This is your SolarWakeup for August 15th, 2017

Hearing Number 1. Tomorrow you will see the first hearing in the 201 petition process. Complete with public comments and potentially some questions from the ITC commissioners, some parts of the story may become clearer. SEIA has organized hundreds of solar executives and workers to come to the hearing to show what this means to all of us. Times like these show the importance of taking a day to tell your story to politicians and regulators. Another opportunity is in California, organized by CalSEIA, to speak with over 20% of the legislators about solar and storage. I encourage you to invest your time to go to Sacramento, reach out to CalSEIA to do so.

The Eclipse Hype. We’ve seen the unease about solar energy during a solar eclipse in Germany a few years ago. With proper planning, the grid operators were able to handle the few hours without problems. Keep in mind that even though solar will be leaving the grid for a few hours, demand response and peak power pricing will ensure that the grid remains stable and operating.

You’ve Got To Read This. A story about nuclear power plants that have some interesting (plentiful) talking points. Keep in mind that these power plants are being built with ratepayer pre-payment and guaranteed return on the investment. In short, there really is no risk to the shareholder of the public company except if the company fails to execute (without regard to schedule or budget) and regulators revoke the ratebasing of the sunk costs. Legislators are talking about: 1. A production tax credit (don’t ask me for what), 2. Expansion of the loan guarantee program, 3. Inclusion of societal benefits to view benefits of new plants. The irony is thick in this one.

Opinion

 

Have a great day!

Yann