Stop The BS. Sometimes I don’t point out articles that are filled with bias especially when a position of influence is used to portray a motive as an opinion. First, there is no reality where solar or wind are better off without the tax credit. Second, if you think that your sponsor capital will be cheaper without the tax equity structure, don’t use it. There are some in solar that think that the ITC going away will make financing easier, those people should go sell mortgages. Others are afraid that solar asking for the ITC and not getting the extension would be a failure. I look at it more pragmatically. I want the ITC to be as close to 100% as possible. I want it to last in perpetuity if I can influence that legislation. If I were writing an article purely based on motive, I would ask for a 50% ITC with a cap of $20k. It would shave the cost of the ITC by 90% to the taxpayer and residential would thrive. Except that this market requires us all to be on the same page, creating volume for the same supply chain and creating funding for the associations that lobby for our market to exist. If you have an urge to write an opinion piece on the topic, send an email to your college roommate that promptly throws it away.
You Have To Fight, For Your Right. The California Senate passed the Solar Bill of Rights through committee by a vote of 11-0. The nice part about it is that the legislative support largely came from the homeowners that bought solar from installers. This is a proof of concept that could catapult the Solar Rights Alliance into great funding opportunities and more coverage across the Country.
Cheaper Debt Is Good. Few things get me excited as much as lower coverage ratios. Every time I see debt closings use the revenue put from kWh Analytics I think of the other things that could also make solar projects get more capital efficient.
MidWest Solar. Catch me at the upcoming Midwest Solar Expo where I’ll be sitting with State PUC Commissioner, Katie Sieben and a great conversation with an executive from Xcel Energy. I will also be attending The Energy Fair for their 30th anniversary, this will be a special interview with a great speaker we will reveal soon!
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Yann
Absent a column today, check out these great solar communications jobs. If you are hiring, send the link to the job to me and I’ll give you a shoutout.
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Quick recap today as the day job takes over my day today.
Covering Climate Politics. Congrats to Julia Pyper of GTM who is venturing out to contributing editor and focus on her Poli Climate podcast alongside her co-hosts. They will be focusing on climate issues in politics leading up to the 2020 election. Supported by Schwarzenegger’s institute and Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation, the podcast will be covering an important topic in an important time.
I Lose You Lose. Duke wants ratepayers to pay for coal ash cleanup. I have a question about the regulated monopolies. Are there any costs that consumers shouldn’t pay for? At what point do shareholders bear some risk of capital loss? This can’t be a guaranteed growth of capital investment, that’s not a monopoly anymore. That’s privatized government.
Grid Operators Speak Out. Interesting view on a renewable grid in the UK. National Grid is playing lots of cards in the energy deck on multiple continents, that could make for a fun board room at times.
PURPA In Big Sky Country. No-one really wants to open up the PURPA law but maybe the decades old law needs to be reformed so that there is clarity and certainty across the Country.
MD Win. The House in Maryland passed the 50% RPS yesterday. Ball goes to Governor Hogan, let’s see what he does.
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Tax Credit News. Last week was a big week for clean energy incentives with two separate events. First, a bill was filed to add energy storage to the ITC eligibility on a standalone basis. This has been a long requested change in definition by the solar industry. More importantly, over 100 member of the house democratic caucus signed a letter to Chairman Neal asking for amongst other things for an extension of the ITC.
Be Real. With Democrats in charge of the House, any spending bill would need the votes of the House and now a large faction is stating their ask. The clean energy industries also came out in support of the letter. Nothing will happen immediately but keep this in mind as we get into spending season after recess. This type of omnibus spending bill is what got the last ITC extension to become reality.
Replacing Power Plants. Los Angeles is looking to find their way into a renewable future and while LADWP and local politics make it complicate, I give major kudos to Sunrun for offering another plan forward. 75,000 homes with solar and backup power would double the residential solar in LA and offset one of the power plants. To change the status quo barriers to be broken and the technical envelope needs to pushed which means that the keepers of the status quo need as much input as possible to show them what is doable. As of late, Sunrun has been doing a lot of glass shattering with their capacity auction win in ISO-NE with the help of National Grid Ventures, pay equity and their impact report. This helps everyone in the residential market, myself included, as the market is a rising tide floats all boats environment.
Fixing C&I Credit. Check out the new concept for credit security in the C&I market. This was one of the SunShot award winners a few years ago that I found rather interesting, especially if they can commercialize and scale.
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Yann