Climate Change Solved. Horses For Everyone. In the 2004 episode of the West Wing, the President’s deputy chief of staff hosts a summit on renewable energy. The biggest problem solar had in that meeting was the inability to manufacturer enough solar panels and the other renewable energy sources laughed heartily at the immaturity of the solar market. When I read today’s note that it would take 500,000 Teslas to make up for a single Nuclear plant, I couldn’t help but think of how nuanced this statement would be in 10 years. In 2017, 17million cars were sold in the US, in 2030, millions of EVs will be sold in a single year. Don’t let progress stand in the way of the real change we need in this world.
Put This Mayor On Tour. I’d like to be a Mayor. It’s local enough where you can meet your constituents where you happen to lead them, you don’t have to go home to your district to understand their issues. In other words, you are in the same situation they are in every single day. There is a respect that people have for Mayors and I have respect for the Mayor of Abita Springs, Louisiana. This town recently installed 200 solar modules, 60kW, but regardless of size the impact is far greater.
Sweet Solar News. Ever since I interviewed the CEO of Connexus Energy about their honey-making solar farm in Minnesota, it seems that I have turned the news into a trend. As solar developers seek to get approval from rural zoning boards, pollinator habitats may be a good way to get some positive votes. Send some pictures this way if you have engaged the help of bees on your solar farm.
Watch This Space. During my discussion with Engie’s Head of Innovation, Thierry Lepercq, we spoke about the future of and intersection of EVs with solar. The conversation went towards a future of autonomous EVs fueled by clean energy that are owned by the utility but dispatched by you and me. A future where EVs are always on the road and intersect fully with the solar market, is a future that I can see our market be central to.

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Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

They don't mean to seem ungrateful, but ... At the Electrification 2018 conference, Greentech Media was anxious to find out how utilities felt about the new rules surrounding easing regulations on coal plants. Would they turn away from renewable energy and decide to keep their failing coal plants open? Would they slow the pace of renewable energy purchases? Would this signal the end to renewable energy as we know it? Well, what the Greentech Media editors (which surprised no one, including them) is that most utilities, no matter where they were in the United States, remained committed to closing coal plants and purchasing more renewable energy, though they did appear thankful that the federal government was turning regulation of the coal plants back over to the states. Just a couple of samples (read the entire article for the full discussion, and it is 100% worth your time) of what utilities told the Greentech Media team: American Electric Power: "AEP said it will continue to pursue lower carbon dioxide emissions "through a variety of actions" that include renewables, efficiency, natural gas and demand response. The utility will continue to "review the rule," but offered a positive take on keeping coal plants running." Southern Company: “But going forward, we want to do that while transitioning to the low- to no-carbon future. We have come out and stated that Southern Company wants to be a low- to no-carbon future by 2050. We believe that’s also what our customers want from us.” This reaction comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the renewable vs. coal battle over the past several years. This is not the first time the federal government has tried to make it easier for energy companies to keep coal plants open, and yet they are still committed to moving forward with further renewable energy purchasing and building. The battle has been won by renewable energy, and there's no going back. Just ask the utilities - most of them would wholeheartedly agree. More: Utilities Recommit to Clean Energy in the Wake of the Trump Administration’s Regulatory Rollback

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Could the Utah solar market be cratering just one year before Solar Power International heads to Salt Lake City. No. The answer is no. Despite breathless reporting over the weekend that implied that Utah's market has hit the skids, most observers believe the market is simply correcting itself after full retail-rate net metering went away in November. And while installations are off 23% so far in 2018, it's far too early to tell whether the decline will continue as consumers adjust to the new rules. As Jasen Lee reported in The Deseret News, Utah's oldest newspaper, the slide has been attributed by the Public Service Commission's Administrator to an unusually high spike in installations ahead of the November deadline. Lee also says "observers" have said the 23% drop in installations is the result of fewer Utahns wanting solar on their roofs - but offers no examples of such "observers" in his story. Instead, he cites Public Service Commission Administrator Gary Widenburg saying just the opposite:

"Some people rushed to get their installations done," he said. "Now, several months later, things have settled down a little bit. Once that November date, passed, people who were going to have systems installed early did so and others are just planning accordingly." He said the decline seemed to be more because of the deadline rather than decreasing overall demand for rooftop solar. "I think there was an increase in applications and (installation) activity," he added. "People who were thinking about doing it and were in a position to do so took advantage of that 'grandfather date' and jumped in."

In recent years, Utah has been a solar market on the climb - not near California and Arizona yet, but making its name known as a potential solar boom state. Therefore, to panic in the year following a significant change in net metering laws and declaring the state a solar bust state seems overheated and a bit hysterical. This has happened in solar states before - heck, it's happened in the COUNTRY before. Once people adjust to the new rules, we would expect Utah to renew its rise as a solar state - just in time for Solar Power International to celebrate it next fall. More: After surge before new rules, solar installations in Utah slip 23%

OpEx Is OpEx. The headline is better than the actual story. Exxon is out with an RFP to buy solar and wind energy for its operations. The reason for this is nothing more than better contract terms than other sources. I’d actually look at the other side of this story and point out that Exxon doesn’t have the internal ability to get this done because they haven’t made that splashy solar acquisition. If you’re a corporate you are looking at doing a solar deal because there will not be a fuel rider in the contract, which is the real value here on top of the super low price. At least, Exxon should do the tax equity for the deal, they have the liability.
The Future Of Solar In NJ. NJ is a market that has been the core base for solar on the east coast. Now that Governor Murphy is leading and the legislature has passed some policy, I will be looking at the market in some greater detail. What are the interesting topics? There is a community solar pilot program docket being opened by the BPU but also other market aspects should make the market grow from its solid basis. Let me know what you’re looking at.
Cheap Solar Is An Issue. In 2008, a legislator, the chair of the energy committee in the Florida House, told me that he liked solar but he can’t pick winners and losers and solar must compete on price without his influence. I was young and naive so I took that comment in stride but it has stuck with me. 10 years later, solar costs have dropped like bad habits and may be causing legislative issues that those words can’t keep up with. Not only is solar cheap it’s democratized access to energy generation which is the shift that the energy market wasn’t anticipating 100 years ago.
Codes, Codes, Codes. Energy codes, as John Farrell points out, can matter and should matter to the markets. I would like to point out that energy, especially solar, has to fill the requirements of no less than a dozen code jurisdictions. The issue is that contractors often don’t have the ability to keep up with this and the building inspectors are still getting up to speed on all things solar. This ends with homeowners getting some installations that are below the expected standard and even allows some manufacturers to get away with poorly designed products that don’t meet code. I don’t have the answer to who it should be that ensures homeowners are protected but I’ve already asked SEIA to look into the possibility of adding parts of this to the consumer protections guide.
Solar Policy In CA. You may be surprised to see more news coverage about California solar policy. So here is the scoop. SB 700, which is a 5-year extension of the SGIP program, is doing well and is the bill that CALSSA (formerly CalSEIA) is running. On the other side is AB 893, a bill that would increase the amount of solar and wind that utilities and CCAs have to procure through offtake agreements. The complication here is that there are two bills that have solar support but one is backed by CALSSA and the other is backed by SEIA. One is for DG and one is for utility scale. I have my personal thoughts on this and much of those have been shared with the relevant parties but some of you have asked me about the bills and here is the background.

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Have a great day!
Yann