By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It's common knowledge that the commercial & industrial (C&I) segment of the solar industry historically has struggled to find financing and put together projects. The reasons for the struggles are myriad, but mostly it has to do with banks not being sure what to do with commercial properties and how to securitize them. Now two industry powerhouses are joining forces in the hopes of relieving some of that pressure. EDF Renewables North America (EDF Renewables)and EnterSolar announced a strategic partnership whereby EDF Renewables will acquire a 50% interest in EnterSolar that will allow the company to offer C&I customers the most comprehensive array of behind-the-meter services. While the new agreement does provide Entersolar with EDF Renewables’ unparalleled experience in renewable energy and storage, and its proven long-term expertise in distributed solar solutions to corporate C&I customers internationally,\ it is primarily focused on is adding capital to the segment. As part of the agreement, EDF Renewables is providing growth capital as well as additional project financing capabilities to EnterSolar. “We are delighted to announce this partnership with EDF Renewables, which, in conjunction with a strategic investment, provides EnterSolar with enhanced growth opportunities and the ability to further advance our goal of becoming the preferred provider of distributed generation solar solutions to the corporate marketplace,” said Paul Ahern, president, EnterSolar. “We are impressed with the quality of the EnterSolar team and the striking natural fit between our offerings. EnterSolar has a remarkable customer satisfaction track record with C&I customers, while EDF Renewables Distributed Solutions brings strength and experience specific to ground-mount solar projects up to 30 MWp alongside behind-the-meter battery storage for the C&I sector. This new partnership will benefit from complementary synergies,” said Raphael Declercq, executive vice president, EDF Renewables. “The partnership now provides our customers with a wider choice of comprehensive distributed energy solutions.” Terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

Headed To SPI. Here’s to day 1 in Anaheim for SPI 2018. At SolarWakeup we won’t bore you with the stream of press releases but we’ll look for the storylines that matter to your business. If you have any tips or info that should see the light of day, you can always hit reply on this email and send it over. Enjoy the show and we’ll be talking throughout the week. This is a good time to tell your industry friends that they should be subscribed to SolarWakeup as well. We are about to graduate from an auditorium filled with people to an arena and that’s a great place for solar to be headed. On Friday, SolarWakeup celebrates its 6th birthday, so we look forward to celebrating that with you.
The SolarAPP Permit. Later today at SPI, SEIA, The Solar Foundation and others will be working on the SolarAPP, the ’instant’ permit process that could open many doors for your installation business. Imagine only having to wait a few days from the contract signing to start the project, that’s a future we should all look forward to. I am excited to see how the process will play out and if you have ideas on the implementation of this, send them this way.
Resiliency In Solar. Bringing this back to the top because the post-hurricane Florence solar results are coming in. Solar did incredibly well which speaks to the engineering standards of the solar construction space and how we work with the code writers to do what is best.
Midwest Solar Utilities. First Indiana and over the weekend Kentucky and Ohio also came out with strong solar moves from the utilities. We’ve more news out of coal utilities in the past few months than before and this trend is sticking around in my opinion. Let’s keep watching this space.
Fixing Friday. I wrote that AEP was working on helping Indiana move in the right direction but was wrong about the utilities. It is NIPSCO and not AEP. AEP filed similar plans in Ohio. My apologies.

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It's no surprise that North Carolina is the No. 2 solar state in the country. Aggressive utility-scale installation, combined with a friendly public utilities commission, have vaulted the state to the top of the list. What I'm saying is that North Carolina has earned its place among the solar elite. Which is why those of us who have watched that growth were nervous as Hurricane Florence bore down on North Carolina. Between the wind and rain, the resiliency of the state's solar inventory would be sorely tested - and we all hoped it would come through with flying colors. Well, wonder no more - Hurricane Florence threw everything at North Carolina that it could, and the solar in the state survived with nearly no interruptions. Inside Climate News has the details:

Duke and Strata Solar, two of North Carolina's largest owners and operators of solar farms, said they found almost no damage in initial inspections. Both companies temporarily shut down some systems in anticipation of flooding, but there were few reports of damage to solar panels. "I know sometimes we think, 'Oh it's the wind, it's the panels flying around.' But we haven't found that to be the case," said Randy Wheeless, a spokesman for Duke, the largest electric utility in the state. "Our bigger worry usually is flooding."

Duke only shut down three of its 35 solar farms, and the one that took damage only had 12 modules - less than 1% of the total number of modules at the site. And Cypress Creek took to Twitter to brag about its solar farms, which made it through Hurricane Florence in "solid shape." Here's the bottom line: One of the selling points for solar has always been its resiliency during natural disasters. In the past, because of the small amount of utility-scale solar installed, it was a claim that was more true in theory than had been proven in practice. Now, however, we have proof that solar can survive a hurricane the strength of Hurricane Florence and survive well. That should only solidify solar's position as a leading electrical generation source in the future. More: Solar Energy Largely Unscathed by Hurricane Florence’s Wind and Rain

I hope you have a great weekend and safe travels to Anaheim. I will be there and should be at most of the nighttime activities. Please make sure to say hello. If you’re interested in meeting my Quick Mount team, you can reach out to them here.
Wheels On The Bus, Are Electric. Daimler and others are going all in on electrification of fleet vehicles. Frank has the breakdown but this story was important to me months ago when we interviewed Proterra CEO, Ryan Popple, on the SolarWakeup podcast. I remain sceptical that America wants to drive, ride or fly in Chinese transportation and that makes Proterra a vital part of the future of electric fleets in the US.
Your State Rundowns. 
Remember Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico has come a long way and started to rebuild. Now the special interest groups are going to try and keep the island from a renewable future but I hope that won’t happen.
California. You’ll hear plenty of talk about NEM 3.0 and CALSSA needs your help to build an archest. Come to the Annual Dinner on October 12th, sponsor a few tables and bring your chequebook for the auction.
Massachusetts. Time for Baker to step in and get SMART done. The utilities have been allowed to drag this out long enough.
New York. The interesting value proposition for solar on Long Island, read the Bloomberg reporting.
Florida. See some of your friends interviewed by the Florida Channel about the Florida solar market. Good things are happening.
Indiana. AEP is out with an IRP to kill coal within 10 years, in Indiana. They must have failed to notify the Vice President of this.

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann