Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for February 27th, 2023

Let’s Do Some Quick Hits. Thank you to Standard Solar for the incredibly kind words about this newsletter. I know it shocks some of you when you find out that this isn’t my full time job but enough of you have been here long enough to know that I have a day job that is both fun and time consuming. 

The Data Center Propportunity. This is a problem with a solution that creates an opportunity. Building data centers will be a necessity, based on your netflix consumption, your AI use and certainly your companies thirst for AI applications. But building a data center also needs to have access to energy (a ton of it) (yes, that’s scientific projection) as well as constant/100% reliable power. Rules then dictate that it will need backup generation which must also comply with environmental standards which oftentimes don’t mix well and local communities have a say about this as well. Add crypto to the mix and you have massive energy consumers fighting for the same resource which our industry is poised to deliver. So it’s a problem, that HAS to be solved, and an opportunity. Propportunity, trademarked by yours truly on this day. 

Consumer Bills. Exelon’s CEO kind of said the quiet part out loud, bills are rising across the Country. Though I wouldn’t necessarily blame it on cleaner energy which is an indirect benefit. Even if solar didn’t exist or wasn’t the cheapest energy available (what’s the going rate for a shaped solar PPA with storage these days?) it’s the need for new generation that is raising rates. The grid was built once and then every time an upgrade was needed, the rates went up through a rate base proceeding. Now all of those things that were built 50 years ago need to be replaced and consumption needs are rising, i.e. we’re double building new infrastructure (in the highest interest rate environment in 25 years) which is going to be passed to consumers. The fact that the generation is clean is a benefit not the causation of the rate increases. Just some nuance, which we appreciate around the SolarWakeup world. Ultimately, Exelon and others will have to rate base and contract to fulfill the responsibility to their consumers (lights must turn on when the switch is pressed). And yes, the bills will likely increase in order to satisfy this but clean energy is ultimately letting it go up slower than it otherwise would if solar/storage didn’t exist. 

ISONE. If your project for storage in ISONE got approved and you haven’t spoke to me about it, hit reply on this and say hello. (It’s my day job)

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 26th, 2023

Strong Auction In ISONE. The northeast has a strong need for updates in its infrastructure, shown by the latest capacity auction that highlights what it will take to get more capex into the system. I’ve seen developers go through the planning and interconnection process given my colleagues support of them with PSCAD and PSSE planning endeavors which are not small achievements. This deployment of capital will ultimately mean more resilient and reliable energy for the consumers as well the ability to grow the economy with energy access for new facilities.

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 23rd, 2023

Too Early To Grade. The need to grade the IRA before the rules are barely written, unwritten and factories still under construction are missing the point. Solar and storage will be 81% of the grid additions this year. With energy demand scheduled to double in the next 25 years, that trend will continue which means the supply chain needs to keep up with hopes of that coming shoreside increasing, the IRA’s impact will have decades to show its impact. The transferring of tax credit is already clearly a winner, billions have already transacted. The 45x credits for domestic manufacturing is massive, primarily for trackers and inverters so far, even with the resi solar market having a moment of headwind. That’s just where we are today, so everyone knock it off with the grading on a generational policy.

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for February 22nd, 2023

Opinion

Best, Yann