This is your SolarWakeup for July 17th, 2018
A Bridge To Prosperity. Natural gas was the political bridge that let politicians take money from the rich gas industry while advocating for a renewable energy future by ending coal with natural gas. The last 10 years were basically about that trend, utilities across the Country rate based the end of coal power generation in favor of the gas plants. If anything, the natural gas bridge to a renewable future cost utility consumers 100’s of millions of dollars in new generation. The bridge has essentially reached the other side of the transition because solar plus storage is competitive in almost every market.
Exhibit A. Using demand response, the CPUC is showing utilities how they can avoid building new generation. The interesting aspect of this is that it shows how the natural gas bridge ends and more importantly why our sector is important. Oil, auto and utility companies are buying companies that focus on the distributed space, not just because of their business model but because the intersection of DERs, EVs and generation will need teams that build that distributed ecosystem.
Exhibit B. Here is more NV solar for you, this time a whopping 690MW project. The most obvious omission from this announcement is the size of the storage associated with the project which would likely be the world’s largest announced after last week’s 1.2GWh project from Vistra. Storage will absolutely be built on this plant, not just an option as it is outline to have. This is a big project but we’ll need many of them to make up for the fossil power plants that will be replaced by this type of generation.
More Solar Manufacturing. JA Solar is adding more manufacturing in Vietnam. For $68million, the company will add 1.5GW of wafer capacity for shipment of products not made in China. The plant will start to operate this year and deliver 500MW in 2018.
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 16th, 2018
Duke Wants Acclaim For Ending Solar. “Duke Energy Carolinas achieved a major milestone last week in its support of solar energy, as more than 5,000 of the company’s South Carolina customers have installed solar panels on their homes and businesses, reaching a legislative goal for customer-owned solar capacity.” Those are the words from the Duke South Carolina President, morphing the net metering cap into a legislative goal. The ‘goal’ was put their by the utility so that they can control the solar market and cause thousands of jobs to go away for South Carolinians because putting solar on homes isn’t a job that can be outsourced. South Carolina deserves better than being pitched this kind of PR, legislators should quickly make sure that they aren’t blamed for this ‘success’.
Reversing Ontario’s Solar Market. As the politics in Ontario change to the conservatives, the end of the Green Energy Act is getting a new official end date. One that may have already past. The government announced last week that some 750 projects were being cancelled including many solar projects. The original years of the GEA had feed in tariffs at some pretty high rates, but I’m sure there are better ways, conservative ways, to keep solar in business in Ontario. It used to be the most vibrant place to work in solar, I spent many weeks there myself. I hope that the market can find a future and maybe even see the rest of Canada catch up.
Too Much Solar? The Vistra Energy CEO was on Jim Cramer’s Mad Money show last week. If you remember from a few weeks ago, Vistra, which is a traditional IPP, won an RFP for a 1.2GWh battery to be installed at Moss Landing after announcing a 42MWh battery in Texas with our friends from FlexGen. So here is the CEO of Vistra making the quiet case for why there is a need for more energy storage, too much solar. IPP shareholders probably agree with that but as we all know, as power plants in places like California reach their end of life, more generation will be needed, especially at those sub $30/MWh rates.
Startup Solar Nation. Now that I am actively living in the Bay area, I am really interested in helping more startups get traction in the sector. Some founders have found how excited I get about the ecosystem and I want to do more including helping those companies spread their news like new funding. More on this in the near future.
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 July 13th, 2018
I hope you enjoyed your week and if you attended, Intersolar. Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!
Exxon Diverges From ALEC. On its own, Exxon leaving the anti-renewables group in ALEC probably doesn’t mean very much, especially when Exxon doesn’t come out and say why it didn’t renew its membership. If this becomes a trend it could mean that the values alignment with the membership group hurts members when they try to hire or acquire talent. If Exxon is to follow the oil industry with investments and business units in renewables and electric vehicles, then the policy initiatives by ALEC may be partly the reason. Consider this a data point not pointing to a trend, just yet.
Big Plans In PA. Pennsylvania has the potential to be a great solar market. Land availability, reliable grid, low install prices and access to PJM in most areas. What it lacks is some of the foundational market support including some access to SRECs. A draft plan from the state environmental agency is trying to push the solar market forward with a plan to get to 10% of retail sales which would equate to 15GW of solar up from 300MW today. Let’s give them some support to get that done.
Greening Supply Chain. There have been several jobs posted over the past 6 months by Apple that vaguely sounded like they were solar jobs but always spoke about supply chain. One of those jobs had a requirement to be able to work in China and speak the language. This announcement about a solar fund adds additional color. It is no longer enough for this manufacturer to be ‘solar powered’, it also wants to make sure the inputs to the business are aligned with its own values with renewable energy. The other piece, which I’d like to see be more vocal, would be to get the tech giants more involved to open the markets for the solar industry. The instant permit process would be a great start, tech companies should be behind that endeavour so that consumers and customers have the same access to solar as the corporation does.
NY Times Learns About Solar. A local story for the NY Times covering the community solar market and the access to solar it gives to folks in dense areas. Any national coverage for solar that isn’t covering a fight solar has to be in to increase access is a positive one and should make people ask why they don’t have the same choice. Community solar should be a national option, the separation of site to user is the best way and most efficient way to let consumers get 100% solar energy at a very competitive rate. This way consumers can put solar on their home if possible then buy additional energy as their usage demands.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 12th, 2018
Big thanks to the warm Bay area welcome from many of you. I appreciate you coming by and saying hello. Back to more robust summaries next week!
Fox, Denies Being A Fox. Wheeler doesn’t like being called a coal lobbyist and the assumption that follows that fact. If you bring a fox into the henhouse and tell the fox that maybe the hens should be eaten, then what are the hens supposed to assume is going to happen? Wheeler was a coal lobbyist. Trump wants to bail coal out and build coal power plants. What does Wheeler expect people will think?
Fighting The Good Fight. I had the pleasure of being with IREC yesterday to get an update on their important work. IREC isn’t always the most visible policy group but when it comes to building the foundation of solar markets, assume IREC was there early. Interconnection for solar and storage, training firefighters and more, IREC is doing it and you should support in any way you can.
Energy Storage Grows. Frank sat in on the Energy Storage Associations presentation yesterday. With GWh scale storage being announced, my guess is that this association grows alongside the market.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for July 11th, 2018
Short summaries today given that Intersolar is winning the battle. On another note, who will be at Solar Battle of the Bands tonight?
100% Renewables, I’m In. A few years ago I sat on a panel with Tony Seba and we debate, with passion, the virtue of extending the ITC for solar. This time, we didn’t share a stage but we did share an opinion. It may not become rule but it could become inevitable that we enter a 100% renewable environment.
More Tariffs? Are You Kidding Me? Trump readies another round of tariffs, $200billion this time. We don’t know the details yet and SEIA is looking into it but at this point, short of having a different President, we have to go along with this since the legislators are not doing much. Let’s just hope we can end this trade fight soon, rather than later.
Bailout Blackmail. Another nuclear plant is threatening closure. I’d like legislators to say, go ahead and spend the money to close it, then take the site and interconnection and drop a bunch of batteries on the spot and build a ton of DG solar to make up the generation.
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 10th, 2018
Welcome To Intersolar. Good morning San Francisco! Now that I am a local, I’ll be at the show all week mostly in and around the Quick Mount lounge on level 3. Come to say hello!
The Solar Foundation Releases Its Solar Workforce Development Toolkit. We can all agree that the solar industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, right? Heck, The Solar Foundation tells us so every year with its National Solar Jobs Census (well, except for this year, because tariffs, but for the past decade or so it’s been on a huge growth trajectory – and we believe will shortly be again). But how can you find workers for this specialized industry and bring them into this well-paying career? Well, the trick is workforce development, and now The Solar Foundation has released a 94-page Solar Workforce Development Toolkit designed to help solar companies develop their workforces with a series proved strategies that every business can implement in their day-to-day business practices. Here is the post
Breaking Down The Arizona Breakdown. Can anyone understand what is going on in Arizona? How can a regulatory employee have a spouse be working for a regulated entity? The whole thing goes beyond a family trying to make a living, especially if it is hidden from the public’s knowledge.
Direct Energy Gets Total Capital. The total has made a $1.4billion (euro) investment to acquire 73% of Direct Energie. This is an additive investment to the SunPower investment made many years ago. Direct owns the solar developer Neoen as well as some traditional power generation. Note that this is different than Direct Energy, which is owned by Centrica.
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 July 9th, 2018
Intersolar Happenings. If there was a doubt about attendance at ISNA, the schedule definitely doesn’t show a slowdown. Multiple events each evening and lots of people looking to figure out how to move their business forward with some dealmaking. I like the that the conference has been brought into Moscone, colocated with solar and storage into a single venue. If you are in town for the show, let me know how it goes for you.
Exciting Resi Times. All the noise doesn’t seem to really come down to the local installer level. Maybe it’s because you don’t find the time to devote worry to things you can’t control. I talk to a dozen installers a week, at minimum, and without fail your biggest concern is delivering installs to your customers faster and keeping more of your loan proceeds by lowering the dealer fees. I’d love to see more happening on the training side because installers need qualified labor to install solar, which is becoming one of the biggest constrictions to growth right now.
The Trump Trade War Starts. The mainstream media is all over the official start of the Trump trade war, and I’d love to see more solar in the news showing that this is the 4th or 5th level of consumer taxes in the solar industry. Module prices are dropping right now and developers are jumping at the opportunity to buy compliant inventory at lower costs. Reality remains that the uncertainty is paralyzing larger businesses that don’t buy product on a daily basis and need to get 6 months of certainty that allow for projects to be started, financed and built under a solid set of assumptions.
Lithium. EVs. China. VW’s announcement brings up the topic that I’ve warned about before, especially to legislators that read SolarWakeup. If the US wants to be in the game of manufacturing LiOn batteries, it needs to do so right now. The boat hasn’t left the harbor but it’s getting close. My operating assumption that this is likely a lost battle for the US but we will remain the global leader in executive platforms and dealmaking much like solar. The problem with that divergence is that the future probably mimics the trade fights unless the auto OEMs and utilities get together and make sure that politically that doesn’t happen.
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 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