This is your SolarWakeup for July 6th, 2018
Welcome to the second Friday of this week. See you next week in San Francisco, you can find me near the Quick Mount lounge or hit reply to this to say hello. Have a great weekend!
Scott Pruitt Becomes A Lobbyist. In between looking for chicken startups and buying used mattresses with his interns credit cards, Scott Pruitt did a really bad job protecting the environment. I said it in the past but his irrational behaviour put his regulatory policies on the front page of the news constantly. Can you name Obama’s EPA administrators? George W. Bush’s? Now we move to Scott Pruitt’s replacement, Andrew Wheeler, who knows the EPA well. He started his career there and learned how to apply the right pressure when he became a coal lobbyist. I expect Wheeler to be more manicured as administrator but just as bad at protecting the environment. Stay tuned because with FERC Commissioner Powelson resigning, a coal bailout could be coming soon.
Everyone Still Loves Solar. Another poll that takes solar to both sides of the aisle. In this case, a poll asked supporters of the NRA and Greenpeace how they feel about solar and businesses that use more solar energy. 75% of the respondents said that businesses that go solar should be rewarded.
That’s A Big Solar Rooftop. I’m not big on project announcements but a 40MW project that is built for self-consumption seems like a big deal. There’s a GM plant in Spain that has something around 13MW but this is more than three times that. Will be interesting to see if other large manufacturers will be doing the same since everyone wants them to according to the above poll.
Correcting Yesterday’s Note. Yesterday I made note that DeLeon wasn’t moving forward to the general election in November since he lost to Feinstein in the primary. While he was beaten in the primary by 1.5million votes, California has a top two process that results in DeLeon making it to the general in November. Apologies on the error.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 5th, 2018
I hope you all enjoyed your July 4th holiday, played with sparklers and indulged in a parade. Now it’s back to work to kick off Q3 and get solar on some rooftops. If you are coming to Intersolar next week, please let me know. I always enjoy meeting you in person.
Growing Florida’s Solar Market. We can call it a double. From 2016 to 2017, the Florida market increased by 92% according to the just released net metering report issued by the PSC. This is very much felt on the ground here in the market but we are just scratching the surface. Florida will break 100,000 systems per year in 2019 and may do it in 2018 if companies are able to put the funding and labor plans in place to execute. I’ve spent 10 years working in solar while living in Florida and am now leaving just went the market picks up, but Walnut Creek is calling my name! See you next week at Intersolar!
Goldman Gets A New Solar Fund. South Jersey Industries, operating a solar portfolio under Marina Energy, went to market a few months ago. This wasn’t the first time it came to market but this time it transacted. Many investors participated in the process made complicated by the structure but the assets are largely desirable in a hot New Jersey market. Goldman Sachs ended up on top with their $350million bid for the ~200MW. This is a nice cornerstone for the fund that just recently put a great team together. Congrats the GS team.
The EV Infra Ratebase Is Going To Get Gotten. Utilities across America have asked themselves how to play in the EV space and owning charging infrastructure is the most obvious to me. I used to advocate to utility CEOs that shareholders should front the money to increase demand in the service area without putting the infrastructure into rate base. It seems that IOUs will get the best of both worlds, increase demand with EVs while also getting a return on the EV infrastructure. I expect that we will see a big rush to take advantage of this boon.
100% In California. The California Assembly will be starting their hearings on the 100% RPS bill, SB100, after passing it through committee. This came after receiving 38,000 letters from constituents to pass a clean bill on the issue. Last year, this came really close to getting done but politics in an election year probably got in the way. Now that De Leon is out of the general for the Senate, I can see him getting this work over the finish line. His leadership is remarkable, especially on this issue.
Presented by ENGIE. ENGIE (formerly SoCore Energy) is a market leader in commercial, industrial, and distributed solar and storage portfolio development with installations across some 25 states. ENGIE offers commercial and industrial companies, electric cooperatives, and communities solar and storage solutions that provide energy cost savings, increased resiliency and carbon reduction opportunities.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 3rd, 2018
Reminder that SolarWakeup will be off for the 4th of July. Please be safe and enjoy your day with your family. We will be back on Thursday before heading to San Francisco for InterSolar.
The Fight For 21st Century Power. Glad that the full time reporters are catching up but here is a recap on the upcoming battle caused by the electric vehicle industry. Fundamentally, this is the first time ever that utilities that generate and deliver electricity will be competing with oil companies that create and deliver fuel for transportation. If transportation moves to electricity as a fuel you can see how utilities take market share from oil companies. That is why, even in the greenest States like California, it is very difficult to pass aggressive EV policies. Moreover, electric vehicles threaten the internal combustion engine manufacturing sector which causes further disruption. On the other hand, oil companies make more profits, billions every quarter, and it’s a cheap proposition for them to get into the electric space especially through the solar industry. I’m still a bit surprised at the pace and strategy by the oil companies. I find none to be advantaged tactically over others or any of their acquisitions and investments surprising, yet.
It’s Time For GWh. What is a utility to do if it doesn’t find natural gas peaker plants to be cost effective generation for its customers? In PG&E’s case, build storage. A massive storage plant. Last week I mentioned that it could be possible that the Oakland peaker plant could become a storage asset but I was wrong by a hundred miles or so. The Moss Landing plant owned by Vistra will become a 1.2GWh storage asset, this coming just a few weeks after they announced their 180MWh plant with our friends at FlexGen. Who wants to wager the over/under date on when storage falls below $100/kWh?
Will Arizona Follow Michigan? Tom Steyer looked at three States for his RPS ballot initiatives. Arizona, Nevada and Michigan. Michigan has already come to terms with him plan and it looks like Arizona could be close behind. The RPS is a policy, within monopoly markets, that can be a great policy for utilities that need reasons to transition generation due to policy and increase rate base. Quite frankly, if I were the CEO of APS, I’d be all over the plan for a 100% solar utility and my shareholders would love me for it because my customer net promoter score would be 99.
The Unsung Success In Haiti. Let’s take a moment to thank the folks that are still working hard and adding solar in Haiti which is by far the poorest Country in the Western hemisphere and a close friend to the community in South Florida. I can’t imagine how hard it is to add a few panels to areas in the poorest sections of Haiti, just the logistics alone seem daunting. But thankfully there are folks still doing it and making a difference. A small battery with a few panels can change the life of someone living without electricity.
Silicon Jobs. This is your quarterly reminder that the first AD/CVD caused a retaliatory tariff on US silicon which hurt REC in Washington State and Hemlock in the midwest. Tariffs are bad for everyone.
Presented by Sunrun. Sunrun is the largest residential solar, storage and energy services company in the United States with a mission to create a planet run by the sun. Since establishing the solar as a service model in 2007, Sunrun continues to lead the industry in providing clean energy to homeowners with little to no upfront cost and at a savings to traditional electricity. Sunrun is excited to expand its solar offerings to Illinois residents.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 2nd, 2018
Impact Of Mobility On Solar. It doesn’t appear to be happening a lot yet but I think there is a natural overlap between the mobility and solar markets. I am taking this beyond the EV charger under a solar carport. More interesting is the value of the PPAs between solar owners and C&I clients or homeowners and going back for an upsell. Many of the land use documents are already in place so why not go in and add more technology. Are you in either sector and actually going after this? Have any mobility companies reached out to you? Let me know.
Delisting Yingli Solar. If you are like me, you’ve been watching plenty of global football over the past few weeks. One thing that is different is the missing Yingli Solar ads on the banners around the stadiums which were everywhere when the World Cup was in Brazil 4 years ago. The Yingli name will also disappear from the NYSE as they are getting delisted. Are these modules still moving around the US market?
Adapting Tesla’s Solar Business. There is no doubt that SolarCity (sorry, I can’t call it Tesla yet) has taken a turn away from the clear leading role in solar. Cutting the speed of growth took much of the sales push away while the rest of the industry has been able to push upward as well. I know many in solar partake in the Tesla bashing, especially in solar, but I would say that the bigger story is what has happened to the growth of the local installer. Doing 1MW or more per year is no longer unique, it’s actually quite necessary in many instances. The distributed nature of residential solar is exactly why I made the move into the sector. Many great companies have the ability to serve consumers with great customer service and the same financing options that originally gave SolarCity the advantage.
Consolidation Is Good For Resi Solar. When the news broke a few weeks ago that SunCommon and Hudson Solar were merging, I read with interest. Mergers are a great way to grow in a market that is tight on the margins and for installers it means more volume to negotiate with distributors and finance providers. The news this week really made me excited because seeing business operation financing for solar companies means it’s another signal about markets understanding and appreciating solar.
Presented by Pfister Energy – Pfister Energy is a turnkey design-build renewable energy provider for commercial, industrial, utility, and community projects with an emphasis on energy efficiency and energy management. We possess 25 years of project experience with over 120 MW of solar installed on rooftops, carports and on unused land nationally. Clean energy is not limited to solar and as part of our smart building-integrated energy plan, we provide holistic solutions by stacking solar, LED lighting, wind, daylighting and other energy efficiency systems combined with storage. Visit www.pfisterenergy.com for more information.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 29th, 2018
I hope you have a great weekend. I am headed back to the East Coast for a week and will be back in San Francisco for Intersolar. Are you coming?
Protecting Consumers. SEIA is out with a revised consumer protections document meant to give homeowners information and questions to use during a home buying process. It would make sense for ‘good’ contractors that use quality products and stand behind their work to attach the document to their proposals with their answers to the list of questions. If you provide the homeowner with the document with answers, they are likely to use the document with your competitors that may not hold themselves to the same standards.
Time For Power Companies To Go Private. When you look at the IPP marketplace in the US it’s no longer surprising to me that the most innovative (for large corporations) are the foreign IPPs with largely European shareholders. Companies like NRG and Sempra have faced activist investors that push for a quarterly focus on traditional power and monetization of any renewable facilities. That being said, the global IPPs may be too big to make the real innovative change that can be game changing. One of the activist influenced IPPs should consider going public and going the other way. Instead of quarterly focus, they can partner with long term yield investors to create the future we think possible.
Supreme Court Impact On Environment. What does it mean for the environmental policies when Justice Kennedy retires and is replaced this summer. An interesting, albeit sometimes small, issue that could result in a change of view on the current policies and rules. Aside from this retirement, Commission Powelson of FERC is retiring after just a year. He may be the swing vote on the coal and nuclear emergency bailout issue. More on this to come.
Divesting Political Campaign Funds. Politics continue to play a role in the energy space, which should come to no surprise to any of you. After the NY-14 primary upset and a primary of his own, Governor Cuomo is signing the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge. If you recall, the Democratic primary in Virginia put the donations of the utility at issue but without the result of the eventual nominee to stop taking the money. It seems like the issue is evolving and we will end up with all candidates taking the position of not taking money from oil, gas, and utilities.
Presented by ENGIE. ENGIE (formerly SoCore Energy) is a market leader in commercial, industrial, and distributed solar and storage portfolio development with installations across some 25 states. ENGIE offers commercial and industrial companies, electric cooperatives, and communities solar and storage solutions that provide energy cost savings, increased resiliency and carbon reduction opportunities.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 28th, 2018
Palmetto State Showdown. I’m starting to realize that the legislature in SC may be playing dirty with the solar industry. For the second time, last second rules have stopped the net metering cap from being increase and the cap is rapidly approaching. This is going to cause the halt of the market and potential loss of jobs for South Carolinians. Hopefully this can be turned around next year in earnest.
Electrify Everything Says SMUD. The Sacramento utility is looking ahead for homes in their service area and realizes that a fully electric home may be the best way forward. The rebates, up to $13k on existing homes, serve to ready homes for a future without more gas infrastructure. This is the first of this concept that have typically pushed for water heaters, stoves etc to go gas and reduce electricity usage. The skeptic may look at this and see a utility that wants to have more customer base but it doesn’t appear to be true in this case.
LG Comes To Alabama. Another 500MW assembly plant has been announced, this time by LG. The plant is an add on to the existing campus LG has in the State of Alabama. Now, I have nothing against Alabama but why not North Carolina? We know it all centers around the cost of labor but for once it would be great if the manufacturer thought about the market dynamics a bit. Tease the State with the plant in return for a market perhaps? Now that we are well passed the 2GW of exclusion for cell imports, how will the US assemblers deal with this?
Remember SB 100. I covered the 100% RPS in California last year when it looked like it could pass the California legislature. This year that looks like an even better possibility. So remember the bill, SB 100, because I’m starting to increase my confidence that this could become reality. Over the past year, legislators have had the chance to see costs plummet on solar and storage and the pushback on the ability to do this is basically gone. Let’s put California, one of the largest economies in the world, on track to 100% by passing SB 100.
Presented by Sunrun. Sunrun is the largest residential solar, storage and energy services company in the United States with a mission to create a planet run by the sun. Since establishing the solar as a service model in 2007, Sunrun continues to lead the industry in providing clean energy to homeowners with little to no upfront cost and at savings to traditional electricity. Sunrun is excited to expand its solar offerings to Illinois residents.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 27th, 2018
More Solar For Low Income Consumers. It is not news to anyone in the solar industry that low income families spend a much larger portion of their income on electricity that their higher earning fellow ratepayers. California recognizes that low solar prices with no fuel volatility should be available to all families. This was also a topic covered in detail at SolarWakeup Live! Chicago last week which has a nice summary in the top post today.
Privatizing Puerto Rico’s PREPA. Last week, the Governor of Puerto Rico signed a bill to partially privatize PREPA and at least one solar developer is concerned about what this means to their offtake agreement. The challenge is that PREPA should roll that contract forward and continue satisfying the agreement. PREPA says that the privatization has to decide the fate of the agreement. More to come about this.
More PACE On C&I Solar. The good folks at CleanFund have outlined their vision for how solar can be installed on more C&I buildings. With the SolarPACE calculator and their partners program, the ability for more people to access capital is becoming reality. If you are coming into town for Intersolar, make sure to say hello and learn about where PACE is today. While it was an exotic capital tool a few years ago, the cost and availability has gone into solar’s favor in a big way.
South Carolina Solar Setback. Yesterday, South Carolina state senate members of the budget conference committee decided that raising the net metering cap through a budget proviso would violate Senate procedural rules and decided to remove the proviso from the budget bill. Vote Solar’s Thad Culley says “It is deeply disappointing that clean energy progress in South Carolina will be delayed another year, putting at risk 3,000 local jobs in the state’s once-thriving solar industry and limiting South Carolinians only true alternatives to monopoly utilities.”
Presented by Pfister Energy – Pfister Energy is a turnkey design-build renewable energy provider for commercial, industrial, utility, and community projects with an emphasis on energy efficiency and energy management. We possess 25 years of project experience with over 120 MW of solar installed on rooftops, carports and on unused land nationally. Clean energy is not limited to solar and as part of our smart building-integrated energy plan, we provide holistic solutions by stacking solar, LED lighting, wind, daylighting and other energy efficiency systems combined with storage. Visit www.pfisterenergy.com for more information.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 26th, 2018
Thank You! ICYMI. I appreciate all the notes about the new day job. In case you missed it yesterday, I am moving to San Francisco and joining Quick Mount PV as President. For more information, see yesterday’s edition of SolarWakeup. Lastly, it would be a bad business of me to avoid offering our support in your residential company’s work. When it comes to quality and superior roof integration, nobody does it better than the team at QMPV. You know where to find me.
An IRS Victory, Well Done. SEIA has been working on this and staff was able to get it done. Much like the 1603 rules, the ITC will have a 5% hurdle in order to give developers additional time to complete a project beyond the deadline. The rule, known as commencing construction, was widely used across the solar market for ’1603’ modules to allow future projects to take advantage of this as well.
Lenders Want Solar Deals. The great team at kWh analytics is sharing some data about lenders interested and active in solar. Catching me off guard was the sheer number, almost 50 banks, that made it into the ‘solar landscape’ which explains the competitive cost of capital that is being found by project owners. One of the topics that we don’t talk much about is the installation methods in the underwriting process. While BNEF has the tier 1 list for modules, who ensures that the right products are being installed to install the systems on the ground or on the roof? The IEs are barely scratching the surface on that and given the 30-year lifespans being modeled, there should be a complete system analysis.
Honey Sweet Solar. I spoke with the CEO of Connexus Energy about this in detail but it is worth discussing again. Vegetation management is a line item for solar asset owners that can be more than a cost burden. Using native pollinators allow the option of adding beehives to your solar farm as the Connexus solar farm did in Minnesota. The honey can be sold to offset some of the vegetation costs and do good for the environment. Look into this concept for your next project, there are already companies targeting the solar market for this.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 25th, 2018
Heading Out West. After 12 years in solar while living in Florida, I am leaving the Sunshine State for San Francisco. For a decade, I joked that the only solar job in Florida was at the airport while we flew to other markets, for me, that destination was often the Bay Area. The family is packing up as I write this and we will be moved to the Bay in a few weeks. San Francisco is the center of the solar industry and a great many of you (the readers) are in the area which makes me look forward to this next chapter.
My Day Job. This may come as a surprise to you but I have a day job that is not SolarWakeup. Most recently I was the President of Conergy for the Americas before doing consulting for various companies and private equity firms. I am now joining the amazing team at Quick Mount PV as President. Quick Mount PV has been a great company in the solar industry for over a decade and I am humbled to join the team. This will be my first time working in residential solar in my solar career but it is an industry I have admired since the start. Putting solar on homes is as important as any work we do in solar and doing so with superior quality is at the center of it. Nobody puts forth that quality better than Quick Mount PV and that’s something I look forward to showing off across the industry. We’ll be hiring around the Country as well, mostly in sales, and it’s always a pleasure to work with more of you. You can find information about those jobs here. One of the great things about QMPV is the factory that makes many of the products you use every day right here in Walnut Creek, CA.
Aligning My Values With My Work. Little did I know when I launched SolarWakeup’s Solar Pledge that net metering would be at the center of the work I would be doing 4 years later. I have always been a staunch advocate for net metering and solar’s need to focus on putting solar on every home across America. Our policy work is only as strong as the public support for the solar industry which is at all-time high levels. Even President Obama used the growth of solar on homes in his State of the Union speeches citing the GTM stat. I’m excited to be aligned on this segment going forward. Amazing policies driving down the cost of solar for consumers paired with the democratization of solar to the local installers are how we make the solar industry one of the strongest industries in America and I’m excited to play a small role in this value chain.
Back To My Roots. Back to the roof. I spent a few years after graduating college engineering and designing roofing systems for a very large roofing contractor. I learned that there is no faster way to make someone pick up the phone in anger than for them to have a leak in their roof and the same is true for homeowners that install solar. For solar contractors that means they have to install using the best solar mounting systems available on the market. I look forward to traveling across the Country and meeting with many of you and understanding more about the residential solar market.
Not To Worry. SolarWakeup will continue as it has over the past 6 years. There may be days that the summaries are shorter but everything else remains the same. You will see news about my work since it overlaps with yours as well. As always, you can hit reply on any morning email and share your thoughts and comments with me.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for June 22nd, 2018
What a great day at SolarWakeup Live! in Chicago yesterday. The interviews were great content and more than anything the audience was able to spend plenty of time doing solid networking. Have a great weekend!
Community Solar Goes Big. This isn’t data but its anecdotal from the event. Community solar in Illinois may have over 1GW of projects already in the queue but it may not add up with local zoning approvals so the 1GW could be overstating. That’s quite a bit more than the 150MW expected to be approved in the program.
Program Administrators. No word on the hiring date for the administrators but the RFP responses have been received and selection is underway. This is essentially the last step to get the program going.
Large Scale Issues. If you see a future for large scale solar in Illinois with $5 RECs, please send me your business model to understand.
Hire Local.I can’t overstate how important it is to understand the impact of hiring local labor and train a new workforce for your installations. Don’t be the solar group that hires the random Spencer’s solar company at the lowest cost possible. Make sure you give the newly trained solar folks a chance to get involved. This is vital to growing the solar market in Illinois going forward.
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Yann