Storage is upon us. I agree with Julie Blunden that storage is coming, and it is coming fast. While storage players are making many of the same mistakes solar did, i.e. selling hardware, expensive money, confusing pitches and strange executive choices, the learning curve will go much faster than solar. It took us about 10-11 years to get to 10GW. Storage has the cumulative installed solar capacity to go work with and is waiting in line to see regulatory changes that may or may not come. I’m looking at storage in depth currently on a personal level, and you will see much more storage coverage here.
Omnibus energy bills, tis the season. It was Michigan’s turn this time and again distributed generation faired well. The attempt to eliminate net metering failed and the RPS was increased by 50%. It was one of the first open attempts to increase retail energy choice which has long been an interesting catch-22 for republican legislatures across the Country. Utilities are big donors and require monopolies for access to super cheap money but take away competition from the market. The GOP loves free market capitalism, how much longer can they fight consumer choice without a political price?
Take your PURPA somewhere else. This shouldn’t be that surprising given that the complaint from FLS came in the middle of a lame duck Presidential transition. Why start Federal fight on PURPA now given that some members of Congress have been wanting to get back into the legislation. I’ve said it before, any reopening of PURPA is going to be a huge can of worms with power plants across the Country basing contracts on the rules governed by this. FLS could proceed to take the issue to Court but at what cost?
Take your Value of Solar back to the PUC. Apparently legislators don’t want to feel the wrath of the solar wars in their political campaigns. It seems that a trend is starting where legislation keeps NEM in place and instead asking the PUC to create a docket to calculate the value of solar for NEMish type policies. These dockets are going to overlay politics, mathematics and valuations in the next battle in the solar wars.
- Greentech Media: Lessons From 40 Years of Electricity Market Transformation – Storage Is Coming Faster
- Utility Dive: Down to the wire, Michigan passes sweeping renewable energy, retail choice reforms
- PV-Magazine: FERC declines to intervene in Montana PURPA fight
- Arizona Central: Robb – Rooftop solar pricing doesn’t have to be this hard
- Denver Post: Colorado’s PUC struggles before increasingly complex dockets
- Rocky Mountain Institute: Modernizing the Electricity System in Minnesota
- Washington Post: House conservatives want Trump to undo regulations on climate, FDA, Uber
- Maui News: PUC denies plea by solar providers to raise cap
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann