Solar Market Survey. Last day to Take The Survey Make sure that your situation is part of the poll. You can hear the results on the market update call tomorrow morning at 10am, register for that here.
NEM 3.0 In Your Inbox. The CPUC Is taking up net metering in a new docket. This isn’t a surprise but kicks off the yearlong fight over solar’s role in the California grid. Utilities are already pushing phone op-eds and arguments while the value of DG has never been great and more apparent in the State hammed by wildfires and grid issues. Stay tuned for more on this as the year moves on.
The C&I Riddle. In this week’s podcast I talk with the CEO of Catalyst Power, a returning guest to SolarWakeup. Catalyst is backed by BP Energy Partners and is taking their knowledge of retail energy for C&I customers and adding solar and on-site generation to their offering. By combining retail energy services with onsite generation, Catalyst says they can finance more projects more efficiently, hedging their risk while maximizing value to the building owner.
Maine Is For Solar. The infrastructure team at the Carlyle group is in for a 100MW+ project in Maine. Latitudes in Maine can reach the northernmost in the continental US and be north of Montreal. We are reaching a geographic saturation when it comes to where you can develop solar. Someone do the analysis for me on Alaska, what would a QF contract have to look to make that happen?
DG Value Stacking. This publication has written about the real reason we think net metering is the right way to make solar work for homeowners, it’s not the rate it’s the simplicity. In reality, if distributed solar and storage were able to capture and/or participate in value creation in dynamic markets, rooftop solar would actually generate far more than it does under net metering. For every cost the grid assumes for hosting dg solar, it generates twice the value that is neither counter or monetized. It took many years for solar to get to this cost standpoint but now that the cost is below other generation, a free market that prices all the layers is ideal for the industry.
Big EV Times Two. CPUC approves a half of a billion for EV infrastructure and Amazon order 1,800 electric vans from Mercedes. We’re done with pilot programs?
Do You Shop Green? You work in solar, and while we all have a different level of sustainability in our personal lives, do you reward the businesses you purchase goods and services from if they show green behavior? Do you pay more for sustainable practices voluntarily? I’m interested in your take in this.
Sell More Solar with CollectiveSun. My friends at CollectiveSun know Nonprofits. They know that Nonprofits are looking for three things when going solar: a simple and user friendly process, the ability to utilize tax benefits, and access to funding that doesn’t break the bank. CollectiveSun can help you give them all that and more. These days, more than ever, Nonprofits are looking to lower their operating expenses. CollectiveSun will help you generate more sales and will work with you to become the go-to solar installer for Nonprofits. Click here to learn more about working with CollectiveSun.
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Yann
Solar Market Survey. Please take 3 minutes and fill out our survey looking at the current state of the solar market. Take The Survey Survey ends on Monday, your participation is valuable.
Dream Job In Solar. HR pros in solar that want to work for a great team while tackling the issues of our times like climate and inequality. Vote Solar is hiring a director of talent and culture, you can see the job description and apply here.
The SunPower Spin. SunPower and Maxeon have completed their spin-off and are now separate companies trading on the public markets, SPWR and MAXN. Now SunPower starts its path to competing in the Sunrun, Sunnova and Vivint Solar track of public companies, best of luck to the SunPower team in the new era.
Bailey Bridge Of Gas. It seems that we are acknowledging the end of coal and moving to a discussion about the future of gas. Here is the CEO of ConEd Wednesday, “We made those investments five to seven years ago, and at that time we — and frankly many others — viewed natural gas as having a fairly large role in the transition to the clean energy economy," McAvoy said. "That view has largely changed, and natural gas, while it can provide emissions reductions, is no longer ... part of the longer-term view," particularly in the U.S. Northeast where state regulators have blocked pipeline projects.” Add the report out of LA that the single gas plant has been leaking methane for several years at the rate of 30,000 cars. The discussion of gas as part of the future portfolio is upon us.
Climate And A Second Term. This is meant to be inflammatory and a single issue discussion that I’d like to have someone take the opposite side of. What happens to the fight against climate change under a second Trump term? We’ve seen the FERC policies that were pushed to prop up coal and nuclear in the MOPR. An ITC extension squashed by this White House. We’ve seen environmental rules challenged or removed. A push to drill in ANWR and off the coast of Florida. In solar, the market has grown in spite of tariff on tariff that has doubled the cost of solar modules, increased the cost on inverters and racking. Meanwhile racking manufacturing is leaving the US not coming back and inverter factories are just moving to a different offshore Country. As I said yesterday, solar should be supported by both parties but that is not the case and is not, in my opinion, something that Trump wants to see more of. When it comes to fighting climate change and creating millions of jobs in our sectors, a second Trump term will be troubling.
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Solar Market Survey. Please take 3 minutes and fill out our survey looking at the current state of the solar market. Take The Survey
Watching Hurricane Laura. In a nearly identical track to Hurricane Katrina (Laura is sparing South Florida), a massive category 4 hurricane with a storm surge described as unsurvivable by the national hurricane center is hitting the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana. The surge has a chance of reaching 30 miles inland which makes me ponder the idea of living 0.25 miles from the Altantic. I hope those of you reading this in the path of the storm are preparing yourself and doing what you can to stay safe, we’ll be here for you afterwards. Next week, there will be talk about the need for infrastructure that is distributed because we will also see the images of thousands of utility trucks heading to the region for mutual aid and rebuilding the wood poles that we can our electric infrastructure.
My Hope, Via Miami Mayor. The Mayor of Miami is a republican which isn’t notable by itself. What is notable is that Mayor Suarez went on Axios yesterday and said that the republican party needs to change its position on the environment. You can’t look at hurricane Laura and think what if that hits Miami today, Hurricane Andrew was a wind event but if that happened today the water damage would be catastrophic and the Mayor knows that. So I ask this, what is it going to take for national republicans to stand up and say that we need to put solar on every home in America?
The Northeastern Response To Blackouts. After a storm that is out of the control of a utility, southern states are used to losing power for days or weeks. Everyone knows it could happen and that’s why homes on hospital grids go for more money. No regulator or even consumer blames the utility so it was a surprise to me to see Governors of New York and Connecticut be outraged at the utility response to Hurricane Isaias. Maybe utilities should do more planning and include disaster mitigation and response in their IRP which would likely yield better investments.
Solar Plus Plus Plus. Wildfires, snow storms, hurricanes, heat wave are just a few of the big items that seem to be pushing our grid to the edge. When the connection between your house or apartment to the wood pole outside breaks, you are on your own. Your food goes bad, medical devices go on critical backup and you can no longer cool your home. We reached a million solar rooftops in California late last year and CALSSA embarked on a million solar batteries earlier this year but the future is well above 1 million given the external factors facing us today and the tailwind of regulator support that calls for more deployment of distributed resource. Much more on this coming.
Roth Capital Market Update. Next Tuesday at 10am Eastern, join me and others on the Roth Capital solar market update. You can register here.
Buyer’s Group Price Challenge. Installers across the Country are saving money with the Buyer’s Group, like modules under $0.40/watt. Take the price challenge today and discover your savings.
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Yann
Solar Market Survey. The August survey is now available and I hope you participate in responding. This is an important Q3 checkin and outlines the Q4 opportunities ahead.
Roth Capital Market Update. Next Tuesday at 10am Easter, join me and others on the Roth Capital solar market update. You can register (free) here.
Farewell Exxon. A few years ago Exxon was the most valuable company by market cap in the world and the CEO was en route to being the Secretary of State. Now Exxon has lost over half of its market cap and removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average where it has been for 92 years. That leaves Chevron as the sole remaining oil company in the average. I’m not on a strategic committee at the oil companies but the fact that none of them have bought a utility or entered electric generation or EV infrastructure in a meaningful way is dumbfounding.
PURPA Fights In Big Sky. Solar developers have won a ruling at the Montana Supreme Court regarding their complaint that regulators didn’t follow PURPA rules when they cut the contract value and terms for qualifying facilities. I like it when solar fights go to unusual places and win.
All Eyes On Senate. The Senate released a report titled “The Case For Climate Action: Building a Clean Economy for the American People.” Obvious problem with the report is that it only comes from the Democrats in the Senate not the full body, an unfortunate sign of the times. Senator Schatz (Hawaii-D) sat down with Vox’s David Roberts to go through the report. One note to watch post November, will Senator Manchin keep his chairmanship of the Energy committee or will he be upgraded to something else. The democrats will maneuver this sensitive area because they can’t go Joshua Lyman on Senator Manchin and risk a party switch. On the other hand, Manchin is the most conservative member of the caucus and could hold up critical work on climate change if the democrats have the majority.
A Southeastern RTO. An interesting idea but with the most powerful monopolies in the Country operating in the Southeast, consider this a pipe dream (for now).
Puerto Rico’s Opportunity. Puerto Rico is adopting a renewables based plan instead of gas generation, which makes sense given the complexities in keeping the transmission stable on the island during hurricanes. I know many on the mainland are keen to work with Puerto Rico and executing on the strategy.
Buyer’s Group Price Challenge. Installers across the Country are saving money with the Buyer’s Group, like modules under $0.40/watt. Take the price challenge today and discover your savings.
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