Politics is full contact. The solar wars have been a rough fight. They’ve been rough because it is David vs Goliath in more ways than one. Unfortunately we may be seeing what happens when solar policy goes into minutiae and policy folks want to play nice. Every political outcome is a compromise, it has to be with the process we have in America. The only question is whether you are going to be in the room where it happens, because I want to be in the room where it happens.
The GROWth markets for energy. As consumers become more efficient in their energy consumption, power plant operators have to look for other growth markets. We already knew that electric vehicles are a promising energy consumer market especially as the mid-market priced vehicles hit the streets. We are also seeing the marijuana markets (the original solar pioneers I may add) increase the energy consumption. Lighting, air control, and irrigation are all energy intensive and when margins are good, then the meter can spin.
Something I did not know. I had no idea that General Mattis, the next Secretary of Defense, was an advocate for taking the military off fossil fuels. It makes a lot of sense that he would feel this way as he led the Marines in Iraq. Fuel supply was difficult and dangerous and Mattis pushed to make the utilization more efficient as early as 2005. As the former President of ACORE, Dennis McGinn, has been back in the Navy as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy. ACORE may have an interesting angle to push the Defense Department into renewable friendly policies.
Challenges for all. The biggest challenge in the solar game going forward is a realization of the challenge we have all lived through in the past few years. The market where deals get bought is not necessarily higher than the market where deals get held. The cheap money isn’t so cheap when you take into account the cost of acquisitions leaving few avenues to make profits. So as offtakers drive the price down on the PPA just to get the deal done, where will people squeeze the margin to make the profit they need to survive?
- PV-Magazine: Arizona’s new export rates could curtail state’s solar industry severely
- Rocky Mountain Institute: Smartly Managing Legal Marijuana’s Energy Demand
- Politico: Mattis – Trump Cabinet’s lone green hope?
- Greentech Media: 3 Challenges Facing the US Solar Market in 2017
- Think Progress: Trump transition presses another government agency about its climate spending
- Recharge News: E.ON to join Innogy in e-mobility infrastructure race
- Vox: All the state energy legislation from 2016, in one place
- Solar Industry: Vermont Utility Offers Customers Chance To Go Off-Grid
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann