By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Ohio Advanced Energy Economy (Ohio AEE), a business coalition that supports a clean energy future in the state, unveiled its five point plan to move the state closer to having a clean-energy-based economy. Ohio AEE says its plans outline market-based policy considerations that would create thousands of jobs and bring billions of investment dollars into the state. “Advanced energy supports more than 105,000 jobs in Ohio, but policy uncertainty over the last six years has artificially slowed the growth of this booming industry,” said Ray Fakhoury, legislative affairs director for Ohio Advanced Energy Economy. “Our roadmap sets a new course that takes an all-of-the-above approach to spur advanced energy growth. We urge Ohio’s next governor to embrace policies that harness the economic potential of the advanced energy industry to grow the Ohio economy and create even more high-quality jobs across the state.” Ohio AEE asked the two gubernatorial candidates, Republican Mike DeWine and Democrat Richard Cordray, to consider the following five policy options:

Stabilize and expand market-based mechanisms to accelerate deployment of innovative, cost-effective renewable energy resources and energy efficiency for all Ohioans. Uncertainty over Ohio’s direction on advanced energy has discouraged investment in the state and hampered the growth of the industry as a whole.

Eliminate barriers that prevent Ohio businesses from accessing low-cost wind energy. The current wind setback standards have acted as a de facto moratorium for the wind industry and Ohio continues to lose out on billions of dollars of investment to neighboring states. Removing this government barrier would allow the market to function, driving access to wind energy resources for corporate customers to invest in clean, affordable renewable power within the state.

Accelerate adoption of electric vehicles, including commercial fleets, and support charging infrastructure deployment in Ohio. Despite growing national demand, the lack of sufficient charging infrastructure and a supportive regulatory structure remain roadblocks to greater adoption of EVs in Ohio.

Remove barriers to investments in technologies and services that reduce energy costs and consumption while increasing customer choices and control. To provide the most value to consumers and the grid, market rules must ensure a competitive market for distributed energy resources (DERs) like wind and solar while aligning the utility business model with consumer interests.

Modernize Ohio’s electricity systems by building upon PUCO’s PowerForward initiative to deliver benefits for consumers and enhance grid reliability. As advanced energy deployment increases, Ohio must be prepared to integrate these new and innovative technologies into the existing system and to take advantage of the benefits they can provide.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

In a deal that gives the owner of Florida Power & Light even more influence on electrical policy in the Sunshine State, NextEra Energy has entered into agreements to purchase two more Florida utilities for nearly $6.5 billion. NextEra announced plans to purchase Gulf Power from Southeast utility giant Southern Company, as well as Florida City Gas. It will also purchase ownership interests in two natural gas plants currently owned by Southern. The transactions will give the owner of Florida's largest utility more incentive to push a natural gas - rather than a renewable - future for its customers. "We look forward to updating the Florida Public Service Commission and other key stakeholders in the state and believe our deep operating expertise in Florida, strong financial profile and track record of and commitment to making smart, long-term capital investments offer uniquely compelling advantages for Gulf Power and Florida City Gas customers," said Jim Robo, chairman and chief executive officer of NextEra Energy. While the company's press release extols NextEra Energy's ownership of Florida Power & Light, which appears to have seen the solar light after spending millions of dollars on an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to inhibit the growth of rooftop solar in 2016, the purchases do enhance the possibility the company will slowly steer away from a solar future to a natural gas one. It also provides a monopoly-like grip on Florida electricity customers, adding more power - literally and figuratively - to a company that already wields legendary power in Tallahassee. The acquisitions of Gulf Power and the ownership interests in the Oleander and Stanton generating plants are subject to receipt of approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. The Florida City Gas acquisition is subject to the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and is conditioned on the consummation of Southern Company's previously announced dispositions of the Elizabethtown Gas and Elkton Gas divisions of Southern Company Gas. It is unlikely that FERC or the Florida Public Service Commission will stand in the way of the acquisitions, particularly under the current administration in Washington.

Q2 Sentiment Survey. The second quarter sentiment survey is up and running. Please take 30 seconds and answer these 5 questions and tell us how you feel. This is a survey for individuals so it doesn’t matter what role you play in solar. We will release the results at SolarWakeup Live! Chicago on June 21st, you should have your ticket already!
Residential Advisory Council. Last call for residential installers to join the SolarWakeup residential solar market advisory council. We’ve got a couple of dozen involved already and will be engaging this group to learn more about the most important segment of the solar industry. If you’re interested in being involved, which will be worth your time and insights, please send me an email.
The List Of 201 Impacts. Last week we changed the format of our original reporting. Our hopes is to shift into a format that is less about telling you how we feel about the news, which I will continue to do in this portion, but give you greater detail about the news that matter to the industry. In this report we went deeper into the impact of 201 for Cypress Creek, which gave us more detail about their project cancellations. We knew that any 201 tariff would result in job losses, and the most important job losses are the jobs not created. If you live in one of these 11 States, contact your Senator and tell him about the lost opportunity.
Not A Spectator Sport. Michigan is not the biggest solar market but it can be. As an aside, Michigan was on track to be the hub of solar manufacturing in the US thanks to the leadership of Governor Granholm. After a great attempt by Vote Solar and others to stop a natural gas plant in favor of more renewables, Tom Steyer also pushed a separate RPS initiative in the State. DTE announced late on Friday that they are increasing and pushing up their RPS goal to 50% by 2030, with a personal note to Steyer in the press release. While a victory, I wonder who may not have wanted the RPS ballot question on the ballot during a gubernatorial election?
Corporate Energy Executives. I like the idea of energy executives within corporations getting some spotlight in the boardroom. You already see this within big tech companies but how about the rest of the top corporations? When 70% of customers (according to Deloitte) want to know companies are doing more renewable energy, you’ve got to think that the CEO is looking around the room and wondering what the plan is. How do we elevate these executives? Anyone here do this for a living and want to explain the internal work you do to get projects done to the audience at SolarWakeup Live! Chicago? I would love to have you.
I Want This. In case you missed it, Meghan and Harry left for the post-nuptial celebration in an awesome 1968 Jaguar. The best part? It was converted to electric. Here its he official Kensington Palace video.

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Have a great day!
Yann

By SolarWakeup Editorial Results will be released at SolarWakeup Live! Chicago, on June 21st. The survey is 5 questions and only takes 30 seconds to complete. This is a personal sentiment survey so all SolarWakeup readers can participate. Given the ups and downs of the solar industry, we hope this will help us gauge the overall feelings in our industry.

By SolarWakeup Editorial Results will be released at SolarWakeup Live! Chicago, on June 21st. The survey is 5 questions and only takes 30 seconds to complete. This is a personal sentiment survey so all SolarWakeup readers can participate. Given the ups and downs of the solar industry, we hope this will help us gauge the overall feelings in our industry.