Gas Shortage, EV Impact. Walking up to the cash register at the grocery store, the customer in front of me asked me if I had waited in line to get gas yet. I replied, no, I drive an electric car, without thinking much of it. Until I read today’s top headline, I had not considered the optionality that now exists for consumers. Gas shortage? not for EV drivers. Blackouts? not for folks with solar plus storage. Yes it’s true that there are downside scenarios for EV drivers but the decentralized nature of consumers’ self reliance and self-generation is new to the economic model.
Activism Or Capitalism. ESG investment may seem like an activism victory but I see the investment thesis to be driven by the capitalism side of the ledger. LPs may be calling out ESG reasons for capital allocation but that may be the PR benefit from doing what’s best on a risk adjusted investment. To be clearer, if owning a coal power plant had a 10%+ return opportunity with little risk, capital would still be pursuing that investment regardless of the negative ESG case. On the other hand of the spectrum, capital flowing to solar/storage/wind aren’t doing it because it’s green, but because it has a contracted cash flow that provides a market viable yield.
Generation Forecast Analysis. What happens when the Country heats up this summer and potential fire hot spots cause transmission to shutdown? Reports are saying that outages may occur. In parallel, ACORE has a report that highlights the opportunity created by investing a more dynamic grid.
No Infrastructure Solar. Equal parts sad and positive, the New York Times goes into Syria to report on the use of solar in a part of the world that has no real infrastructure after much of the Country has been torn apart.
PPAs For C&I Deep Dive. On May 26th, 10am PST, Sustainable Capital Finance (SCF) will host the next webinar in its 2021 webinar series analyzing solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) for Non-Profits and Municipalities, including SCF’s 8-Step PPA process. Additionally, SCF will examine a series of project case studies illustrating common challenges specific to school, non-profit and municipal projects, and requisite solutions. This webinar is recommended for anyone looking to provide solar PPAs for schools, non-profits and municipalities, as well as solar developers & installers looking to increase their knowledge on SCF’s PPA solutions. Click here to sign up for this exciting, free webinar!
- Bloomberg: A Dry Pipeline Asks – Who Wants an Electric Car Now?
- Axios: Kerry – Banks aren’t “pressured” on CO2 pledges
- Canary Media: MISO takes a deep look at electrification’s potential impact on its grid
- New York Times: Syria’s Surprising Solar Boom – Sunlight Powers the Night in Rebel Idlib
- Reuters: Extreme heat could cause U.S. power shortages this summer -NERC
- PV-Tech: ACORE – Transmission ITC could spur 42GW of wind and solar capacity
- Energy Storage News: Eos’ post-SPAC financial results show high cost of commercialisation for zinc battery player
- PV-Magazine: Minnesota is primed to turn a page on the conflict between solar growth and farmland preservation
Opinion
Best, Yann