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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Get Into ITC Game. Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee introduced the GREEN Act as a part of the $1.5 trillion House infrastructure package. The bill, which is expected to pass this week in the House, would push out deadlines for the Solar Investment Tax Credit and provide a direct payment option in lieu of the ITC. And now it’s time for you to take action. A strong grassroots push now can make a difference in solar’s ability to get pro-solar provisions added to bipartisan COVID-19 recovery legislation. Many of you operate in districts and
Les Nelson Memorial. Please join NABCEP and CALSSA for a virtual memorial celebrating Les Nelson. As you know, Les played a pivotal role in the solar industry, volunteering his time and providing valuable guidance on many industry boards. On July 1st, please take a moment to remember him. Details are here.
Value Of Net Metering. It’s been sometime since we had a big and public fight on net metering. Over the years we’ve had value of solar studies and this one from Michigan shows once again that ratepayers benefit from their neighbors putting solar on their roof. The reality is that net metering is a benefit to all consumers and the solar industry is perfectly fine with the simplicity of one to one credit on the production. On the other hand, simplicity has always been the attribute that opponents of solar hate the most since it doesn’t confuse consumers. This may be a year that ‘net metering is a subsidy’ debate comes back, stay tuned. Careful to all my utility readers though, messing with net metering will only serve to expand and increase the adoption of storage, accelerating the loss of consumers to the rate base.
The Corporate Market. Yesterday there was a story about a 500MW buyer in Europe looking for assets and today Bank of America does a deal with NRG. Neither of these two things really gets me excited. What really needs to happen is 200 1MW customers getting together to do a deal. There should be so many off takers in the market that no developer has to ask “how will I get an offtaker for this project?”. Even better would be that the competition over projects drives the value of energy generation up in price instead of this never ending race to the bottom because the project must have someone on the other end of it.
A Favor. You know this year is hard on groups working on your behalf. CALSSA is trying to offset losses to revenue and we’re falling behind in the silent auction. Please help us raise another $10,000 by placing a bid right now. This is money well spent at your business. Furthermore, if you’re not a member, please join. If you are a member, please contact Carter at CALSSA to join the President’s circle. All of these business expenses are offset by your reduced travel and trade show budgets and our work at the Capitol hasn’t reduced.
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