This is your SolarWakeup for May 17th, 2018

Mainstream Climate Discussions. American Progress held its annual CAP ideas conference. One of the panels included Tom Steyer and Governor Inslee moderated by Axios’ Amy Harder. The entire discussion is available to view but we have your bullet point recap. Inslee has been seen and heard on the national stage selling the climate change opportunity and a carbon fee to solve the problem. Steyer was a bit more wonky, shocking I know. His commentary included a desire for more community solar and the actions he is supporting to increase the RPS in Arizona and Nevada.

Quality, Fast and Cheap. With over 10GW of solar going up every years in the US alone, including more than 200,000 homes, we have to create some introspection about the quality of asset we leave behind. Driving the price down upfront gets more solar in the ground but if the asset doesn’t last 25 or more years, solar is at risk of losing investor confidence in the long term. For residential that also means installing systems that keep the roof watertight for the duration of the life of the asset. I hear too many stories about installations done without quality racking systems with no regard for the quality homeowner’s roof. You can do it the cheap way to cut corners but if you do, you are going to get caught. So just do it the quality way which will make you more money with happy customers providing referrals.

Where Are The Jobs? In the case of Illinois, they are fast approaching. As I prepare for SolarWakeup Live! Chicago, every company I talk to is in the process of hiring and training personnel for all sorts of jobs. On the other hand, MA is losing jobs by adding demand charges to its customers and slowing the market down. In an economy of full employment, we are seeing amazing pay scales for solar professionals that make achieving prevailing wages possible and hopefully track with the diversity in the State. Solar can and should be a market of diversity and inclusivity.

Thermal And Efficiency. A new podcast from solar guru Barry Cinnamon with a solar thermal topic. Last week I announced the formation of the SolarWakeup residential solar advisory council and I’ve spoken to many of you. (You can still join, just send me an email). One of the interesting ideas is that solar installers are adding solar thermal and efficiency to help with savings. What unique tricks are you using to close deals?

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Have a great day!
Yann

Who’s Behind This Anti-California-Ruling Media Blitz?

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: David Roberts, aka Dr. Vox, penned an article that essentially spent 1,000 words arguing for and against California’s “all three-story houses must have solar” ruling, only to end up with a shruggy emoji to say, “Who knows how it will go?” Since the article itself offers little in the way of serious argument (it’s a wordy listicle), I want to focus instead on the media blitz that has produced pieces like this. It will be interesting to see when it comes out – and it will – who is behind the slew of … Read More →

Panel Says We Will Win The Climate Change Battle (Their Mouths To Universe’s Ears)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: The Center for America Progress (CAP) held its IDEAS conference yesterday, and the most interesting discussion with Amy Harder with Washington Governor Jay Inslee, progressive activist Tom Steyer and Senior Vice President of Climate, Environmental Justice & Community Revitalization, Hip Hop Caucus Mustafa Ali. Washington State has one of the most progressive solar policy structures in the United States, and Inslee says he believes that progress will continue in the form of the first carbon tax, which is on the ballot as an initiative in his state. Steyer said – again – that … Read More →

The Energy Show: Best Ways To Heat Hot Water For Your Home

We’re talking about hot water this week. No — I’m not in trouble with my local utility again — just discussing the best ways to heat water for your home. Our focus is on domestic hot water (DHW). This is hot water that you use for your kitchen, bathing and laundry. In the U.S., the average home uses about 68 gallons of hot water a day, with huge variations based on the number and age of occupants in the home. Taking a step back, I counted six basic ways that people have been heating water since humans discovered fire. Deliberate … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for May 16th, 2018

Two Sidesisms. There is a pushback on the solar mandate from California. It’s not coming from the solar industry but it is reaching the media and being spun as a solar versus solar fight. Requiring new homes to have solar makes so much sense to me. It eliminates customer acquisition and associated soft costs. Installing 10kW on 100 homes in a neighborhood is a lot cheaper than selling 10kW, 100 times. At the end of the day, homeowners will buy a house with 30 year low cost financing (mortgage) with an installed solar cost below the retrofit market price. The two markets work hand in hand though, because the labor force will be better trained to install solar and lower the market price. I am more worried and upset about the PR tactic that appears to be trying to divide the solar industry. Where is this coming from? How about talking about the tactics of Eversource in MA and CT? Eversource is seeking to increase the cost to ratepayers by lowering solar adoption rates through demand charges and net metering rule changes. That’s a story that the media should cover because readers love to hear about handouts to monopolies. It makes them pretty mad.

Matching Actions With Goals. I think Hawaii has done many things right when it comes to renewables. In general, it has juggled the island effect, growth of solar and utility interaction in a smart way. When it killed net metering, solar folks lost their jobs but the economy was good enough that most were able to find other work. With storage costs coming down, the intention was for the solar market to come back with a combined solar plus storage market for distributed generation. The market needs volume to kickstart, however. Everything on an island is more expensive. Hawaii had a great opportunity, which it missed this year, to drive volumes up for storage with a small incentive the same way it did with the solar tax credit. In order to get to 100% renewables there will be a balance of utility owned assets, 3rd party owners and the distributed generation market. Hawaii should revisit the growth of the DG market which can be incredibly helpful in the network.

Who’s Looking Out For DG? ILSR is all about keeping things local and they’ve got a great DG report out that’s worth looking at. The solar coaster has its ups and downs, but as long as we fight our hardest the future will remain bright. What’s great about distributed generation is that our wins benefit consumers. Every time dg gets cheaper and better, hardworking Americans get to benefit by producing their own energy on their own homes. It also translates to more competition like having the choice to buy retail energy from companies that compete. I like being on the underdog side of this fight, but I also relish winning which is why I often step out of the shadows and say what needs to be said.

Look Out For The Anti-EV Machine. A Tesla crash of any kind creates a news cycle unlike any other. My neighbors warn of risks with electric vehicles and Elon has to tweet about an accident resulting in a broken ankle. Electric cars are a better car and will drive the energy sector forward which is what scares everyone in the traditional markets. Trillions of dollars are going to shift over the coming decade, insurance, auto OEMs, utilities, and oil majors will fight a fight which will involve plenty of nasty PR.

Making Deals In Illinois. I’m excited for the Illinois market but every time I dig into a segment, whether community solar or large procurement, I realize that the regulatory environment leaves some issues resolved. I also talk to many people that are developing projects and looking for capital, whether developer or permanent. That’s why we are setting up a matchmaking network at the Chicago event on June 21st. Learn more here.

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Have a great day!
Yann

Adjourned Sine Die: Hawaii Storage Incentive Bill Fails To Get A Hearing

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Hawaii’s energy storage incentive legislation – Senate Bill (SB) 2100 – was adjourned “sine die,” or “without a day,” meaning it will get no more hearings in the current session. The bill, which would have replaced the current renewable energy technology systems tax credit with tax credits for solar or wind energy systems and energy storage systems, would have been one of the first laws in the country to create an incentive for storage systems. Without such legislation, it’s fair to ask how Hawaii will reach its mandated goal of reaching 100% clean … Read More →

Low And Behold, GOP Finds Solar Tariffs To Be A Bad Idea

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: GOP Senators from solar states like North Carolina have suddenly discovered that President Trump’s tariffs on solar modules are a bad idea (who knew? Everyone. Everyone knew.). Bloomberg reports, “The group of eight senators led by North Carolina’s Thom Tillis urged the administration to waive duties on 72-cell, 1,500-volt panels that are ideal for large ground-mounted “utility-scale” projects.” If they really want to fix this, they should introduce companion legislation to that currently in the House that would remove the tariffs entirely and retroactively pay for the ones already paid. SolarWakeup’s View:  It’s … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for May 15th, 2018

Join me in Chicago on June 21st. This event builds on the success of previous SolarWakeup Live! events and expands to a full day. In addition, we are hosting a matchmaking series where developers and investors will be strategically matched with conference room space available for the right kind of business development. Get your tickets at solarwakeuplive.com.

Buying Solar The Right Way. When FMPA, which is the buying organization for much of the Florida municipal entities, announced the 225MW solar project with NextEra I was a bit taken aback. I’ve got several concerns but my first one was how NextEra won a competitive RFP. Come to find out that FMPA didn’t solicit the procurement widely, quite the opposite, it went small. Three of the bidders were the Florida IOUs and the others are listed in the article, SolarWakeup is the first to publish this list. My other concern is the technical issue of FMPA having to work with FPL on joint power plant ownership and other regulator transactions. It was also a longstanding understanding in Florida that NextEra would not do business in Florida. All the backroom dealing is not unexpected but my biggest concern is that solar isn’t showing its best foot here. The price could have been exponentially better, Florida is one of the cheapest solar states to build in and a real RFP would have benefitted FMPA customers in a really big way. Maybe folks should file protests with the members.

Just Tell Me The Rules. Amy Harder has interesting reporting about the administrations many deregulation efforts, this week the CAFE standards being in the spotlight. While industry is mostly in favor of less regulation, they also understand that their investment horizon is longer than the Trump White House expected lease in DC. What most in industry are looking for is a regulatory system that is more of a straight road than a yo-yo. Everyone also understands that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered so eliminating regulations may be good for the bottom line today, it may crush you later.

Can’t Take Utility Out Of Utility Regulator. At some point, can we talk about the value generated by distributed generation instead of only the bad stuff. Does it lower demand on the grid? Yes, it does. Does it require less investment by the grid operator for future upgrades on the system? Yes, it does. So why do we only worry about the by passable charges?

Buying Anti-Solar Support. In this case, it was a power plant hearing where a utility hired a PR firm which in turn hired actors or paid protestors, whichever way you want to look at it. This is the stark contrast where solar has rallies where we may not have the paid for political influence but we have the numbers. Look at CT as an example. Who, besides the utility, wanted net metering to be killed? In MA, the same utility (Eversource), is seeking fixed charges for distributed generation. Solar pros are hosting a protest to show the regulators that this is not what the regulation intended when SMART was put into effect. The rally details are here.

Rooftop Solar Mandates. It was titled the solar battle of our times but I don’t see that much controversy in the California mandate for rooftop solar on new homes. Even at today’s rates the numbers work based on the cost of mortgage financing. On the other hand the homebuilders are good at building with volume pricing and no customer acquisition costs it should all get much better to the upside.

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Have a great day!
Yann

FMPA Fails To Get Lowest Rates With Byzantine Bidding Process

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: The Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) recently completed a bid on a 223.5 MW project for its member municipal utilities that sources tell SolarWakeup did not arrive at the lowest possible price. Published reports peg the price at less than 4 cents per kWh, and sources familiar with the bidding process say there was at least one bid that came in lower. The decision came at the end of what can at least be called an odd, byzantine bidding process where a closed set of companies were chosen to submit bids. SolarWakeup’s View:  … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for May 14th, 2018

Help A SolarWakeup Reader. A longtime Wakeup reader is looking for a tax equity partner to his 1MW project. If you are deploying or looking for a way to get rid of your gains, let me know so I can connect you. This is too small for most funds so the power of the network will get this deal done.

Make Solar Great Again. Before the content of the request, note that developers got 8 GOP senators from 5 States to sign the letter. The letter asks Trump to exempt 72 cell, 1500V modules from the 201 tariff. 72 cell module exemption was floated during the 201 discussions when a deal was possible. There was some pushback from distributed generation folks in the room and it gave the feeling of a ‘look out for yourself’ brawl. While business is very much a ‘to each his own’, and I don’t have a problem with it, it does put SEIA in an odd spot. I would have preferred the exemption to be 72 cell more broadly which gives the utility-scale entities what they want without precluding residential to also use 72 cell modules. It makes one wonder who was in the room to push for DG to be pushed aside in a very specific, technical manner.

TVA And More. Frank gives you the most recent coverage about TVA’s fixed charge shenanigans. This is more about the general trend that is hurting the solar industry from those that wish to slow us down. After a loss in CT that was hard to imagine, it is time to put the gloves back on and get into the ring. It is also important to turn CT around and show the politicians that voted against solar that doing so is a bad political calculus.

Headline Gets It Wrong. Utilities don’t have to act on electric vehicles, they do not have to worry about losing to electric vehicles. More importantly, they have to worry about oil changing the speed of adoption because this is a fuel versus electricity fight, a fight of its kind since we started becoming more industrial. At the end of the day, utilities will see their fortunes in electric vehicle turn demand in the right direction. The question is why utilities don’t use this opportunity to eliminate all range anxiety and increase EV adoption in the short term. To be further discussed going forward.

Free The Market. I’ve been saying this for many years. Solar should not and can’t give up the incentives it benefits from until all energy sources do the same. If nuclear is benefitting from a revival of government support then an ITC extension and passive liability rules should be in play as well.

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Have a great day!
Yann