By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located 12 miles east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt. Frank Benjamin Tyndall. The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing of the Air Combat Command. The Air Force base found itself in the direct path of Hurricane Michael, and the results were tough. A lot of roofs were ripped off, leaving homes exposed to the elements - with no protection from the rain and winds. But I noticed something interesting as I watched this video of Tyndall Air Force Base. It's a damage assessment video to document the damage to base housing to move the recovery process forward. It was shot by Master Sgt. Alexander Farver. Watch the video (it's only 2:34) and see if you noticed what I noticed. I'll wait. Right? As the camera pans across the homes damaged by Michael, what I noticed was exposed wood. Shingles had been ripped from their moorings and tossed aside like so much crumpled computer paper. Debris surrounded the houses, and my heart felt for those families affected by the storm. Except.... Except those roofs with solar on them appeared to be largely in tact. We often talk about how much solar can be a boon for areas that are hit with natural disasters, but it's almost always in conjunction with keeping the power on in the aftermath of the disaster. But what often gets forgotten, however, is the role solar can play in protecting the roof. After all, solar panels and racking are tested in high winds and under adverse conditions. What this video shows is that properly installed solar can help mitigate some of the damage done by natural disasters - and that is absolutely fascinating. More: Tyndall Air Force Base View of Housing Following Hurricane Michael

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

We talked about this a couple of times last week, but coal country is suffering as more utilities are cutting back on their use of coal. Which makes it more interesting when coal may be replaced by a 400 MW solar farm in Ohio Appalachia - which is right in coal country's heart. Inside Climate News has the details:

American Electric Power submitted a plan Thursday evening to work with two developers to build 400 megawatts of solar in Highland County, Ohio. It would more than triple the state's current solar capacity and be a big step forward for solar energy in a part of the country where renewable energy has been slow to develop.

What makes this particularly interesting is that American Electric Power (AEP) is one of the staunchest coal-fueled utilities in the country. After all, their primary service area is in the heart of coal country. But they view this move as the start of a "just transition" from coal to renewable energy, Inside Climate News reports. As jobs are lost in the coal industry, additional renewable energy opportunities will allow those workers to have jobs directly with the plants and the other industries that will crop up surrounding the plants. "This is something that Appalachia needs," said Dan Sawmiller, Ohio energy policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Inside Climate News. "The jobs of this renewable energy economy are going to go somewhere and I think it's important that they go where they're needed." Other utilities will be watching this proposal closely because it is challenging the regulatory structure in Ohio, which currently separates utilities from their power plants. The rule supposedly keeps markets competitive, and this proposal would challenge that rule. Solar advocates are hoping that approval of this project will open the market for future solar development for the region.

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Insider Access, PSC Importance. Arizona is going through a big fight around the 50% RPS ballot initiative. Surprising to me, but not to dinosaur thinking, APS (the Arizona utility) is strongly opposed to the proposition. What it has been doing, now documented by internal emails, is using the regulatory body (ACC) to push out their talking points. One former regulator called is “regulatory capture” but I call it the status quo. In States where the utility regulator is elected, the only party that cares to invest in those campaign is the utility the body has to regulate. If you want to be a regulator in Arizona, the easiest way to the office was to align yourself and make yourself available to the government affairs teams. This is dangerous and bad for consumers. As an aside, I do find APS’s position on the RPS to be corporate negligence. A rebuild of the grid and change of generation in 10 years offers in incredible opportunity to rate base investments and charges to all consumers while greening the grid. 

Learning Lesson. Here is the counterpoint to the ‘regulatory capture’ above. You lose 100% of the battles you stay out of and regulators will care 0% of all the arguments you never make to them. Moreover, regulators will never know your issue if you don’t spend telling them the talking points. They will surely ignore you and often won’t respond, but you need to keep them reading your message. Much of this is based on my personal experience writing this newsletter. I may not always respond to your emails but I almost always read them or see the headline. Some PR agencies send me press releases with little result but some PR experts know the audience, tell me the message and attach the link to the article. But most of all, you’d be surprised at how many companies, startups and advocates never reach out at all. 

Electric Transportation. I am fascinated by the traction that electric vehicles are getting, more specifically those vehicles in fleets. UPS and FedEx always jump to the top of the last mile list. Walmart and JB Hunt are the long distance challenge. Mass transit and school buses are the local routes. There will be hundreds of billions in transaction value and integration challenges but nonetheless this is really exciting to think about. 

How Solar Bills Become Law. Part 2 of my discussion with Brad Klein of ELPC centers around how the Illinois solar policy came to life. Through the needs of the utility which wanted to get subsidies for ailing nuclear plants arised the opportunity for the solar and environmental advocacy groups to coalesce and make an ask. Get the details by listening to the unedited interview here and join us for more of this type of conversation in a few weeks in New Jersey. 

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It's stories like this that remind us all how corporates are going to drive solar adoption in many solar-reluctant states. New Mexico, which has had a contentious relationship with solar, is going to add 100 MW of solar in order to serve the electricity needs of a corporation of which you may have heard. PNM Resources' New Mexico utility, PNM, received approval on Wednesday from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) to purchase 100 megawatts of solar generation from NM Renewable Development, LLC (NMRD) in order to continue serving the Facebook data center in the state with 100 percent renewable energy. This addition supports the goal to achieve a more sustainable energy portfolio at PNM. "Opportunities for solar energy are abundant in New Mexico, and Facebook's growth allows us to demonstrate our commitment to making our state a sustainable energy leader," said Pat Vincent-Collawn, chairman, president and CEO of PNM Resources. "We are proud to support Facebook's presence in our state." NMRD, a joint venture between subsidiaries of PNM Resources and American Electric Power, will build two 50 megawatt solar photovoltaic generation facilities in New Mexico. The first facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2019, followed by the second facility in June 2020. Each facility is expected to result in approximately $70 million of investment in New Mexico and create approximately 200 construction jobs. "With these two new projects, we have worked with PNM to bring 396 megawatts of new wind and solar projects that will contribute to a greener grid and help bring more renewable energy and investment to New Mexico," said Bobby Hollis, Head of Global Energy at Facebook. "We appreciate the state's supportive environment that has enabled us to procure this amount of renewable energy so quickly." Solar and wind projects constructed to serve Facebook are expected to total approximately $800 million of investment in New Mexico and create over 1,300 construction and permanent jobs, representing significant economic development in Valencia, Bernalillo, Quay, Torrance, Cibola and Sandoval counties. The agreements are subject to approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.