Your Help Is Still Needed. Dozens of solar workers have lost their homes due to the fire north of Sacramento. CALSSA has set up a donation page and your generosity is greatly appreciated, any amount helps get solar pros that lost everything back on their feet.
I’ll Take The Usual. Can’t argue with the data on new generation, solar and wind are the default fuel when it comes to every day interconnections. The issue sits with the existing portfolio of generating capacity especially within ratebased portfolios at the utilities across the Country. A lot of the portfolio is not that old either, which means replacing it will take decades unless regulatory oversight chooses to sunset the plants early. That being said, that would require an insane increase of solar generation to be built including distributed resources that likely includes power dense fuel cell or generating equipment alongside TWh of storage. Point is, it’s doable but difficult to execute within today’s regulatory environment.
Fight For Your States’ Rights. Here is your typical letter from 5 State Attorneys General saying that they will fight for clean energy if the Trump administration tries to slow the progress. One of those AGs works in a State (MD) that has a republican Governor. Reality is that this is not typical but notable progress for the clean energy issue to be taken up within a week of the election. Yesterday, a climate change sit-in happened in Nancy Pelosi’s office and Congresswoman-elect Ocasio Cortez joined in. More to come on the creation of the Select Committee on Climate Change.
The Almighty Pricing Signal. Locational pricing, short term pricing, and anything that else that allows intermittent and solar plus storage to create revenues without offtake agreements would be the fastest way to increase adoption of solar. The reason is that it decreases the gap between PPA and default scenario. It also eliminates some of the risk for post term energy valuation in qualifying facilities. How to make this happen however…
It’s Not What, It’s How. I see plenty of articles about solar on farm land across America. Illinois has this conversation right now and I discussed this with Jon Carson of Trajectory Partners. The key in my opinion is not that NIMBYism on the solar farm but the desire for neighbors to know who will be their neighbor during construction and for the next 25+ years. If the development team does it properly during the initial process, they are much more likely to be successful.
Making Utility Changes (Staffing Update). RMI and Advanced Energy Economy are out with a report on the future business models for utilities. Also of note, former SEIA Chairman, Nat Kraemer, was announced as the new CEO of Advanced Energy Economy this week.
Be Subscribed. Good reminder to make sure that your colleagues are subscribed to this newsletter. They can do it with an email by clicking here.
- Greentech Media: Have Solar, Wind and Storage Become the ‘Default Choice’?
- The Hill: We’ll fight the Trump administration’s assault on clean energy
- Utility Dive: Locational value of DER is essential to grid planning. So why hasn’t anyone found it?
- Axios: Farmland solar installations on the rise, but meeting local pushback
- SolarWakeup: RMI Report Offers Vision Of Possible Utility Structures In Future
- Pv-Tech: Solar ‘charging ahead’ but ‘unprecedented’ investment action required, IEA warns
- SolarWakeup: Partnership Will Test Software’s Ability To Integrate Renewables Into Grid
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann