This is your SolarWakeup for September 13th, 2023
Opinion
News
1 Energy Storage News:
IRA tax equity benefits ‘not yet fully captured’ by US energy storage industry one year on
2 Axios:
Global climate ambition gets fresh boost, as world lags on Paris Agreement goals
3 Reuters:
EU Parliament passes bill hiking renewable energy targets
4 PV-Tech:
Igneo acquires majority stake in Soltage, aims to grow solar portfolio to 1.9GW
5 Utility Dive:
Taking Charge
6 PV-Magazine:
Storage, inverters, design tools and more at RE+ 2023
7 Renewable Energy World:
Nextracker opens new Las Vegas facility for steel solar components
Opinions:
8 Bloomberg:
Chevron Buys Into World’s Biggest Hydrogen-Storage Plant in Utah
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 11th, 2023
Welcome To Vegas. Like many of you will today, I have arrived in Las Vegas. Beyond the expo and the parties, it’s all about the people and the relationships you get to expand on while we’re in the same room. Congrats to everyone launching new ideas and products this week, these are fun moments.
News
1 Axios:
UN - Countries need dramatic course correction to meet Paris climate goals
2 Utility Dive:
As Google, Meta eye clean energy buys, researchers find widely used strategy has scant carbon benefits
3 PV-Magazine:
How developers can capitalize on IRA support for community solar financing
4 Tampa Bay Times:
Florida tops all US states for solar installations so far in 2023
5 Solar Power World:
Silfab Solar agrees to buy silicon wafers from NorSun’s planned U.S. factory
6 New York Times:
No Bidders in British Offshore Wind Auction
7 Reuters:
India makes clean energy push at G20 with global biofuel alliance
8 Energy Storage News:
Enervenue to mass produce newest ‘30,000 cycle’ metal-hydrogen batteries in Kentucky
Opinions:
9 Bloomberg:
Climate Hacks Are What the World Needs Now
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 8th, 2023
Nice RE+ Lead. Heading into SPI (sorry, but I had to get it out of my system), I mean RE+, the solar industry shows where it can go this year with a projection of 28 GW for the year. That includes a soft start to the year with IRA implementation efforts and guidance slowing down what will be a sprint for the foreseeable future. See you all in Vegas! Stop by the FlexGen booth to say hi and of course learn about the leading operating system software for your battery projects.
News
1 Utility Dive:
US solar installations expected to jump 52% to nearly 32 GW in 2023 - SEIA
2 Bloomberg:
Triple Threat to Texas Power Grid Will Keep It Vulnerable
3 Axios:
How Biden's climate law is fueling the U.S. battery boom
4 Reuters:
Repsol enters U.S. onshore wind market with $768 mln ConnectGen buy
5 PV-Tech:
Enfinity Global secures US$428 million to fund 17GW portfolio
6 Energy Storage News:
Shell putting residential storage and VPP firm sonnen up for sale – reports
7 Canary Media:
Boston Metal gets big funding boost to make green steel
Opinions:
8 PV-magazine:
EnerVenue launches new metal-hydrogen battery variant
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 7th, 2023
Ensuring Generation Growth. The language coming from the US offshore development companies is concerning as many of them are seeing no path to start of construction. The issue at hand is that the proforma is upside down, costs from interest rates, supply chain and inflation causing revenues to miss the mark on the capex that it will take to build GW of offshore wind. The problem is the need for generation is expanding faster than expected to we need to build all of the generation possible. That leaves a couple options for these wind projects, let utilities ratebase it or force the markets to renegotiate the offtake agreements. In the meantime, it’s important to accelerate the interconnection bottleneck and get more solar/storage projects financed and built.
News
1 Reuters:
Orsted CEO says abandoning US wind projects a 'real option', Bloomberg reports
2 Energy News US:
In unexpected move, New Hampshire utilities voice support for solar net metering
3 Utility Dive:
Ninth Circuit largely upholds FERC PURPA reform decision affecting small solar, wind
4 PV-Magazine:
Qcells to enter into $3 billion supply agreement for U.S.-made polysilicon
5 Bloomberg:
Texas Teeters on Edge of Blackouts as Demand Squeezes Grid
6 New York Times:
At Africa’s First Climate Summit, a Clear Call to the World - Invest in Us
7 Canary Media:
Another US EV-battery recycler just raised a massive funding round
Opinions:
8 Energy Storage News:
BESS operators oppose ERCOT’s NPRR 1186 changes
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 6th, 2023
Opinion
News
1 Utility Dive:
Eversource, National Grid file draft plans to meet expected demand surge from electrification
2 New York Times:
Want to Understand Clean Energy Anxiety? Look at the Jersey Shore.
3 Reuters:
BP's Looney holding his nerve over energy transition plan
4 Solar Builder:
Ohm Analytics reports DG solar market grew 6% in Q2
5 PV-Tech:
Pattern Energy begins 3GW transmission project in US
6 Energy Storage News:
India requires 74GW/411GWh of energy storage by 2032, according to National Electricity Plan
7 PV-Magazine:
Bringing ERCOT’s speedy interconnection process to the rest of the U.S.
Opinions:
8 Canary Media:
The fight over California community solar- ‘It’s everyone vs. utilities’
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 5th, 2023
Investing In Ecosystems. American politics mandates that you have to accomplish big things in your first two years if you can, because the election cycle eats you up in the second half of your first term and you likely lost Congressional seats in the mid-terms. Biden had the Chips Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Act find his signature in that first half and the administration has been busy since then. The interesting part of that is not the politics for the point I want to make today, it’s how the administration is working on all angles of the trillions of private dollars that will follow these markets. Invest in the infrastructure that enables roads, charging, and wires that will allow electrification to be resilient. Fund training for construction, factories and maintenance of a new portfolio of assets. Expand the markets that will demand the production of everything: cars, batteries, renewable energy and more. For example, most people love their EVs but some will complain about charging infrastructure that could limit their recommendation. Some want more solar, but the interconnection queue is clogged from outdated wires. All of this is wonky and early but in order to see trillions in economic growth trickle through the system, it has to get done.
News
1 Axios:
White House launches billion-dollar effort to speed EV production
2 New York Times:
Clean Energy Projects Are Booming Everywhere. Except in Poor Nations.
3 Bloomberg:
China Leaves Everyone Behind in Race for Renewables Income
4 Energy storage News:
EU Batteries Regulation introduces ‘ground-breaking reform’ to to meet Green Deal aims
5 Reuters:
India steps up coal use to stop outages triggered by unusually dry weather
6 PV-Magazine:
U.S. and India launch joint renewable energy tech platform
7 PV-Tech:
TrinaTracker opens 2.5GW tracker manufacturing plant in Brazil
Opinions:
8 Canary Media:
Add these climate books to your end-of-summer reading list
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 1st, 2023
Opinion
News
1 Axios:
Hurricane Idalia is yet another test of America's aging power infrastructure
2 Canary Media:
Eos wins $400M DOE loan guarantee to build longer-lasting batteries
3 Bloomberg:
The Biggest Fossil Fuel Subsidies Are Indirect, and Bigger Than Ever
4 Utility Dive:
Treasury proposes regulations for IRA’s wage and apprenticeship requirements
5 Reuters:
Philippines to auction off 8-gigawatt power capacity in push for renewables
6 PV-Tech:
Clēnera signs PPA with Arizona Public Service for upcoming CO Bar solar and storage project
7 Energy Storage News:
Engie Chile starts building 418MWh BESS at solar PV plant
8 PV-Magazine:
Nexamp orders 1.5 GW of Heliene solar modules
Opinions:
9 Renew Economy:
AEMO says coal exits won’t trigger shortfalls if big batteries built on time
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 31st, 2023
It’s Open, All The Time. Last week, FlexGen officially opened its 24.7 remote operations center servicing energy storage asset owners for monitoring, reporting and performance analytics of those sites. This world class facility was purpose built for energy storage operations and one of the most exciting projects in my career. This comes in line with new product launches as the technology teams have shown innovation in ways that we weren’t expecting for years to come. Storage is driving grid reliance on the asset class faster than expected, meaning operators are having to keep up with new specifications and regulations, demanding more from batteries and the operating systems that keep them running. At the same time, revenues from batteries create a particularly important relationship between asset owners and the operations center. Over the past few months, I’ve learned that many systems are not actively monitored, reliably monitored and little to no analytics is performed on the data, and those systems deserve more.
News
1 Solar Builder:
FlexGen Power Systems opens 24/7 remote operations center in North Carolina
2 Canary Media:
Redwood Materials lands $1B to boost its battery recycling efforts
3 Energy Storage News:
US residential energy storage firm FranklinWH raises US$25 million
4 Utility Dive:
1 year later, EV and battery projects dominate Inflation Reduction Act-driven investment
5 Reuters:
German court throws out lower grid operator returns set by regulator
6 PV-Magazine:
Model procedures for fixing distributed solar and storage interconnection
Opinions:
7 Bloomberg:
Australia Sees Power Gaps Over Next Decade as 62% of Coal Operations Shut Down
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 30th, 2023
Project Sunroof Monetizes. Google announced that it will be offering an API for rooftop solar data which has the projection of creating $100million in annual revenues in year 1. The data is said to include access to 350million properties and introduce the overlay of 30 days of air quality history. Will this be a must have feature in proposal tools or will resi solar look at this as an unnecessary addition to the data set?
News
1 CNBC:
Google to begin selling maps data to companies building solar products, hopes to generate $100 million in first year
2 Utility Dive:
On clean energy tax credits, mayors want clearer federal guidance
3 PV-Tech:
SRE and HASI to build 250MW community solar projects in Illinois and Maryland
4 Bloomberg:
Texas Asked to Conserve Energy After Power Plant Outages
5 Axios:
Major Hurricane Idalia set to hit Florida's Big Bend coast as Category 4 storm
6 Reuters:
Fossil fuels' share in EU power mix at lowest level since records began -report
7 Washington Post:
What Gas Crisis? Europe’s Best Friend Is Also Its Worst Enemy
8 Energy Storage News:
US reached 12.7GW of BESS in Q2 but no ERCOT additions, says S&P
9 PV-Magazine:
Jaguar building large-scale storage system with second-life EV batteries
Opinions:
10 Canary Media:
Why the Gulf of Mexico’s first offshore wind auction wasn’t a smash hit
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 29th, 2023
Don’t Let Facts Get In The Way. Of a good story, or political talking point. Ever since the 2014 era ITC extension, solar has had to trade molecular fuels subsidies for its own extensions. Today, the US develops as much oil and gas as the global markets allow them to, with little to no say from the US federal government. In many ways, Riyadh determines how much oil is drilled in the US more so than DC but I digress. Politically, there is only one thing I really care about here which is something that I’ve complained about a lot, somewhat mitigated by the transferability of the tax credits but that’s the passive income rules that solar has to abide by that oil and gas does not. Democrat votes may complain about this leading up to 2024 but I expect the Biden administration to brag about the oil production ahead of the election while knowing that renewables are taking off with the IRA and EV impact on transportation is at its highest ever.
News
1 Politico:
The U.S. is pumping oil faster than ever. Republicans don’t care.
2 Wall Street Journal:
Exxon Predicts World Will Miss Climate-Change Targets
3 Utility Dive:
The American power system is changing. How can electricity rates keep up?
4 New York Times:
There’s a Vast Source of Clean Energy Beneath Our Feet. And a Race to Tap It.
5 ABC News:
U.S. Secretary of Energy will visit Heliene & Nexamp on Aug. 30th
6 Axios:
FEMA allocates $3B for climate change as Congress stalls on disaster fund
7 Reuters:
MEDIA-Google to begin selling maps data to companies building solar products - CNBC
8 PV-Magazine:
Arizona approves cut to solar compensation rates
Opinions:
9 Bloomberg:
Bitcoin’s Dirty History Offers a Lesson for AI’s Future
Have a great day!
Yann
