EEI Members Activate Help For Puerto Rico After 100 Days

This is your SolarWakeup for January 5th, 2018

FERC Report. The Government agencies are full of interesting reports and I found this note on the FERC November report quite telling. As I heard this week, facts are facts, and agencies are showing the data that coal is done and renewables can’t be stopped. It is also another reminder that we track distributed energy in a terrible way, mostly by not tracking it at all. In an era where distributed generation and self-production is growing exponentially, I would think that people want this data.
Applause For Florida Policy. Tallahassee is a strange place when it comes to policy, especially on energy issues. Nevertheless, a legislator covering the Florida Keys is proposing a pilot project to value the impact solar plus storage could have on the grid infrastructure. The Keys operate their own energy system and FPL is likely to stay out of public positions on this (emphasis on public) as long as the project stays in the Keys. I’ll be interested to see how this plays out as committee hearings start as the sessions starts in March.
Go Big CA. A Chinese bus fleet has been completely electrified and we still think that electric cars are niche in the US. Not in California, at least not anymore. A bill has been filed to ban all sale of fossil cars by 2040. This seems like a realistic goal given how much better and safer an EV is. Plus you wake up every morning with a full tank. This has energy ramifications, easily solved by solar and storage, including vehicle to grid initiatives (V2G).
Hype Not Needed. As long time readers can attest, I was very much alone screaming about the ITC extension in late 2014, before anyone was even worried about it. Many argued the impacts of an ITC not being extended wouldn’t be that bad, that the first two trade cases wouldn’t have a big impact and that this trade decision can be survived as well. First thing, solar will always continue from hereon out. BUT my worry is that I don’t want a single job to be lost and I don’t want executives hesitating on business decisions based on external factors that are manufactured by bankrupt companies. The up and down of the solar space causes much investment to be put aside and that is bad for the space and it hurts our future. Much of this is our fault as we are politically weak compared to similar, and even smaller, industries that invest in policy. Remember that story about a painter looking to become a journeyman? He/She has to spend 10 hours per month educating politicians about painting issues to get to the next level. But none of this results in make or break, we will never break - solar has already made it.
Community Solar. I am adding a panel on community solar for SolarWakeup Live! New York. Much of the conversation is about the opportunities to use VDERs as the credit and where the opportunity may be. If you have good ideas for speakers for this, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. New Year’s special code of WAKEUP25 to get your tickets here.
Get Your Marketing. Time to get your company in front of the solar crowd. When you sponsor SolarWakeup Live! events, you also get 4 weeks of newsletter and website visibility. The combination of the two ensures that the key players in solar see you on the daily, a value that you can’t deny yourself when you think ahead for your sales goals.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 4th, 2018

NY Promise. Governor Cuomo of New York is betting big on the energy transition to renewables. Community solar, energy storage and offshore wind getting big wins in New York which is a welcome development for the local solar market. We will be discussing REV, solar credit values (VDERs) and energy storage in New York with some of the leading developers at the New York SolarWakeup event on January 31st. If we sell enough tickets in the next week, we will get into a bigger space to make room for the discussion. Use WAKEUP25 to save 25% and get tickets here.
Hockey Curve. A few years ago, there was real pessimism about solar and renewables in Australia. The market has turned this around in a real way offering great ways for the grid to lower costs using solar pricing and large scale energy storage. It is foreseeable that the island grid can be fossil free in a relative short period of time. UK can present similar opportunities for grid flexibility systems.  
WSJ Bait. Data, when taken out of context, really create the headline that a reporter wants. With the 201 case in full swing for almost all of 2017, I find it intriguing that the Wall Street Journal sees increased imports of solar equipment only due to the trade case. Pricing for modules were low in the summer already and most companies I have spoken to have not offered to take retroactive tariff risk from the supplier, which suppliers are requiring. My only assumption is that imports are based on previous POs that are guided into existing projects that have been developed for years, in line with the sworn testimony by NextEra at the ITC hearing in October.
Nuclear Bailout. With SCANA failing with their nuclear ambitions and potentially on the hook for millions in consumer refunds, Dominion is making a bid to acquire SCANA over some fierce competition. Investors see big opportunities in these regulated monopolies, working a few regulators instead of the competitive market is much easier and a bit of a stain on the politics around the Country. Consumers should and are pushing back on the value they are getting from their monopolies and politically speaking, candidates should be talking about the raw deal they are getting.
Twitter Debate. About the talk of R&D in energy versus constant marginal improvements, where do you fall on the debate? Do you think that a technology invention could be commercialized in a way that changes the world or is there another way to do this? Let me know your thoughts.
Tips. Reminder - you are welcome to send me tips, anonymously on solarwakeup.com or by sending me an email at Yann@SolarWakeup.com 

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 3rd, 2018

Puerto Rico. There have been some developments over the holidays but over 1 million Americans in Puerto Rico are going on over 100 days without power. This is now a political failure at the highest levels, this has little to do with logistics and preparation at this point but more with money and power. It’s sad to see this happening and I’m a bit shocked that EEI and utilities across the Country let it go on this long. Imagine going 20 days without power, then quintuple that.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 2nd, 2018

Welcome To 2018. Happy New Year! I hope you are enjoying or have come back from an exciting holiday. I will be spending this week at a trade show for my ‘side hustle’ (check out ttopbuddy.com). Next stop, Shark Tank! This week looks to be short on news as many reporters are still out of pocket, will have daily editions anyways just to catch up on the things that make me excited for this year.
New York. On January 31st, join me in New York City for SolarWakeup Live as we kick of 2018. The CEO of the NY Green Bank is joining us for a conversation about capital and how New York is thinking out of the box on getting more investments into the local solar markets. Alfred Griffin is a veteran when it comes to energy capital and it’s great to have him. More speakers are being announced soon on the conversation about REV and Blockchain as some of the highlights. Use WAKEUP25 to save 25% this week only. 
Catch Up. Make sure you are catching up on all the podcast episodes, available at
Tariff Checkers. Every time Axios reports the inside conversation about White House tariff talk, I get nervous. My hope is that the tariff put in place is only the perspective of what the advisors show as the worst case not what Trump could actually do. This is the time to see if solar trade groups actually have the clout that we all expect them to have. Ball is on the court and the players have been chosen, game on.
Go Faster. I’ve talked about this here before, the biggest issue with storage for market development is the disparity between grid regulators’ version of fast start and what energy storage can actually deliver. Creating a market on milliseconds would destroy the current peaker market and therefore would be slow to be deployed.
My 2018. It’s been over a year since I left Conergy and I want to bring you up to speed on some of the work I’ve been focused on. One of the places is advising great companies that are established market leaders in solar with their corporate ventures initiatives. Matching corporate goals with new startups creates opportunities for 2 entrepreneurs to gain runway and traction by matching synergetic goals. Angel investing in solar is rather dry, corporate ventures are a great way for me to help the ecosystem.

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Yann

E031: Rebuilding Puerto Rico’s Electric Grid with Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon

This is your SolarWakeup for December 22nd, 2017

See You In 2018. This is likely the last newsletter you’ll get in 2017 given that news are essentially shut down for the year, my family is coming into town and I am going to be a bit lazier than usual. If big news break next week, I’ll make sure you are filled in. Please enjoy your families during Christmas and have a Happy New Year. I look forward to a smoother, less drama filled, 2018 and meeting more of you on the many shows we plan to have throughout the year.

Give Back. You’ll likely be sitting in your heated or air conditioned (in my case) home this weekend, cooking meals with your family and doing other fun things. Keep in mind that over 1 million Americans in Puerto Rico will not have that luxury because they don’t have electricity, for over 90 days now. That is why I want you to take a look at my interview with Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, the ONLY representative that 3.4million Americans from Puerto Rico have in Congress. The interview is in video format and will hit your podcast apps this weekend. Please consider giving back through your company or personally at solarsaveslives.org or reach out to The Solar Foundation. 

Stocking Stuffer. Coming back strong this year is SolarEdge with their holiday video. It’s a good one but my personal favorite remains this one, I am biased.

You Get Coals. SolarWorld bankers are trying to pump up the demand on buyers for their manufacturing assets. Nice try and crappy timing on the Thursday before Christmas, get a new marketing director. You’re definitely on the SolarWakeup naughty list.

You Get Fusion. I am surprised that I am surprised. I thought that the Georgia PSC would tell Georgia Power, privately, to stop the Vogtle nonsense but I was wrong. They are going to keep trying to get this done. I have a strong guess that it will not end well for the consumers in Georgia.

Catch Up With All Things SolarWakeup. 2017 has been an amazing year for this platform which is now turning into a company. What was an idea my wife pushed me into over 5 years, the first newsletter went out to 37 people and now over 5,000 of you read the news every day. I am routinely impressed by all you accomplish to move this industry forward. Content will keep coming your way, more board level summaries for you to leverage in decision making and the interviews most others can’t get. A few ways to stay in the loop on all things SolarWakup, pass them on to your friends and coworkers.Subscribe. Twitter. Apple Podcasts. YouTube.

See you on the other side, Happy New Year!

Yann (@yannbrandt on Twitter)

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Yann

SolarWakeup Live! Video: Rebuilding Puerto Rico’s Electric Grid with Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon

In this episode of SolarWakeup Live! I interview Puerto Rico's only representative in Congress, Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon about the state of the electric grid in Puerto Rico after the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. Gonzalez-Colon explains what the future was supposed to be in Puerto Rico with legislation she sponsors as the Speaker of the House in PR before coming to DC. Gonzalez-Colon outlines her vision for PREPA and how to restore credit to the energy market in Puerto Rico. She has been busy bringing members of the House and Senate to Puerto Rico to visit the devastation and keep the Americans living without power (for over 90 days now) at the front of mind. You can help as well through the Solar Foundations by visiting solarsaveslives.org Join us on January 31st in New York and look out for future events across the Country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNIFjLWRy4M

This is your SolarWakeup for December 21st, 2017

Tax Reform. No substantive changes from the conference bill to the one signed into law yesterday. I’ve done some back of the envelope modeling and it looks like the values are in line with where they were, depending of tax investors’ circumstances of course. On the other hand, I do worry about the lack of liability in the overall market and how that will impact the pricing. There could be an interesting uptick in the C&I cash market for companies looking at the immediate depreciation, especially paired with things like PACE to defray the non-tax cash needs.

Get Me Pipeline. Greenskies has been acquired by Clean Focus in what looks like a path to more pipeline for the IPP. The competition for utility scale is strong and it makes sense for some to look for scale in the C&I markets. None of the deal terms were released but I would be surprised if this is more than an acquihire and acquisition of assets that may be on the balance sheet. Glad to see the transaction happen though.

Future Of Gas Power. The gas as a bridge fuel is going to have different shelf lives across States, each having their own sets of variables to drive the adoption beyond gas towards renewables. In California, the high energy prices and a group of regulators that looks beyond the short term has viewed the construction of gas plants (not just gas peakers) as unneeded, or at least it looks like they are implying this. The long term view on this is exacerbated by the next point below and when other power plants shut down.

More Mobility. I was a bit shocked by this number, BMW sold over 100k plug in vehicles in 2017. The i3 has always been underwhelming considering the skinny tires and strange design but I guess consumers are taking an interest to it. What happens to all of this when battery prices cut in half? What happens when more people drive an electric car (you should try if you haven’t) and realize it’s a better driving experience. The grid is going to finally see growth in demand and that demand will likely be matched by renewable generation dispatched through the batteries.

SolarWakeup Live New York. I am biased but I am excited about this event already. There will be a mix of public sector and private sector speakers on topics like REV, community solar development, big capital and blockchain innovation. The details are getting setup now and will be published here when they are finalized.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for December 20th, 2017

Grid Scam. Resiliency, as the word defines, is a misnomer for what the coal lobby is trying to message. The coal lobby is trying to say that intermittent renewables cannot be trusted to turn the lights on and gas pipelines can have congestion. As everyone in solar knows, resiliency is based on the wood pole outside of the customer’s home. If it comes down in a storm or a car hits it, the generation means nothing. And as the Atlanta airport learned this week, the cost of energy means nothing if you become detached from the generation. You should spend at least some of your time figuring out how to answer and value the microgram system for your customers.

Energy Subsidy Parity. We always hear about subsidies in energy especially solar and wind. We never hear about it for oil and gas (obviously). Now that storage is gaining momentum, it makes sense for them to get into it as well. It’s time we talk about the utopian vision of getting rid of all subsidies, monopolies and rules that favor century old incumbent entities. DC-coupled energy storage has the built in technical advantage of being behind the point of interconnect that also is better suited to take the solar ITC. Dispatchable solar sounds like it could solve all of today’s news problems.

Legislative Truth. This headline gave truth what we have known for years. There are sometimes extra costs during replacement transitions that drive down costs in the long term and in the case of energy also drive down volatility. As more renewable energy gets into the markets, pricing will absolutely reverse and stabilize the market.

Hopkins Divestment. A point of personal privilege as the Board of Trustees, which I look forward to joining someday, of Johns Hopkins University has voted to eliminate investments in the Carbon Underground 200 companies. This is the third time Hopkins has done this with the last one coming in 1991 when they voted to stop investing in tobacco.

GE’s Fossil Problem. I read the coverage about GE’s changes in energy and I recall my conversation with Daniel Hullah of GE Ventures. In the conversation he mentioned that part of the strategy is to find technologies that can have synergies with GE products to make them more competitive or profitable, i.e. prop up the core business. I could see how that evolves to replacing core revenues with new products and services.

2018 Changes. Every year I try to do something different with the SolarWakeup platform, always iterating to improve on the product. Late this year I started the Live! events and in the new year hope to improve on the analysis of the day’s news a bit, creating a way for you to find the business impact of the news. What would you like to see different? Any tips or complaints?

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Have a great day!
Yann