Bailing Out Coal And Nuclear. Taking a step back from the crime committed in Ohio to analyze what it means for the energy industry. HB6 had three primary components, bail out nuclear power plants, bail out coal plants and kill the renewable portfolio standard. All of this to primarily benefit one regulated, incumbent monopoly. Ohio is a conservative State where national image plays a role so you would think that supporting nuclear and especially coal would be a positive for legislators. In this case, the monopoly had to resort to bribing the Speaker of the House to pass a bill to allow them to get what they want. This either means that clean energy/climate advocates had enough power to stop the bill if not for bribes or legislators realize that the $60million means nothing to a utility that gets to pass their costs on to ratepayers. If you believe that the second is true, that the House speaker viewed utility regulations as a quasi-slush fund, then what makes you think this is unique to Ohio?
What’s Next? Theoretically the law forbids a convicted criminal from profiting from the crime. A bank robber does not get to keep the cash. In First Energy’s case however, HB6 remains law regardless of the fact that it happened thanks to a $60million greasing of the wheels. Legislators are mulling a repeal but in what shouldn’t come as a surprise, Governor DeWine does not support the repeal of a billion dollar subsidy for the monopoly.
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Monopolies, Lobbying, Bribery and Indictments. The only major RPS to be eliminated happened in Ohio at the same time that the legislature bailed out coal in a nuclear bailout bill to the tune of $1.3billion. Ratepayers footed that bill and were sold a bill of goods by legislators and yesterday the FBI told us the other side of that legislative story. In an elaborate pay to play scheme with the Speaker of the House at the center, utilities are accused of bribing legislators for their support. The indictment is long and detailed and if you want to read the analysis, I recommend you read the twitter timeline from David Pomerantz. Meanwhile, the bill (HB6) remains law. Talk about bank robbers getting to keep the loot.
For Perspective. Solar companies closed down and people lost their jobs when HB6 was signed by the Governor of Ohio. That’s before ratepayers bailed out monopolies that are guaranteed a profit for power plants that are not financially viable. When legislators told us that the market will decide and we can’t pick winners and losers what they were trying to say is that solar can’t play with the big boys in the political arena. The regulatory capture for incumbents is real and I’m glad that the FBI investigated this case in detail.
Offtaker Before Development. In other news, that I view as one of the bigger game changers in the industry, Microsoft entered into an agreement with Sol Systems. The agreement calls for Sol Systems to develop, finance and operate 500MW and Microsoft will serve as the off taker. Great for corporate solar but even bigger for changing how solar development is done. By securing the off taker first, all of the development cost getting to that point is cheaper, faster and more confident. This is how every project should be developed going forward and until then, Sol Systems will have a huge advantage in the process.
New York Goes Big. The State, through NYPA and NYSERDA, launched a 4GW renewables procurement with 1.5GW coming from land based generation and 2.5GW from offshore wind. Big users should do big deals.
McConnell Drops The Ball. Corporates announced their support for the ITC extension with cash grant yesterday at the same time that McConnell downplayed any major inclusion of job creating policies in the next stimulus. I imagine that most solar companies would prefer an ITC extension than more PPP funds.
Biden Talks Climate. For a contribution of $100 or more you can join in an online discussion with the VP and the Veep. Joe Biden is joined by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Thursday at 4:45pm, RSVP is due later today.
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Yann
John Lewis And Environmental Justice. I read the news of John Lewis’s passing with sadness. He’s been an example of leading by action while also working within the congressional process. As it pertains to work we participate in, Lewis often included references to environmental justice, clean air and water in his speeches. Our industry is more than just generating electricity fueled by the son, we have a greater responsibility to cast benefits far and wide.
SolarAPP Moves Forward. Rocky Mountain Institute is deeply involved in the SolarAPP launch and is updating their view of the endeavor. For those of you unfamiliar with SolarAPP, it is a project led by NREL and others to create fast track and instant permitting for solar. As installers and users of permitting systems, your involvement is starting to be more crucial. First you will want to educate yourself on the project. Second, installers will be asked to identify and lobby AHJs to get involved as pilot participants or adopters of the system. Instant permitting is one of the best tools we can use to move the industry forward, cutting the speed from contract to install in half and savings thousands of dollars in the process.
Virtual World Designs! Here’s the latest from our friends at OpenSolar, the free sales software we discussed in the interview with Birchy, it's co-founder. We talked then about the digital toolkit and how it supports inside sales and customer management online - now, today they launched their next generation design tool, OpenSolar 3D - the short video clip here has a nice overview (excuse the pun). Pretty cool technology flying around your customers roof live with them online, placing panels with pitch, azimuth and shading all automated in what they describe as an "immersive customer facing experience”. I know Birchy’s answer to yesterday’s question of “how do we scale 100% by 2035”: design and close your leads efficiently in a virtual, online customer experience with no site visit (COVID or not), then click a button to auto-populate SolarAPP to receive your digital permit, then and only then do you invest your money in driving a truck - and that’s to complete the install! Seems OpenSolar’s mission is to make that a reality for all installers, no matter the size (interesting given the Sunrun-Vivint news) - and deliver that for free. Good to see bold moves and innovation across the space. What else do you think changes the game on 100% by 2035?
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Happy Friday. I hope you all have a nice weekend and perhaps get to spend some time getting away in the near future. In the meantime, post a nice comment about SolarWakeup on your LinkedIn and tell your network where you get your news in the morning. Here is your rundown.
Good News FERC. The NERA filing that threatened net metering and the federalization of state regulations was dismissed by FERC yesterday. Utilities will have to continue making their case for monopoly power at the state level.
Not All Roses. FERC also ruled on a redefinition of PURPA around how states can adjust contracts. It also lowers the standard for challenging the qualifying facility status. Reception online was tepid to angry, more analysis to come.
SMUD Tries Too Hard. I like the idea of SMUD wanting to go carbon neutral by 2030 but let’s look at the track record. SMUD, on more than one occasion, has come for solar net metering and tried to minimize that market. Lately, SMUD looked to kill the new home solar mandate. The large muni has the opportunity to be a national leader with solar, I hope they recognize that.
Next Week. The launch of SolarWakeup 3.0 is about ready to be announced and I thank you all for your guidance and help along the way. My goal is to fundamentally change the power dynamic in the industry to those that get more customers to go solar.
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