This is your SolarWakeup for May 14th, 2024
Big Grid. FERC is moving to push for more capital to flow towards grid build-outs, in line with State regulators approving most of the grid optimization requests from IOUs. The no-vote from FERC was a cop-out saying that this is a giveaway to developers when in reality there’s just not enough generation on the grid for the load growth ahead. Interesting how rate based gas power plants never have grid issues…
Unavailable Batteries. Texas has become a hot energy storage market with many unsure how long the ancillary service market will continue (for the foreseeable future given the demand growth and unreliable power plants). On the other hand, storage has a major problem with many storage projects operating at 60-70% availability and less in some cases where commissioning and balancing are dragging project starts by a year plus. This will have to get resolved, in some cases by recommissioning systems and in others by doing optimization projects with folks that “know where to hit the hammer”. Obviously, I have a unique perspective on this, and reminds me of the early days of solar when folks were doing everything in projects because the landscape had not yet matured.
News
1 New York Times:
New Rules to Overhaul Electric Grids Could Boost Wind and Solar Power
2 Utility Dive:
With 78% of requested investments approved, US regulators are backing grid modernization
3 Bloomberg:
Biden Aims to Show Voters He’s as Tough on China as Trump
4 Energy Storage News:
US DOE seeks feedback on energy storage safety training, manufacturing challenges
5 Axios:
The changing climate of U.S.-China relations
6 Reuters:
EQT offers $1.5 bln for renewable energy project developer OX2
7 PV-Tech:
FTC Solar meets revenue forecasts in Q1 2024, predicts stable revenue in Q2
8 PV-Magazine:
Renew Home launches with virtual power plant solution
Opinions:
9 Canary Media:
How Texas became the hottest grid battery market in the country
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 13th, 2024
Noisy Week. We enter this week with all the talk about what the 301 tariff review will bring us and headlines focused on the EV tariffs. The solar and storage industries focused their advocacy to kickstart domestic manufacturing without impacting the markets. Ultimately the hope is that the trade representative understands that many portions of the supply chain aren’t available here yet and we can’t go back to the 1-yard line without disrupting the enormous economic output of the industry. Moreover, with the grid stressed and in need for new generation, solar is the most reliable generation builder at the moment.
The Anti CleanTech Pitch. There’s always a hope to be a non-partisan issue, to rise above the gridlock in DC. Who wouldn’t solar to grow and do well, create jobs etc, even when polling has historically always had solar in the 80% plus range. When it comes to the Presidential election Trump can’t really hit Biden on oil production because Biden has seen oil production rise to all-time highs but he can promise to disrupt the electrification in transportation as much as possible. We all know that politics is a full contact sport, I’ve said it here many times, but a candidate trading executive action openly for fundraising is a bit more than I’ve seen publicly and privately. So let me make a fundraise pitch. SEIA has the SolarPAC, which advances our causes. They do so across both parties and it has been very successful strategy but it needs more funding that can only be raised in lower dollar thresholds. Check that out here.
News
1 Washington Post:
What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign
2 Utility Dive:
California PUC OKs $24/month fixed charge for IOUs with eye to equity, electrification
3 Politico:
‘A little bold and gross’
4 Bloomberg:
US and China Seek Collaboration on Climate Despite Trade Rift
5 Reuters:
New Biden tariffs on China's EVs, solar, medical supplies due Tuesday - sources
6 PV-Tech:
ReNew inks 800MW of solar PV PPAs in India
7 Renewable Energy World:
The giant battery boom is here — This Week in Cleantech
8 Energy Storage News:
Ontario makes Canada’s biggest-ever battery storage procurement to meet target
Opinions:
9 Canary Media:
Chart - Renewables generated a record 30% of global electricity in 2023
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 10th, 2024
Opinion
News
1 Utility Dive:
Clean energy, gas generation in PJM may take longer to come online than expected - report
2 Politico:
Why Biden needs California to build more solar
3 Bloomberg:
Indian Renewables May Get Costlier
4 Reuters:
US grid operators PJM, MISO team up to study power transfer capability
5 PV-Tech:
Solaredge inverters shipments up again quarterly to 946MW
6 Energy Storage news:
Netherlands’ ‘non-firm’ grid connections and lower fees could double BESS deployments
7 Canary Media:
Batteries are taking on gas plants to power California’s nights
8 PV-Magazine:
Energy transition needs batteries… and more batteries
Opinions:
9 Axios:
Exclusive - Biden gets glowing review on climate amid struggles with young voters
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 9th, 2024
ACP Recap. I spent the last two days in Minneapolis at the ACP show and it was great to see many of you. The show had good traffic but seemed down from last year, notably missing were many of the wind companies and even light booth from the tracker companies. Energy storage definitely led the show, service providers, engineers and OEMs were represented while all the talk centered around load growth and need for resilience. It helped that ERCOT had another peak pricing event that saw energy storage top of some much needed resilience. What did you think of the show?
Talks On Trade. US and China representatives are meeting in DC to talk about the global trade landscape while President Macron of France visited China to talk about cleantech, with a picture of Macron and Xi standing with all of the storage OEM CEOs circulating social media platforms.
News
1 Bloomberg:
The Power Industry Is Quickly Becoming One Big AI Play
2 Axios:
U.S. and China hold climate talks in Washington
3 Solar Builder:
Nevados earns top marks in independent ranking of solar trackers
4 PV-Magazine:
Global solar manufacturing sector now at 50% utilization rate, says IEA
5 Wall Street Journal:
The Global Solar Power Boom Is Driving a Surge in Silver Demand
6 New York Times:
Biden Looks to Thwart Surge of Chinese Imports
7 Reuters:
Summer power prices seen surging for Texas, falling in California
8 Canary Media:
Here’s where the Biden admin wants to build new power lines — ASAP
Opinions:
9 Renewable Energy World:
Cyber attacks - The ever-changing and evolving threats facing renewables
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 8th, 2024
Opinion
News
1 Utility Dive:
High interest rates hit renewable energy harder than natural gas
2 Bloomberg:
China’s Solar Panel Giants Say Prices Are Near the Bottom
3 New York Times:
Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity
4 Reuters:
Project delays are holding back clean power installation, report says
5 PV-Tech:
Italy bans solar on agricultural land
6 Renewble Energy World:
Investment in manufacturing of clean energy technologies surges
7 Energy Storage News:
Lightshift Energy deploying 50MW of community BESS in Massachusetts for utility group
8 Canary Media:
Looming power grid rules could make or break the US energy transition
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
Solar to contribute over 60% of new U.S. electricity generation in 2024
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 7th, 2024
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
EU Says Ready to Use All Trade Tools to Defend Against China
2 New York Times:
European Oil Giants Consider Shifting Their Listings to the U.S.
3 PV-Magazine:
Accelerated declines in solar cell prices since late March
4 Reuters:
US utility Allete goes private in $6.2 billion deal
5 Electrek:
WattEV opens US’ first megawatt charge station with 1.2MW speeds and solar
6 Axios:
China's clean tech in focus ahead of U.S. meeting
7 PV-Tech:
REC Silicon to ship polysilicon from Moses Lake plant in Q2
8 Canary Media:
The growing clean energy backlog, in five charts
Opinions:
9 Utility Dive:
Replacing a Talen Energy coal-fired power plant with battery storage is infeasible - PJM
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 6th, 2024
Clean Power. Whether we want to generate the energy we need for load growth with solar and wind, or replace peaker plants with energy storage, these companies will be in Minneapolis this week. It’s a competitive landscape for batteries and of course you should run your batteries on FlexGen’s operating system, where you’ll find me at the booth most of the week. If you have any fun events that I should know about, let me know.
All About Configurations. So much of solar, wind and storage is how many different combinations of OEM, PCS, solar plant controls, and power plant controls in each ISO/RTO. Getting everything to talk to each other and do what you need for revenue generation while gathering data in a safe way for your analytics is the biggest challenge coming to the market that has the lowest capex of your total investments. Give that some thought as you walk the trade show this week.
News
1 Utility Dive:
4-hour batteries best replacements for aging Maine peaker plants - study
2 PV-Magazine:
Sunnova earnings dip, unrestricted cash grows as it mends balance sheet
3 Canary Media:
CleanCapital’s Zoe Berkery has no time to waste
4 Axios:
Biden exempts EV metal from climate law sourcing rule
5 Reuters:
Factbox - EU probes on Chinese subsidies and imports
6 MIT:
Three takeaways about the current state of batteries
7 Energy Storage News:
Natron Energy starts manufacturing ‘50,000+ cycle-life’ sodium-ion batteries at Michigan factory
8 Solar Power World:
Inverter insights - Repowering older solar projects
Opinions:
9 Bloomberg:
A Clean Technology Trade War Shows How Empires Fall
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 3rd, 2024
Opinion
News
1 Reuters:
Dominion planning to power 15 more data centers in 2024
2 Renewable Energy World:
Prices remain reasonable at MISO 2024 capacity auction- except in one zone
3 Canary Media:
Tesla won the EV charging race. So why’s it gutting its Supercharger team?
4 Bloomberg:
Sunnova Evaluating Options for Deeply Discounted Debt, CEO Says
5 Energy Storage News:
Plus Power secures US$82 million tax equity investment for Arizona BESS
6 PV-Tech:
US shingle provider GAF Energy opens 250MW manufacturing plant in Texas
7 Heatmap News:
The Best Idea From Today’s Big Oil Hearing
Opinions:
8 PV-Magazine:
First Solar beats revenue expectations in Q1 earnings, policy tailwinds emerge
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 2nd, 2024
Opinion
News
1 Utility Dive:
AEP faces 15 GW of new load, driven by Amazon, Google, other data centers - interim CEO Fowke
2 Energy Storage News:
G7 nations set 1500GW global energy storage target for 2030
3 Bloomberg:
Sunnova Energy Huddles With Adviser on Balance Sheet Options
4 Axios:
PG&E seeks KKR deal to help fund California wildfire prevention
5 Reuters:
Microsoft, Brookfield to partner on renewable energy projects
6 Solar Bilder:
The eclipse’s path of totality as seen in solar PV monitoring data
7 PV-Tech:
Matrix Renewables, Hyundai sign 147MW solar PPA in Texas
8 Renewable Energy News:
New Jersey seeks fourth round of offshore wind farm proposals as foes push back
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
Virginia General Assembly passes pro-solar legislation
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for May 1st, 2024
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
PG&E in Talks with KKR to Sell Minority Stake in Power Unit
2 Axios:
Department of Energy dives into promises and perils of AI
3 PV-Magazine:
CATL presents EV battery with 1,000 km range
4 New York Times:
Hydrogen Offers Germany a Chance to Take a Lead in Green Energy
5 Reuters:
China, US to hold climate meetings in Washington in May
6 PV-Tech:
Philippines to add 2GW of installed solar capacity in 2024
7 Renewable Energy World:
Minnesota saw 54% zero-carbon power in 2023, hitting clean energy milestones
8 Energy Storage News:
Natron Energy starts manufacturing ‘50,000+ cycle-life’ sodium-ion batteries at Michigan factory
Opinions:
9 Utility Dive:
Solar tariffs are in the spotlight again. Our current approach isn’t the answer.
Have a great day!
Yann
