This is your SolarWakeup for September 6th, 2022
Opinion
News
1 New York Times:
California swelters through a Labor Day heat wave, stretching its electricity resources.
2 New Jersey Monitor:
New PSEG boss takes over with an eye on wind and solar
3 Utility Dive:
California legislature aims for 90% clean electricity by 2035 as part of sweeping climate package
4 Bloomberg:
California Avoids Blackouts With Bigger Test Ahead as Heat Looms
5 Wall Street Journal:
Sheep Are the Solar Industry’s Lawn Mowers of Choice
6 Axios:
Historic heat wave intensifies in the West as grid concerns mount
7 Reuters:
Colombia miners should focus on renewable energy minerals, says Petro
8 PV-Tech:
Faster permitting could bring nearly 1TW of solar and wind to construction in three years
9 Energy Storage News:
Competition for battery cells between EV and energy storage sectors to ease from 2024, CEA says
10 PV-Magazine:
Sunnova to develop solar and storage “micro-utility” in California
Opinions:
11 Canary Media:
California faces big power challenges — even if Diablo Canyon stays open
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 2nd, 2022
Opinion
News
1 Utility Dive:
Coal advocates warn NERC is underestimating plant retirements by about 68 GW, threatening reliability
2 Reuters:
California lawmakers extend life of nuclear plant, approve slate of climate bills
3 PV-Magazine:
Despite supply challenges, solar panel shipments grew 32% last year
4 New York Times:
Amid Heat Wave, California Asks Electric Vehicle Owners to Limit Charging
5 CNBC:
Amazon took all U.S. solar rooftops offline last year after flurry of fires, electrical explosions
6 Axios:
Ocean heat reached all-time high in 2021, report finds
7 PV-Tech:
California lawmakers pass community solar bill as they look to exploit IRA incentives
8 Energy Storage News:
European energy majors Equinor, Uniper get involved in flow battery investment and pilot project
9 Canary Media:
Hawaii just got rid of coal power for good
Opinions:
10 Bloomberg:
Surging Copper Demand Will Complicate the Clean Energy Boom
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 1st, 2022
It’s September! It’s been 3 years since our last SPI/RE+ in Utah. I was still running a solar racking company which had just been acquired. This year, I join many of you at RE+, but as an exhibitor, showing off the amazing work we’re doing in energy storage at FlexGen and the industry is fresh off the biggest climate related policy victory in the history of, well ever. It is also going to be the 10 year anniversary of SolarWakeup and as subdued as that celebration may be, I thank the original 37 subscribers and the 4 of you that unsubscribed on day 1. We’ve done some fun stuff together in the past decade and we’ll do a lot more in the future. Big new things to come, in the industry and right here. Please do say hello if we see each other at RE+, it’ll be great to be together again.
News
1 New York Times:
Gov. Jay Inslee Is Taking a Well-Earned Climate Victory Lap
2 Axios:
U.S. solar factories prepare for liftoff
3 PV-Magazine:
Solar industry was held back in the first half of 2022, but now the floodgates are opened
4 Utility Dive:
DOE launches $10.5B Grid Resilience and Innovative Partnerships Program
5 Bloomberg:
Europe’s Energy Crisis Dampening Corporate Deals for Clean Power
6 Grist:
The electric vehicle boom could bring lithium mines back to North Carolina
7 Energy Storage News:
California zoning exemption granted to enable ‘even more rapid’ energy storage deployment
Opinions:
8 Canary Media:
When — and how — should you talk to your kids about climate change?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 31st, 2022
Opinion
News
1 Reuters:
First Solar pledges big U.S. factory expansion thanks to climate law
2 Los Angeles Times:
SoCal’s worst heat wave of the year - What’s the timing, who will be hit hardest?
3 Bloomberg:
Negative Power Prices? Blame the US Grid for Stranding Renewable Energy
4 Utility Dive:
Inflation Reduction Act could shift EV battery composition - BofA Global
5 Energy Storage News:
US government launches US$335 million battery recycling programme
6 Canary Media:
Open-sourcing the grid emissions data needed for 24/7 clean energy
7 PV-Magazine:
SolarEdge investigated for alleged patent violation
8 PV-Tech:
How did the top six solar module companies fare in H1 2022?
Opinions:
9 Fitch:
New Production Tax Credit Will Spur Solar Generation - Development Costs May Rise
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 30th, 2022
Dropping Demand To Fix Supply. While experts see this winter in Europe to be challenging given the ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine and offensive energy aggressions with natural gas supply, they don’t expect Countries like Germany to fall short in supplying energy to its citizens. That doesn’t mean that it won’t be financially painful, we’ve seen that coverage across the headlines over the past few weeks. It will take time for Europe to find alternative gas supplies, more specifically gas logistics, to offset decreased Russian supply. The increase energy cost is one of the largest impacts to the inflationary pressures across the Continent and globe. That is where solar and storage steps in on all sides of the grid. It’s important to offset as much gas demand as possible with alternative fuels, not meaning to eliminate in the short term, but instead to save as much as possible to ensure no shortfalls and decrease the price pressures that families will feel.
News
1 Axios:
Europe's soaring energy costs push leaders to consider major steps
2 Bloomberg:
US Homes Add Rooftop Solar at a Record Clip to Cut Power Bills
3 Utility Dive:
FERC approves ISO-NE plan to bypass the grid operator and rely on state reviews for DER interconnections
4 PV-Magazine:
Solar on canals moves closer to reality
5 Solar Builder:
Enphase Energy acquires smart home IoT software provider GreenCom
6 Renew Economy:
“Workers want a plan
7 PV-Tech:
Australia will need 1.9TW of solar to reach net zero by 2050 – report
Opinions:
8 Canary Media:
EPA should crack down on fossil-fueled heating, climate groups argue
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 29th, 2022
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
Texas Crypto-Mining Rush May Need as Much Power as Entire State of New York
2 Axios:
U.K. residents to see 80% increase in energy bills
3 New York Times:
California E.V. Mandate Finds a Receptive Auto Industry
4 Politico:
Russia, Ukraine trade claims of nuclear plant attacks
5 Utility Dive:
Texas opens efficiency and demand response docket as NGO pushes for tougher utility targets, lower rewards
6 PV-Tech:
Amp Energy secures US$155 million financing for community solar-plus-storage portfolio in the US
7 Energy Storage News:
Town in Long Island, New York considers 320MWh of BESS proposals – report
8 Canary Media:
Lunar Energy enters solar+battery field with $300M investment
9 PV-Magazine:
The growing demand for automation in demand response
Opinions:
10 RMI:
Why Purchased Power is Such a Big Deal to Better Understand US Utilities’ Climate Impact
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 26th, 2022
Opinion
News
1 World Economic Forum:
The power couple - Why solar and storage are key to reducing geopolitical risk and securing access to energy
2 New York Times:
Why Europe’s Electricity Prices Are Soaring
3 Utility Dive:
Inflation Reduction Act has ‘direct impact’ on California net energy metering modeling, utilities say
4 Energy Storage News:
Big names, small battery systems - US residential energy storage in focus
5 Bloomberg:
Surviving Energy Bills Forces Drastic Steps by UK Businesses
6 Reuters:
California to cover canal with solar panels in experiment to fight drought, climate change
7 PV-Tech:
California’s Senate passes Solar Access Act designed to speed up residential PV permitting
8 Canary Media:
How much money can you save under the new climate law?
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
To PTC or ITC, that is the financial question
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 25th, 2022
Opinion
News
1 Vox:
California is about to set the finish line for the EV race
2 Axios:
Democrats aren't out of the woods yet on energy prices
3 Bloomberg:
Australia Could Power the World and Its Green Ambitions Could Change Everything
4 PV-Magazine:
Ohm sees a 90% disconnect in California’s emergency electricity policy
5 PV-Tech:
China calls on its PV industry to deepen industrial management, develop ‘strategic alliances’
6 CNN:
Solar power is booming in Germany as Russia turns down the gas
7 Energy Storage News:
European battery startup FREYR opens Boston tech centre, appoints US VP of operations
8 Canary Media:
How a new national green bank could steer $27B to clean energy projects
Opinions:
9 New York Times:
Right and Wrong Ways to Address Climate Change
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 24th, 2022
Big Moment In Storage. When you walk into RE+ this year you’ll find that energy storage central is central to the conference. For a long time it’s been, when storage makes sense, and this year it will be about many industry participants trying to make sense of energy storage the ecosystem. There are manufacturers, packagers, inverter providers and companies that make this stuff work. On paper, storage has the path to trillions of deployed capital providing the flexibility and resilience that the grid needs. In practice, it will require asset owners and their partners managing their projects with much more granularity than when they managed solar plants.
It’s Getting Simpler. One of the biggest complexity for solar plus storage is leaving, that’s the ITC requirement that only solar generation fuel the battery. Removing that charging limitation, makes it a lot easier to design and operate plants.
Diving Into The Ecosystem. We’ll talk a lot about this because obviously I have a lot to say about the storage ecosystem given that FlexGen plays a central role on the downstream side. As mentioned above there are equipment suppliers, a complicated value chain given recent global events, that will get better over time. The question you’ll want to answer for yourself going into RE+ is what do you do when you receive those batteries and PCS units to your project site and how long will it take to commission it? And then, what could go wrong once you start turning on the revenue faucet?
All About Bankability. A storage ITC means that you also get a market that has not structured development for tax equity and there are very few tax equity providers that have done storage. One thing is for sure, bankability and track record will be the most important question after “what do you do?” and “does your stuff work?”. Having spent the past two weeks talking to infrastructure and tax equity investors about storage, software and control platforms are no longer an afterthought. It all matters…
News
1 Energy Storage News:
FlexGen to deliver 100MW ERCOT portfolio for SMT Energy/Susi Partners
2 Axios:
Chart - America's surge of spending on clean energy
3 PV-TEch:
Inflation Reduction Act to add an extra US$110 billion in utility-scale solar investment by 2030
4 Bloomberg:
US Climate Bill’s Subsidy Bonanza Gives New Allure to Carbon Capture
5 Reuters:
U.S. natgas futures hit $10/mmbtu for first time since 2008
6 NPR:
As Germany struggles in energy crisis, more turn to solar to help power homes
7 Canary Media:
New software can find more room for clean energy on transmission grids
8 PV-Magazine:
Global study finds over half of consumers want net-zero homes
Opinions:
9 Utility Dive:
Why the energy transition broke the U.S. interconnection system
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 23rd, 2022
Opinion
News
1 New York Times:
Expansion of Clean Energy Loans Is ‘Sleeping Giant’ of Climate Bill
2 Reuters:
U.S. to spend more than $500 billion on climate over a decade under three laws, study says
3 Business Insider:
Russia's Gazprom announces surprise plans to shutter the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline for 3 days
4 Bloomberg:
Shell Weighs Australia Wind Expansion Amid Clean Energy Push
5 Utility Dive:
GreenHat Energy, traders to pay $181M to settle PJM market manipulation allegations
6 Axios:
China's unrivaled 70-day heat wave
7 Canary Media:
Hawaii is about to get rid of coal power for good
8 PV-Magazine:
REC Silicon and Mississippi Silicon agreement bolsters U.S. solar supply chain
Opinions:
9 RMI:
Congress’s Climate Triple Whammy - Innovation, Investment, and Industrial Policy
Have a great day!
Yann
