
Charts - US clean energy developers are hyped about post-IRA prospects
Opinions:
8 Utility Dive:
Cautious investors and fast cash - Why AEP, Duke and other utilities have sold their renewable assets
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 28th, 2023
Weekend Rundown. A few things to get you into your weekend, back to regularly scheduled commentary next week.
News
1 New York Times:
A Bottleneck on the Grid Threatens Clean Energy. New Rules Aim to Help.
2 Axios:
Biden announces first-ever heat wave "hazard alert" for workers
3 PV-Magazine:
First Solar announces fifth U.S. manufacturing facility
4 Reuters:
Enphase Energy sees revenue below estimates on weak U.S. demand, shares fall
5 PV-Tech:
SunPower reports net loss of US$30 million in Q2 2023 preliminary results
6 Utility Dive:
Barrasso ties possible transmission reforms to ‘premature’ power plant retirements
7 Solar Builder:
In for the long haul - Charting the rise of long duration energy storage
8 Energy Storage News:
Grid services revenues could be key to unlocking solar and storage for low-income communities
Opinions:
9 Bloomberg:
No Clean Energy Source Is Marginal in the Quest for Net Zero
Have a great day!
Yann
