Soltage, a nationwide renewable-energy provider, today announced the completion of three solar projects for the Grossmont Union High School District, totaling 3.2 MW. The three systems together will produce nearly 5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year. These projects were developed utilizing a combination of car-port and ground mounted solar arrays and worked within the dense construction footprint of Southern California to maximize the size of the solar arrays which serve the Granite Hills High School, Steele Canyon High School and the Helix Charter High School. Each of the solar arrays provides enough electricity to offset 95% of each school’s energy needs on an annual basis. “Soltage prides itself on meeting the needs of our education sector customers. We look to implement solar projects designed so that our educational clients can save significant capital on their power costs, and focus those dollars back on their primary job of educating the next generation,” said Jesse Grossman, Soltage CEO. “The Grossmont Union High School District has always looked to both be fiscally responsible while at the same time environmentally conscious,” said Dr. Tim Glover, the Superintendent for the Grossmont Union High School. “Solar is our way forward to the future,” said Lindsey Danner, Aquatics/Energy Manager for Grossmont Union High School District. “Not only is the executive team on board with these innovations, but our students are, too.” These solar systems, which are now operational, are projected to save the school district over $20 million in electricity costs over the 25 years of the PPA. Combined, the power produced by these solar systems removes the equivalent CO2 levels of more than 4 million pounds of coal burned or 418,711 gallons of gasoline. The projects were funded by Soltage as part of a recent investment into their capital vehicle raised with Basalt Infrastructure. Construction was performed on these solar projects by Baker Electric.

Soltage, a nationwide renewable-energy provider, today announced the completion of three solar projects for the Grossmont Union High School District, totaling 3.2 MW. The three systems together will produce nearly 5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year. These projects were developed utilizing a combination of car-port and ground mounted solar arrays and worked within the dense construction footprint of Southern California to maximize the size of the solar arrays which serve the Granite Hills High School, Steele Canyon High School and the Helix Charter High School. Each of the solar arrays provides enough electricity to offset 95% of each school’s energy needs on an annual basis. “Soltage prides itself on meeting the needs of our education sector customers. We look to implement solar projects designed so that our educational clients can save significant capital on their power costs, and focus those dollars back on their primary job of educating the next generation,” said Jesse Grossman, Soltage CEO. “The Grossmont Union High School District has always looked to both be fiscally responsible while at the same time environmentally conscious,” said Dr. Tim Glover, the Superintendent for the Grossmont Union High School. “Solar is our way forward to the future,” said Lindsey Danner, Aquatics/Energy Manager for Grossmont Union High School District. “Not only is the executive team on board with these innovations, but our students are, too.” These solar systems, which are now operational, are projected to save the school district over $20 million in electricity costs over the 25 years of the PPA. Combined, the power produced by these solar systems removes the equivalent CO2 levels of more than 4 million pounds of coal burned or 418,711 gallons of gasoline. The projects were funded by Soltage as part of a recent investment into their capital vehicle raised with Basalt Infrastructure. Construction was performed on these solar projects by Baker Electric.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The invaluable Ryan Randazzo at AZCentral.com revealed today that the executive director of the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), which oversees public utilities in the state, has had to resign because his wife worked for the lobbying firm that represents - wait for it - the state's largest utility, Arizona Public Service. Although there is no evidence of direct influence, the scent of conflicted interests surrounding Executive Director Tom Vogt was so strong that he resigned ahead of an emergency meeting the commissioners had called to discuss whether he had in fact violated state law by not disclosing his wife's job. Vogt was a strange choice as executive director when he joined the commission in January 2017. As I wrote at the time for pv magazine, his resume was pretty thin:

Vogt’s resume is longer, but his energy experience is even thinner than Forese’s. After a five-year career as an investment banker, Vogt entered the Air Force as an intelligence officer and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He then joined then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s staff as a daily intelligence briefer. Vogt served three years as an Arizona representative and led the state’s Department of Veterans’ Services before Monday’s appointment. His most notable legislative achievements focused on veterans’ issues and not on energy. He is also a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative policy shop whose anti-solar stances are legendary.

Given the information Randazzo uncovered, is it really any surprise that the solar industry in, mind you, a state with the highest insolation rates in the country is struggling? Vogt is not the first commissioner to have ties to APS, and APS has not been shy about spreading its money around in commissioner races in the past. It's nice to see some accountability finally being put in place for these conflicts, but Vogt isn't the only compromised member of the commission. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run. It should also be noted that Vogt's resignation comes shortly after Commissioner Andy Tobin put forth a proposal to raise Arizona's RPS to 80% by 2050 to counter a proposal by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer to raise the RPS to 50% by 2030. The difference between the two proposals is that Tobin's is significantly more friendly to APS than Steyer's plan, in that it considers nuclear power to be "clean energy." APS currently owns two nuclear plants in the state and is the only utility to do so. More: Solar neophytes join ACC as its new leaders Arizona Regulator Wants To Get Ahead Of The Voters (And That May Be OK)

Intersolar Happenings. If there was a doubt about attendance at ISNA, the schedule definitely doesn’t show a slowdown. Multiple events each evening and lots of people looking to figure out how to move their business forward with some dealmaking. I like the that the conference has been brought into Moscone, colocated with solar and storage into a single venue. If you are in town for the show, let me know how it goes for you.
Exciting Resi Times. All the noise doesn’t seem to really come down to the local installer level. Maybe it’s because you don’t find the time to devote worry to things you can’t control. I talk to a dozen installers a week, at minimum, and without fail your biggest concern is delivering installs to your customers faster and keeping more of your loan proceeds by lowering the dealer fees. I’d love to see more happening on the training side because installers need qualified labor to install solar, which is becoming one of the biggest constrictions to growth right now.
The Trump Trade War Starts. The mainstream media is all over the official start of the Trump trade war, and I’d love to see more solar in the news showing that this is the 4th or 5th level of consumer taxes in the solar industry. Module prices are dropping right now and developers are jumping at the opportunity to buy compliant inventory at lower costs. Reality remains that the uncertainty is paralyzing larger businesses that don’t buy product on a daily basis and need to get 6 months of certainty that allow for projects to be started, financed and built under a solid set of assumptions.
Lithium. EVs. China. VW’s announcement brings up the topic that I’ve warned about before, especially to legislators that read SolarWakeup. If the US wants to be in the game of manufacturing LiOn batteries, it needs to do so right now. The boat hasn’t left the harbor but it’s getting close. My operating assumption that this is likely a lost battle for the US but we will remain the global leader in executive platforms and dealmaking much like solar. The problem with that divergence is that the future probably mimics the trade fights unless the auto OEMs and utilities get together and make sure that politically that doesn’t happen.
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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Yann

Welcome to the second Friday of this week. See you next week in San Francisco, you can find me near the Quick Mount lounge or hit reply to this to say hello. Have a great weekend!
Scott Pruitt Becomes A Lobbyist. In between looking for chicken startups and buying used mattresses with his interns credit cards, Scott Pruitt did a really bad job protecting the environment. I said it in the past but his irrational behaviour put his regulatory policies on the front page of the news constantly. Can you name Obama’s EPA administrators? George W. Bush’s? Now we move to Scott Pruitt’s replacement, Andrew Wheeler, who knows the EPA well. He started his career there and learned how to apply the right pressure when he became a coal lobbyist. I expect Wheeler to be more manicured as administrator but just as bad at protecting the environment. Stay tuned because with FERC Commissioner Powelson resigning, a coal bailout could be coming soon.
Everyone Still Loves Solar. Another poll that takes solar to both sides of the aisle. In this case, a poll asked supporters of the NRA and Greenpeace how they feel about solar and businesses that use more solar energy. 75% of the respondents said that businesses that go solar should be rewarded.
That’s A Big Solar Rooftop. I’m not big on project announcements but a 40MW project that is built for self-consumption seems like a big deal. There’s a GM plant in Spain that has something around 13MW but this is more than three times that. Will be interesting to see if other large manufacturers will be doing the same since everyone wants them to according to the above poll.
Correcting Yesterday’s Note. Yesterday I made note that DeLeon wasn’t moving forward to the general election in November since he lost to Feinstein in the primary. While he was beaten in the primary by 1.5million votes, California has a top two process that results in DeLeon making it to the general in November. Apologies on the error.

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Yann