Walmart, SunPower Sign Landmark Deal In Illinois

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As the Illinois market continues to unfurl, corporations in the state are starting to look for solar options to power their businesses. Now, one of the country’s largest retailers has partnered with a U.S.-based solar provider to add solar to the roofs and the ground surrounding its facilities in the state. SunPower and Walmart announced an agreement with to have the commercial energy provider install solar systems at 19 stores and two distribution centers in Illinois. As part of the project, a mix of rooftop and ground-mount solar systems are expected to account for 23 … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 23rd, 2018

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Solar Roofs Are Better. I came across this video on Twitter showing the damage at the Tyndall Air Force Base housing community. After the drone pans across the worst damage there is a row of homes that have solar installed. The surprising images show roofs completely removed on the non-solar portions while the shingles are virtually intact on the solar areas. Not reading too much into this except to say that when solar is installed properly into the rafters with the right rail spans, they will withstand tremendous winds even when installed right near the ocean. 
Facebook Must Do Better. It is good for solar that Facebook is using more of it, in this case adding a 100MW solar farm to its data center in New Mexico. Through its power and influence, Facebook was able to convince PNM to build the solar farm and sell it the clean solar energy through a special deal approved by regulators. The real way to drive change would be to require the utility to make the same available to local homeowners and businesses that don’t have the buying power and regulatory influence. What’s the advantage of Facebook being solar powered when the folks posting on the platform are doing so with fossil fuels. 
NJ Market Worries. More sentiments of worry coming from the market in New Jersey. With the BPU docket open to create a new SREC program and the SREC program coming to an end, the market participants want to make sure the transition happens smoothly to avoid a Massachusetts situation. The market is correct to worry because these legislative changes take time and often they take longer than expected. The ups and downs of the solar market rules are sometimes the biggest obstacle to our market and it is important to be educated on the process. 
Almost Sold Out. SolarWakeup Live! is almost sold out. With the regulatory changes and potential challenges, everyone active in the market is looking to get the upper hand or at least know what the competition does. Our interviews with the BPU President, SEIA CEO and power market traders will make sure you are up to speed. Head to SolarWakeuplive.com and get your registration today. 

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Yann

Tyndall Air Force Base Proves Solar Not Just For Power Anymore

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located 12 miles east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt. Frank Benjamin Tyndall. The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing of the Air Combat Command. The Air Force base found itself in the direct path of Hurricane Michael, and the results were tough. A lot of roofs were ripped off, leaving homes exposed to the elements – with no protection from the rain and winds. But I noticed … Read More →

Ohio Is One Step Closer To Get Large Appalachian Solar Farm

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent We talked about this a couple of times last week, but coal country is suffering as more utilities are cutting back on their use of coal. Which makes it more interesting when coal may be replaced by a 400 MW solar farm in Ohio Appalachia – which is right in coal country’s heart. Inside Climate News has the details: American Electric Power submitted a plan Thursday evening to work with two developers to build 400 megawatts of solar in Highland County, Ohio. It would more than triple the state’s current solar capacity and be a … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 22nd, 2018

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Insider Access, PSC Importance. Arizona is going through a big fight around the 50% RPS ballot initiative. Surprising to me, but not to dinosaur thinking, APS (the Arizona utility) is strongly opposed to the proposition. What it has been doing, now documented by internal emails, is using the regulatory body (ACC) to push out their talking points. One former regulator called is “regulatory capture” but I call it the status quo. In States where the utility regulator is elected, the only party that cares to invest in those campaign is the utility the body has to regulate. If you want to be a regulator in Arizona, the easiest way to the office was to align yourself and make yourself available to the government affairs teams. This is dangerous and bad for consumers. As an aside, I do find APS’s position on the RPS to be corporate negligence. A rebuild of the grid and change of generation in 10 years offers in incredible opportunity to rate base investments and charges to all consumers while greening the grid. 

Learning Lesson. Here is the counterpoint to the ‘regulatory capture’ above. You lose 100% of the battles you stay out of and regulators will care 0% of all the arguments you never make to them. Moreover, regulators will never know your issue if you don’t spend telling them the talking points. They will surely ignore you and often won’t respond, but you need to keep them reading your message. Much of this is based on my personal experience writing this newsletter. I may not always respond to your emails but I almost always read them or see the headline. Some PR agencies send me press releases with little result but some PR experts know the audience, tell me the message and attach the link to the article. But most of all, you’d be surprised at how many companies, startups and advocates never reach out at all. 

Electric Transportation. I am fascinated by the traction that electric vehicles are getting, more specifically those vehicles in fleets. UPS and FedEx always jump to the top of the last mile list. Walmart and JB Hunt are the long distance challenge. Mass transit and school buses are the local routes. There will be hundreds of billions in transaction value and integration challenges but nonetheless this is really exciting to think about. 

How Solar Bills Become Law. Part 2 of my discussion with Brad Klein of ELPC centers around how the Illinois solar policy came to life. Through the needs of the utility which wanted to get subsidies for ailing nuclear plants arised the opportunity for the solar and environmental advocacy groups to coalesce and make an ask. Get the details by listening to the unedited interview here and join us for more of this type of conversation in a few weeks in New Jersey. 

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Yann

New Mexico To Add Solar To Serve Facebook (Or How Corporates Are Driving Solar Adoption)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent It’s stories like this that remind us all how corporates are going to drive solar adoption in many solar-reluctant states. New Mexico, which has had a contentious relationship with solar, is going to add 100 MW of solar in order to serve the electricity needs of a corporation of which you may have heard. PNM Resources’ New Mexico utility, PNM, received approval on Wednesday from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) to purchase 100 megawatts of solar generation from NM Renewable Development, LLC (NMRD) in order to continue serving the Facebook data center in … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 19th, 2018

Late newsletter today, thanks to the inflight wireless. Great to see so many of you last night!

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Recapping Illinois. Enjoy this episode of SolarWakeup Podcast with Brad Klein from ELPC, the environmental law and policy center. Brad and I spoke in Chicago about the policies that are starting to grow the Illinois solar market. ELPC and some solar representatives worked for years to advance energy policy in Illinois, one of the most political State capitols in the Country. This is a detailed discussion of what happened behind the scenes and how the policy became a bill. Check out the podcast here or find it by searching for SolarWakeup on your favorite podcast app.

Will Promises Made Be Kept. Part of how the Illinois solar policy was passed sits in the promises that were made during the legislative process. Many times, policy relies on promises from the industry to individual legislators instead of writing more constraint into the language of the bill. That is definitely true in Illinois and solar promised to include union labor and low income families/job seekers in the market. If this does not happen for the benefit of shortterm gain, expect pushback and missing allies next time the policy needs to be updated.

New Jersey Concerns. Here is a flashback to MA policy implementation for you and highlighting why SolarWakeup Live! is a crucial event for you to attend. NJ opened the docket for the SREC replacement program this week and people are concerned. Their primary concern today is that there is likely to be a gap of time where the market certainty is gone while a new program is put in place, just like we saw with SMART in 2018. Losing a year in a market this important hurts solar companies in a really big way and will cause layoffs and closures. If you attended SolarWakeup Live! in Boston last year, you would have heard the information from a State Senator and the Director of the SMART program. Both were hesitant about where solar could go in 2018, and attendees told me in person afterwards that they would take things with great caution. In Jersey City, expect my conversations with folks in the know and the NJ BPU President to cover how the process will play out. You may now get the information about the result at the show but you will be educated about the process and the timing. And being right at the wrong time is bad in solar.

Lowering Rooftop Solar Costs. This is your reminder that rooftop solar can still lower costs in a big way starting with getting the cost of capital closer to that of mortgages. Solar is still 10% or more higher than the mortgage on your home when you take a solar loan. Second, the permit costs and speed represent close to $1/watt in cost that should be on track to getting absorbed by better regulatory policies. Some smart folks are working on it but we need more people to raise their hands to implement this.

Vote Solar DC. Last night, 150+ solar pros got together in DC to celebrate the amazing year that Vote Solar had. Imagine if this advocacy organization led by the amazing Adam Browning had another $10 or $100million in the bank. Our market would skyrocket. If you know someone that supports solar and wants to support this great cause financially in a big way, this is the way to do it. Have a great weekend!

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Yann

Will There Be A New Jersey Solar Industry For Us To Discuss? (Yes.)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As SolarWakeup Live! heads to Jersey City, New Jersey, in about three weeks, I was startled to run across a story at the website NJSpotlight with the following headline: COLLAPSE OF NJ SOLAR INDUSTRY, BIG LAYOFFS IF NO INTERIM STATE PLAN — WARNING Because I understand clickbait when I see it, I did not immediately pull out my phone and call SolarWakeup Managing Editor Yann Brandt and tell him to abort his trip out East. Instead, I clicked on the link to figure out exactly what writer Tom Johnson was talking about. It turns out … Read More →

The Energy Show: Fuel Cells Are Making a Comeback

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The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon Energy storage is critical to our ability to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Basically, we need a way to store the abundance of daytime solar and use this energy at night. Although lithium ion batteries have been getting most of the attention, fuel cells provide another way to convert fuels into electricity. A fuel cell is an electro-chemical cell that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a reaction of hydrogen or another hydrocarbon fuel, such as gasoline or natural gas, with oxygen. The history of fuel cells goes back … Read More →

SolarWakeup Podcast: Brad Klein, Senior Attorney, Discusses How We Got The Future Energy Jobs Act Of 2016

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By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor In this episode of the Energy Wakeup podcast, we sat down with Brad Klein, senior attorney with the Environmental Law and Policy Center. He and the team at ELPC were instrumental in bringing Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016, and Klein takes us behind the scenes to discuss exactly what that process – long and arduous as it sometimes was – looked like. Whether it was the threatened closure of nuclear plants or the coal industry piping up near the end of the process to get involved, Klein says what ultimately brought about the … Read More →