Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for July 19th, 2023

It’s Getting Hot In Here. I’ve written about it the heat for what seems like months at this point. I’ve also been living in it as have many of you. Look at the headlines from today, Miami, Arizona and Texas all making the news because of the consistent heat. Step into the ocean near where I live and you find the water to be in the high 90s, bringing too much reality to the saying that the ocean is like a hot tub. I can only imagine what my utility is seeing on the demand side, 40 straight days over 100 degree heat index and reduced cooling efficiencies at the power plants.

But What To Do. The problem is that we’re not going to solve this years grid problem by next year at the rate that we’re going. Building a solar farm or storage project means at least a year in good times and likely a late 2024 or 2025 endeavor at this point given where the interconnection queue is.

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Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 18th, 2023

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This is your SolarWakeup for July 17th, 2023

That’s Not Their Job. Possibility does not imply responsibility. One deal that consumers, government and utilities made in return for favorable regulatory proceedings like monopolies and franchise agreements was the responsibility to serve. That means that when you want to turn on the lights or hospitals run an X-ray machine, it works. Climate is making it more complex for grids to operate and an evolving generating portfolio means that complexity includes the dimension of time. But needing to count on your car to provide power to your house in the event of backup is insanity. While it sounds cool, you could have also plugged an extension cord into your combustion engine truck or run a generator as a backup. However, none of these scenarios create monetary value for the user which is what is supposed to happen if the grid ‘needs’ you to provide your own power. Grid operators could look at the EV increases on the grid and rightfully say, we will dispatch your vehicle and pay you X dollars to do so, if they ‘need’ those resources to keep the lights on. Of course they could simply say, if you reduce your homes load, we’ll pay you those same dollars but they do neither. 

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Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 14th, 2023

Shell’s (Possible) Move. Interesting to read that the CEO of Shell is publicly considering a sale of the renewable power unit. I say interesting because Shell was founded on the basis of the energy transition from coal to oil. It was the British Navy’s decision to use oil as the fuel that not only created a major market for Shell but ultimately built the BP empire. Now that the transition from molecules to electrons is happening, it would make sense for the oil majors to lean in on the transformation and recognize that batteries are the new oil tankers and generation is the commodity feeding the growing energy demand across the world. Given how portfolio sales have priced recently (see Duke), now wouldn’t be the greatest time to make this move.

Arbitrage Value. Curtailment is an unfortunate side effect of renewable resource growth in the market. The sun shines when the sun shines and wind is similar. With curtailment comes inherent value of arbitrage because the delta between time X and time Y expands if time X (time of production) goes to 0.

Happy Birthday! To my oldest son, turning 13 today!

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Best, Yann