A Bridge To Prosperity. Natural gas was the political bridge that let politicians take money from the rich gas industry while advocating for a renewable energy future by ending coal with natural gas. The last 10 years were basically about that trend, utilities across the Country rate based the end of coal power generation in favor of the gas plants. If anything, the natural gas bridge to a renewable future cost utility consumers 100’s of millions of dollars in new generation. The bridge has essentially reached the other side of the transition because solar plus storage is competitive in almost every market.
Exhibit A. Using demand response, the CPUC is showing utilities how they can avoid building new generation. The interesting aspect of this is that it shows how the natural gas bridge ends and more importantly why our sector is important. Oil, auto and utility companies are buying companies that focus on the distributed space, not just because of their business model but because the intersection of DERs, EVs and generation will need teams that build that distributed ecosystem.
Exhibit B. Here is more NV solar for you, this time a whopping 690MW project. The most obvious omission from this announcement is the size of the storage associated with the project which would likely be the world’s largest announced after last week’s 1.2GWh project from Vistra. Storage will absolutely be built on this plant, not just an option as it is outline to have. This is a big project but we’ll need many of them to make up for the fossil power plants that will be replaced by this type of generation.
More Solar Manufacturing. JA Solar is adding more manufacturing in Vietnam. For $68million, the company will add 1.5GW of wafer capacity for shipment of products not made in China. The plant will start to operate this year and deliver 500MW in 2018.
Presented by Sunrun. Sunrun is the largest residential solar, storage and energy services company in the United States with a mission to create a planet run by the sun. Since establishing the solar as a service model in 2007, Sunrun continues to lead the industry in providing clean energy to homeowners with little to no upfront cost and at a savings to traditional electricity. Sunrun is excited to expand its solar offerings to Illinois residents.
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Duke Wants Acclaim For Ending Solar. “Duke Energy Carolinas achieved a major milestone last week in its support of solar energy, as more than 5,000 of the company’s South Carolina customers have installed solar panels on their homes and businesses, reaching a legislative goal for customer-owned solar capacity.” Those are the words from the Duke South Carolina President, morphing the net metering cap into a legislative goal. The ‘goal’ was put their by the utility so that they can control the solar market and cause thousands of jobs to go away for South Carolinians because putting solar on homes isn’t a job that can be outsourced. South Carolina deserves better than being pitched this kind of PR, legislators should quickly make sure that they aren’t blamed for this ‘success’.
Reversing Ontario’s Solar Market. As the politics in Ontario change to the conservatives, the end of the Green Energy Act is getting a new official end date. One that may have already past. The government announced last week that some 750 projects were being cancelled including many solar projects. The original years of the GEA had feed in tariffs at some pretty high rates, but I’m sure there are better ways, conservative ways, to keep solar in business in Ontario. It used to be the most vibrant place to work in solar, I spent many weeks there myself. I hope that the market can find a future and maybe even see the rest of Canada catch up.
Too Much Solar? The Vistra Energy CEO was on Jim Cramer’s Mad Money show last week. If you remember from a few weeks ago, Vistra, which is a traditional IPP, won an RFP for a 1.2GWh battery to be installed at Moss Landing after announcing a 42MWh battery in Texas with our friends from FlexGen. So here is the CEO of Vistra making the quiet case for why there is a need for more energy storage, too much solar. IPP shareholders probably agree with that but as we all know, as power plants in places like California reach their end of life, more generation will be needed, especially at those sub $30/MWh rates.
Startup Solar Nation. Now that I am actively living in the Bay area, I am really interested in helping more startups get traction in the sector. Some founders have found how excited I get about the ecosystem and I want to do more including helping those companies spread their news like new funding. More on this in the near future.
Presented by Pfister Energy – Pfister Energy is a turnkey design-build renewable energy provider for commercial, industrial, utility, and community projects with an emphasis on energy efficiency and energy management. We possess 25 years of project experience with over 120 MW of solar installed on rooftops, carports and on unused land nationally. Clean energy is not limited to solar and as part of our smart building-integrated energy plan, we provide holistic solutions by stacking solar, LED lighting, wind, daylighting and other energy efficiency systems combined with storage. Visit www.pfisterenergy.com for more information.
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I hope you enjoyed your week and if you attended, Intersolar. Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!
Exxon Diverges From ALEC. On its own, Exxon leaving the anti-renewables group in ALEC probably doesn’t mean very much, especially when Exxon doesn’t come out and say why it didn’t renew its membership. If this becomes a trend it could mean that the values alignment with the membership group hurts members when they try to hire or acquire talent. If Exxon is to follow the oil industry with investments and business units in renewables and electric vehicles, then the policy initiatives by ALEC may be partly the reason. Consider this a data point not pointing to a trend, just yet.
Big Plans In PA. Pennsylvania has the potential to be a great solar market. Land availability, reliable grid, low install prices and access to PJM in most areas. What it lacks is some of the foundational market support including some access to SRECs. A draft plan from the state environmental agency is trying to push the solar market forward with a plan to get to 10% of retail sales which would equate to 15GW of solar up from 300MW today. Let’s give them some support to get that done.
Greening Supply Chain. There have been several jobs posted over the past 6 months by Apple that vaguely sounded like they were solar jobs but always spoke about supply chain. One of those jobs had a requirement to be able to work in China and speak the language. This announcement about a solar fund adds additional color. It is no longer enough for this manufacturer to be ‘solar powered’, it also wants to make sure the inputs to the business are aligned with its own values with renewable energy. The other piece, which I’d like to see be more vocal, would be to get the tech giants more involved to open the markets for the solar industry. The instant permit process would be a great start, tech companies should be behind that endeavour so that consumers and customers have the same access to solar as the corporation does.
NY Times Learns About Solar. A local story for the NY Times covering the community solar market and the access to solar it gives to folks in dense areas. Any national coverage for solar that isn’t covering a fight solar has to be in to increase access is a positive one and should make people ask why they don’t have the same choice. Community solar should be a national option, the separation of site to user is the best way and most efficient way to let consumers get 100% solar energy at a very competitive rate. This way consumers can put solar on their home if possible then buy additional energy as their usage demands.
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Big thanks to the warm Bay area welcome from many of you. I appreciate you coming by and saying hello. Back to more robust summaries next week!
Fox, Denies Being A Fox. Wheeler doesn’t like being called a coal lobbyist and the assumption that follows that fact. If you bring a fox into the henhouse and tell the fox that maybe the hens should be eaten, then what are the hens supposed to assume is going to happen? Wheeler was a coal lobbyist. Trump wants to bail coal out and build coal power plants. What does Wheeler expect people will think?
Fighting The Good Fight. I had the pleasure of being with IREC yesterday to get an update on their important work. IREC isn’t always the most visible policy group but when it comes to building the foundation of solar markets, assume IREC was there early. Interconnection for solar and storage, training firefighters and more, IREC is doing it and you should support in any way you can.
Energy Storage Grows. Frank sat in on the Energy Storage Associations presentation yesterday. With GWh scale storage being announced, my guess is that this association grows alongside the market.
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