Reminder. Make sure to add @solarwakeup.com to your safe email list. Every now and then the email gets flagged due to the amount of emails that flow every month (it’s gotten much bigger than the original 37 recipients). If you haven’t received the email then make sure to check the safe list! While you’re at it, make sure to get your colleagues to take the leap and subscribe!
Memo To Utilities. Time to move past the net metering is a subsidy argument. Especially when reports show the value of distributed generation during congestion and high demand times. The argument should revolve around the impact that solar has on shareholder investment opportunities and the future of the grid when solar plus storage bring a ton of demand response value to the operations. All is not lost, focus the future on electric vehicles and the ability to manage the grid as a lines company.
Introducing Clearway. When NRG decided to sell NRG Renewables, which I think in retrospect is something that the NRG CEO will regret in the long run, I expected more of a household name to come after the assets. It appears now that GIP was looking at a platform to deploy capital, likely a virtually unlimited amount of LP money. GIP closed the transaction and created Clearway, quickly adding a massive SunPower portfolio to its assets. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the name.
Ohio’s Solar Potential. Ohio was on the way to being a great midwest solar market well before Illinois ever tried. But the politics of America’s swing state took the market into the gutter but it could have been great. Now a report by Repowering Ohio shows the potential for 2.2GW of renewables for Ohio and so many local jobs. It’s a great political strategy in my opinion for folks to show that renewables can work for everyone, whether you work on a roof, a factory or in an office tower.  
Inside The Deals. We need more corporations to talk publicly about how they did their renewables procurement. Large companies have the internal expertise and time to figure it out, what the market really needs is large scale procurement by small and mid-sized companies that have to copy the format of those large entities. So enjoy this inside the deal article about Mars PPAs.  
New Jersey Solar. Join me on November 6th and get your ticket now please! I’d appreciate the support. If you have topic recommendations, now is the time as the invitations are going out, these are 1 on 1 interviews where the audience actually gets to dig into a topic. Abby Hopper, SEIA’s CEO, will be joining us at SolarWakeup Live! Jersey City as the first announced speaker.

Have a great day!

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Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It's easy to lose sight in today's electricity market that energy storage isn't only happening on an individual homeowner level. In fact, a recent study showed that utilities increased their battery storage capacity 68% to 1.3 GWh in 2017. That number comes from a utility survey conducted by the Smart Electric Power Alliance, an utility-focused trade organization. The survey itself is behind a paywall, but pv magazine has the goods. For example:

The use of longer-duration batteries, able to discharge for several hours, has enabled balancing of solar with widespread storage, as in California and Hawaii, and with co-located solar + storage installations, as in Hawaii and Florida.

Also:

California utilities remained far in the lead in storage energy capacity, in response to state storage policies that support renewable goals. California added 75 percent of the nation’s incremental battery energy capacity in 2017, and was home to nearly 60 percent of the cumulative energy capacity.

The looming question is whether what you're seeing in the utility-scale battery market is the same phenomenon you saw with solar power back in that industry's infancy, to wit: Utilities, with their economies of scale, tried to eliminate competition with residential distributed generation. It's a fight they're still waging (see our report on Kansas from earlier today) and, while they may not be winning any enormous victories, it's a drain on the overall industry potential. pv magazine also flags this juicy piece of information regarding what will drive further economically advantageous storage options at the utility level:

FERC Order 841 directs RTOs/ISOs (regional transmission organizations and independent system operators) to allow a storage resource to sell into the wholesale market all capacity, energy, and ancillary services that the resource is technically capable of providing.

According to the report, this order alone would add up to 50 GW of energy storage capacity, if all the benefits from storage were realized. Go read the whole article - it's a fascinating discussion of where we are in the energy-storage market, at least from the standpoint of the utilities. More: US grid-connected battery energy capacity grew 68% last year

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Solar observers in Kansas are watching closely as two demand-charge proposals wend their way through the Kansas Corporation Commission. A decision on whether the fees will go into effect is expected on September 27. It's always interesting to watch lesser solar states work out their solar policies, despite the fact they often fall into some of the same traps earlier states have. Kansas appears to be no exception. The state's two largest utilities - Westar Energy and Kansas City Power & Light - currently have proposals before commission, which solar advocates say could bring the industry to a screeching halt, according to Midwest Energy News. One solar installer named Mark Horst is quoted in the article discussing one particular customer that he put together an estimate on how the demand charge would affect her bill. This is what he found:

The demand fee is high enough that it would actually offset all of the energy savings provided by smaller solar arrays, according to Horst. He analyzed the finances of one customer’s 2.32-kilowatt array, and determined that her average monthly savings of $35 would be more than negated by an average monthly demand charge of $45. The upshot: “She would have to pay $10 a month for the luxury of having solar panels,” Horst said, adding that he would have to advise her for financial reasons to remove the panels.

As Midwest Energy News correctly points out, the demand charge is a longstanding method that utilities use to try to recover the revenues they lose when people discover what a good deal solar is for them and generate their own electricity. What is heartening, at least for Kansas consumers, is that most utility regulators are loathe to allow demand charges because of their confusing nature. Most regulatory bodies aren't willing to make it harder for customers to understand their bills. That's not to say Kansas won't be the exception to the rule. But it should give solar installers like Hurst and solar consumers like the one he discussed some hope that the Kansas Corporation Commission won't allow these usurious and confusing charges to make their way on to those bills. We'll all find out together later this month. More: Kansas utilities’ proposed new fees could wipe out savings for some solar customers

Welcome Back. Big news recap from this Labor Day Weekend. SolarWakeup Live! Jersey City is now live, we’ve got some great conversations on tap and as always a big focus on dealmaking. NJ has a bold solar agenda ahead and this is where you will want to be on November 6th. Get your tickets at solarwakeuplive.com as well as information on sponsorships.
Europe Moves Forward. The European version of the solar tariff was in the form of a minimum price. After several years of the counterintuitive tax, the EU is pulling the MIP. The UK took a brunt of the tax as it was the market that was the hottest during the time, but now many of the markets will be able to tackle unsubsidized solar within the global market dynamics.
Moniz Issues Approval. Since the CA Legislature sent SB100 to the Governor, much has been said about the pros and cons of the bill that would have California at zero carbon for 100% of its energy consumptions. The Governor has yet to sign the legislature but is widely to do so ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit happening in San Francisco. The former Secretary of Energy has chimed in, telling Axios’ Amy Harder that this is a ‘very big deal’.
Consumers Pay For Fire Damage. There was some sentiment that the California fires would cause the utilities to use shareholder money to pay for the damages, potentially causing a bankruptcy of an IOU. Given the system that we are in, where regulated monopolies have to take very little risk, I am not surprised that consumers will have to pay the tab. Whether it is fires in California or hurricanes in Florida, the regulated monopoly model is outdated and no longer works for consumers in my opinion. The shareholders and consumers need to be aligned in benefits of new investments and aligned with the regulations that both parties have to operate under.
Ain’t First, You’re Last. Many co-operative utilities (co-ops) are part of larger generating entities. This gives them some bulk buying power which was essential in larger power plant operations. Some of the entities have places caps on the co-ops regarding how much solar they could contract with individually which has angered many co-op boards that are run by the ratepayers. Some co-ops are now leaving the larger entities and finding their energy in the open market with a lot of renewable energy attached to it.
Thank Your Neighbor. If they have solar on their roofs, they save you a lot of money. This latest report shows how much solar saved the system within ISO-NE during a recent heat wave.

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann