By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

I can't lie: I'd completely forgotten about poor ol' Dan Simmons. In a previous engagement, I'd written about Simmons when President Donald J. Trump appointed him as the interim head of Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), a post in which he's served ever since. And I must admit the reason he's fallen off my radar is that he hasn't done anything so horrific as to raise red flags. The EERE budget battles have raged on, with one side trying to slash the budget to the bone while Congress keeps reattaching the meat, to the consternation and I dare say irritation of many members of the administration (and to the fury of Bob Murray, a coal executive with whom Trump is tight). For those of you who don’t know EERE, its primary mission is to provide technology assistance to renewable energy and has funded some of the latest breakthroughs in the solar industry. Money has continued to flow to research (even if it has been intermittently), and the office has at least treaded water instead of drowning. So the damage that has been done by Simmons has been minimal, and with so many other anti-solar policies coming from the Trump Administration on seemingly a daily basis, the former conservative think-tanker didn't make the cut of things I worried about. Until now. The Hill reports the Trump Administration is going to try to make the appointment of Simmons as the head of the EERE official, which would require Senate confirmation. Which is why I believe the Senate should actually do its duty and reject Simmons when he comes before them. His record as as an anti-renewables apostle is clear, though he does his best in interviews for the position he wants to fill to deny it. As The Hill notes:

[Simmons] previously served in leading roles at the Institute for Energy Research (IER) and the American Legislative Exchange Council, both conservative groups that generally oppose policies like tax credits and grants aimed at boosting solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy.

And this:

Simmons said in a 2013 Heartland Institute podcast that boosting renewable energy would hurt consumers. “No matter what the renewable guys say, what they will admit is that their type of power — the wind and solar — is more expensive and will increase the price of electricity,” he said.

Does that sound like a guy who has any clue about the wind and solar industries? And does it sound like someone who should be anywhere near the EERE? Right, of course it doesn't - and it's time to start calling our Senators to let them know that.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It's easy to get caught up in a solar + storage discussion that only focuses on batteries - but as independent power producers (IPPs) begin to realize how important solar + storage is going to be in their market, they are quickly realizing the question is far more complex than it seems on the surface. IPPs like Vistra, for example, just signed a deal with FlexGen, an innovative storage provider that is focusing on adding storage to C&I and utility-scale projects, to design and integrate a 10-megawatt/42-megawatt hour FlexGen energy storage system (ESS) at Upton 2 Solar Power Plant in Texas. When completed in late 2018, the energy storage system, using FlexGen’s Hybrid OS software, will allow Vistra to store inexpensive solar energy generated during the day and deliver it to customers during evening hours when demand is greatest, improving grid reliability. The lithium-ion energy storage project at Upton 2 will be the largest in Texas, and the seventh largest in the United States. Vistra is seen to include storage in many more ways going forward especially in markets like New York and California according to their investor's day presentation. In California alone, Vistra sees the potential of 4.5GW - 8.8GW of energy storage penetration. With project financing at a premium, finding new and innovative ways to add storage to projects that enhance financing success is the next frontier of the storage race - and IPPs are racing forward into it with wild abandon. FlexGen, which has been in operation for nearly a decade, is in a position to capitalize on a growing market where consolidation has already taken some of the biggest names off the market. The company has a unique capability to also work on DC-coupled projects, where systems place storage devices between the solar modules and the inverter, instead of the traditional configuration of putting it behind the inverter. It means there are fewer components to install, meaning there are fewer parts to break down. In addition, you eliminate the unnecessary step of converting DC power to AC power (at the inverter) and then back to DC power (at the storage level) and then back to AC to deliver the electricity to the offtaker. Every storage project is different, based on the market dynamics that create the revenue flow. The solar and power industry is seeing the future is more complicated than calling the lithium manufacturers and having batteries sent to the site. The system, power electronics and software need to work in sync to ensure total life cycle operations match the modeled expectations.

This is a big week in SolarWakeup, our first full day SolarWakeup Live! event in Chicago is on Thursday. I’m excited about the solar market these days and even though there are challenges, we have markets like Illinois to look forward to. I’d love to see you there, get your ticket at solarwakeuplive.com
Another Tariff. Solar Silence. On Friday the Trump White House added another layer of costs on solar by imposing 25% tariffs on cells and modules from China. The impact is minimal on the face of it because AD/CVD already caused much of the supply chain to be out of China. This reality is more complicated after the 201 tariffs and several manufacturers planning on building module plants in the US. Those plants are now in jeopardy because they essentially lost access to the Chinese supply chain of cells. My question, as usual, is who wanted solar on the list of tariffs given that we were just on the tariff list? Where was the industry’s lobbying efforts and quite frankly it’s time to change our lobbyists because I see this as 0 for 4 in the tariff fights. The silence is deafening indeed.
IPP Deals Show New Grid Resilience. Tomorrow, a lot more on this topic but let me give you a highlight. The past decade has been about intermittent solar being added to the grid. First, there isn’t enough solar to matter. Second, we have to limit the amount of solar and charge them for the grid services. Third, we have stop letter solar connect because the caps have been hit. Now we are going to see a fundamental shift of solar being the solution to grid services with energy storage. I have said this publicly, we are less than a decade away from every solar installation having energy storage on it and even retrofitting most of the solar plants that are already operating.
Energy Subsidies. Solar will stop fighting for its subsidies when the energy sector and monopolies give up their subsidies which are much bigger and more effective than solar’s.
Solar Fires, A Big Story? My question to you. Are these stories coverage of events or worthy of a discussion?
PACE In PA. Frank has a great story about one of my favorite markets within solar, PACE. PACE was one of the fastest growing legislative movements in the 2010 era and since then has tried to find its place. I think we are really close to that reality coming true because PACE is now pricing below the cost of debt with longer terms for many solar projects. It also has the potential to open up the C&I markets by removing the credit barrier for DG PPAs. Great for the PA solar market to get this moving in the right direction. Make sure to click on the CleanFund link below to get some idea on the pricing available.

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Another day, another set of new tariffs. In his ongoing attempt to start trade wars with every country around the globe, President Donald J. Trump has decided to impose around $50 billion in new tariffs on products coming in from China. And while initial reports suggested solar modules and cells would not be on the list, Roth Capital Partners issued its guidance on Friday saying they may be included. And the entire module industry shrugged at the news - with the exception of one module company that is planning on building a new facility in Jacksonville, Florida - which leads to even more speculation on another issue that we'll get to in a minute. But first a word about why the new tariffs, though potentially sparking a new trade war with China won't affect most modules sold into the U.S. market. Put simply, the Chinese module manufacturers doing business in the United States are already sourcing their modules from other parts of their supply chain other than mainland China. As a result, those modules won't be affected by any new tariffs slapped on those kinds of modules. As Roth put it in its note:

With the vast majority of the U.S. solar market being served from non-China manufacturing sources due to the 2012 AD/CVD and 201 tariffs, we believe added 301 tariffs on modules and cells may not be that meaningful.

So most in the solar industry can sleep easily knowing this new round of tariffs won't affect their day-to-day lives much. The one group of executives that may not be sleeping well, however, are those at Jinko Solar. As we've discussed before, Jinko Solar has mildly ambitious plans to start manufacturing modules in the United States as soon as the end of 2018 in Jacksonville, Florida. But that factory was predicated on using Chinese cells in those modules - so the new tariffs might have a detrimental effect on those plans. Unless. And here's where speculation ran rampant over the weekend: As we reported late last week, creditors for bankrupt cell and module maker Suniva finally took possession of the intellectual as well as the physical property of the company from the bankruptcy court, meaning the company may finally really be for sale. Initial speculation focused on Hanwha Q Cells, which announced last month they would be building a 1.6 GW module factory in Georgia - right in the backyard of Suniva's old cell factory - would be a logical suitor for the Suniva properties. And while they are still the frontrunner, Jinko Solar might be a dark horse in the race if these new tariffs actually do affect the production and import of solar cells from mainland China. Keep a close watch on both of those companies as Suniva speculation swirls - it wouldn't surprise us if a bidding war between the two started for this currently dormant cell production facility.