Ready For Battery Primetime? We’re still in April and ERCOT is already putting peak notices into effect and California warns of blackouts. How well is your battery performing and what are you most concerned about? I’d love to hear from you and understand what you look at in the morning when running your battery.
Tracker Bonanza. Nextracker opened additional manufacturing line in Pittsburgh, Array Technologies hosted the Secretary of Energy at their factory opening in New Mexico and Nevados expanded capacity in Texas. There’s a drive for new capacity in the tracker market and it’s right here in the USA thanks to the IRA.
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
Texas Grid Issues Notice Ahead of Potential Emergency Next Week
2 Utility Dive:
MISO capacity prices triple for next summer, spring, partly on power plant retirements
3 Axios:
AI advances may frustrate U.S. climate goals as electric demand surges
4 Renewable Energy World:
Nextracker adding 4 GW of capacity with U.S. steel facility expansion
5 Solar Power World:
Array Technologies breaks ground on second tracker manufacturing site in Albuquerque
6 PV-Tech:
DNV - China to more than quintuple renewable energy installations by 2050, with solar capacity to reach 5.5TW
7 Energy Storage News:
US takes ‘significant step forward’ to speed up electricity transmission project permitting
8 Canary Media:
Chart - Heavy industry is the next big climate problem to tackle
9 PV-Magazine:
Minnesota sues GoodLeap, Sunlight, Mosaic and Dividend over dealer fees
Opinions:
10 Los Angeles Times:
California battery storage increasing rapidly, but not enough to end blackouts, Gov. Newsom says
Have a great day!
Yann
Opinion
Best, Yann
News
1 New York Times:
Key Solar Panel Ingredient Is Made in the U.S.A. Again
2 Axios:
EPA moves to curb power plant CO2 in landmark move
3 Utility Dive:
DOE sets 2-year deadline for federal transmission permitting, cutting average timelines in half
4 PV-Magazine:
IRS issues final guidance for clean energy tax credit transferability
5 Bloomberg:
Why the World Needs More Copper — a Lot More Copper
6 Reuters:
California set for solar, storage surge in zonal grid plan
7 Renewable Energy World:
LevelTen Energy launches clean energy tax credit marketplace
Opinions:
8 Energy Storage News:
Energy storage market grew faster than ever in 2023, BESS was most invested-in energy tech, according to BNEF, IEA
Have a great day!
Yann
Trade Saga. We’ve been here before, another anti-dumping trade case has been filed. This time highlighting subsidies and unfair pricing from product with the origin of Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. There was some thoughts that India could be included but it was not. We now embark on a 6 month process with a check-in in July for a preliminary determination. The filing has the name of some US based manufacturers that filed the case, namely First Solar and Q-Cells. Given the IRA benefits for domestic manufacturing, I wonder what the impact of local subsidies could imply to the case though I don’t expect much. I’ll refrain from my thoughts on this overall saga that has plagued this industry for a decade plus but wouldn’t it be great to be able to buy solar panels at the sub 10cents per watt that other markets get to?
Opinion
News
1 Reuters:
US solar panel makers seek import tariffs to protect new domestic factories
2 New York Times:
Blinken Goes to China With Potential Trouble on Horizon
3 Renewable Energy World:
Solar industry reacts to new tariff petitions targeting Southeast Asian countries
4 Utility Dive:
ERCOT launches new planning efforts as 2030 load growth projections soar 40 GW in a year
5 Bloomberg:
French Grid Issues Are Causing Power Prices to Soar in Europe
6 Axios:
Extreme weather is making power outages trend higher
7 Solar Power World:
SunPower to cut nearly 25% of workforce, including direct residential sales
8 Energy Storage News:
LG Energy Solution fires warning shot to patent infringers as battery industry prepares for wave of lawsuits
9 PV-Magazine:
Enphase delivers revenue miss amid softened residential solar demand
10 Heatmap:
Biden’s Climate Cash Is Finally Pouring In
Opinions:
11 Canary Media:
How the Biden admin is trying to boost renewables on public land
Have a great day!
Yann
Houston. Good morning from 37,000 feet as I head to Houston for the Voltility Energy Storage Summit. This is becoming one of my favorite events because it is centered around networking and not pay for play advertisements on the handful of panels. While I love going to many events and understand the incredible cost to put them on, having done that with SolarWakeup Live! I love being in person with other leaders building out this market. Should we bring back the SolarWakeup Live! event?
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
SunPower Slides After Disclosing Plans to Restate Earnings
2 Reuters:
Enphase forecasts revenue below estimates as inverter market stays under pressure
3 Politico:
Solar drives renewables milestone in California
4 Utility Dive:
GM Energy rolls out its first vehicle-to-home EV charging products
5 Axios:
First Look - Spotlight on climate migration
6 PV-Tech:
Highland Materials secures US$255.6 million 48C tax credit to build polysilicon plant in the US
7 Renewable Energy World:
Q1 EV sales match all of 2020 as demand surges amid investment - IEA
8 Energy Storage News:
Croatia allocating €500 million for BESS – report
9 Canary Media:
Tritium, major supplier of EV fast-charging equipment, is insolvent
10 PV-Magazine:
Congress urged to reform clean energy bottlenecks before 2024 election
Opinions:
11 Heatmap News:
Are Pollsters Getting Climate Change Wrong?
Have a great day!
Yann
