SolarWakeup Podcast: Brad Klein, Senior Attorney, Discusses How We Got The Future Energy Jobs Act Of 2016

By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor

In this episode of the Energy Wakeup podcast, we sat down with Brad Klein, senior attorney with the Environmental Law and Policy Center. He and the team at ELPC were instrumental in bringing Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016, and Klein takes us behind the scenes to discuss exactly what that process – long and arduous as it sometimes was – looked like.

Whether it was the threatened closure of nuclear plants or the coal industry piping up near the end of the process to get involved, Klein says what ultimately brought about the law was the willingness of the solar industry, in conjunction with community organizations and environmental justice groups, to stick together in the face of overwhelming pressure from well-organized opponents. He says it would have been easy to cut several different deals among the different participants, and the utilities are skilled at making that happen. But no one on the solar side blinked, and that’s why the bill has such a strong solar component to it.

Listen to the whole discussion to hear Klein discuss the details of the negotiations and why, despite some early growing pains and speed bumps along the way, he believes the Future Energy Jobs Act has laid the foundation for a strong, vibrant solar industry in Illinois for years to come.

SolarWakeup Podcast: Anthony Star, Director Of The Illinois Power Agency, Discusses The Future Of Solar In Illinois

By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor

In this episode of the Energy Wakeup podcast, we sat down with Anthony Star, director of the Illinois Power Agency, to discuss the process for developing solar under the Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016, which will increase the amount of solar produced in the state in the coming years.

Star discusses in detail the Illinois SREC procurement program, as well as what’s coming with the adjustable block grant that will inform what happens with distributed generation and community solar. He also provides background on how these developments came to be.

Listen to the whole discussion to hear Star talk about why low utility-scale SREC prices are good for community solar, how the RPS rollover timeframe could cause specific challenges moving forward and what role alternative suppliers will play in the state.

Utilities Are Catching On To The Energy Storage Revolution (At Least If Growth Is An Indication)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It’s easy to lose sight in today’s electricity market that energy storage isn’t only happening on an individual homeowner level. In fact, a recent study showed that utilities increased their battery storage capacity 68% to 1.3 GWh in 2017.

That number comes from a utility survey conducted by the Smart Electric Power Alliance, an utility-focused trade organization. The survey itself is behind a paywall, but pv magazine has the goods. For example:

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The use of longer-duration batteries, able to discharge for several hours, has enabled balancing of solar with widespread storage, as in California and Hawaii, and with co-located solar + storage installations, as in Hawaii and Florida.

Also:

California utilities remained far in the lead in storage energy capacity, in response to state storage policies that support renewable goals. California added 75 percent of the nation’s incremental battery energy capacity in 2017, and was home to nearly 60 percent of the cumulative energy capacity.

The looming question is whether what you’re seeing in the utility-scale battery market is the same phenomenon you saw with solar power back in that industry’s infancy, to wit: Utilities, with their economies of scale, tried to eliminate competition with residential distributed generation. It’s a fight they’re still waging (see our report on Kansas from earlier today) and, while they may not be winning any enormous victories, it’s a drain on the overall industry potential.

pv magazine also flags this juicy piece of information regarding what will drive further economically advantageous storage options at the utility level:

FERC Order 841 directs RTOs/ISOs (regional transmission organizations and independent system operators) to allow a storage resource to sell into the wholesale market all capacity, energy, and ancillary services that the resource is technically capable of providing.

According to the report, this order alone would add up to 50 GW of energy storage capacity, if all the benefits from storage were realized.

Go read the whole article – it’s a fascinating discussion of where we are in the energy-storage market, at least from the standpoint of the utilities.

More:

US grid-connected battery energy capacity grew 68% last year

Utilities To Trump EPA : Thanks But No Thanks To Your Coal-Saving Efforts

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

They don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but …

At the Electrification 2018 conference, Greentech Media was anxious to find out how utilities felt about the new rules surrounding easing regulations on coal plants. Would they turn away from renewable energy and decide to keep their failing coal plants open? Would they slow the pace of renewable energy purchases? Would this signal the end to renewable energy as we know it?

Well, what the Greentech Media editors (which surprised no one, including them) is that most utilities, no matter where they were in the United States, remained committed to closing coal plants and purchasing more renewable energy, though they did appear thankful that the federal government was turning regulation of the coal plants back over to the states.

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Just a couple of samples (read the entire article for the full discussion, and it is 100% worth your time) of what utilities told the Greentech Media team:

American Electric Power:

“AEP said it will continue to pursue lower carbon dioxide emissions “through a variety of actions” that include renewables, efficiency, natural gas and demand response. The utility will continue to “review the rule,” but offered a positive take on keeping coal plants running.”

Southern Company:

“But going forward, we want to do that while transitioning to the low- to no-carbon future. We have come out and stated that Southern Company wants to be a low- to no-carbon future by 2050. We believe that’s also what our customers want from us.”

This reaction comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the renewable vs. coal battle over the past several years. This is not the first time the federal government has tried to make it easier for energy companies to keep coal plants open, and yet they are still committed to moving forward with further renewable energy purchasing and building. The battle has been won by renewable energy, and there’s no going back. Just ask the utilities – most of them would wholeheartedly agree.

More:

Utilities Recommit to Clean Energy in the Wake of the Trump Administration’s Regulatory Rollback