By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Yann Brandt sat down with Blake Jones and Terri Mickelsen, the driving forces behind the Colorado-based Clean Energy Credit Union (CECU), which they expect will:
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Yann Brandt sat down with Blake Jones and Terri Mickelsen, the driving forces behind the Colorado-based Clean Energy Credit Union (CECU), which they expect will:
- provide loans to people who want to invest in products like solar installations, electric vehicles, energy efficiency and other similar investments.
- give new clean energy markets another financing option.
- It's also important to note the CECU is a federally insured credit union, where advocates and enthusiasts can put their money and feel good about how their money is being used.
I say it surprises me that no one has done this already, but that's not really true. After listening to the podcast, I have a much greater appreciation for the hurdles Jones and Mickelsen had to clear before they could even open the credit union for business. As a "21st century financial institution," of course, the entire operation is online - and the savings collected from not having brick-and-mortar locations will be passed on to borrowers in the form of lower interest rates.
The podcast is quite mesmerizing. It's not an easy road Jones and Mickelsen (and the rest of the team at CECU) have chosen. But they are confident that they are starting a movement that will draw more traditional financial institutions into the space and make loans for clean energy as ubiquitous as car or home loans.
Here's wishing them the best.
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Clean Energy Credit Union
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: A debate, started by SolarWakeup founder Yann Brandt, has been joined over this simple question: Where should community solar be slotted in the U.S. Solar Market Insight report?
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: A debate, started by SolarWakeup founder Yann Brandt, has been joined over this simple question: Where should community solar be slotted in the U.S. Solar Market Insight report?
- Currently, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research categorize community solar as part of the commercial & industrial segment for report purposes.
- Yann Brandt, on the other hand, believes the location of the system is more important than the offtaker, which would instead put the majority of community solar projects in the utility category.
Speaking for myself only, that's how I've always thought of community solar.
But during a discussion in the SolarWakeup offices, Yann made a pretty compelling argument, at least from where I sit.
In essence, community solar isn't so much an independent category of solar as much as it is an innovative way for the owner or developer to attract offtakers to purchase electricity from the project.
And in no other segment of the industry is the offtaker considered when placing projects in different categories. So since the majority of community solar projects are ground mounted utility scale, shouldn't they be considered utility projects?
Now, I recognize that discussion isn't black and white. Some community solar projects are rooftop, carports or adjacent properties. Some ultra large scale solar farms are selling energy to corporate offtakers. Where do those fall within the current industry segmentation?
And while this discussion won't be wrapped up neatly in a bow in one post (especially when I myself can see both sides), it's certainly a discussion worth having. Because when we report numbers that will be used by the non-solar community, we need to make sure they're as accurate as any human endeavor can be to avoid the general public misunderstanding our industry.
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: The burgeoning South Carolina solar industry is being debated in the state's legislature, with two conflicting bills offering significantly different visions of its future.
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: The burgeoning South Carolina solar industry is being debated in the state's legislature, with two conflicting bills offering significantly different visions of its future.
- The utilities are at again (by which I mean lying) about a cost-shift to reduce how much the utilities pay solar customers under net metering
- A second bill would remove a 2% cap on how much solar utilities have to accept, a measure designed to expand the industry”
- Meanwhile, solar advocates worry that Dominion Energy's attempt to buy the parent company of South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCEG) could damage solar's prospects in the state
For reals. And this misguided attempt to kill the South Carolina solar industry is based on the same lie the utilities are telling Kentucky lawmakers to undermine the solar industry there, to wit: Solar customers are shifting costs to non-solar customers, a lie I have debunked so many times I've lost count.
To those of you new to this zombie lie, a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has said that though a miniscule cost shift happens, it only happens when a state reaches 10% solar penetration.
Wanna guess how much electricity South Carolina produces from solar? According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, 0.21%. So, yeah, the cost shift is a lie here just as much as it is in Kentucky.
Here, let's let a South Carolina backer of the net metering destruction bill explain himself, courtesy of Sammy Fretwell of The State:
State Rep. Bill Sandifer, R-Oconee, said he is not opposed to solar power but the existing system is unfair to power companies and customers who don’t use solar energy. Utilities say non-solar customers are paying to subsidize solar customers – a point sun-power advocates sharply dispute. That is akin to socialism, Sandifer said. “It is totally wrong for customers, or ratepayers who are not utilizing solar, to be paying for the people who are utilizing it. This prevents that.’’Aside from the mislabeling of net metering as a "subsidy" - it's actually a free-market way of compensating solar users for the excess electricity produced (even Ayn Rand would be happy with this arrangement), Sandifer's argument might as well have come from a SCEG spokesperson. (And as another aside, does the word "socialism" scare anyone under the age of 60 anymore? Lordy....) Meanwhile, SCANA Corp., the parent company of SCEG, is up for sale, and Dominion Energy of Virginia is the buyer of choice for many. But solar advocates worry that such a purchase would further damage the industry because of Dominion's lobbying might. I have no idea whether those concerns are real, but I tend to trust solar advocates of utility ones. Opposing this idiotic bill are efforts to remove a 2% cap on solar capacity that most observers expect to be hit by the utilities this year. If that happens, the solar industry could stop growing and could well freeze in place. So there you have it - the battle over the future of South Carolina solar is set - and now it's up to the solar customers in the state to keep the worst-case scenario from happening. Let's raise the cap and keep net metering - it's really the best solution for everyone. More: Utility friendly politicians take aim at solar expansion in SC South Carolina solar advocates worry Dominion-Scana deal will stall industry Zombie Lie Informs Kentucky’s Attempt To Kill Its Solar Industry
C&I and Community Solar. Last week as we went through the 2017 Solar Market Insight, I was a bit surprised to see that non-residential (C&I) grew in a year where the market corrected from the 2016 rush. As I walked through the numbers and checked with SEIA, I was surprised to find out that the category included community solar. I don’t understand the logic of this, given that almost all community solar projects are large ground mount projects. The notion that community solar is as logical as LADWP FIT deals being considered utility scale. It would also require contract for difference/direct access projects to be considered as non-residential in this line of thought. I don’t see how any of that would work out and therefore believe that the Solar Market Insight needs to be revised with community solar going into the utility scale category.
Women in Solar, Sunrun and Johns Hopkins. Lynn Jurich is probably the best known woman in solar and deservedly so, taking Sunrun from infancy to IPO and beyond. I’d love to see her not he mainstream airwaves more given her position as a public company CEO, CNBC needs her on a regular appearance to counter the daily Joe Kernen nonsense. Sunrun has grown up in many ways as well. Years ago, it was squeezed between SolarCity and Vivint Solar when it appeared that SunEdison’s acquisition of Vivint Solar would make it hard for Sunrun to rise above, with many calling for the company to sell to a strategic so it would not suffer from possible closure. I would be remiss not to point out the Johns Hopkins University (Go Hop!) alumni, Ed Fenster who founded the company alongside Lynn a decade ago.
Germany’s Opportunity. Decarbonization ‘experts’ like to point out that Germany, with all the wind and solar, is increasing its carbon output, mostly due to the intense use of coal power. (Natural gas has been a political problem given much of it comes from Russia) That being said, I see a real opportunity for Germany to get to 100% renewable energy very quickly with large scale integration of energy storage. Offshore win is readily available to make up for the Alaska equivalent solar output. I grew up in and worked in Germany for many years and this feels like a restart of the great market which served as a baseline for the global growth.
Will SunPower Get Relief? SunPower filed its request for exemption from the 201 tariff on Friday. Frank has your coverage on this, right here
A Poll On Your Work. I’m hoping to spend more time on working to get your involvement with policy makers to increase. The goal is to get you to spend 10 hours per year with legislators and perhaps one day to the same level as union painters, 10 hours per month. The first step is to get you to tell me about your company, and if you make things. There is a focus on manufacturing in solar right now, so this is step 1 in our journey together. I can’t do this alone but as a team we will get better at this organizing. Take this poll
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