Buffett Goes Shopping. Berkshire Hathaway is buying the Dominion Energy for $4Billion plus about $6Billion in debt. This is the first deal that Buffett has done since the start of the pandemic and now gets Berkshire control of 18% of the interstate movement of natural gas. That’s something that should be considered. Keep in mind that Berkshire is heavy in the railroads which make a lot of money with coal transportation and natural gas are part of the fuel that is hindering coal’s future success.
Dominion’s View Forward. The obvious question is why Dominion would give up its natural gas assets. After a legal decision regarding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dominion and Duke called the pipeline development off. With electrification and EVs on the horizon, corporate announcements on renewables rising, Dominion saw this as a graceful exit for their shareholders.
Is This A Larger Shift? The headlines will read, “utilities skip the natural gas bridge and go from coal to renewables instead.” I do believe that we are close to utilities saying that natural gas peakers are no longer competitive or the best thing for ratepayers. Most of the coal to gas power plant replacements have already occurred, the majority of ratebase has already funded the construction and we can rotate into solar plus storage mass adoption. I’m all for that last bit but wouldn’t mind regulators doing the math for ratepayers on whether the assets should be built on the utility balance sheet or by 3rd parties with a PPA.
Something I’m Watching. India elevating their fight with China on imports of renewable products amongst others.
Mayor Pete On Clean Energy. Today, Clean Energy For Biden is hosting Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Clean Energy and Climate Change. The event is at 7:30pm EST. You can RSVP on the link and donate here.
Nonprofits Want Solar Too. My friends at CollectiveSun can help you sell more solar to nonprofits. By working with CollectiveSun your nonprofit prospects get easy $0 down financing and a 12% or more tax-like credit for their systems. Now, more than ever, solar can help nonprofits save on their critical operating expenses. If you are a solar installer or developer, this is a great solution for you to sell more solar and ignite more deals with nonprofits. Click here to learn more about working with CollectiveSun.
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Yann
Time To Reload. Hannon Armstrong acquired 49% of the 2.3GW Engie portfolio consisting of wind and solar assets. This type of transaction allows both parties to benefit. Hannon, as a public company, is looking to deploy capital into assets that are yielding consistent returns. Engie also gets to retain control and return capital to the teams for future deployment. Hannon is the REIT that will put solar assets on the map for dividend focused investors.
Truth Starts Coming. NERA, the probably front group trying to federalize rate regulations, is trying to argue it’s way back into a case to be heard by FERC. With near unanimous dissent on the original filing, we now have at least some information on membership including an individual tied to a firm that has several IOU clients. There are 15 members of the group, ten of which pay $20,000 per year. Think about that, what group are you part of that has 75% of its members paying $20,000.
Utility Virtual Power Plants. Portland’s utility is getting into the virtual power plant market that is going to drive more headlines over the next few years. This pilot allows for over 500 homeowners that either have a battery or would like to buy one to benefit financially from interacting with the utility. Not for nothing, Portland’s utility was also the partner on my first large rooftop projects some 12 years ago.
Happy 4th of July. Stay safe, stay home and think of the things that make America great. We’re lucky to be here and working in the industry doing really great things.
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More To Come. Come back tomorrow for more analysis of the solar news. Make sure to listen to my interview with Nick Chaset of the EBCE CCA as we talk about the Virtual Power Plant. Next week, we talk with Orison CEO, Eric Clifton about their upcoming launch and recent capital raise.
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Reminder, Take ITC Action. SEIA is asking companies to sign-on to our letter urging Congress to support pro-solar policies.
The Dems Release Climate Playbook. 2 years ago the House named a select committee on climate change and the committee went to work without much fanfare. Now a 500 page report is being praised, you’ll have to read the report or reporting on the report to learn more about it.
But, If You Care. Whether you care about the ITC, tax code, land management, transmission lines, FERC rules, trade policies or DOE priorities that impact solar, only one candidate will care about solar come November. Time to put your money where your money comes from and support Clean Energy For Biden. If you want the ITC extended at existing rates donate $26 or if you want it to go back to 30% then donate $30. If you want solar to have a real impact in the White House, give the max $2,800. You can do all of that here, which gives credit to the SolarWakeup community and therefore pools our influence.
Early Retirement. Just like recent legislation allows for early withdrawal of certain retirement savings, it is time we allow and pursue early retirement of coal plants across the Country. None of them are financially, environmentally or socially viable. If you look at hourly output at any of the major service sectors you will see an energy portfolio that still needs a lot of work.
Florida Solar Growth. Florida released their annual solar interconnections this week. With more than 21k new systems and over 200MW of new addition, solar in Florida is real. The Sunshine State finally lives up to its name. Read the reports here.
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