This episode is sponsored by NEI Energy Services, an EPC contractor delivering solar projects done right the first time across the East Coast.
In this episode of EnergyWakeup, Bryan and I dig into the type of leadership that needs to happen on the left. Pushing the goal posts on energy policy agenda can be done. We look at two examples and speak with the sponsors of California SB 71, Senator Wiener (CA-11), and Nevada AB 206, Assemblyman Chris Brooks.
Senator Wiener joined the California Senate after being a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He is the sponsor of SB 71 which would put solar on the roof of every new home and commercial building in California. This is similar to an initiative that he passed in San Francisco. Senator Wiener gives us some insight about politics in California in a Trump World and the possibility of passing the 100% RPS that the California Senate is pushing for and how the oil lobby is trying hard to stop it.
The legislative agenda for Senator Wiener can be found here.
Making news in Nevada is Assemblyman Chris Brooks. Brooks comes from a career in energy and has worked in the solar industry for over 15 years. We talk about the current NEM proceedings and how it may impact his bill, AB 206. AB 206 is an RPS increase to 80% by 2040 with a 50% hurdle by 2030. Assemblyman Brooks also made some news in the interview letting us know that several solar bills will be put forth this session regarding the rooftop solar policies and net metering. With a democratic Assembly and Senate, he does see the need to work with the Governor’s office to solve this and thinks it will be possible with a moderate Governor Sandoval.
In the biggest news, he does make a prediction about the rooftop solar industry in Nevada during the show that everyone will want to hear. Follow the legislation and other solar bills in Nevada’s bill tracker.
Find the episode on SolarWakeup.com, iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher radio. Please subscribe and share with your friends how much EnergyWakeup is helping you!
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This episode is sponsored by NEI Energy Services, an EPC contractor delivering solar projects done right the first time across the East Coast.
In this episode of EnergyWakeup, Bryan and I dig into the type of leadership that needs to happen on the left. Pushing the goal posts on energy policy agenda can be done. We look at two examples and speak with the sponsors of California SB 71, Senator Wiener (CA-11), and Nevada AB 206, Assemblyman Chris Brooks.
Senator Wiener joined the California Senate after being a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He is the sponsor of SB 71 which would put solar on the roof of every new home and commercial building in California. This is similar to an initiative that he passed in San Francisco. Senator Wiener gives us some insight about politics in California in a Trump World and the possibility of passing the 100% RPS that the California Senate is pushing for and how the oil lobby is trying hard to stop it.
The legislative agenda for Senator Wiener can be found here.
Making news in Nevada is Assemblyman Chris Brooks. Brooks comes from a career in energy and has worked in the solar industry for over 15 years. We talk about the current NEM proceedings and how it may impact his bill, AB 206. AB 206 is an RPS increase to 80% by 2040 with a 50% hurdle by 2030. Assemblyman Brooks also made some news in the interview letting us know that several solar bills will be put forth this session regarding the rooftop solar policies and net metering. With a democratic Assembly and Senate, he does see the need to work with the Governor’s office to solve this and thinks it will be possible with a moderate Governor Sandoval.
In the biggest news, he does make a prediction about the rooftop solar industry in Nevada during the show that everyone will want to hear. Follow the legislation and other solar bills in Nevada’s bill tracker.
Find the episode on SolarWakeup.com, iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher radio. Please subscribe and share with your friends how much EnergyWakeup is helping you!
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The Top 10 is ranked by the number of SolarWakeup.com readers that clicked on the news article during the previous week. It is the poll of the most relevant solar news of the week as judged by your colleagues and competitors.
I supportish Solar. This Governor’s letter about a carbon tax is utter nonsense. Yes, it makes everyone feel good and fluffy inside that maybe the Country is unifying around saving the polar bears and solar will be on every house. That’s not how politics works. The NRA spends barely any money compared to their industry’s profits, what they do is activate a million phone calls and swarm a legislator if they step out of line. Solar could have the same exact impact, our associations should have a phone and email list in the 10’s of millions that activate when called upon. Want to change the law? Make it political. How do you think solar won all of those net metering battles before we started losing? Want to get the word out? You can sponsor this newsletter and the EnergyWakeup podcast starting Q2 of this year. If you are looking for a great way to reach the top audience in solar, this is it. California is flat. You saw it here first several months ago. Residential data in California doesn’t look pretty, new interconnect apps are down and now installers have to transition to NEM 2.0. With more on the grid, you are going to see slowing growth rates which makes sense but doesn’t bode well for the public companies. Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii are basically closed as markets and they were leading the pack behind California. I’m not saying it’s doomsday but OneRoof, Verengo and NRG Home Solar are all out of the residential market. If I am selling into the residential supply chain, I would figure out my plan B quickly because cheap Chinese goods are coming for any margin that may still exist. Time to buy? Last week I said it would make sense for First Solar and SunPower to join forces. Yes, Buffett says that two desperate companies don’t make a profitable bigger one but I think we can look behind the curtain here. First Solar has a strong balance sheet and remains quite competitive in the utility scale business. Governments and utilities are not going to stop their solar farm build out and Series 6 modules are pretty impressive albeit the write down the company has to take to skip Series 5. First Solar could be a buyer here, the SunPower technology has a strong footprint in the residential sector that is growing, cash and loan deals, with the independent contractor base they have built for the past decade. With a market cap under a billion, the technology is becoming intriguing as an acquisition target.
Opinion
News
1 Vox:
Renewable energy draws increasing Republican support. That could shift climate politics.
Political Strategy. We discussed this on EnergyWakeup, that the solar policy teams and politicians that support solar don’t push the envelope hard enough. It doesn’t mean that you have to get that ideal outcome on day one, but it makes the forward progress seem like a negotiated settlement. It’s crucial that with the public support the industry gets, that we help politicians file bills that go above and beyond today’s standards.
Today’s Newsletter is sponsored by Conductive Capital, a distributed generation platform with tax efficient capital looking to acquire your projects.
Tax reform. I asked Conor McKenna from CohnReznick this exact question because tax reform can throw a solar model sideways for tax equity investors. This should impact ITC except reducing future demand for the credits. The main cause of discomfort is the cash value of the depreciation if the tax rates are reduced. Keep watching this space, Speaker Ryan says that tax reform is going to be taken up late spring and summer of this Congressional session.
The Path for Utilities. Who knew? It would take Kansas City Power & Light is putting in 1,000 EV charging stations across its service area. Kansas regulators declined the request to ratebase the $20million investment and Missouri has yet to rule but the utility appears to move forward regardless. This is a smart use of shareholder capital because they already have the credit and collection mechanism to charge users for the energy and growing sales will mean more ratebase investments for power plants or infrastructure once everyone drives an EV.
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