This is your SolarWakeup for September 17th, 2018

States Will Lead. As we saw last week with Governor Brown signing SB100, the States are continuing to move their policies into our direction. The reasons are clear, the policies create local jobs and improve local air quality as coal plants close across the Country. This trend should continue to drive into the distributed sector to remove diesel generators and replace them with renewable charged energy storage. As States make the decisions that determine the speed of growth in solar, I remind you of the importance of the Governor’s mansions especially in places where the Governor appoints the public service commissioners.
The EEI Playbook. Do you remember the leaked EEI memo from a few years ago that tried to rename utility owned solar, community solar? This similar rhetoric testing is ongoing and the memo was leaked to David Roberts of Vox. Interestingly, even when EEI poll takers tried to ‘push’ folks into their thought process, it didn’t work. Americans want more renewables even though EEI says it it is not technically feasible. Americans want more renewables until its 100% renewables and they want it basically without regard to cost. This is the problem with the overlap of EEI and the solar industry and EEI member companies with solar trade organizations. Just read the highlights of the EEI memo, EEI is shocked that their customers are so ready to move to renewables which utilities view as their competition.
Cities Take Action. If 57% of Cities are taking action on climate change, how are you getting involved in shaping that action? This is part of the year-long talk about the 10/10/10 plan from this platform. You should be taking 10 hours a year for yourself and each person in your company to advocate for the policies that will grow your market. Don’t think about policy as an obtuse concept, instead use the word market growth.
Big Solar, Big Market. Utility scale solar is cheap and available. Corporations are fighting with utilities to buy the output of solar farms across the Country as long as the regulatory framework allows the bilateral arrangement. We are entering the era of sub 2 cents per kWh solar energy and will soon enter sub 5 cents per kWh dispatchable solar with energy storage.
Live From Jersey City. November 6th, solarwakeuplive.com. Thanks to the sponsors that have signed up already, Aten Solar and Pfister Energy.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Memo To Forbes Writer: Nuclear Energy Is NOT Clean Energy

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As I was scrolling through my LinkedIn feed this weekend, I ran across an article from Forbes magazine writer Michael Shellenberger that both made me laugh out loud and shake my head. The headline of the article was “Had They Bet On Nuclear, Not Renewables, Germany & California Would Already Have 100% Clean Power.” Which, if you think about it, is like saying, “If my dog meowed, she’d be a cat.” Shellenberger bases his article on a study by Environmental Progress, which a quick glance at their website shows is a shill organization for the … Read More →

Rhode Island Issues RFP For 400 MW Of Renewable Energy

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent When you think of renewable energy leaders, Rhode Island may not immediately leap to mind – but thanks to a recent request for proposal (RFP) issued by Governor Gina M. Raimondo for 400 MW of renewable energy, that may be about to change. The state’s largest utility National Grid developed the RFP in coordination with the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER) and Division of Public Utilities & Carriers (DPUC). According to a release, the state has more than tripled the amount of renewable power in its portfolio since Governor Raimondo announced her goal … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for September 14th, 2018

Solar Markets’ Insights. The second quarter solar market insight by SEIA is out. A total of 2.3GW was installed and California continues to lead. However, there are some new States in the top 10 including Texas and Florida which are due to surprise many in the industry. Residential didn’t slip year after year, signifying a return to growth for the market in my opinion, with many markets becoming more stable.
Nevada and Arizona NEM. It is no secret that Arizona and Nevada went through long battles around net metering which got worse before they got better. Part of those processes was the elimination of a cliff caused by a NEM cap instead replacing it with a reduction of net metering credit, now called an export tariff. Call it a FIT, a VOS or otherwise, this is NEM 2.0 becoming NEM 3.0.
Deloitte Chimes In. Deloitte is out with their renewable energy outlook which backs some data on announcements that are confirmed during the Global Climate Action Summit. Just yesterday, 21 corporations and many mayors came together for big goals on an integration of renewables and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. I think we are all on the same page at this point that renewables are on the upward trend. The regulatory hurdle now is how fast and how profitable the trend is.
Gigasolar Photos. Pretty cool images of the solar project on top of the Gigafactory in Nevada.
SMART But Slow. Many State newspapers are running solar growth stories but MA has to give a hard look at the fact that SMART is yet to get going. The struggle to delay the program is part of the regulatory battle. Delays for solar developers means overhead and costs that aren’t in the plan or budget. Delays are always part of the regulatory goal for those that seek to hurt the solar industry’s ability to grow. Hopefully, the MA solar market can trust that the future holds a fair program that allows solar to prosper and get back to the success it had a few years ago.
Be Seen Here. Jersey City is the 5th event in the SolarWakeup Live! series. As part of the program, we invite sponsors to help defray the costs and provide the best visibility in the industry for events and digital media. You can see the exact details but you’ve seen the sponsors on this email in the past, the visibility is consistent and long duration. Check out the sponsor page for more details and hit reply if you are interested in speaking to me about it.

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Yann

Solar, Wind Are Quickly Becoming Preferred Electricity Generation Worldwide

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent A new Deloitte Global report, “Global Renewable Energy Trends,” indicates solar and wind are becoming the preferred electricity-generation sources worldwide. There are three key reasons for the increase: price and performance parity with fossil fuels; better grid integration infrastructure and improving technology. In other words, solar and wind are now cost-competitive with fossil fuels and are delivering the same performance. As that continues (and other technologies like blockchain come into play), Deloitte expects the trends to continue. “Demand for renewable energy sources has grown tremendously in recent years,” says Marlene Motyka, Deloitte U.S. and global … Read More →

The Energy Show: Climate Change – Time To Start Panicking

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The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon These days you can’t watch TV, read a news story or listen to the radio without seeing catastrophic fires, hurricanes, and high temperatures. The world is getting hotter. To illustrate, Death Valley recorded the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. Temperatures averaged 108.1 degrees day and night, all of July 2018. That beat last year’s record monthly temperature. This is not just a U.S. only story, it’s a worldwide issue. During the month of July 2018 record high temperatures were set on every single continent in the northern hemisphere (it was winter in the … Read More →

Report: Utility Scale Solar Procurement Surged, Residential Solar Steadies in Q2 2018

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Though the overall solar market declined in Q2 of 2018, there was good news to be had in the utility-scale and residential sectors. Those are the headlines from the Q2 U.S. Solar Market Insight Report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Woods MacKenzie Power & Renewables (WKPR) (formerly GTM Research). As some predicted, the decision by the Chinese to halt their domestic market sent component prices into a nosedive, which allowed the utility-scale solar market to procure nearly 8.5 GW of solar in the second quarter. Lower than expected tariffs – starting at … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for September 13th, 2018

Stay Safe Carolinas. Hurricane Florence is bearing down on the Carolinas with fierce wind and rain. Trees will fall on power lines and it will take time to get everyone back up and running. I was there a year ago when I had to miss SPI to evacuate for hurricane Irma. It was then that I realized that I needed to move out to California away from the storms. Interesting outlook on the solar infrastructure in North Carolina from Bloomberg ahead of the storm.
DNV’s Outlook. The Energy Transition Outlook has an interesting takeaway, calling for renewable sources to make up 80% of the electricity generation by 2050. This is only a few points and years off the recent legislative goal set by California’s 100% by 2045 with the clean energy/renewable sources caveat before I get lectured on the detail of the comparison. Frank highlights some of the more important parts of the report.
Obvious Pruitt. He’s going to work for a coal company. Surprised that he didn’t go solar post-EPA.
Aligning Advocacy. Vote Solar announced yesterday that it is supporting the Steyer backed ballot question in Arizona. This comes a day after the ACC sided with the solar argument for the grid access charges. Consumers are expected to be bombarded with millions in anti-clean energy advertising but I would be surprised if the ballot question doesn’t pass.
SolarWakeup Live New Jersey. November 6th, agenda and tickets on solarwakeuplive.com

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Have a great day!
Yann

Vote Solar Comes Out In Favor Of Tom Steyer’s Arizona Proposition

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Vote Solar announced today that it and the Arizona small business community have come out behind Proposition 127, a ballot initiative that would enshrine a 50% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by 2030. Arizona’s current RPS is 15%. Prop 127, backed by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer, has been mired in controversy as the state’s three largest utilities – Arizona Public Service (APS), Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and the Salt River Project (SRP) – have all funded political action committees to oppose the proposition. APS even brought a lawsuit challenging the signatures on the ballot petitions, a … Read More →

Report: Renewable Sources Will Power 80% Of Electricity Generation By 2050

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent According to the latest DNV-GL Energy Transition Outlook 2018: Power Supply and Use report, renewable energy will power approximately 80% of electricity generation by 2050, with the majority of that surge coming from wind and solar. As prices for the technology continue to drop, DNV0-GL is predicting that 40% of all electricity generation will come from solar sources, while 29% will come from wind. [wds id=”3″] What’s more, the report suggests rapid electrification will continue to become a higher percentage of energy use, reaching 45% by 2050, with particular increases occurring in the transportation, building … Read More →