Canadian Solar Is Betting On Bifacial Modules In U.S. Market

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent In light of other solar industry news on the policy side, it’s easy to forget the hardware portion of the industry is still chugging along despite the obstacles put in front of them like tariffs and other chicanery by policymakers beholden to the fossil fuel interests. But innovations are still going on in the module market, including bifacial modules. Bifacial (literally: two faces) solar modules can generate energy not only from the front side, but from the back side as well. The sunlight on the ground is reflected to the glass-covered back side of the … Read More →

More Than 200 Mayors Join Group’s Efforts To Support Solar Energy

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent With a decided lack of leadership at the national level on moving clean energy policy forward – and in some cases taking significant steps backward instead – the power to affect change in environmental policy necessarily is defaulting to the city and state level. That’s why the latest numbers from Environment America’s Research and Policy Center’s announcement yesterday that more than 200 mayors across the United States – 216 in fact – have signed its letter calling for more solar energy is such an exciting development. Even more exciting is the fact that the signatories … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for November 14th, 2018

Your Help Is Still Needed. Dozens of solar workers have lost their homes due to the fire north of Sacramento. CALSSA has set up a donation page and your generosity is greatly appreciated, any amount helps get solar pros that lost everything back on their feet. 
I’ll Take The Usual. Can’t argue with the data on new generation, solar and wind are the default fuel when it comes to every day interconnections. The issue sits with the existing portfolio of generating capacity especially within ratebased portfolios at the utilities across the Country. A lot of the portfolio is not that old either, which means replacing it will take decades unless regulatory oversight chooses to sunset the plants early. That being said, that would require an insane increase of solar generation to be built including distributed resources that likely includes power dense fuel cell or generating equipment alongside TWh of storage. Point is, it’s doable but difficult to execute within today’s regulatory environment. 
Fight For Your States’ Rights. Here is your typical letter from 5 State Attorneys General saying that they will fight for clean energy if the Trump administration tries to slow the progress. One of those AGs works in a State (MD) that has a republican Governor. Reality is that this is not typical but notable progress for the clean energy issue to be taken up within a week of the election. Yesterday, a climate change sit-in happened in Nancy Pelosi’s office and Congresswoman-elect Ocasio Cortez joined in. More to come on the creation of the Select Committee on Climate Change. 
The Almighty Pricing Signal. Locational pricing, short term pricing, and anything that else that allows intermittent and solar plus storage to create revenues without offtake agreements would be the fastest way to increase adoption of solar. The reason is that it decreases the gap between PPA and default scenario. It also eliminates some of the risk for post term energy valuation in qualifying facilities. How to make this happen however…
It’s Not What, It’s How. I see plenty of articles about solar on farm land across America. Illinois has this conversation right now and I discussed this with Jon Carson of Trajectory Partners. The key in my opinion is not that NIMBYism on the solar farm but the desire for neighbors to know who will be their neighbor during construction and for the next 25+ years. If the development team does it properly during the initial process, they are much more likely to be successful. 
Making Utility Changes (Staffing Update). RMI and Advanced Energy Economy are out with a report on the future business models for utilities. Also of note, former SEIA Chairman, Nat Kraemer, was announced as the new CEO of Advanced Energy Economy this week. 
Be Subscribed. Good reminder to make sure that your colleagues are subscribed to this newsletter. They can do it with an email by clicking here. 

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Yann

Partnership Will Test Software’s Ability To Integrate Renewables Into Grid

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As more renewables are added to the United States’ electrical grid, management of those resources becomes ever more critical. Software that can help utilities integrate more renewables on the grid is becoming ever more critical, and companies that can bring such software to life are leading the way toward a more futuristic, customer-centric grid. Which is why a new partnership between PPL Electric Utilities and GE is so fascinating. PPL Electric Utilities and GE Power Digital announced yesterday a joint initiative to develop and test software to manage and control electricity from renewable and stored … Read More →

RMI Report Offers Vision Of Possible Utility Structures In Future

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent I’ve complained for years that the utility business model in the United States is broken. The idea that a centralized electricity production system is more efficient and effective than a decentralized model is one that certainly deserves to be challenged (if not, as would be my preference, tossed aside entirely). Now the Rocky Mountain Institute has released a report suggesting that if there is to be an energy transition in this country – away from polluting fossil fuels and in the direction of clean, renewable energy – that changes to the utility business model aren’t … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for November 13th, 2018

Your Help Is Needed. The solar family is looking for your help during the tough times impacting some of our colleagues in the Camp Fire in Paradise California. CALSSA has set up a donation page and your generosity is greatly appreciated, any amount helps get solar pros that lost everything back on their feet. 
008.3 Solar Bonds. Duke Energy is going out for the poorly marketed green bonds. I look forward to seeing the spread between these and the corporate bonds and hope that they are aligned given the risk profiles. 
Does Resilience Sell? Last week I asked what the sales pitch was for energy storage and many of you responded that the recent storms are part of it. I agree that storms cause people to think about it but pulling the trigger for backup power alone is a 1% problem. Unless I am wrong, I don’t think resiliency is a sales tool but more of a lead generation tool. 
Barrier In Community Solar. Community solar is growing rapidly and with that comes innovation. Some folks have said that the hardest part is the subscriber enrollment and management which equates to new companies coming up with ways to service developers looking for off takers. Frank fills you in. 
IOU To Retail Market. This may not be a serious endeavor, I hope the Arizona readers fill me in on what this really means politically. But any PUC looking at the value of IOUs and allowing retail competition seems like a giant leap in the right direction, undoubtedly where we end up anyways. In order for a 100% renewable future, we must have wires companies and retail competition, rate basing generation means staying stuck in antiquated transactions. 
Solar Jobs In Midwest. This is a great time to look for a great job in the midwest, at the jobs fair you will see hundreds of solar jobs competing for installers, electricians, sales consultants and more. This means higher wages and a great future for Americans in the midwest. 

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Yann

A Solar Tribute On Veterans’ Day: Thank You For Your Service To Our Country And Industry

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Today is the day when we say thank you to the veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces for their service and sacrifice to a grateful nation. Some of us know that we could never serve them the way they have served us. But what we can do as the solar industry is try to pay them back by giving them jobs when they come home – something The Solar Foundation has worked diligently since the Department of Energy chose to fund a Solar for Vets program back in 2016. According to The Solar Foundation’s 2017 … Read More →

The Energy Show: Utility Power Plant Economics

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The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon We have all seen those big power plants outside cities that provide power — historically from coal, oil and nuclear and now more recently, natural gas. These utility power plants have served us well for over a century. But technology is passing them by. These old central generation power plants are obsolete. They are more expensive than power generated by wind, solar and energy storage. Even some of the newest gas peaker plants under construction are destined to be obsolete within a decade. New power generating technologies – solar, wind, battery storage, distributed energy … Read More →

Developer Launches Community Solar Subscriber Management Software

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As community solar continues to grow – and it is one of the fastest-growing segments of the solar industry – it’s becoming increasingly necessary to figure out how to manage subscriber accounts. But the question is this: Where can community solar array owners find the software necessary to do just that? Well, one developer out of Denver is looking to answer the question. Pivot Energy today announced it has launched SunCentral, a white-labeled community solar customer management cloud platform. The service was designed to improve the customer experience for community solar subscribers, and optimize the … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for November 9th, 2018

Corporate Ventures. It is true that the most active investors in clean tech startups are the corporate venture arms. Utilities have historically been the most active in the space while oil majors have recently been very active, especially in solar. All of this activity is a positive sign not just for the funding but the inevitable stream of acquisitions that follow the successful ventures. A path to liquidity is what drives early stage capital so the industry needs as much of both as possible. 
100% RPS Plan. There’s been much written about the Gubernatorial races where the winning governor-elect supports 100% clean energy. It’s hard to put them all in the same bucket and when appropriate, the idea could be a good legislative plan. In other cases, depending on the State’s current success with solar, the goal should be to put the right market mechanics in place. Uncapped net metering and interconnection access may be more valuable to focus on. Keep in mind that very few States, given fair market access, have a negative financial return on rooftop solar. 
Utility Spiral. It’s been some time since we talked about the utility death spiral. This time I’m not bringing it up either, it’s a report based on utility executive sentiment talking about earnings pressure. At least they’re thinking about this 6 years in advance but if yesterday’s ACC vote in Arizona is a signal, it could come before. The ACC voted unanimously to study the idea of deregulating utilities and allowing retail energy choice. The effort is expected to be supported by corporations and opposed by the monopolies. 
NYTimes Analyzes. In only the way that national media can. States matter. Feds don’t. Carbon tax doesn’t work. Bipartisan support failed. That last one got me, Curbelo (from South Florida) didn’t fail to get re-elected because of his support for climate change reality. His district was the second largest margin of victory for Clinton in 2016. It also includes the Florida Keys and the results probably say that his acknowledgment and work on the climate change caucus kept him close. He even received an award from SEIA this year. It’s so easy to take solar and throw it into the blue bucket but then you’ll fail to acknowledge the political and market realities of SC, TX and FL. 

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Yann