By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

"In like a lion, out like a lamb." That's how Massachusetts solar advocate Sean Garren characterized on Twitter the whimper of a clean-energy bill that made its way through the Massachusetts legislature on its final day. The Senate voted 36-0 to pass the legislation, while the House had one dissenting vote, 150-1. Advocates offered intensely mixed reviews of the bill, although it was almost universally praised for eliminating the "fixed charge" Eversource had sought to impose on all new solar users. But net metering caps inexplicably remain in place and the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) increases are so tiny you need a microscope to see them. Mary C. Serreze at MassLive.com quoted one renewable advocate as saying the bill was a "base hit" when it could have been a home run, endearing themselves to people everywhere who forgot baseball was still a game Americans played in the summer. The biggest win for the solar industry was the elimination of the Eversource "fixed charge," which the usurious utility's attempt to fix in legislation the nonsensical, zombie lie of the "cost shift" that utilities across the country keep yammering on about. I will not take my usual break to explain what complete nonsense the "cost shift" argument is because honestly, I'm tired of typing about it, so search "zombie lie" in the search box up there in the upper right-hand corner of the page to see my explanation elsewhere. Go ahead...I'll wait. OK, are you back? Do you see why eliminating the charge was such a huge priority for clean energy advocates in the Bay State? Yes? Good. Let's move on. The biggest loss for the solar industry was the fact that net metering caps will remain in place, essentially freezing rooftop solar in place until the caps are raised. Advocates had hoped to either eliminate the cap or at least raise it 5%. That did not make it into the final bill. This disappointing state of affairs was best summed up in a release on the bill by a coalition of solar groups that had lobbied hard to get the caps removed:

But small commercial and business solar projects across the Commonwealth will remain stalled as the legislation leaves a needless barrier to customer adoption of solar, caps on Massachusetts’ most successful solar program, net metering, in place. With just hours left in the session, it appears the urgent action needed to get solar back to work for the Commonwealth will wait for another year.

In the half-victory category, the RPS will rise, by only incrementally over a period of more than 20 years, rising 1% each year until 2020, then 2% per year until 2030 and 1% every year thereafter. Those are tiny rises in a region where New Jersey and New York are leaping forward into the renewable energy future with great gusto, and even Vermont is moving apace. But an increase is an increase, and even under the anemic rise it still will reach 100% - eventually. All in all, a disappointing end to a legislative session that saw a robust Senate bill whittled down to near nothing in the House of Representatives, which had its own four-headed bill amalgamation as the two houses entered into negotiations to reach agreement on this final bill. Garren had it exactly right: A legislative session in which clean-energy advocates had high hopes for significant progress on their agenda ended up with crumbs - important crumbs, some of them, but a far cry from what they'd hoped for. As they have said for decades in Cleveland about the Browns, advocates are left shaking their fists and saying, "Wait until next year!"

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Solar power is expanding its reach throughout the country rapidly - so rapidly, in fact, that some communities are struggling with issues like permitting, siting and other ancillary-but-essential parts of the project process. In some states, that confusion is causing communities to reject solar out of hand as being too complicated to do. A group of researchers out of Emory University in Atlanta, seeing the problems that were arising as its own state moved speedily to a solar future, decided to do something to mitigate the struggles by publishing a sample zoning ordinance for municipalities thinking about going solar, which includes a Georgia Model Solar Zoning Ordinance and accompanying educational guide. Publicity for the guide kicked off today with an Op-Ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The authors, Caroline Reiser and Mindy Goldstein, write:

We’re started down the right path in Georgia. But to make sure we don’t get misdirected, clear land use standards and good information about solar development are necessary. The Georgia Model Solar Zoning Ordinance we just published paves the way.

These are not just issues in Georgia, of course. But the guide comes only a few days after Georgia Power announced it was soliciting 100 MW worth of distributed generation projects, which means more projects in small towns around the state. The guide is an effort to head of NIMBY-ism and help everyone understand best practices when it comes to siting solar projects in the state. As the authors put it in their AJC piece:

We’ve already seen communities push back against solar development planned in inappropriate locations. The question is what comes next. ... Georgia may be running down the right path, but it still can get tripped up. If Georgia wants it keep up the pace, it has to get smart.

More states need to come up with similar guidelines because solar is coming soon to your town - and it's best that you be prepared rather than let it take you by surprise.

8minute View On Solar. Frank interviews the CEO of 8minutenergy to discuss how one of the most successful developers views the solar market today. The conversation covers all of the topics that you would think about as a solar pro. It doesn’t matter what segment of solar you cover, you are worried about many of the same things.
Free Market Means Solar For Puerto Rico. I had to read the coverage several times but watching the members of Congress ask questions of the DOE Assistant Secretary on the topic of PREPA and energy in Puerto Rico. The questions are politically motivated and the answers are rooted in truth unable to be wrapped in the normal tone of partisanship.
Helping Grow Credit Unions And Community Banks. I had the pleasure of speaking with the team heading up the Clean Energy Federal Credit Union at the COSEIA conference and the mechanics of the credit union may be complicated but the benefits to the solar industry are immense. The interest alignment and the community benefit fit the vision of most credit unions and someone should find a way to make that deal flow access the local capital more efficient.
Flawed View Of Storage. I try not to be biased by the corporate donor ship to some university think tanks because the money should, in theory, be separated by those academics seeking their truth. As I read the view of the California market and the role that batteries will play, I can’t help but think (at almost every paragraph) who skewed the view of the future for the author. Storage is going to play a massive role in California and it will enable much more solar to be built. EVs and distributed generation will also do a great deal of good for the future but there is no doubt that storage is a massive opportunity for a clean energy future.
SunPower Updates On Impact Of Tariffs. After announcing Q2 earnings, SunPower held their call and some interviews to talk about their views of the solar market. Always great insight from the SunPower call as they are active in many geographies and market segments. The company continues to reduce exposure to large scale solar to focus on DG, announcing Fortune 50 portfolios that added SunPower systems. If you ever wonder where SunPower will be focusing, look at their EBITDA breakdown. Residential solar is where you want to be!

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

At Intersolar North America two weeks ago, I sat down with Martin Hermann, founder and CEO of 8minutenergy on the heels of their announcement of their Eagle Shadow Mountain project, which was signed at a flat rate of $23.76 per megawatt-hour throughout its 25-year PPA term, or 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour. In Part 1 of our discussions, Martin Hermann and I talked about just how low he thinks module prices can go. In Part II, which will be posted later this week, Martin Hermann discussed the tariffs and their overall effect on the U.S. solar industry. Here is what he had to say in Part II of our discussions. Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent: (FA): Storage is another big topic of conversation in the industry. Where do you see energy storage right now and how does it help the market mature? Martin Hermann (MH): The headline is that the future of dispatchable solar is here. The value is here right now for dispatchable utility-scale solar to replace gas peaker plants and even combined cycle plants in the sunnier parts of the country. I am optimistic about where we are as an industry and where we are going with batteries, although I’m not as strong an advocate for distributed generation as some others in the industry. We calculated how much it would cost to run the California grid on only distributed renewables plus storage, and we discovered costs would be six times higher than they are now. So while solar-plus-storage is the future of electricity generation, I think it will be primarily on the utility-scale side of the ledger. You need to put the technology where it will work at its strength. FA:So what is going on with the tariff situation? What kind of impact do you think they will have on the MH: I think the good news is that our technology at this point is bigger than tariffs and it will continue to grow. At 8minutenergy, we are completely focused on the U.S. market, and are seeing some remarkable projects come to fruition, including our Eagle Shadow Mountain plant in Nevada that is leading the nation as the lowest-cost solar project. Now, the U.S. market overall might grow more slowly in the short-term than countries that are not putting tariffs on solar. India, for example, continues to move forward and they are the second-largest market behind China, so little blips here and there in other markets aren’t going to derail the global solar industry. Besides India, there are other markets that are starting to install massive amounts of solar, which I believe is just a testimony to the overwhelmingly strong fundamentals of the industry. FA:Do you think China's decision to stop building new projects in the second half of the year is going to have the effect of flooding the market with inexpensive modules and, if so, do you think it could end up having a positive effect on the U.S. market? MH: It is too early to tell. I’d be a little cautious about saying that a major policy change in China is going to have a significant effect on the U.S. market. It’s certainly true that there will be an oversupply of modules, but I see those going to markets much closer to China, like India, instead. There will be other countries that will benefit, too. I’m just not sure the U.S. market will be affected significantly by the recent decisions in China.