A Governor’s Roadmap. Things are escalating in l’affaire PG&E. Late Friday, Governor Newsom published a post outlining the roadmap on utility regulation which included naming Secretary Ana Matosantos as the state’s Energy Czar. The Governor also says that if PG&E isn’t ready to comply with legislation and prioritizing safety after the bankruptcy process, the State is ready to take over.
The Leads Are In. Reuters wanted to check on the solar leads created by the blackouts and found that solar sales are up and storage numbers are up 5x compared to forecasts. I would be surprised if this is only true for PG&E customers, I would assume that other utility service areas are also benefitting from the headlines. Question for C&I developers is whether blackouts have caused businesses to adjust ROI calculations when looking to go solar.
Rising Electricity Prices. Just this weekend we see headlines that APS and Xcel are filing to increase their rates. Death, taxes and rising utility costs.
The Small Go Big. Countries like the Netherlands are going big on renewables and installing exponentially more than US States. The small Country is a bit larger than Maryland and is installing solar at the pace of California. The C&I systems are being installed at about $0.75/watt in Europe which make the financial case quite compelling.
DC Solar Focus. Join your colleagues in the Maryland, DC and Virginia areas for your regional Solar Focus Conference hosted by MDV-SEIA. Join your fellow solar professionals November 20th and 21st in Baltimore.
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Yann
CALSSA Board Votes. If you are a member of CALSSA, please vote for me for the board. It’s one set of votes per member company so make sure my name makes it to your designated contact. If you are not a member, you should be!
Solar Boom. It is no surprise that the blackouts has caused customers across the Country to look for solar and storage solutions. Installers are telling me every day that their business is through the roof. Blackouts are the symptom of monopoly control and solar takes some of that power back for the consumer.
Storage Boom. The combination of big and small storage demand is driving the investment case up for manufacturers. Expect cells to sell for well below $100/kWh regularly in just a few years. Cheap storage is the ballgame folks!
DG Boom. One of the best pivots in solar over the past few years is how Sunpower has refocused its business on distributed generation. I think this is a positive driver for the entire market and while DG only represents a fraction of the US market, it is the biggest driver of public and political sentiment. DG is also the value chain where every participant makes money, from module maker to consumer, everyone is adding money to the bank account and growing organically.
The Win-Win. There is always a whisper in the background that DG or utility scale needs to win out. This is a circular argument because one does not grow without the other. Honestly, we would do great things if we spent a day lobbying for the main request of the other segment. We need to act on behalf of solar, not a segment of solar. A utility that lives with performance based ratemaking is going to make consumers happy and buy a ton of solar from utility scale solar farms.
Have a great weekend!
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Yann
Consensus Support. Over 70 associations have sent a letter to Congress asking for their support on the ITC. Here is the letter and make sure to transmit this within your circles.
Board Votes. Two items for your trade group votes. I am running for the board of CALSSA in my capacity as CEO of Quick Mount PV, if you are a member of CALSSA, please vote for me! My friend Kendra Hubbard is running for the board of SEIA, she’s done a great job as chair of the DG division and I would love for her to make the board again. Please vote for us!
More coverage tomorrow, Happy Halloween!
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Yann
Bad News For Coastal Folks. A new report in Nature magazine highlights the risk for coastal communities by the year 2050. Don’t take my hyperbole for it but it is going to be really bad for many, especially some of the world’s poorest communities. Miami Beach may have spent a billion dollars building a pumping system under the roads but this says that those pumps will basically be sitting in the ocean by then.
Enphase Exec Experiences Blackouts. The VP of Marketing at Enphase has been without power at home for over 3 days. This means that he’s working in his car at night and his kids are doing homework by lantern light. We exchanged some messages to compare blackout notes (mine ended at hour 44) and how our kids may be shocked that this is a normal situation for many in the world and that our work fixing our first world problems has positive ramifications to climate change and millions of lives around the world if we do it well.
Markets Go As Insurers Do. In 1957, Congress passed the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act. The act provides for government insurance for nuclear power plants above $12.6billion in liabilities, the rest is self insured. Even in 1957, regulators, industry and governments knew that no power plant would be built without sufficient insurance and no plant could be affordable with private insurance. The same is true today, if insurance providers stop insuring ocean front homes, prices will drop. If they stop insuring gas plants, they will go away as well.
No, It Can’t. PG&E cannot stay in the status quo, there will be changes. An interesting argument is coming out that the public advocate has blame for the wildfires because they opposed rate increases. PG&E rates are well over double that of Florida Power and Light and FPL has to deal with hurricanes every year, spending billions on infrastructure. Execution was the failure point, not the public advocate.
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Yann