Commence NorCal Blackout. It felt like the day after a hurricane in the Bay Area yesterday, Muir Woods and Oakland Zoo were closed as some 500,000 accounts were shut off in preparation for wildfire type conditions. As this newsletter hits inboxes, there is an expectation that another 300,000 accounts are impacted causing some 2.5million people to lose electricity. PG& E was woefully unprepared for the event, largely relying on Twitter to spread their message as their website and phone systems were mostly shut down. For a power company that is looking for safe, reliable and clean services to consumers (in return for a monopoly with a guaranteed return) PG&E has opened itself up for major critique. State legislators and the Governor have been quiet on this thus far except to say that it’s insane to think this is a new normal.
The Call For Solar (plus storage). In a well-timed op-ed in the local San Francisco paper, the CA lead for Vote Solar writes what we all know to be true, solar with storage is the natural hedge against this policy of shutdowns. Some corporate development folks at Generac are cheering their vision of why a generator company should get into batteries. There is a worry from my end that storage is a bit unprepared for this, costs are still high (but dropping) and inventory levels are not ready for this type of demand. This week should drive the demand and solution in a way where legislators ask themselves why solar can’t be put on every home?
A Judge Chimes In. As PG&E didn’t have enough to think about this week, they were also in bankruptcy court. The judge was not content with the company’s restructuring plan and opened it up for other parties to also get involved in proposing a plan. I hope that the Governor also chimes in on this as well as the parties that proposed a clean energy management team that would align itself with a vision for PG&E that is centred around being a company that makes decentralized, clean energy the mission of the company. If you think this entire newsletter is too focused on PG&E, look at the chain of events and realize that you can plug in any US utility with monopoly status into the storyline and visualize the same situation over the next 30 years.
Or Else Plan B. Just in case the monopoly thing was untouchable, the CCAs are right behind causing big changes to the demand profile. CCAs have their timing down, with super low solar plus storage available to meet consumer demand as well as CAISO requirements. CCAs are also serving their areas with financial products that make C&I solar much more profitable for the investors, through feed-in tariff type arrangements.
A Sunshine State Deal. Keep watching the Florida market. The Jacksonville utility is up for sale and NextEra is in the running (i.e. they are going to win) which should open up a major solar market inside the fast-growing Florida market. Vote Solar also led a major settlement for community solar for low-income consumers in Florida.
- San Francisco Chronicle: How to keep the lights on in wildfire season — go solar
- New York Times: PG&E Outage Darkens Northern California Amid Wildfire Threat
- Bloomberg: California’s Blackout Becomes a Selling Point for Back-Up Power
- Utility Dive: As CCAs take over utility customers, local generation emerges as the next big growth driver
- Vote Solar: Vote Solar and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy join a diverse array of organizations in endorsing FPL SolarTogether plan to create nation’s largest community solar program
- PV-Tech: Prices drop in the eighth round of France’s rooftop PV auction
- Axios: Mayors announce Global New Green Deal in Copenhagen
Opinion
Best, Yann