We’re talking about hot water this week. No — I’m not in trouble with my local utility again — just discussing the best ways to heat water for your home. Our focus is on domestic hot water (DHW). This is hot water that you use for your kitchen, bathing and laundry. In the U.S., the average home uses about 68 gallons of hot water a day, with huge variations based on the number and age of occupants in the home. Taking a step back, I counted six basic ways that people have been heating water since humans discovered fire. Deliberate … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Hawaii’s energy storage incentive legislation – Senate Bill (SB) 2100 – was adjourned “sine die,” or “without a day,” meaning it will get no more hearings in the current session. The bill, which would have replaced the current renewable energy technology systems tax credit with tax credits for solar or wind energy systems and energy storage systems, would have been one of the first laws in the country to create an incentive for storage systems. Without such legislation, it’s fair to ask how Hawaii will reach its mandated goal of reaching 100% clean … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: GOP Senators from solar states like North Carolina have suddenly discovered that President Trump’s tariffs on solar modules are a bad idea (who knew? Everyone. Everyone knew.). Bloomberg reports, “The group of eight senators led by North Carolina’s Thom Tillis urged the administration to waive duties on 72-cell, 1,500-volt panels that are ideal for large ground-mounted “utility-scale” projects.” If they really want to fix this, they should introduce companion legislation to that currently in the House that would remove the tariffs entirely and retroactively pay for the ones already paid. SolarWakeup’s View:  It’s … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: The Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) recently completed a bid on a 223.5 MW project for its member municipal utilities that sources tell SolarWakeup did not arrive at the lowest possible price. Published reports peg the price at less than 4 cents per kWh, and sources familiar with the bidding process say there was at least one bid that came in lower. The decision came at the end of what can at least be called an odd, byzantine bidding process where a closed set of companies were chosen to submit bids. SolarWakeup’s View:  … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:Utility Dive has an excellent piece describing the 88% difference in two VOS studies, one in Montana and one in Maryland. The Maryland VOS study, prepared by the state’s Public Service Commission, values solar highly. The Montana VOS study, prepared by the state’s largest utility, values solar less highly. Can anyone spot the difference? While the Utility Dive analysis goes far deeper into the specifics, it’s no surprise that these reports turned out the way they did. SolarWakeup’s View:  Let’s get this out of the way first: Go read the Utility Dive explanation of … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), in an action that seems antithetical to its entire mission, imposed a grid-access fee on its customers, aimed specifically at solar users because of the zombie lie of the cost-shift. For a utility whose whole existence is owed to the idea that poor, rural people deserve low-cost electricity, the TVA’s grid-access fee seems to be the height of hypocrisy. The TVA servers around 9 million people across seven states. SolarWakeup’s View:  This flippin’ zombie lie is back again, this week popping its head up from the depths of hell … Read More →

Battery storage is roughly where the solar industry was in the early 2000s. It’s a tiny market now but it is exploding and the technology is evolving rapidly. There is money saving potential for customers but there are risks for incumbent energy providers who are pushing back. The standards are changing like quicksand and investor funds are pouring in to take advantage of this inevitable market. The rapid “hockey stick” growth that we are seeing in the energy storage industry is likely to be even more accelerated than the growth of the solar industry. [wds id=”3″] All the pieces are … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:A recent Vote Solar note on Nevada revealed that the industry has come roaring back after legislative fixes in 2017 cleaned up the mess that lawmakers and the Public Utilities Commission created in 2016. Most specifically, Assembly Bill (AB) 405 went into law and caused applications for NV Energy’s SolarGenerations program to spike 11-fold in just one year. The bill also provided the right atmosphere to encourage solar installers to hire more workers, including one company that increased its workforce 300%. SolarWakeup’s View:  Well, better late than never, right? After the Nevada Public Utilities … Read More →

By Nathan Arbitman, Contributor Like many of you, I’ve committed my career to the cleantech industry because of the moral imperative to accelerate the clean energy revolution, as well as the unprecedented wealth creation opportunity this transformation brings. And I’m always asking myself, how we can make this transition happen even faster? Last December, my business, DSM Advanced Solar, announced the outcome of the latest SunRISE TechBridge Challenge, in which we partnered with a leading cleantech accelerator (Greentown Labs) and PV science institute (Fraunhofer CSE), to find and accelerate cutting-edge solar startups. [wds id=”3″] Through this program, DSM has invested … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:A recent study by an outfit called Priceonomics reports that Republicans in California have installed more solar than Democrats. While the study found that Republicans in the state have installed solar at a 5 to 1 ratio may surprise some, the study itself has some methodological flaws that make it impossible to generalize its findings beyond California. It also has a couple of “Well, duh” conclusions, too. SolarWakeup’s View:  When you’re deciding what conclusions you can draw from any given set of data, one of the first questions you should ask yourself is: “Is … Read More →