Presented by ENGIE Storage. (formerly Green Charge) helps power the world more efficiently and sustainably. As the nation’s number one distributed energy storage company, we serve energy producers, distributors, and consumers, including utilities, network operators, and energy consumers in business and government.
March Madness Bracket Challenge. Join SolarWakeup readers from around the world in guessing their bracket. If you think you know NCAA basketball you are already in last place! Head to ESPN Tournament Challenge, login and search for the SolarWakeup group. The password is Solar100 to get your entry. Of course, the winner gets to write the rundown for a day! We had some technical issues yesterday so try once more before the tipoff on Thursday mid day.
What Does The ITC Mean To You? Over 50 responses to these questions yesterday and that is incredibly helpful. We have 5 times as many people in the SolarWakeup family the last time we took on DC and signed the SolarPledge, which played a central role in getting the ITC extended the first time. Here are the questions, I’d like your feedback on so we can start our mission. Are you worried about the step-down of the ITC? Are you in the camp that believes the solar market will be better off without the ITC? Who’s hurt the most by a step-down and eventual sunset of the ITC, utility scale, residential or commercial? What do you want SEIA and advocates to do? Leave as is, fight to keep at 30% or something else? Will you see your business suffer if the ITC steps down to 26%? I want your feedback so I can do a reality check on my personal view on the topic.
Likely CEO At PG&E. Bill Johnson is the current CEO at TVA and the former CEO of Progress Energy (which merged with Duke), and likely the next CEO of PG&E. This is as anti-climactic of an appointment that you could hope for. Progress Energy is known for the original nuclear boondoggle in Florida and TVA has not gone the way of the rest of the country when it comes to renewables, quite the opposite, the solar stories out of TVA are not very favorable. Let’s see where this goes from here.
Need More In Maryland. My second home is Maryland and I’m looking forward to the day that Maryland solar policy really kicks in high gear. Politically, Maryland is a complicated State even though its relatively small. DC suburbs to the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland create a diverse barrier to the Baltimores, City and County. I hope the advocates get some luck coming their way and I look forward to spending more time in the State once again.
One Of A Kind. Here’s the rundown for SolarWakeup Live next week. A legislator looking to go to 100% renewables, the CEO of the nation’s largest clean tech incubator, a Vote Solar pro, 3 of the leading community solar experts, opportunity zone financing, the Director in charge of the SMART program and one of the largest developers in the world. That’s what you get at Live! in a single day. I hope to see you in Boston next week and making this another great SolarWakeup event.
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Presented by Pfister Energy. Changing the way energy is generated and delivered. Pfister Energy is a leading turnkey design-build renewable energy solutions company. Servicing C&I, community and utility sectors for solar, storage and O&M. Visit pfisterenergy.com for more information
Tournament Challenge, 2019 Edition. Get ready to compete again for 2019! Last year it came down to the final day between Allie Detrio (Engie), Tom Matzzie (CleanChoice), and Nathan Arbitman (DSM) with Nathan coming out on top at the very end. This year, you’ll be able to join your solar friends to show your skills (luck) in picking this year’s NCAA March Madness winner. With everyone bound to pick Duke as the winner, the details will matter more than ever. Or go with another winner in the hopes to zig when the market zags. Head to ESPN Tournament Challenge, login and search for the SolarWakeup group. The password is Solar100 to get your entry. Of course, the winner gets to write the rundown for a day!
What Does The ITC Mean To You? Nothing in the news on the topic but the discussion has been circling my inbox since my comments last week about solar being left out of the Senate extenders package. Are you worried about the step-down of the ITC? Are you in the (small) camp that believes the solar market will be better off without the ITC? Who’s hurt the most by a step-down and eventual sunset of the ITC, utility scale, residential or commercial? What do you want SEIA and advocates to do? Leave as is, fight to keep at 30% or something else? I want your feedback so I can do a reality check on my personal view on the topic.
A Disservice To America. Kentucky is doing a disservice to its residents by killing its solar market. Solar in Kentucky was well on the way to do like Texas and Florida, compete with electricity with no subsidy whatsoever. It would have created an excellent opportunity for job training and good paying jobs with upward mobility through local small businesses. Instead, at the bidding of the incumbent coal and utility market, Kentucky is going to keep those opportunities from the residents in Kentucky.
Community Solar Future. It’s always been surprising to me that California doesn’t have a robust community solar market. There was a recent project that mirrored the concept outside of the rules but the attempts to do community solar have fallen short. We’ll be talking about the state of community solar growth across the Country with a rockstar panel at SolarWakeup Live! next week. Just one more week until we get together in Boston. The agenda is long and thorough, we added another room to get a few more people into the event which area always very good networking. Email me for a special code to get into the event by hitting reply or go to solarwakeuplive.com
Yann
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Yann
Presented by CleanChoice Energy. The premier community solar and renewable retail energy service provider in the United States. CleanChoice’s marketing, sales, and operations teams offer the most comprehensive customer acquisition, retention and management service to community solar asset owners and developers in the market today. CleanChoiceaspires to make renewable energy accessible to all, working with more than 40 partners in every community solar market. Our regulatory team is working to expand the community solar market and uses our relationships in state capitols to benefit our partners. The company is one of the fastest growing businesses in America, as ranked on the Inc. 500 and Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™. For more information, visit CleanChoiceEnergy.com.
What Is Big Oil Saying? Axios interviewed the CEO of Equinor and asked some climate related questions. The answers were less than interesting but I find myself looking for transitionary comments that guide action at the oil majors. Maybe we should be ignoring this but I view the oil companies as the natural successor to the hype we had with pension funds over the past few years. Oil companies are better with energy, the uncontracted upside and their knowledge of trading is a natural fit for our industry.
More Nuclear Bailout. Ohio and Pennsylvania look like the two next States that will be supplying nuclear power plant operators with some bailout policies. Especially on the East Coast, there is a lack of renewable energy density thus far with mediocre paces of development. Advocates for renewable will use this leverage to advance solar policies if they play their cards right, more likely to move the needle in PA than OH but both will have talks.
Kids Go Marching. On Friday, millions of kids around the world took their message of climate action to the streets. This is a generational message from future voters that they will not take over a planet that is in worse shape than it is today without trying to make it better. It is the responsibility of us and our elected officials to make everything a little bit better than it was given to us.
One Week Left. The SolarWakeup Live! agenda is final. We have a legislative sponsor of the 100% RPS bill joining us as well as Vote Solar’s representative for the State. Join us on March 26th. For more info, go to solarwakeuplive.com
Vote Solar Equinox. Don’t forget to join Vote Solar for the annual Equinox event in San Francisco. Get your ticket here
Yann
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Yann
Presented by ENGIE Storage. (formerly Green Charge) helps power the world more efficiently and sustainably. As the nation’s number one distributed energy storage company, we serve energy producers, distributors, and consumers, including utilities, network operators, and energy consumers in business and government.
Youth Climate Strike Day. My kids are staying in school but they are wearing a shirt in honor of the day that hopefully has an impact across the world. Their shirt is a quote from David Crane that he wrote in a letter to shareholders while the CEO of NRG Energy. “You Knew…and You Didn’t Do Anything About It? Why?” I hope that the kids will have an impact on elected officials to show that their decisions are not only for the next election but for 2 or 3 decades from now. A vote against solar or an RPS may not mean much for the politician but the impact will carry weight for years to come. The kids know what inaction means and today is a day to memorialize it.
Gary Cohn Tried. On the Freakonomics podcast, former advisor to the President Gary Cohn said that he tried to explain to Trump that solar and not coal was the future. During the tariff debate he showed that solar had hundreds of thousands of jobs, up from nothing ten years ago versus coal which is 50,000 and declining. This is in line with what I’ve been told from meetings with Cohn during the 201 tariff discussion.
12,000 Interconnections. Who’s ordering a Tesla Model Y? During last night’s unveiling Elon highlighted the company’s success including the vast supercharging network. The number now stands at over 12,000 chargers across the world which means that the team had to site, interconnect and build that many systems. Anyone that has had to deal with interconnections, especially my friends in the charging business can attest that this is no small feat.
Join Me In Boston. Here’s another chance to get your ticket, this isn’t a big theater and we have a few seats left to network and join me on stage at SolarWakeup Live! Boston. We’re talking policy, SMART, community solar and development. Use code SWLB20 for 20% off as a loyal SolarWakeup readers.
Yann
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Yann