Contact My Agent. First, thank you to everyone for reaching out with your notes of encouragement and well wishes. Your offers of help and homes means a lot to me given that this newsletter is our only relationship in many instances. We are safely in Florida’s panhandle and hopefully after a few days here will be able to return home to a house that isn’t flooded and still standing. Now would be a great time for folks in California to contact me for offers to move out West. After 20 hours in the car, I have told my agent that a trade needs to be made because this isn’t something I want to do again.
Everyone Else Bring Data. SEIA is doing good work showing the trade commission that solar in the US creates local manufacturing jobs. Example after example shows that when solar is strong, innovation drives new investments to be made that create local jobs across the value chain and income range. In America, our money says “In God We Trust” but everyone else must bring data. Don’t tell me higher solar costs will create jobs, it didn’t and it won’t. Show me the jobs that grow when solar is a market based on competition and innovation.
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Yann
Miami Out. Vegas Out. The storm has my house right in the middle of the path. At 400 miles wide, doesn’t matter which way it goes now and it will end up hitting my neighborhood. The family and I packed our car and headed north last night, first stop Atlanta. So no Vegas for me unfortunately and sadly will miss you all this time. The drive did give me time to question what climate change plays into our work. Over the past decade the amount of environmental conversation around my solar work has been reduced to a bullet point and maybe the ideological part of our work should make a comeback. Food for thought.
Yann
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Yann
Hurricane Update. This is as bad as I have seen Hurricanes get. Irma is organized and powerful which makes me ponder evacuating my house with the family for the first time ever. Evacuation also means giving up on SPI which I am not ready to do quite yet. I’m hoping the storm turns before a decision has to be made.
What The TVA Could Have Been. The TVA is as close to a government utility as it gets. With a board nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, board members could and should leverage the reach of TVA to show what a 21stcentury utility looks like. Obviously the Tennessee Valley has a deep focus on fossil fuels but it had solar hopes in the past which drove some of the early North Carolina projects almost a decade ago.
Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant. Maybe the original quote was meant for government transparency but it is time that solar takes its place as the jobs Americans would most like to have. Out of work coal miner? Former gang member looking to change his ways? Lawyer tired of working long hours inside an office? These are all examples of people working in our industry that are finding a skill that leads to a career. There are still millions, a majority of Americans, that don’t have or understand solar and how it can be installed on their homes.
Yann
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Yann
SPI or Bust. Busting My SPI Plans? Today’s top story could be a problem for all of us. If Hurricane Irma stays in the forecast cone, my travel plans to Las Vegas may be canceled which (I know) would be a big disappointment to all of you. Hurricanes a major PIA because they require days of preparation and labor. With 3 kids the whole thing is just made worse because electricity and water often go down for days or weeks if the storm hits your area. I’m hoping a change in direction but will keep you informed in case I need someone to take my room at the Mandalay Bay off my hands so the deposit is not lost.
Ratebasing Solar, A Solar Advocate’s Conundrum. I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit given the change in Florida where the utilities have taken their solar investments to a new level. I want more solar, much like all of us but have come to the conclusion that ratebased solar is not good for our industry. I base this decision on lack of price discovery and competition for the benefit of the ratepayer, the fact that the utilities don’t fully monetize the tax credit and MACRS, charging consumers a premium over the capital markets for the asset and not allowing competition for the same opportunity. Overall, consumers aren’t getting a fair deal and we have seen what happens in a market that has strong PURPA type offtake agreements which is what the competitive markets in Florida need.
Reimaging The Electric Monopoly. The above point makes me and many other people think that we have to review what the electric monopoly should do for consumers. I’ve said it before but it needs to be said. Connecticut and Texas don’t agree on much but they do agree that the monopoly should be a transmission company first and a retailer of last resort second. It should not be a generator. The responsibility to serve, Florida is a peninsula; these are talking points that will be used to stop the discussion from happening. But having banks control the power markets is not good for consumers so this is a discussion we need to have.
Yann
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Yann