Vote Solar Lends Voice To “100% Clean Energy In California” Coalition

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Vote Solar is lending its voice to a coalition of 27 organizations in California that are fighting to move the state to a 100% clean energy future. Yesterday, one of solar’s most active advocacy groups announced the launching of the organized campaign in support of California Senate Bill (SB) 100. If SB 100 passes, it would move the renewable energy goalposts again (in a good way), raising the renewable portfolio standards from 60% to 100%. Besides Vote Solar, the coalition also includes the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra … Read More →

Southeastern States Like Solar. In Other News, Water Is Wet

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Bloomberg looked into southeastern states like Georgia, South Carolina and Florida and discovered, by golly, those states LIKE solar now. In other news, water is wet. According to the report, states have been reluctant to add solar because of the cost was too high. Bloomberg looked at the recent explosion of solar installations in Florida, Virginia and South Carolina to reach its conclusion (and oddly left out North Carolina for some reason). SolarWakeup’s View: OK, I know I should let Bloomberg off the hook for this one. After all, they don’t write about solar full … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for March 21st, 2018

Arizona Coverage. Frank has your recent news coverage from Arizona. Don’t forget that you can send tips to frank@solarwakeup.com or by hitting reply here. If you want to stay anonymous, head to solarwakeup.com and click the tips link, you can even upload files without revealing your identity.

Don’t Forget Puerto Rico. It’s been 6 months that Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and many are still without power. The recovery effort has failed many Puerto Rico that have now had to relocate to other States across America.

Reducing Property Taxes. Florida had a big ballot initiative to eliminate property taxes that could be due after installing solar on commercial properties. An Arizona judge also ruled on this issue this week. Of all the headwinds that face C&I solar, property tax can be one of them and removing it makes it easier. Much like the cost and structure of loans to do solar, C&I solar has to do all it can to overcome cheap energy rates it is offsetting. Speaking of debt for commercial solar, many of you are in Denver for a PACE conference. PACE has lowered the cost of capital quite a bit but more importantly for C&I solar is a better structure for many businesses. Most of the time, the debt is for the property and not the operating business which makes it a better fit for balance sheets.

Equinox 2018. This is your last call to join me and many others at Vote Solar’s important fundraiser on Thursday. You can buy your ticket at equinox2018.splashthat.com.

Presented By ‘You’. Do you want the SolarWakeup community to hear your message? You can sponsor this paragraph for an entire month leading up to our event in San Francisco. Join the many sponsors that were able to message, recruit and gain more exposure on this platform. Email me for more details.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Arizona Court Allows Solar Property Tax Exemption

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that homeowners that lease rooftop solar systems do not have to pay state property taxes on that home improvement. The court found that since the homeowners don’t own the “electrical generation facilities,” they have earned a state property tax exemption It refused, however, to offer an opinion on whether counties could levy property taxes on the solar arrays. The case stretches back to 2013, when the state’s Department of Revenue, with the support of APS (the state’s largest utility), decided it could collect property taxes on the arrays. … Read More →

Natural Gas Plans Hit Snag For Arizona Utility

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: In a move the surprised many, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) told APS, the state’s largest utility, to get more of its electricity from renewables instead of natural gas. The plans presented by APS submitted to the commission planned to add 5.3 GW of natural gas generation by 2032. In contrast, APS planned to add only 183 MW of renewables to the portfolio. The commissioners, who are sometimes accused of being too chummy with the utility they regulate, told APS unequivocally to stop fooling around and add more renewables to their generation portfolio. SolarWakeup’s … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for March 20th, 2018

Clean Energy Credit Union. A new podcast for your listening pleasure. Recorded live at COSEIA’s conference last week, I sat with Clean Energy Credit Union’s CEO and Board Chair. Terri and Blake walked me through the start of this endeavor and the solar problem they are looking to solve. The whole concept is to show that a true lower cost of capital is possible for solar lending and this could lead the way. If you enjoyed this podcast, consider leaving a review on iTunes.

South Carolina. There are some things happening in South Carolina. With the embarrassing nuclear escapade by SCANA, the State should consider making a shift into the solar future. Frank breaks it down for you with some information from local coverage. For me, South Carolina is a great political bellweather that could show red, southern states on how solar can be an economic engine for the future. The entire solar industry should push for South Carolina to find a victory for our industry.

Nat Gas, The End Is Near? I’ve written about speaker plants in California having a hard time getting capacity contracts extended and the CPUC has been negative on letting PG&E repower some plants. LADWP also put a large project on hold pending more analysis. What I wasn’t expecting is hearing that the Arizona Commission would put new natural gas on a moratorium to give solar + storage further review. Remember, TEP entered into a contract for $45/MWh on a solar plus storage plant. A moratorium now means that gas may have reached the end in Arizona, what State will drop next?

EV Growth And Consolidation. EV growth in China has been quite quick and maybe too quick (more on that soon). Europe and North America have been far more measured in its growth and it may have been for the best. Too much investment too early may cause for a market disruption instead of sustainable market stability.

San Francisco. This town is becoming my second home. While many of you are in San Diego for the finance conference, I’ll be in SF. Hopefully many of you will be coming up for Vote Solar’s equinox this week and to SolarWakeup Live! on April 10th. I’ll be in SF to continue figuring out how PACE financing can help C&I solar grow. Access to low cost, long term debt is a great way for the business owners to go solar. Send me an email if you’d like to be connected with the great team at CleanFund.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Clean Energy Credit Union Will Back Solar Projects

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By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:  Yann Brandt sat down with Blake Jones and Terri Mickelsen, the driving forces behind the Colorado-based Clean Energy Credit Union (CECU), which they expect will: provide loans to people who want to invest in products like solar installations, electric vehicles, energy efficiency and other similar investments. give new clean energy markets another financing option. It’s also important to note the CECU is a federally insured credit union, where advocates and enthusiasts can put their money and feel good about how their money is being used. SolarWakeup’s View:  I can’t believe someone hasn’t done … Read More →

How Should We Categorize Community Solar?

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:  A debate, started by SolarWakeup founder Yann Brandt, has been joined over this simple question: Where should community solar be slotted in the U.S. Solar Market Insight report? Currently, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research categorize community solar as part of the commercial & industrial segment for report purposes. Yann Brandt, on the other hand, believes the location of the system is more important than the offtaker, which would instead put the majority of community solar projects in the utility category. SolarWakeup’s View:  If you were coming to this article … Read More →

South Carolina Solar Soul Under Attack

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:  The burgeoning South Carolina solar industry is being debated in the state’s legislature, with two conflicting bills offering significantly different visions of its future. The utilities are at again (by which I mean lying) about a cost-shift to reduce how much the utilities pay solar customers under net metering A second bill would remove a 2% cap on how much solar utilities have to accept, a measure designed to expand the industry” Meanwhile, solar advocates worry that Dominion Energy’s attempt to buy the parent company of South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCEG) could … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for March 19th, 2018

C&I and Community Solar. Last week as we went through the 2017 Solar Market Insight, I was a bit surprised to see that non-residential (C&I) grew in a year where the market corrected from the 2016 rush. As I walked through the numbers and checked with SEIA, I was surprised to find out that the category included community solar. I don’t understand the logic of this, given that almost all community solar projects are large ground mount projects. The notion that community solar is as logical as LADWP FIT deals being considered utility scale. It would also require contract for difference/direct access projects to be considered as non-residential in this line of thought. I don’t see how any of that would work out and therefore believe that the Solar Market Insight needs to be revised with community solar going into the utility scale category.

Women in Solar, Sunrun and Johns Hopkins. Lynn Jurich is probably the best known woman in solar and deservedly so, taking Sunrun from infancy to IPO and beyond. I’d love to see her not he mainstream airwaves more given her position as a public company CEO, CNBC needs her on a regular appearance to counter the daily Joe Kernen nonsense. Sunrun has grown up in many ways as well. Years ago, it was squeezed between SolarCity and Vivint Solar when it appeared that SunEdison’s acquisition of Vivint Solar would make it hard for Sunrun to rise above, with many calling for the company to sell to a strategic so it would not suffer from possible closure. I would be remiss not to point out the Johns Hopkins University (Go Hop!) alumni, Ed Fenster who founded the company alongside Lynn a decade ago.

Germany’s Opportunity. Decarbonization ‘experts’ like to point out that Germany, with all the wind and solar, is increasing its carbon output, mostly due to the intense use of coal power. (Natural gas has been a political problem given much of it comes from Russia) That being said, I see a real opportunity for Germany to get to 100% renewable energy very quickly with large scale integration of energy storage. Offshore win is readily available to make up for the Alaska equivalent solar output. I grew up in and worked in Germany for many years and this feels like a restart of the great market which served as a baseline for the global growth.

Will SunPower Get Relief? SunPower filed its request for exemption from the 201 tariff on Friday. Frank has your coverage on this, right here

A Poll On Your Work. I’m hoping to spend more time on working to get your involvement with policy makers to increase. The goal is to get you to spend 10 hours per year with legislators and perhaps one day to the same level as union painters, 10 hours per month. The first step is to get you to tell me about your company, and if you make things. There is a focus on manufacturing in solar right now, so this is step 1 in our journey together. I can’t do this alone but as a team we will get better at this organizing. Take this poll

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Have a great day!
Yann