Senators Launch Campaign To Repeal Solar Tariffs, Mirroring Similar Effort In The House
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Mirroring the efforts in the House, two Western-state Senators have introduced a federal bill to repeal the 30% solar tariffs President Donald J. Trump imposed on imported solar modules in January. Earlier this year, solar tariffs repeal became a federal issue when five members of the House of Representatives introduced similar legislation. U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) have introduced the Protecting American Solar Jobs Act, which would accomplish the same goals as the House solar tariffs repeal bill, meaning it would not only eliminate the tariffs immediately but would refund money … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for June 8th, 2018
Have a great weekend. See you all in San Francisco next week and in Chicago the week following.
CUSTOMER Side Of The Meter. This may sound like NH’s Liberty Utility is acting with good faith but let’s be real. Anytime the utility wants to own equipment on your side of the meter, they are taking your ability to control your own energy usage away from you. This is the storage version of net metering, owning storage in rate base is one way to exert more control by the monopoly.
The Toll Trump Tariffs Take. Just the 201 tariffs are taking a massive toll on the industry. More than anything, it’s the uncertainty that it caused in an industry that is already struggling to keep its growth going. Every time someone mentions a company having problems to me, the joke quickly follows “Think they’ll file a 201 case?” The aluminum and steel tariffs are going to be a business planning issue as well. Hopefully the industry associations understand that these issues need to be resolved, quickly. The unknown is potentially worse than the result. So between 201, commodity tariffs, and coal bailouts, how many calls have you made to your representative?
Can CCAs Go National? As we see solar go below 3 cents per kWh, you would think that off takers would be on the prowl for more solar generation but that isn’t the case. A lot of new solar is going to the CCAs in California. Solar finance pros are ignoring (out of necessity) some of the credit issues but big solar means big dollars going into projects.
1970 Called, Wants Energy Policy Back. Take a moment and read this ridiculous article about the politics of energy in Trump world. Wouldn’t it be great if solar is the policy that gets Congress to work in a bipartisan way?
Presented By Chicago. Are you investing hundreds of millions into solar projects in Illinois? Make sure you know the rules and for $250, this is the best education you will get. solarwakeuplive.com for your tickets
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Yann
Liberty Utilities Wants To Own Your Behind-The-Meter Battery System (And Why That’s A Bad Idea)
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Liberty Utilities, New Hampshire’s largest utility currently has a docket before the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission that sounds like a good idea. At issue is the state’s largest pilot program in history that would allow New Hampshire solar users to install batteries at no cost to them. Sounds good, right? And although the intent of the program – to see how batteries will affect grid resiliency and performance – is pretty benign, solar advocates in the state have concerns about the size of the program and what it could mean for the long-term future … Read More
sPower and CleanPowerSF Sign Long-Term PPA for 100 MW of Solar
sPower, the largest private owner of operating solar assets in the United States, has signed a 22-year, 100 MW solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with CleanPowerSF, a California Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) managed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) that serves the City and County of San Francisco. The energy will be sold from sPower’s San Pablo Raceway Solar Project located in Lancaster, California. San Pablo Raceway is expected to be commercially operational in 2019 and generate enough renewable energy to power over 87,000 average San Francisco households. The project will create approximately 500 positions during its construction … Read More
Despite True Believers, EXPERTS Say Trump Nuke Bailout Could Cost $17 Billion Per Year In Overly High Electric Bills
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent No matter how many utility executives say, “We don’t have enough information to decide whether the President Trump nuke bailout is a good idea yet,” the people who know stuff – you know, experts – have weighed in, and the news is not good. At the same time Exelon’s CEO was telling a crowd at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual meeting that no one had any idea whether Trump’s plan to mandate that grid operators buy electricity from failing nuclear and coal plants was a good one yet, the Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS) … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for June 7th, 2018
How Big Will Florida Be? Big! Here’s a couple of things to consider when you think about Florida. First, it’s a really, really big State. It takes 8 hours to drive from Miami to Tallahassee which justifies the 3rd highest usage of electricity in the Country. Second, the building codes here are as tough as they come because of a long history of hurricanes destroying homes. As such, the building officials care about the installation methods and products used, so I expect a quick stop to any subpar installation methods. Third, and most important, ‘everyone’ in Florida wants solar on their home. This is based on being in the Sunshine State and the fact that Floridians have a unique view on consumerism, more on that soon.
Consumers Come First For IPPs. NRG is shedding its power plants, the fossil ones this time. Earlier, NRG had announced it was selling its solar business to a private equity invest at the pressure of an activist investment firm. Getting rid of fossil fuel power plants is the trillion dollar game of hot potato for IPPs and that was foreseeable years ago. Much of the David Crane strategy centered around de-carbonization of the fleet but was also rooted on the fact that coal was finished. This time Wall Street is buying into the strategy, given that that customers are as well. Next step is getting back into EVs so that NRG comes full circle and gives Crane a board seat for his vision.
A Story About Tesla. It’s not all race cars and rocket ships at Tesla. At the shareholder meeting, Tesla announced it has reached a cumulative energy storage capacity of 1GWh. Given the average size of the systems, that is quite impressive and adds a level or storage scale to the company trying to lower the cost of batteries for car buyers. Look back at today as a funny milestone, because it’s so small, compared to what’s coming up.
What’s Next For Trump’s Coal Bailout. The immediate next step is likely a hearing or directive from FERC to the ISOs that will be subject to the coal bailout. It’s also indicative of the absurdity that Exelon came out with a statement against the policy. Good coverage from GTM on the legal aspects of the case.
The Jobs Of The Future. Not too many Wells Fargo carriage coachmen around anymore. That’s what happened when Ford came out with the Model T and the innovation that followed. Solar and wind plus batteries will replace much of the central power plant portfolio. Each time the innovation changes a fundamental sector, jobs have to adapt. The blacksmith became a toolsmith and so on. The same is true for internal combustion motor manufacturing sector, it is going to go away as EVs take the segment over. That is a reality of the future of work, but it isn’t going to happen overnight and economies must plan for it.
Sponsor SolarWakeup Live! Chicago. Join a great crowd of sponsors and attendees for the Chicago event on June 21st. We have a few more sponsorship slots left, email me for more info. Tickets at solarwakeuplive.com
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Yann
The City of Pratt, Kansas will be powering 10,000 homes with solar power
Inovateus Solar, Kenyon Energy and the City of Pratt, Kansas announced today the upcoming solar farm project (6MW) located on the North East Corner of town. Half mile North of 54 highway on NW 20th Ave. The awarded project will produce 12.6 MWh annually, enough to power 10,000 homes and offsetting over 23 million tons of CO2 emissions. “The City of Pratt is a highly diverse community moving in a progressive direction, supporting extensive growth and business opportunities. For these reasons, we are very pleased to announce our partnership with Inovateus Solar to lead in our region with the utilization … Read More
Was David Crane Right? (Yes. Yes. He Was.): NRG Energy Sheds Power Plants In Favor Of Consumer Focus
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent NRG Energy shed David Crane in 2015, blaming the company’s financial struggles on the former CEO’s decision to dive head-first into renewable energy and focusing on how consumers wanted to get their electricity instead of focusing on propping up the old centralized utility model. Turns out, maybe Crane had a point. Reuters reports the company is now eliminating more than half its power plants to focus more on the retail side of the business. As new CEO Mauricio Gutierrez told the wire service: NRG started as a generation company that moved into retail and some … Read More
The Florida Market Hypergrowth – Sunrun Formally Announces Its Florida Leasing Plans
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Sunrun officially announced its Florida leasing package only two months after getting its declaratory statement from the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) that would allow it to lease solar systems without penalty. When the FPSC in April formally allowed Sunrun leasing customers to avoid becoming regulated utilities, the company formally announced that Florida residents can start receiving Sunrun leasing’s solar-as-a-service and Brightbox home battery beginning tomorrow. As hurricane season approaches, the battery backup systems should be attractive to Florida customers. “Freedom is a value Americans hold dear,” said Lynn Jurich, CEO and co-founder of Sunrun. … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for June 6th, 2018
Are You Registered? Our Chicago event is coming up soon and you will not want to miss this because the who’s who of solar is flying in for the full day event. Get your tickets at solarwakeuplive.com and do it quickly because only about half of the tickets are left. This will definitely sell out before event day.
What Can A Major Do For You? My operating assumption is that the solar and storage ecosystem is going to be surrounded by ‘majors’ from oil, auto and energy. Look at the cap tables for energy storage companies that haven’t been acquired yet, it’s the who’s who of anyone that things the future of energy is based on intermittent generation. Look at the solar companies that have regional or segmented platforms and they are being acquired to be turned into a bigger platform to achieve goals like deploying capital or tax liabilities. What would your company look like if a major corporation invested or bought it, what would it allow or deny your team to accomplish?
Can Puerto Rico Attract Investment. I worry about Puerto Rico, even a year after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of the infrastructure. The problem isn’t about what can be done or what should be done. My concern is how it can be deployed financially. Puerto Rico isn’t in a financial position to spend the billions it takes to rebuild with renewable microgrids and it hasn’t fixed the underlying credit problem that would allow outside investors to be comfortable with the risk.
China Slows, What’s Next? This is the question I asked myself all day yesterday. If China’s market slows and there is an oversupply of modules what does that mean for the US market. This could spell a 2018 where prices reduce dramatically in the US from the oversupply but it could also mean issues around supply chain that can be bad for quality. Stay tuned…
A Greener Hawaii. Forget 100% renewable energy, Hawaii is looking to go carbon neutral in the next 20 years. Lots of work ahead but definitely achievable for this island paradise.
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Yann