This is your SolarWakeup for September 28th, 2021

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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.

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This is your SolarWakeup for September 23rd, 2021

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This is your SolarWakeup for September 22nd, 2021

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This is your SolarWakeup for September 21st, 2021

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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. 

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This is your SolarWakeup for September 17th, 2021

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This is your SolarWakeup for September 16th, 2021

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This is your SolarWakeup for September 15th, 2021

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This is your SolarWakeup for September 14th, 2021

The House Legislation. Draft legislation for the budget reconciliation bill was unveiled showing some details of the clean energy related tax credit. Some highlights include a 10 year extension at 30% for the ITC including stand alone storage as long as prevailing wage levels were paid. There is an adder if local content is used that can increase the tax credit. Projects under 1MW appear to be exempt from the requirements and look at a solid 30% for the next decade. All of this comes under the shadow of the Senate, where Manchin and Synema are taking center stage on what this actually looks like. With the tax increases also included as a pay for for the cost of the bill, expect many things to move if and before this is signed by the President.

Gas Price Rising. Gas prices rose again in August, trending the line up and to the right in the US but also in Europe. With cost competitiveness of gas power plants declining, the argument for the energy transition gets stronger and beyond the climate impact alone.

b>Illinois Gets It Done. The Illinois legislature has passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act which is sent to and expected to be signed by the Governor. The legislation is expected to add 4GW of wind, 4GW of utility scale solar and 5.8GW of rooftop and community solar. This comes after years of trying to expand the work done under the previous FEJA legislation that kicked off that local market.

The Auctions Like +Storage. Auctions, often used outside of the US, have been a good indicator of changes in the forward looking landscape. In Germany and the UK, generation plus storage is gaining major traction and adding significant pipeline. It is also expanding the growth of ancillary services for frequency regulation and other revenue stacking opportunities.

Gulf Coast Post Ida Coverage. See some of the post Ida coverage from the Gulf Coast. SPI may already have slipped your mind but remember the local community continues to rebuild. Solar and storage played a major role, where deployed, in keeping access to some utilities for those communities. 

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Yann