This is your SolarWakeup for October 4th, 2021
Biden Gets Involved. The President went to Congress last week and linked the two infrastructure bills, the bipartisan bill and the budget reconciliation. Pelosi couldn’t bring the bipartisan bill to the floor last week and has set a Halloween deadline to get things done even though there is a 2-week recess coming up. The question now comes down to price tag on the social safety net bill, which is what most of you are keen to see because the 10 year ITC extension for solar at 30%, ITC for standalone storage and direct pay for small solar is expected to be packaged in that bill. The showdown is between the House Progressive Caucus and Senators Sinema and Manchin who are not ready to sign on to the $3.5trillion ask in the House. To put it into context, this is a 10 year spending number and Congress passed a defense authorization over $7trillion last week.
Tesla Delivers And Elon Forecasts. Tesla delivered over 240k new cars last quarter, mostly their model 3 and Y version which have a more than 6 month delivery wait currently. This is not a new statement from Elon, but he reiterated that the continued shift to electric transportation will require a doubling of global electricity generation.
The Global Energy Crisis. You’re starting to hear it, the fuel shortage in Europe for oil and gas causing lines at gas stations and price increases for electricity, the rationing of electricity in China causing factories to lower production forecasts and then the gas price spikes in the US. It’s a global energy crisis and don’t look now but most utilities are upside down on their fuel forecasts for low cost natural gas power plants that consumers will have to pick up the extra costs for. A hard winter in the northeast could be a financial disaster with fuel futures showing much higher costs than previous winters.
California’s Path To Energy Resilience. The most frustrating political fight is California legislators and regulators singing the tune for 100% renewables but then allowing net metering changes to go to the goal line with the threat to eliminate the crucial policy for distributed energy. This isn’t just about solar on homes but also microgrids for manufacturing and schools that allow for the economy to keep moving forward if transmission is impacted by extreme weather events.
News
1 Axios:
Biden floats roughly $2 trillion price tag for reconciliation
2 Barrons:
Tesla’s Musk Says U.S. Electricity Production Needs to Double to Power Transition to EV Vehicles
3 New York Times:
Global Natural Gas Crunch Roils Consumers and Industry
4 Utility Dive:
As California's solar net metering battle goes to regulators, a focus on reliability may be the best answer
5 Bloomberg:
What’s Behind Europe’s Skyrocketing Power Prices
6 Reuters:
Solar supply squeeze frustrates New Mexico's move away from coal
7 Energy Storage News:
Fluence IPO ‘can open investment doors for energy storage and renewable energy industry’
8 Canary Media:
SoftBank’s renewables developer just made the biggest flow battery purchase ever
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
PV Evolution Labs crowdsources solar inverter testing
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for October 1st, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Politico:
Pelosi delays infrastructure vote as Democrats struggle to reach deal
2 Reuters:
Exclusive-The king of oil bets on batteries for a green world
3 The Hill:
Manchin says his spending limit is $1.5 trillion
4 PV-Magazine:
House bill would channel $3.5 billion to domestic solar manufacturing
5 UTility Dive:
Democrats' clean electricity plan to require 85 GW of renewable energy additions a year - S&P
6 Bloomberg:
China Orders Top Energy Firms to Secure Supplies at All Costs
7 PV-Tech:
Solar manufacturing majors call on customers to delay projects amidst supply ‘crisis’
8 Solar Power World:
Commerce says petitioners can’t be anonymous in latest solar panel tariff development
Opinions:
9 Canary Media:
Utility Entergy stymied transmission projects that might have prevented some New Orleans blackouts
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 30th, 2021
Opinion
News
1 The Hill:
House appears poised to pull infrastructure vote amid stubborn stalemate
2 Reuters:
U.S. trade officials delay decision on new solar tariffs
3 Politico:
Manchin offers alternative plans to Democrats' 'fiscal insanity'
4 EarthJustice:
PJM Reverses Policy Designed to Stymie Clean Energy
5 Canary Media:
Energy storage leader Fluence preps for old-school IPO, bucking SPAC trend
6 PV-Tech:
SEIA calls for solar to reach 30% of US electricity generation by 2030
7 Bloomberg:
TotalEnergies CEO Says Europe Gas Crisis May Last All Winter
8 Energy Storage News:
Morocco-UK Power Project
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
U.S. solar notches record Q2, but faces bottleneck issues
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 29th, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Politico:
Solar trade woes cast a pall over Biden’s climate goals
2 The Hill:
Left warns Pelosi they'll take down Biden infrastructure bill
3 Reuters:
Tariffs, seizures expose U.S. solar industry's vulnerability to imports
4 Axios:
The energy crises roiling Europe and China — and beyond
5 Energy Storage News:
Fluence files for IPO
6 Utility Dive:
FERC approves PPL acquisition of Narragansett Electric from National Grid
7 Solar Power World:
Meyer Burger plans to build 400-MW capacity solar module assembly factory in U.S.
8 PV-Magazine:
GAF Energy completes work on rooftop solar manufacturing facility
Opinions:
9 Bloomberg:
Democrats Need a Carbon Tax and a Coal Miner Buyout
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 28th, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Washington Post:
Some Chinese solar-panel manufacturers have stopped shipping to the U.S. over tariff concerns, installers say
2 Axios:
This week is crunch time for Biden's climate agenda
3 Reuters:
China calls WTO ruling 'dangerous' in solar cell row with U.S.
4 PV-Magazine:
SEIA warns of a solar industry ‘death blow’ as Commerce weighs tariffs
5 Utility Dive:
PPL makes 'small' investment to gain insight into 'innovative' $2.5B SOO Green transmission project
6 PV-Tech:
174 Power, Total Energies break ground on behind-the-meter solar plant in Texas
7 Solar Power World:
California conservation organizations continue pushing for net metering preservation
Opinions:
8 Energy Storage News:
‘UK gas price shock highlights need for energy storage’
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 27th, 2021
Infrastructure Bill, First Or Last? Pelosi went on the Sunday shows yesterday and said that the bipartisan infrastructure bill was going to pass the House this week. While the bill doesn’t have the ITC extension it has billions for energy transition funding including EVs and transmission. There will be a bit of a showdown between the progressives and the leadership, though some members of the republican caucus have said that they would support the bill. How Pelosi plans to put pressure on the caucus and Senate for the budget bill is the bigger trick, one which she has not telegraphed yet. With the debt ceiling in play, it would be the forcing issue within their own house to get something done.
FERC Reviews Texas Freeze. FERC published their report on what happened over the multi-day power stress event caused by freezing temperatures in mid-February. It also includes some 28 recommendations, some of which should be put in place prior to next winter.
Going Long Storage. It’s not just about investing in storage but also investing in long duration storage technologies. The technologies are coming to market and now getting support from the team at DOE that also lead the SunShot initiative over the past decade plus. With longer duration technologies showing early signs of success, their interoperability with storage software will create the first marks of their bankability. As we’ve seen with early solar tech, lab to reality is one challenge but also getting project capital approval is another.
Making Storage Run. Taking bankability into storage has multiple levels. The battery is only one part of the equation, getting it to run as desired to the designed use case with inverters and power electronics is another. The most underappreciated technical challenge is the controls and software that actually tell the battery what to do, based on what the trader/owner and grid operator want. This intersection between hardware and software is the energy storage tech bankability challenge that is just getting to the surface but we will talk about much more.
News
1 Politico:
Pelosi says infrastructure bill will pass this week — but hedges on timing
2 Axios:
Preventing the next Texas power crisis
3 PV-Magazine:
Long-duration flow battery tech wins DOE funding
4 Weather Channel:
PG&E Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter in California's Zogg Fire that Killed Four People
5 New York Times:
How Democrats Could Shrink Their $3.5 Trillion Budget Bill
6 Reuters:
Fortum CEO - We can boost renewables expansion firepower
7 PV-Tech:
California’s US$15bn climate action package signed but spending on energy deferred until 2022
8 Energy Storage News:
Gore Street, Pacific Green prepare to build 156MW of UK grid-scale battery storage projects
Opinions:
9 Utility Dive:
PJM cities to FERC - It's time for the MOPR to go
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 23rd, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Reuters:
EXCLUSIVE White House backs plan for renewable energy industry tax partnerships
2 PV-Magazine:
SRP signs PPA for 440+ MW of solar capacity
3 Bloomberg:
Top Oil Trader Vitol Jumps Into Electric-Vehicle Fleet Business
4 New York Times:
Here’s What’s Behind Europe’s Surging Energy Prices
5 Axios:
The road to COP26 gets slightly easier
6 PV-Tech:
Generac launches new microinverter line
Opinions:
7 Canary Media:
Should Google and Microsoft focus on sourcing their own 100% clean power or cleaning up the dirtiest grids?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 22nd, 2021
Opinion
News
1 New York Times:
California is sued over its rule on solar power installers.
2 BBC:
Record backlog of cargo ships at California ports
3 Axios:
China vows end to building coal-fired power plants abroad
4 Bloomberg:
China Appeals WTO Ruling Over Trump Era’s Solar-Panel Tariffs
5 Reuters:
India's Adani Group to invest $20 bln in renewables in 10 years
6 PV-Tech:
New York governor calls for expansion of NY-Sun scheme to support at least 10GW of solar
7 RMI:
RMI Reality Check - Appalachia Poised to Become Clean Energy Country
8 Energy Storage News:
New Mexico’s largest solar-plus-storage plant in utility coal retirement plan acquired by DE Shaw
9 PV-Magazine:
How long do residential energy storage batteries last?
Opinions:
10 Utility Dive:
US can meet Paris climate commitments but will need to rely heavily on electric utilities - report
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 21st, 2021
Opinion
News
1 New York Times:
This Powerful Democrat Linked to Fossil Fuels Will Craft the U.S. Climate Plan
2 Axios:
First look - Real estate firms invest $140 million in climate tech
3 Reuters:
Special Report-BP gambles big on fast transition from oil to renewables
4 Solar Power World:
Private firm acquires Swinerton Renewable Energy and SOLV
5 GeekWire:
Amazon, Microsoft, Breakthrough Energy share climate news as ‘Climate Week’ kicks off
6 Reuters:
Vineyard Wind secures $2.3 bln loan, allowing construction to start
7 PV-Tech:
Dominion Energy Virginia proposes 15 new projects and PPAs with a combined capacity of 1GW
8 RMI:
Bringing Reliable, Renewable Energy to the People
9 Energy Storage News:
LS Power repurposing former New Jersey coal plant site into offshore wind integration hub
10 PV-Magazine:
IREC guide aims to help states deploy solar hosting capacity maps
Opinions:
11 Utility Dive:
Advancing the energy transition requires an honest discussion of costs, outages and land, analysts say
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for September 20th, 2021
Platform Money Comes For Energy Transition. The energy transition is kicking off this year and its focus is on delivering the infrastructure that enables a more resilient grid. Like our capital raise at FlexGen, investors are seeing that long term infrastructure enables by ClimateTech solutions means bringing exceptional talent and bankable solutions together for the capital that is looking to own the projects that create the change. Canary’s Julian Spector covers the latest funding and why the focus has arrived, including the 10x level up that these investors are pushing through.
Grid Resilience Isn’t About Either Or. One of the loudest undertones in energy policy inside renewables is the ‘fight’ between distributed and central generation players. I’ve long said that the rising tide is when everyone in the industry wins but the same is also true for the consumer. A grid without transmission isn’t feasible but during climate events, the power lines tend to be the weakest link. During hurricanes, snow or ice storms and floods, the centralized generation loses attachment to those that need energy and that’s when distributed generation with storage can add significant value. This is also true in a grid where we shape demand and generation in a coordinated effort. We need both to power through the energy transition.
21st Century Power Market. Spending most of my time looking at energy storage markets and projects, I am often reminded that the power markets have had very little evolution since their inception. FERC orders 2222 and 841 should be the impetus for markets to create more dynamic and faster price signals for the technology available in the 21st century.
The Sequoias Get Foil Wrapped. Wildfires are burning so consistently that they are barely getting covered anymore. Now with the KNP Complex fire at the edge of the Sequoia National Park, rangers are wrapping these national treasures with foil fire blankets so that they hopefully survive the fire. This is another reminder that our work can’t go fast enough.
News
1 Canary Media:
Investors are pouring money into grid storage startups
2 New York Times:
Why Louisiana’s Electric Grid Failed in Hurricane Ida
3 Utility Dive:
New York authorizes National Grid to serve retail, bid into wholesale market with upstate battery project
4 Bloomberg:
Winter Is Coming and Europe Is Running Scarily Low on Gas
5 Axios:
Huge wildfire reaches edge of Sequoia National Park
6 Reuters:
Analysis - Europe's power firms locked out of record price bonanza
7 PV-Tech:
BP, ADNOC and Masdar team up in multi-billion dollar investment deal for clean and low carbon energy
8 Solar Power World:
Delaware updates community solar rules to eliminate barriers
9 PV-Magazine:
Ohio approves more than 530 MW of solar additions
Opinions:
10 Slate:
The Missing Link in Biden’s Revolutionary Solar Energy Plan
Have a great day!
Yann
