By Yann Brandt
What: FERC rejects Rick Perry’s proposed rule, initiates new proceeding
Summary: Rick Perry had proposed a rule (NOPR) which would require regional wholesale power markets to pay subsidies to coal and nuclear power plants based on their ability to stockpile 90 day supply of fuel at the power plant. New FERC Chairman, Kevin McIntyre, had previously delayed the NOPR proceedings and with this ruling terminated it altogether. FERC has asked power markets to provide information on whether FERC needs to take additional action on resilience in build power systems.
SolarWakeup View: We spoke to former FERC Chairman, Jon Wellinghoff, about the NOPR and his opinion that it was unnecessary. Resiliency is based on the weakest link which occurs at the last mile of distribution lines, wood poles and such. The NOPR filed by Rick Perry was largely viewed as a last gasp effort to subsidize coal power plants in wholesale markets struggling to keep up with natural gas and renewable energy pricing. ISOs and RTOs were mostly against the NOPR and should be expected to tell FERC that no rule regarding resiliency is required.
Related: FERC Terminates DOE NOPR
By Yann Brandt
What: FERC rejects Rick Perry’s proposed rule, initiates new proceeding
Summary: Rick Perry had proposed a rule (NOPR) which would require regional wholesale power markets to pay subsidies to coal and nuclear power plants based on their ability to stockpile 90 day supply of fuel at the power plant. New FERC Chairman, Kevin McIntyre, had previously delayed the NOPR proceedings and with this ruling terminated it altogether. FERC has asked power markets to provide information on whether FERC needs to take additional action on resilience in build power systems.
SolarWakeup View: We spoke to former FERC Chairman, Jon Wellinghoff, about the NOPR and his opinion that it was unnecessary. Resiliency is based on the weakest link which occurs at the last mile of distribution lines, wood poles and such. The NOPR filed by Rick Perry was largely viewed as a last gasp effort to subsidize coal power plants in wholesale markets struggling to keep up with natural gas and renewable energy pricing. ISOs and RTOs were mostly against the NOPR and should be expected to tell FERC that no rule regarding resiliency is required.
Related: FERC Terminates DOE NOPR
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SolarWakeup View. A few times a week, find SolarWakeup View executive memos to give you the information you need to know about the news. Nobody has time to read the fluff so we’ll give you the news and our viewpoint on a topic with background info if you want to know more. Check out EEI’s movement on Puerto Rico (finally).
Charging By US. Didi, China’s Uber, is now operating an astonishing 260,000 electric vehicles. This comes on the back of the news of an entire 17,000 bus fleet going electric while policies in China are drastically increasing access to EV charging (at every parking spot). Battery manufacturing capacity is also increasing at a rapid pace. The US is being left behind on several lanes here, from fleets to individual cars, just look at how many Uber cars are electric here.
Pigs and Hogs. I am not shocked to see coal, oil and gas companies arguing with each other to get as much as possible from the Trump White House. The energy market is often argued by politicians to not pick winners and losers but with the imminent trade tariff on solar modules, it is clear that the current administration has picked winners and is just focused on making them a fat as possible while the trough is open.
Cut The Permit Fat. Sungevity’s former CEO, Andrew Birch, whom I recently had the pleasure of meeting highlights the issue with solar in the US. There is too much time and cost in the permitting process which makes everything more expensive and less profitable for solar companies. Seems like he may be highlighting a market problem.
SEIA Docs. SEIA is out with some more standard documents, last week releasing two sets focused on C&I solar. One gives building owners an understanding of the value of solar and the other provides the documentation needed for solar companies to leverage PACE with 3rd party ownership. Solving credit in C&I is complicated and one way is to do it with PACE. Check them out.
Tickets. Get your SolarWakeup Live! NYC tickets.
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Yann
What: EEI Members Activate Help For Puerto Rico After 100 Days, Barges With Trucks En Route
Impact: Over 1million Americans in Puerto Rico have been without power since Hurricane Maria struck on September 20th, 2017. On December 11th, utility groups, EEI, NRECA and APPA, signed an MOU with PREPA to render aid for reconstruction on a not for profit basis. The MOU, signed on December 8th started the flow of equipment to Puerto Rico. Equipment from around the Country started their shipment to Puerto Rico on barges originating in ports across the Gulf and Eastern seaports.
SolarWakeup View: Compared to Hurricane Irma preparation, where thousands of personnel and equipment were staged ahead of the storm, response to Hurricane Maria has been a lot more muted. Only 2.5 months after the storm hit, was an agreement put in place between the mainland utilities and PREPA – which has financial issues that could be at the root of this. Fault is aligned across the board, from PREPA to Congress and the utilities. Solar companies responded exponentially faster than the utilities, some of which are now using the news for positive social media postings.
Related: SolarWakeup spoke with Puerto Rico’s sole congressional representative, Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, Utility news about MOU and EEI Facebook feed
What: EEI Members Activate Help For Puerto Rico After 100 Days, Barges With Trucks En Route
Impact: Over 1million Americans in Puerto Rico have been without power since Hurricane Maria struck on September 20th, 2017. On December 11th, utility groups, EEI, NRECA and APPA, signed an MOU with PREPA to render aid for reconstruction on a not for profit basis. The MOU, signed on December 8th started the flow of equipment to Puerto Rico. Equipment from around the Country started their shipment to Puerto Rico on barges originating in ports across the Gulf and Eastern seaports.
SolarWakeup View: Compared to Hurricane Irma preparation, where thousands of personnel and equipment were staged ahead of the storm, response to Hurricane Maria has been a lot more muted. Only 2.5 months after the storm hit, was an agreement put in place between the mainland utilities and PREPA – which has financial issues that could be at the root of this. Fault is aligned across the board, from PREPA to Congress and the utilities. Solar companies responded exponentially faster than the utilities, some of which are now using the news for positive social media postings.
Related: SolarWakeup spoke with Puerto Rico’s sole congressional representative, Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, Utility news about MOU and EEI Facebook feed
FERC Report. The Government agencies are full of interesting reports and I found this note on the FERC November report quite telling. As I heard this week, facts are facts, and agencies are showing the data that coal is done and renewables can’t be stopped. It is also another reminder that we track distributed energy in a terrible way, mostly by not tracking it at all. In an era where distributed generation and self-production is growing exponentially, I would think that people want this data.
Applause For Florida Policy. Tallahassee is a strange place when it comes to policy, especially on energy issues. Nevertheless, a legislator covering the Florida Keys is proposing a pilot project to value the impact solar plus storage could have on the grid infrastructure. The Keys operate their own energy system and FPL is likely to stay out of public positions on this (emphasis on public) as long as the project stays in the Keys. I’ll be interested to see how this plays out as committee hearings start as the sessions starts in March.
Go Big CA. A Chinese bus fleet has been completely electrified and we still think that electric cars are niche in the US. Not in California, at least not anymore. A bill has been filed to ban all sale of fossil cars by 2040. This seems like a realistic goal given how much better and safer an EV is. Plus you wake up every morning with a full tank. This has energy ramifications, easily solved by solar and storage, including vehicle to grid initiatives (V2G).
Hype Not Needed. As long time readers can attest, I was very much alone screaming about the ITC extension in late 2014, before anyone was even worried about it. Many argued the impacts of an ITC not being extended wouldn’t be that bad, that the first two trade cases wouldn’t have a big impact and that this trade decision can be survived as well. First thing, solar will always continue from hereon out. BUT my worry is that I don’t want a single job to be lost and I don’t want executives hesitating on business decisions based on external factors that are manufactured by bankrupt companies. The up and down of the solar space causes much investment to be put aside and that is bad for the space and it hurts our future. Much of this is our fault as we are politically weak compared to similar, and even smaller, industries that invest in policy. Remember that story about a painter looking to become a journeyman? He/She has to spend 10 hours per month educating politicians about painting issues to get to the next level. But none of this results in make or break, we will never break - solar has already made it.
Community Solar. I am adding a panel on community solar for SolarWakeup Live! New York. Much of the conversation is about the opportunities to use VDERs as the credit and where the opportunity may be. If you have good ideas for speakers for this, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. New Year’s special code of WAKEUP25 to get your tickets here.
Get Your Marketing. Time to get your company in front of the solar crowd. When you sponsor SolarWakeup Live! events, you also get 4 weeks of newsletter and website visibility. The combination of the two ensures that the key players in solar see you on the daily, a value that you can’t deny yourself when you think ahead for your sales goals.
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Yann