This is your SolarWakeup for April 13th, 2018
We Want Solar. We’ve gotta stop being surprised when we see polls that show Americans wanting more solar. This isn’t just an environmental decision, it’s also one of control of cost and of self-reliance. A poll would likely show Americans preferring to disconnect from the grid but that’s a different topic. In a Q&A with Dan Rather last night, the first question came about science and climate change which makes me wonder where we fall short in spreading our message. A few years ago, a leading solar advocate told me that it doesn’t matter how much money solar has in its coffers, it would never win based on spending or campaign donations. Solar wins because of the people on the Capitol steps and marches in front of the PUC. I can’t help but think that all of these conversations we’ve had over the past few weeks about money vs values, that this advice is as true as ever and these polls are proof of that. Open the tent, it doesn’t have to be gold plated.
Solar Moves To EV Charging. GM is signing a deal with EVgo to get more fast charging done. EVgo is an interesting story with notable solar ties. EVgo was acquired from NRG, post David Crane, by Reuben Munger’s investment firm, Vision Ridge. Since then, in recent months, solar veterans Cathy Zoi (DOE, Silver Lake, SunEdison) and Julie Blunden (SunPower, SunEdison, CalCEF) have joined the company.
Do You DER? It seems that a gathering workshop on the FERC 841 order has attracted quite the attendees. Were you there? What was your takeaway?
Vehicle To Grid. Using your EV battery for distributed resources seems like a strange way to use an expensive battery in your car, causes all sorts of issues to the lease transaction and makes non-energy professionals have to trust a new market. Some companies are road testing this technology and I can see how this could work in the future. My guess is it happens in some fashion at some point.
MidWest Solar, Illinois. The Land of Obama is finally going solar (and other RE/EE). I am extremely bullish on early stage development in that region and see opportunities for all segments of this market. The politics could play well, as well as politics in Springfield could look at least. We will be announcing our dates and agenda for the Illinois event shortly, stay tuned.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 12th, 2018
See You In Charlottesville. I’m not the only one leaving town (I see you Paul Ryan). I’m on my way to Charlottesville to moderate a panel on solar investments and financing at the Tom Tom Festival. Let me know if you are in town for this.
Shame In SC. I thought 60-40 victory in the SC House would mean that a mild solar win for the industry was safe. BUT never underestimate the power of greedy monopolies, especially in Southern States. Using some crazy legislative tactics, the utilities got the House to reconsider the matter AND requiring a 2/3 margin to pass. This failed to happen and the bill died, for now, costing SC around 3,000 jobs. These jobs won’t come back in the nuclear industry, after that $9billion boondoggle, but hopefully legislative leaders will see a way to fix this. Frank and local news on the topic.
Monopoly Regulations. More on the topic of what monopolies should be allowed to do later but since SC happened, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the legislative power investor owned monopolies have through their lobbying. A monopoly is given to a private corporation for the public good, to have a responsibility to serve the consumer in the best way possible for key markets, energy being one. Having that privilege should come with restrictions, especially around influencing politics and participating in competitive markets that they could have an unfair advantage in. I believe, and most consumers would agree with me, utilities should be prohibited from lobbying and should be treated like non-profits that are only allowed to educate. No political fundraising or underhanded legislative tactics should be allowed by someone that already has 100% market share.
The Energy Show With Barry Cinnamon. Is now available on SolarWakeup. His latest episode about microgrids is here. We are excited to have Barry join the SolarWakeup community as we continue to grow and look forward to hearing his podcasts going forward.
More Murray Quotes. Another gem from Murray, saying “People will die in the dark” if coal goes away. Quite the opposite, no more mining accidents and cleaner air will mean society lives longer and solar will keep the lights on.
The Quiet Bus. If my kids could ride the Tesla electric bus, they definitely wouldn’t want me driving them to school. I discussed the school bus route with Proterra’s CEO in this podcast.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 11th, 2018
What Energy Future Do You Want? Sunrun has been busy this week. CEO, Lynn Jurich, has authored a report that asks the question we already know the answer to, what should be the default scenario for utility investments going forward? Do we rebuild the century old poles, plants and wires or focus on distributed generation in smart energy systems? For Sunrun, and others, the hope is to get consumers upset at the status quo and expect a newer, better system. My hope is this report makes it into the mainstream, it’s lengthy but simple enough to be understood by those outside of our industry. Here is the report
My Convergence Thesis Is Coming True. Solar is a vital part of the EV revolution which means that as the energy sector seeks new generation caused by automobile OEMs building more EVs, the two sectors will come together into one. Your utility, solar contractor, auto manufacturer and energy IPPs will all serve the same market. Look to the latest move at E.ON as a BMW board member joins the supervisory board.
Energy, Carbon, And Baseload. I didn’t watch the BNEF Summit live, just reading the twitter coverage makes me realize how we are still stuck in the past in so many ways. Wind and solar development are causing our energy grid to get cleaner (and cheaper) but holding back the replacement of fossil based plants is delaying the inevitable. I get that Tom Fanning and Rick Perry make for nice names to have at a conference but I don’t understand having Bob Murray the coal magnate at the NEW energy finance summit.
More On Murray. He has some funny commentary about his oil and gas colleagues. Sub-tweet is the fact that he’s showing who is true enemy is and what really killed coal.
Unrated Credit. As a reminder to you, each afternoon Frank writes up the story you found most interesting in that day’s SolarWakeup email. The story that gets the most clicks gets a follow up. I spoke with CleanCapital’s President, Jon Powers, about what the raise means to the company and how it advances C&I solar.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 10th, 2018
Big Florida Solar News. We’ve got some original news for you that is staying under the radar and it’s big. Everyone around solar knows that Florida is not a fan of allowing third parties to participate in Florida when it comes to financing solar projects. Sunrun has decided that now is the time to move forward and figure out how strong this prohibition is. The company quietly filed for declaratory judgement on their lease product at the PSC, asking the commission to basically allow them to conduct business without being considered a utility. The hearing is in a few weeks and if it passes could open up the Florida market for large scale growth that isn’t solely held by the incumbent monopoly. The story here.
BNEF Summit, Loop. It seems that Rick Perry and Tom Fanning are staples the BNEF Summit in New York. It’s a safe place for them which is the give and take for conference organizers. (If you don’t question their talking points, they won’t come) Rick Perry made the interesting comment that we [America] doesn’t want a free market in the energy sector. Maybe he means that literally but its a far cry from the ERCOT system in Texas he is used to. Perry did say that he doesn’t think 202 emergency declaration makes sense for the First Energy case but that he wants those plants to continue operating.
Big C&I Money, BUT Credit. CleanCapital has raised $250million of capital for projects to build a $1billion portfolio from CarVal Investors. If this capital is going to scale in C&I, then they’ll have to figure out how to drive volume and driving volume means figuring out how to do repeat transactions with unrated credits. My friends at CleanFund are growing commercial PACE that may have a way of helping that scale and leverage come together, wonder if they’ve spoken because more C&I solar is great for everyone, more on that tomorrow.
Solar Pays For Nuclear. Southern’s CEO, Tom Fanning, was also at BNEF Summit in New York yesterday. He mentioned that the future of Southern is carbon free with renewables, clean gas and nuclear. Vogtle is a nuclear plant that is still being supported by the regulators and consumer’s money but Southern needs more money. How do they get that extra money? They are selling a third of their solar portfolio! Who knew that solar investments can be so flexible.
More Solar In Mass, Need Money? I’m excited about the MA market going forward. More solar is needed especially with the power plants on track to close near to Boston. SMART development is starting up but it’s costly. If you are looking for development capital, let me know, there are investors eager to partner with you and your projects. (And I need to send my kids to summer camp)
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 9th, 2018
SC Takeaway. SC isn’t the likeliest candidate for taking strong solar steps forward, on the face of it. SC is very conservative and does not require bipartisan agreement to move legislation forward. When you compare SC to other nearby States, the main difference is the recent trouble by the utilities charging for and not building the nuclear power plants. I don’t know if legislative success would have been different without the nuclear blunder but I would say that advanced cost recovery for nuclear development is not isolated to South Carolina and it’s not going well in other places either. The desire to build new power plants is universal amongst utilities with rate base, that may be the trend that Vote Solar sees an opportunity in just as they did in Michigan.
The RPS Year? We’ve already seen the ballot initiative trend about moving the RPS up in a few places under the Steyer banner. We also know that Nevada and California will be working on this in the legislative avenues after last year’s attempts that fell short. New Jersey is also into the game now that the Governor's office is a bit more receptive that under Christie. Phil Murphy has been a vocal supporter of our industry and has advisors that are also on our side. On a personal note, US Ambassador to Germany is definitely a gig I would sign up for.
The Storage Industry. I’d be surprised if the solar jobs census next year doesn’t include data for energy storage. This is a market segment growing very rapidly and generating value on economic development and grid infrastructure.
Montana NEM Report. Montana may be the first state to figure out how to value distributed solar lower than the avoided cost used for PURPA contracts. (Maybe not really but it can’t be far off) Reports like this have been seen in other states as well and it’s a troubling distortion of facts. Net metering at its best form is a simple way for consumers to produce their own energy. It creates a benefit for the party making the investment and more importantly a benefit to the system.
Send Tips. You can reach Frank and me by replying to this email or sending an email to frank@solarwakeup.com. If you have data that you want to send confidentially, you can use the tips or contact form on solarwakeup.com
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 6th, 2018
Here’s your rapid fire rundown of the top news. Enjoy your weekend!
SC Shifts To Solar. Great job to all fighting in South Carolina and getting a legislative victory. Had the sentiment of old school Arizona and Nevada. Look for coverage from Frank later today.
Consumer Choice In Solar. CleanChoice Energy isn’t the biggest retail energy provider but it gets solar better than most. Don’t underestimate this team. Here’s my interview with CEO, Tom Matzzie, from a few months ago.
LePage Needs To Go. Unable to overturn Governor’s veto once again, solar is stagnant in Maine. I guess we’ll need LePage to go away to fix this.
Really? It’s Not Necessary. Nuclear is a no emission source of energy but to think it’s still needed in the next phase of the energy transition is misguided. Time to plan a future without it, California is.
Go Forth Nevada. The legislature tried to increase the RPS last year but fell a bit short. We talked to Assemblyman Brooks about this, time to try again!
Offtaker Credit Issues. With First Energy’s bankruptcy filings, some of their off take agreements are also in jeopardy. This is unfortunate and stranded assets will have to be considered going forward in other off take arrangements.
Google Energy Update. Another improvement on the 100% renewable energy by the search giant. We talked to their energy director last year, Sam recently left Google and joined Lyft as the Head of Sustainability.
No More Tariffs! Please? The back and forth on trade way is continuing and it’s not good for anyone. Congress needs to step in and do something.
Unlimited Private Jets. We’ll see if Pruitt makes it to Monday but did you know that you can get unlimited jet flights for $100k per month? Who’s in on this with me?
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 5th, 2018
SEIA Responds. After our reporting from yesterday, SEIA responded to its Board of Directors. We felt that it was relevant for the solar industry to understand the reasoning SEIA states and are showing it to you verbatim. The key is that this topic is not finished, and the questions appears to remain on the table. While we see ourselves as more than just a copy and paste publication, we’d like to show what the solar industry thinks. If you have a view on this, please send us a comment that we could share.
Play It Out. Some of the biggest participants in the solar industry are solar groups within utilities and I heard from quite a few of you yesterday. I understand the dilemma and empathize, you are active in solar, benefit from policies like net metering and share similar frustrations as the rest of the industry. When utilities take too long to interconnect, it doesn’t benefit you and if you can’t net-meter, you can’t do the deal. But here is the problem with allowing an IOU into the fold. Take the ongoing debate in Michigan. What if DTE had a solar unit which was a member of SEIA and SEIA participated vigorously in the debate to do more solar and less rate based natural gas? What kind of pressure could DTE exert on SEIA to stay out of the proceedings and how would we ever know that it exerted this pressure? The simplest way forward for membership would be a non-voting segment for utilities but what if they are paying $100k a year to be a member? $200k?
What Do You Stand For? SEIA published goals earlier this year, albeit very modest and easily achievable. From our point of view it is time for SEIA to stand for something, much like our Solar Pledge did during the ITC extension (very effectively). The values should include all or some of the following ideals: advocating for full rate net metering without advantages given to incumbent participants, fair and equal interconnection access for solar, rate based solar should be given equal access for competitive solar proposals to ensure lowest cost. These are just some ideas but we should not be the source of those values. The SEIA membership base should set those values and use those as their advocacy constitution. More money in the revenue base should not be the only goal, and potentially blurring the lines on values is never worth the price of admission.
Trump Taxes Grow. The Trump trade war continues, this time sparing most of solar but the side effects will come into the space. Hopefully Congress will step in and stop a trade back and forth that doesn’t help American consumers.
Elections Matter. Especially at the local level if you have a utility coop board. SRP in Arizona had an election and added 2 more pro-solar members to the board, with 2 other solar supporters losing their seats. The more people run, the more support we will have at the regulatory level when possible.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 4th, 2018
Moves At SEIA Misguided. Earlier this year, SEIA approached members of their board, many of whom pay for the privilege, on the idea of inviting utilities to join SEIA as members. Many of the board members that were approached called in a non-starter but the idea went high enough at SEIA leadership that it was considered worth floating. The money has become more important to the association than the mission or its values in my opinion. I had to ponder what it meant to have the idea get enough support from leaders to discuss. In line with this new line of thought was the extension of the SEPA joint venture which produces SPI and in 2015 generated over $3.5million in profits to the owners. SEPA is focused on making utilities smarter with their energy systems, it’s not a solar association and in my opinion the values between the two entities no longer align enough to have the joint venture continue, alas it was renewed by the board. What’s next for SEIA in its search for what it stands for and what does that mean for you and its mission going forward? Here is Frank’s exclusive look inside. If you have an opinion on this, I’d love to hear it, please reply to this email and let us know what you think.
SC Solar Push. Hundreds of solar advocates took the fight in South Carolina to the Statehouse steps yesterday. Being this is South Carolina, this was not a partisan fight and focused on the jobs. You could have taken the signs from the protestors in Nevada and used them here which speaks to our message and focus. With the failed nuclear power plants plaguing the political discussion, solar could be the ideal outlet for economic development.
Solar In 2008. Do you remember solar in 2008? What information and advice do you wish you had then that you have today? Storage is like solar in 2008 is the trendiest buzzword in storage conversations but much of that is true. Financing products, innovation for consumers and lead gen are all topics. This article does a good job of going through some of the important issues.
Small Solar In Africa. Africa is such a great opportunity for solar and for the people to enjoy greater access to energy. Small solar upstarts have done a tremendous job growing their companies and deploying with great impact. The other side of that is large scale solar which displaces some of the most ingrained industries in the market and requires offtakers and regulators to work hand in hand, presenting new and different investment issues. I hope Africa does it all, small and large while also doing things like solar power street lights to improve the infrastructure.
SolarWakeup Live! Less than 1 week before we meet in San Francisco. There are some seats left for you to hear from some of the Bay area solar leaders. I hope you will join us for the afternoon. Reserve Your Seat.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 3rd, 2018
CCAs Go Solar Shopping. I am looking forward to interviewing Lindsay Saxby from Marin Clean Energy. Marin Clean Energy is one of the largest CCAs and they are currently looking for more solar as part of their RFP. They are also looking for energy storage. These are some of the topics I plan on getting information on. If you want to hear the answers to these things, you need to be at SolarWakeup Live! in person because the recording will not be posted until after the RFP is due. Use APRIL40 for 40% off your ticket to our exclusive event in San Francisco. There’s a single sponsor interview slot left if you are looking to reach the SolarWakeup audience with your message. As anyone that has come to our previous events will say, this isn’t the biggest crowd but its the most influential. Again, use APRIL40 to get 40% off your tickets.
SolarWakeup Bracket Challenge. Congrats to the winner of the SolarWakeup March Madness bracket. Nathan Arbitman of DSM Advanced Solar takes the victory with the correct Villanova prediction. In second place comes Tom Matzzie of CleanChoice Energy who was just a few points behind. Hats off to the Allie Detrio of Engie for a correct championship game but picked the wrong victor. Thank you to all for playing.
Jacksonville Stunts Solar. Jacksonville enjoys the double entendre, spending millions to bring Jinko’s factory to the City while at the same time killing its net metering policy. So the 50 jobs at the factory will be lost 6x in the market. The Jacksonville area has 347 solar jobs according to The Solar Foundation which will be at risk. It also shows that the regulatory uncertainty may have caused Jinko to lower its employment estimates. This whole situation is indicative of Florida’s solar market where allowing competition could create 10’s of thousands of jobs but instead the focus is on leaving solar to a monopoly.
What Consumers Want. A poll has hit the all-time low of consumers worrying about the cost of energy while wanting the best environmental benefits from their electricity at much higher rates. That means consumers are willing to pay more to get cleaner energy sources in a market where cheapest today often wins the race. I am surprised that in a head to head, republicans still split 51/49 on renewables versus fossil, likely in a poll shift based on what the respondent feels they should answer.
What Consumers Get. Now that we see what consumers want, it’s good to see that they are getting some of that. With the ramp up of clean energy, US carbon emissions are coming down. These are positive notes but we can do so much more, let’s keep pushing and accelerate!
DTE Fights Back. This could be an interesting start to the Vote Solar tactic of opposing the natural gas power plant. Now DTE is proposing a renewables plan likely in a way to win over the opposition. Keep watching to see how much farther it can go.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 2nd, 2018
No April Fools. Use APRIL40 for 40% off your ticket to our exclusive event in San Francisco. There’s a single sponsor interview slot left if you are looking to reach the SolarWakeup audience with your message. As anyone that has come to our previous events will say, this isn’t the biggest crowd but its the most influential. Again, use APRIL40 to get 40% off your tickets.
Cheap Solar, Now Value. The BNEF report pretty much confirms reality. The battle for price of energy output has been won by renewables. No fuel cost assumptions make certain of that fact. There is no longer the need to battle for cheaper now that we’re sub 3 cents in sunny areas. Now is the time to talk about system value, value of DG, value of storage and putting some of that value into the ecosystem. That means contractors investing in higher margins for higher quality. Buying better roof mounting that doesn’t leak. Most of all we all need to invest in margins.
Legacy Power, Legacy Tricks. First Energy has been pushing for coal and nuclear subsidies through all the avenues, FERC, DOE and the White House. On Friday, it asked for emergency bailouts for the power plants that are not providing value to the system and have the Trump administration guarantee profits to the ailing power plants. After no positive response on the request, First Energy went to bankruptcy court late on Saturday to file for chapter 11 and look to restructure debt. Within the last 12 months I still had conversations with private equity firms that were open to acquiring these types of power plants but I have to think that those days are quickly ending.
Subsidized Manufacturing From Jinko. I enjoy the irony of the solar manufacturing plant receiving subsidies from the Florida government in response to a global tariff against solar modules because the foreign manufacturers are…subsidized. Explain the nuance of a State that is anti-solar, anti-competition for solar projects that is making the headlines by putting together subsidies with guarantees from ratepayers. This isn’t Jinko’s fault, they are a bystander in this and I want them in Florida. But more importantly, I want solar to be allowed to compete here.
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Yann