This is your SolarWakeup for October 22nd, 2018

Presented by PV Pros. PV Pros provides nationwide technical services for investors and asset managers. We manage your technical needs while you focus on the financial aspects of development, acquisition, and ownership. Our team of professionals offer technical due diligence, inspections and testing, subject matter experts for disputes, preventative maintenance, repairs, and monitoring across the United States.

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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Have a great day!
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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Have a great day!
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 →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 18th, 2018

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Saudi Energy Story. Most speakers at the upcoming Saudi Future Investment Initiative conference have pulled out due to the disappearance of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Two speakers have notably not pulled out and they both have an energy connection including solar. EDF CEO, Jean-Bernard Levy, and Siemens CEO, Joe Kaeser, have not withdrawn from the event according to Axios/CNN. EDF has significant presence in the US solar market and while this is far upstream from the local business unit, this could pose questions for the local teams that they will have no good way of answering. 
Who Stopped Coal. No question that coal has declined over the past few years and the war on coal waged by Obama is the political talking point. At the same time, Trump appears to be taking credit for the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions while also looking to bring back coal. The reality is neither Obama or Trump had anything to do with coal. Solar may also not have had much to do with it. Fracked natural gas dropped the price of the commodity 10 years ago and the replacement of coal plants expanded the gas portfolio in a massive way. 
Lessons Learned, No Comparison. JEA, the Jacksonville utility that is often rumored to be considering an acquisition by NextEra, is signing new solar agreements. Part of the reporting appears to show a learning lesson from the utility operator that it will not put itself at risk as it did with the Vogtle nuclear plant. First, I doubt that JEA is coming out of pocket for the solar farms. Second, I am sure that the utility is only obligated to purchase the energy produced by the plant. I.e. it looks like every other PPA signed in the US by a utility. This is just a PR stunt to put solar on the same playing field with the ratepayer waste that is Vogtle. 
DTE Playing Old School. DTE Energy filed a change to the net metering to remove the retail rate credit and exchange it for the wholesale rate. That’s the 2012 net metering fight and I’m surprised that DTE is playing that game 3 weeks before a Gubernatorial election that is pretty close. I hope that the folks at DTE realize the error in their strategy and come to the conclusion that net metering is not a threat and it helps defray millions in costs saving consumers plenty of rate increases. 
DC. Vote Solar. Tonight. See you there! Raising a glass for a great cause. 

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Have a great day!
Yann

Trump Takes Credit For Utility Steadfastness On Closing Coal Plants

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Here we are again, discussing the future of coal – this time as it relates to CO2 emissions and the fact that emissions have fallen in the United States. And as usual, President Trump finds himself in the middle trying to take credit. So here is what’s really happening. Despite having pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (as reported by Reuters) suggests that CO2 levels have fallen in the United States by 2.7% in 2017, even more than the 2% it fell in 2016. [wds id=”3″] Interim … Read More →

Could DTE Proposal Kill Rooftop Solar In Michigan? Advocates Say Yes

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Just when you think Michigan is finally getting its solar act together, utilities like DTE Energy hatch plans to destroy rooftop solar in the state, at least according to the advocates that talked to our friends at Inside Climate News. Becky Standfield, the Midwest director for Vote Solar, isn’t one for hyperbole. She’s one of the most level-headed solar activists I’ve known. So to see her say this to ICC was both startling and arresting: “It is very clear that DTE is trying to put a dagger in the heart of rooftop solar in Michigan.” … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for October 17th, 2018

Presented by PV Pros. PV Pros provides nationwide technical services for investors and asset managers. We manage your technical needs while you focus on the financial aspects of development, acquisition, and ownership. Our team of professionals offer technical due diligence, inspections and testing, subject matter experts for disputes, preventative maintenance, repairs, and monitoring across the United States. 

Clean Energy Voter’s Guide. Two takeaways from the AEE guide to clean energy policies in the upcoming election. The first, obvious and sad is that the republican party candidates still feel like clean energy is bad politics for their donors. Two, it does appear that access to renewable energy is an issue that both sides are agreeing on. Especially in Florida, this is a topic that I first discovered in my interview with State Sentator Jeff Brandes.

States Matter. In case it isn’t obvious, State policy is disproportionally important when it comes to energy policy due to the State by State regulatory oversight. The politics of this get interesting because energy and climate change has become an issue in Congressional races even though those representatives don’t have much influence at the State. That’s why we, as a solar industry, need to do more to solarize the education of the electoral funnel. A county commissioner should know that voting solar is good for the race for State House and the votes in the House are good for the Senate and so forth. The opposite is also true, voting against solar should feel a campaign to stop the politician from moving up the ranks.  

Bailing Out On Bail Out. It seems that the Trump administration is bailing out on the nuclear and coal bailout. Frank has the complete story but the note from PJM that coal and nuclear generation could shut down without issue must have played a role in the decision. It’s a good decision. 

Rubio Digs Deeper. More on the interview from Sunday, Senator Rubio, whom I first met when he was the Speaker of the Florida House, said that moving to “all solar panels and did all that stuff, which is not realistic.” The message now is that climate change is too big to deal with and the assumption is that it would cost too much money and destroy the economy. Those are the talking points we need to educate the party with. 

Pass On Gas. Vote Solar’s Adam Browning highlights the technical case for a future without natural gas in order to keep the planet from warming too much. This tweet storm courtesy of Jonathan Gaventa of E3G. 

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Have a great day!
Yann