I love Sunshot. I’ve been a cheerleader of the DOE and this program for quite some time. When it was established in 2011, getting to an EPC providing a system at less than $1/watt by 2020 seemed ridiculous. I used to think that modules couldn’t get to under $1/watt and few others did either. I congratulate the team at Sunshot for helping get some of the early money into innovative business models and companies that otherwise would have had a hard time getting that money in the private sector. The private sector has followed up with its own capital over 30x, which is indicative on its own.
Buffett loves solar. Apple does a really good job of finding the most market sensitive participant in its purchasing. In NV that is NV Energy, clearly looking to add more central solar power to their portfolio and show the PUC that they really are pro-solar. With Apple’s impeccable credit score and the NV sunshine, I would foreshadow the PPA rate coming out in the net metering debate. Apples and oranges but the news headlines will be there.
Say it again. The States are going to have to make up relaxed Federal regulations. While some would see a difficult path ahead, which I can agree with, but I see a potential avenue. In States with IOUs, the ratebase is a bargaining chip where policy can get passed. Capital markets won’t be moved by temporary policy. A coal power plant needs a 30+ year life cycle for investment and no reasonable money is going to assume no cost of carbon or policy for pollution in that model.
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Yann
Stop and Freeze, the Trump Shuffle. Yesterday was energy day in the White House. The President showed his true colors (right after calling himself an environmentalist, which he’s not) by freezing grants for research and other activities. The administration was so proud of that they also issued a gag order on the staff. They were prohibited from talking to the press or social media about it.
Pipelining the Oil industry’s pockets. Promptly at 11am this morning, the President executive ordered all involved to expedite the approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. This is reflective of an administration that isn’t caring much about the numbers or jobs that come with the sector. With solar having more jobs and more growth than any of the projects he is pushing through, solar isn’t getting much respect at 1600 Penn.
What’s the argument? I don’t really think data, facts, and public perception is going to move the needle much. Legislative process and political pain are the medicine for this cold. If legislators want to pass something, make solar the bargaining chip to get something through. If they can get something through, make their homecoming town halls miserable politically.
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The Coal Mine. If it isn’t news, I missed it originally, but I am not surprised. Being small in the solar lease business is like being in no-man’s land. Your overhead will kill you before you ever dream about having a portfolio big enough to trade down to cheaper cost of capital. One Roof seems like it’s about done, moving out of its HQ and closing the doors perhaps. Rumor on the Linkedin boards also talked about some layoffs at Sungevity which is unfortunate after the canceled reverse merger.
Policy versus Politics. As I mentioned during the Episode 3 of the EnergyWakeup podcast, I am becoming concerned about the level of political engagement and level of rage in the fight to save net metering. TASC is seeking the ACC to revisit the end of net metering in Arizona based on legal non-compliance. That’s a policy argument about process, it would be much better to have a thousand people in front of the ACC.
The end is in sight. Thankfully, Terraform and Terraform Global have signed an MOU to negotiate exclusively to be acquired by Brookfield. There is still a bit to go, target closing of April 1st, but we’ll take the progress nonetheless.
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Another EnergyWakeup, and it’s good. On her first day on the job as SEIA CEO, I interview Abby Hopper who joins the solar industry after 2 years in the Federal Government. Bryan and I cover a ton of material about the nomination hearings, the Trump Administrations first day in office (a deleted webpage) and what NV Energy is really up to in Nevada. Don’t miss this episode, sponsored by Conductive Capital.
America’s Oil, Gas and Coal First Policy. The Koch brothers have put their official energy policy up on the website, the White House website. Promptly at noon on inauguration day, as is typical, on admins pages come down and the new ones go up. In a drastic comparison, climate change and renewables were deleted and America First Energy Policy is the top issue on the whitehouse.gov site now. It doesn’t mention climate change or renewables but does give a shoutout to clean coal. In case you are wondering who is in charge of energy policy, read this 4th grade level policy document.
DG Costs Nothing! The Berkeley National Lab has come out with an extensive study on the cost or benefit of distributed solar at current and 10% penetration rates. The results are negligible with any costs or benefits being less than a penny per kWh and could go in either direction. However, the amount of solar has a large impact on the future levels of utility investments which in every circumstance are a cost to the consumer. But on the other hand more investments mean higher returns for shareholders. Now do you understand why there is an inherent conflict between shareholders and ratepayers?
Rick Perry’s Heritage. DC’s worst kept secret is that Committee chairs and Agency Secretaries appreciate anything that maintains or increases their budget oversight. Why? Because a higher budget means more lobbying which means more work after public service. Rick Perry was strongly supporting the Offices of Science, National Labs and other work at DOE while the Trump team was releasing the Jim DeMint, Heritage Foundation’s blueprint on how to gut the Federal Budget.
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Yann