Presented by Aten Solar. Your single source in adding value to your supply chain and procurement.  Aten Solar is your go-to source for the best closeout pricing on new and surplus modules for your project needs.
Sununu Sticks To Talking Points. A new metering bill in New Hampshire passed the legislature and has been vetoed by the Governor. Sununu gave his best to argue cost shift as the main reason but we know where most of this comes from. One of the useful arguments in other States has come right from the customers, instead of solar professionals. This could be a useful tactic to show that solar means more textbooks for kids paid for with the energy savings. 
Hmmm, GM Goes All In On EVs? General Motors proposed a change to the emissions targets to the Trump administration. Instead of focusing on higher efficiency vehicles, GM wants a zero emissions target which puts 7 million EVs on the road by 2030. This appears to be a positive shift towards EVs but also slows the ICE fuel standards by focusing the plan on EVs. The target of 7million by 2030 is rather small in my opinion and it would be best to let the market drive the adoption of EVs instead of the standard. 
Solar Makes News, Not Headlines. We had the Musk versus Buffett stories when Nevada was debating net metering and now we have Adelson versus Buffett. The story centers around the energy choice ballot initiative which Adelson wants to see passed. Casinos, which Adelson owns, want to buy their own energy including really cheap desert solar and storage instead of having to buy electricity from NV Energy which Buffett owns. Consumer choice is the argument here. I doubt Buffett is very much involved in the argument except for the push to his CEOs to generate more free cash flow but he’s on the wrong side on this one. 
Future of CCAs. By 2030, I expect that most consumers have retail energy choice and an IOU providing wire services. This is the natural progression from the IOU system we have today and surely looks like CCAs are the way to handle that in areas that IOUs have franchise agreements. At some point the market will likely have to make this a bit clearer but in the meantime, California is a test case for what happens when there is mass adoption of CCAs. 
Catch Up NY Times. Sunrun versus Tesla/SolarCity, centered around Tesla leaving the top spot is a year too old of a story but just in time for the NYT I guess. Just last week I wrote about the surprising data from the Tesla earnings call and how they appear to make a run at the top spot now instead of coming in shy of Sunrun. Still good for solar to make it to the national pages of the NYT. 
One Week Out. Join us next Tuesday in Jersey City for SolarWakeup Live! including a great happy hour right after the event. 

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

New England is one of the hottest solar areas of the country, with New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts getting all the attention. Unfortunately, New Hampshire may not be joining them after their governor vetoed a bill designed to raise an arbitrary 1 MW cap on net metering. The Concord (N.H.) Monitor reports on the turmoil into which the veto has thrown the rooftop solar industry. As David Brooks writes:

Not surprisingly, the governor’s veto of a bill to make large solar projects more profitable has put a number of municipal solar projects on hold, or at least up in the air.

Under current law, any project over 1 MW is not eligible for net metering. The bill would have raised that cap to 5 MW had the governor not vetoed it. But Governor Chris Sununu vetoed the bill anyway, arguing that net-metering compensation would hurt other non-solar consumers, who would pay for grid upkeep that solar consumers don't pay for. In other words, it's the old cost shift argument raised to the level of the governor's office. For those of you who aren't familiar with the "cost shift" argument, it is the erroneous lie that solar consumers don't pay their fair share of costs for grid upkeep. The truth is that the cost shift doesn't happen until at least 10% of a state's electricity is generated from solar - currently only the case in five states, of which New Hampshire is not one. And even in those five states, the cost shift is only only a fraction of a penny per kilowatt-hour. In other words, it's not even worth talking about. It's the one disappointing part of Brooks' article, which otherwise is quite good. He accepts the cost shift argument without challenge. It's a common error among the popular press, who aren't as familiar with the reality of the solar industry as some of the rest of us are. It's up to us to point this out in an effort to educate more people about this pernicious lie so that utilities - and their politicians like Sununu - can't pull the wool over the eyes of the general public. More: Veto of net metering bill puts solar projects on hold

The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon

The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon

I hope you have a great weekend, all things are looking up in solar. Solar on!
Better Solar Means Better Market. North Carolina is having all state chapter members sign a code of conduct and ethics. Not only new members but also existing members. It could be expected that the market will educate consumers of this fact and guard consumers to only do business with companies that are members, therefore having signed the pledge. This is in line with the thought that members should do business with members because such a circular membership economy makes the trade group much more valuable and powerful. 
Oil Versus Energy. It’s getting loud and public in the industrial battle of the 21st Century. When the Ford Model T came out, oil companies were happy to serve as the fuel source while the Edisons worked to bring light to your home. The industries didn’t cross much and kept away from each other in legislatures across the Country. That is all changing and the coverage from E&E News highlights that oil companies will seek to slow the adoption of EVs by slowing the deployment of charging infrastructure. 
How Would You 100%? With SB100 enacted, the CPUC wants to see the plan from utilities about their plan to reach 100%. I look forward to seeing a decarbonized, decentralized energy transition. How would you make it happen?
VA Charges Forward. Virginia has turned quite the corner towards renewables, as if the State has taken the mantle from the mid-Atlantic states and moved to push it to the next limit. The market is still lacking on the distributed side, something I assume is based on the headline cost of electricity without taking into account the network savings. States should be getting their residential markets up to 250MW or better per year without any limitation that causes ups and downs in the market. 
More Solar Jobs! More training dollars for solar jobs. This is one of the biggest limitation in the growth of solar companies that cannot find enough labor for their installations. We need to start thinking about the programs that will funnel electricians and installers that work in solar into the workforce so that solar companies can compete for them and help build the solar economy. 

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann