The Grid Gets Managed By. In my work I have gotten to see and read about all different ways that electric regulators go about managing the grid infrastructure. France is going back to pre-monopoly days of making it the State’s business to run the grid. Meanwhile deregulated markets are seeing the most innovation coming in from energy storage with investor owned utilities really picking up the resilience focus as well. One of the hardest aspects of the planning work comes from the other end of the wire, demand response and distributed resources. When the grid was built there was very little focus or opportunity for shaping demand, only generation could be shaped against the potential demand. One thing is for sure, both ends of the wire will get focus from regulators and no one way of managing a grid will be used everywhere.

Programming Note. SolarWakeup will be offline for the week of July 10^th, returning on July 17^th.

• Solar Power World: Over 100 California city, county government leaders ask CPUC to reject new solar fees
• New York Times: France, Hoping to Weather Energy Crisis, Will Renationalize Electricity Giant
• Reuters: Texas power use to keep breaking records as heatwave lingers
• Utility Dive: Voltus presses FERC to end state opt-outs from aggregated retail demand response in wholesale markets
• Bloomberg: Shanghai Cases Double in a Day, Fueling Lockdown Fears
• PV-Tech: Shell to build green hydrogen project in the Netherlands
• PV-Magazine: Entergy seeks to grow renewables up to 2500% over next decade

Opinion

• Energy Storage News: Do LFP battery systems deliver lower returns than NMC ones?

Best, Yann

• Utility Dive: Upheaval in utility regulation emerging nationally as Hawaii proves a performance-based approach
• Bloomberg: Giant UK Electric-Car Charging Station Also Will Supply the Grid
• Axios: Climate change – Extreme weather events slam globe from Italy to Australia
• Reuters: Draft law shows Germany plans to revise key emissions target for energy sector
• Solar Power World: Finance company Nelnet acquires Midwest renewables contractor GRNE Solar
• Energy Storage News: Northvolt raises US$1.1bn in ‘cautious capital market’ as IPO looms
• Canary Media: Puerto Rico is pushing LNG when it says it’s shifting to renewables
• PV-Magazine: Florida added more than 40,000 rooftop solar systems in 2021

Opinion

• PV-Tech: Indiana ‘taking a huge step backward’ by ending net metering, solar advocates say

Best, Yann

Happy 4^th. I spent the weekend in DC and there is a balance of functionality in a dysfunctional town. During a holiday weekend, you get to see how well DC prepares for the influx of tourists that want to see the festivities. That’s the thing with creating a functional system, you prepare a process that puts you in position to succeed. The struggle that’s filling the economy today is the unknown unknowns, things that are not prepared for. It would be great to have a solar and storage market that can get a decade of certainty without fights and unknowns.

• Energy Storage News: Nearly 70,000 Americans employed by battery storage industry in 2021
• Utility Dive: California passes legislation to avoid blackouts, create ‘insurance policy’ for the grid
• PV-Magazine: Product seized under UFLPA believed to be JinkoSolar
• Axios: Interior proposes offshore drilling plan that would allow up to 11 lease sales
• Reuters: Mexico’s environment ministry denies permit for Audi solar plant
• PV-Tech: Australia’s Victoria promotes rooftop solar as part of gas substitution roadmap
• Bloomberg: China’s New Covid Flareup Threatens Crucial Yangtze Delta Region
• New York Times: Where Does the Climate Movement Go Next?

Opinion

• GreenBiz: Clean tech drives record-breaking energy investment, IEA report finds

Best, Yann

• Bloomberg: Renewable Power Costs Rise, Just Not as Much as Fossil Fuels
• Utility Dive: Power supply groups urge FERC to reform Western offer cap to avoid market uncertainty
• Los Angeles Times: California passes polarizing energy bill that could help rescue gas plants
• Axios: Heat waves topple monthly, all-time records from Japan to Italy
• PV-Tech: AEMO reveals ‘once-in-a-century’ roadmap for NEM’s energy transition, calls for AU$12bn in grid investment
• Energy Storage News: ArcLight – Legacy thermal plant sites ‘make excellent potential locations for battery projects’
• PV-Magazine: Three million U.S. jobs are dedicated to decarbonizing energy

Opinion

• Canary Media: Supreme Court hamstrings federal efforts to clean up US power sector

Best, Yann