This is your SolarWakeup for December 1st, 2017
SEIA Board Elections. Today is the last day to vote for the elected seats of the SEIA board. I do not know all of the candidates but I know too many to tell you who to vote for. So let me highlight the folks I know, that read SolarWakeup, or have introduced themselves to me in advance of this writing. The top story today is the link to the login for your SEIA membership so you can vote. Please do so. In general, I would recommend you vote for people that have helped you move your business forward, have gone out of their way to advocate in your State or helped the industry even if it didn’t look like it would help themselves. In no particular order, my highlights below. I do ask you however, that you vote for Kendra Hubbard, my reason below.
Kendra Hubbard. Currently with UniRac, Kendra is passionate about solar. I first met her at InterSolar when she came to the conference even though she wasn’t working in solar yet but knew she wanted to get herself into it. I’ll never forget sitting at the dinner speaking with Kendra and wondering to myself who would do such a thing. Kendra should be on the board, her passion is needed and I hope you will cast this vote for Kendra.
Chris Diaz. Chris has been in solar a long time a Principal at Seminole Financial based in Florida.
Bret Sowers. Bret is with Southern Current and works very closely with Solar Powers America, the PAC working to educate legislators on a bipartisan basis.
Tom Hunt. Tom is with Clean Energy Collective based in Denver and a loyal reader of SolarWakeup.
Adam Shor. Adam is based in Golden, Colorado and Principal at Shor Power.
Brad Stutzman. Brad is the COO and co-founder at O3 Energy based in Dallas, Texas.
DC Agenda Is Final! We will have 5 fantastic conversations. Three 1 on 1 interviews and two discussions with two speakers joining me. The interviews are with Amy Harder of Axios, Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon of Puerto Rico and Andrea Luecke of The Solar Foundation. The discussions will be about how 100% renewable energy is feasible and what would need to happen to execute on this and what it will take to reinvigorate the Maryland solar market. Join us if you can, we added a few more seats for last minute registrations.
Sponsored by Mintz Levin. Mintz Levin is an Am Law 100 law firm with a nationally recognized Energy & Sustainability Practice that has completed more than 500 transactions across energy sectors totaling over $7.5 billion since 2006.
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This is your SolarWakeup for November 30th, 2017
A Carbon Tax. Amy Harder, who is joining us next week at SolarWakeup Live, has an interesting top 4 list of reasons why a carbon tax is hard to come by. The first two are primary examples of where we fall short as a solar industry. Political capital still remains on the sidelines for our sector but I hope that changes soon. Educating politicians of the political power of clean air and clean energy means showing them the voters will follow. Part of my conversation with Amy will be about this topic, where the lobbying on clean energy finds openings with republican legislators.
Problematic Tax Language. Language called the ‘Base Erosion Tax’ has shown up in the tax reform bill floating in DC currently. This complicated language appears to cause a quasi alternative minimum tax for multinational corporations. Amongst other things, it hurts the market for domestic deduction and credit investments like the solar ITC. The tax reform conversations are very frustrating because our code is used as an economic development tool. For centuries we have focused tax credits and deductions on sectors we want to see growth in. If we remove the supply of demand, by lowering tax liabilities, then growth in these sectors will slow as well.
The Massachusetts House. One of the things that I gathered from my interview with Senator Boncore was his description of the process to raise the NEM caps. While there was some view on how the Senate could move this forward, he sounded skeptical about the potential of getting the house to do the same. Listen to the interview to hear the skepticism yourself.
New Trade Info. The nuances are getting a bit legal but as I read between the lines, I see a less bureaucratic approach from the trade rep. In asking for the details that led to the complaint by bankrupt Suniva, now owned by an offshore hedge fund. The ask is to find “unforeseen developments” causing the alleged injury. With two prior complaints about dumping, there is hardly anything unforeseen and furthermore begs to ask why Suniva didn’t participate in those prior cases.
Another Coal Plant Closed. This time We Energies has announced the closure of 1.2GW coal plant in Wisconsin, to be replaced by gas and renewables.
Presented by MMA Energy Capital. At MMA Energy Capital, we partner with developers, EPC contractors, and system owners to provide project capital necessary to develop, build, and operate world-class renewable energy systems. We are currently hiring at our growing company.
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This is your SolarWakeup for November 29th, 2017
MA NEM Cap. In this episode of EnergyWakeup I am joined by Senator Boncore, the Massachusetts State Senator representing a large part of Boston and Cambridge. He is the sponsor of the net metering cap increase bill that would raise the cap by 5% across the board, clearing a large amount of backlog for SREC II projects. What did he have to say about the chance to get the cap increased? Listen here.
Senator Merkley. Spoke with a measured tone about how to handle the resolution of the 201 petition. Following the SEIA proposal of a revenue stream to US manufacturers instead of tariffs, Merkley urged the President to weigh in softly through incentives and not harm financial detriments that would cost many jobs. This is a stark contrast to the reactionary comments from Senator Wyden or the use of taxpayer dollars by the Hillsboro Mayor to represent SolarWorld at the ITC.
Bernie’s Puerto Rico Plan. A bold proposal by Bernie Sanders to revitalize the infrastructure in Puerto Rico. Part of the plan is to fix the credit rating by wiping out the existing debt. It may cost $150billion, but imagine living without power for 2 months and no end in sight.
Your December 6th Options. If you live on the east coast, you should be in DC next week on Wednesday. Hundreds of people will be in front of the USTR hearing, at the SEIA rally while a second crowd will be gathered at SolarWakeup Live! Some unfortunate timing because most people would want to do both but solar never sleeps. Keep in mind that you will not be able to get into the USTR hearing due to lack of space. There are a few seats left for Live!, that you can get here.
Schools With Solar. Another great report from The Solar Foundation on Schools going solar, this is released this morning and worth a read. Great roof space, wonderful message to students and excellent credit ratings – every solar should end up with solar on its roofs.
Presented By Standard Solar. With access to $300 million in low-cost project capital, Standard Solar delivers superior solar projects—from start to finish. From development and engineering to construction and maintenance our extensive team of experts guide our partners through each step of the solar-project process.
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E026: Future of Net Metering In Massachusetts with Senator Boncore, sponsor of the NEM Cap Bill
In this episode of energywakeup Yann is joined by Senator Boncore, the Massachusetts State Senator representing a large part of Boston and Cambridge. He is the sponsor of the net metering cap increase bill that would raise the cap by 5% across the board, clearing a large amount of backlog for SREC II projects. Senator Boncore provides valuable insights on where the policy is going and how it may or may not progress. This interview was recorded at SolarWakeup Live Boston, which means that your competition that attended the event already has this valuable information. Make sure to catch previous episode on your favorite podcast platform, episodes with Mike Judge from Mass DOER Jon Wellinghoff on the DOE NOPR Sunpower’s Tom Werner are now available Make sure to check out SolarWakeup Live! in D.C. on 12/6 and NYC late January. If you enjoyed this episode as much as I did, make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform including iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher radio. Please subscribe and share with your friends how much EnergyWakeup is helping you. [soundcloud id='362303120' height='false'] YANN: So our first speaker Senator Joseph Boncore. This is his district, we are in his market. He represents Cambridge Winthrop. [inaudible 00:00:08] you are-- either you are his customer or he is your customer, depending on if it's election season or not Winthrop Revere and Boston senator Boncore has served on the Winthrop Housing Board, and was elected to the state Senate about 18 months ago in a special election. Most importantly, and the reason we have him here today is he's the sponsor of Senate bill 1824, which raises the net metering cap by 5%. This is a vital aspect of the solar market and clearly something that we want to hear about the bill has not been signed by the governor yet and it hasn't passed. But that is what we want to find out about. Welcome to solar wake up live senator. SENATOR: Thank you, thank you for having me. YANN: So, you have in front of you a nice crowd of what represents the Massachusetts solar market. And most importantly, these are the people that are running businesses. They would probably have a couple thousand jobs represented here of solar companies. You're not on the Energy Committee, but yet you sponsored Senate, Senate bill 1824. Tell us the story of how that happened. SENATOR: So, I am not in the energy committee I don’t have much of background in solar obviously you know as millennial, which I am, I can put myself in that category. It's something I see some fellow Millennial’s here in the front row. It's something that Millennial’s are definitely concerned about. I represent a district that encompasses, you know, it's a very coastal district, so people in my district are very concerned with climate change things of that nature. But I also represent a very innovative district, where in my district, I represent all of Vinnie Street, I represent all of the financial district in downtown Boston, also part of my district. So, these are two places where solar has kind of you know taking a lead. It's obviously important to the district, not just I don't have a lot of manufacturing, and I think you know, when we talk about solar, and on the legislative level, you know, we like to talk about manufacturing. But there's so much more around innovation I think, and around obviously capital and financial, financial companies that are investing in solar. So as I would say, though I wasn't a you know, you know, proponent so I believed in solar you know, my district, my life experience as a public defender, you know led me to a criminal justice background and to work on bills like that. You know, my housing background led me to be, I'm now chair of the housing the Senate's Housing Committee. But just looking at my district, the people I represent, the companies I represent, you know, and knowing the 2020 goals that we're trying to get to here in Massachusetts, and how woefully inadequate we are in getting there or, where our track has been, I thought that solar was a was a good position for me to take and obviously, raising the net metering cap by 5% for public and private industry, is it's going to help and get us to 2020 goals. YANN: So, tell us where the bill stands now, where it goes from here and sort of some of the barriers that you're encountering in the legislative process. SENATOR: So, you know, I would say the bill as it currently stands I filed it in January, at the beginning of the session, we should all understand there's over 2000 bills filed in the legislature. So that bill was reported to the Telecom utilities and Energy Committee short for TUE, if I reference that, that's what it means, that's shared by Senate Barrett on this, and the Senate side, and representative golden on the house side. So we were able to get the bill heard. So the bill was heard last month. So we’re rating the legislative process is that, after a bills reported out it will be-- after it's heard it'll be reported out favorably or unfavorably, favorably by the committee, either way whatever wage reported out it will come back to the Senate. I would say in Massachusetts the Senate has been the body of innovation technology and especially around solar, they've been the driving force in the legislature and some of these issues. So, I think we're in a good spot where the bill will be ported hopefully you report it out and shorter order it'll get over to the Senate, and after it's to the Senate, we'll put it to a vote, for all the Senators to vote on. Thereafter, it'll go to the house. The biggest impediment that I see right now in the legislative process is that last year Massachusetts took up a pretty common-- Well, it started out as a very comprehensive, what we would call a legislative omnibus of energy policy. It got watered down, probably to a minibus by the time we took it up. But I would say that there was some net metering, some net metering legislation within that package. And where had Massachusetts, had typically relied 1% increases, and that metering, for the past somewhat years. Since net metering has become a common topic, this bill actually increased net metering by 3%. So, I would say the majors impact-- the major impediment is to that legislators who are dealing with you know, two thousand other bills may not see the priority that we all see in this room. Legislators from across the state who don't represent innovative districts like I do or financial districts like I do, don't see the problem or the necessity to raise a net metering cap. So you know, I think that's on me in the legislature to bring that up. But it's on everyone in this room to make sure that legislators across the Commonwealth are understanding that, when we raised it to 3% that just dealt with a lot of the backlog, the backlog projects that we have in Massachusetts, I mean in Massachusetts is more than 120 projects across the Commonwealth that in backlog. So if we raise enough metering cap again by 1%, we're going to deal with the backlog. But we're not moving the Commonwealth forward, so you know, we need to raise it to 5% to deal with some of that backlog and move on because when we have backlog, that means jobs for the Commonwealth. That means, people aren't working, Massachusetts employs over 15,000 people in your industry, this is something I don't need to tell you, I know. But you know when people aren't working when capital's tied up, you know, you know that's a real problem. Currently, with the 120 jobs, there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 72 million dollars tied up in capital investments that can't come to fruition because of the net metering cap. Where it's that, I mean, in overall the net metering capital, it makes about 6% of the state's energy portfolio. So I think it's you know, it's time to bring the conversation to the next level. YANN: So, given the fact that the solar market, in Massachusetts has 15,000 workers and real jobs right, I mean, solar now represents probably a job in every representative district and state Senate District, why do you think there's still a lack of perceived power, political influence and political power in the solar industry when it comes to working the state legislative process? SENATOR: I mean, again I mean you're dealing with industry, other industries that have just been in the state legislature for so much longer. You know, and it's a bandwidth issue. I mean, like I said, we deal with a lot of bills in the state legislature and you know, you guys your industry is relatively new to the Commonwealth and it's you know, being there it's being in front of us it's activating a base. It's letting not just the lobbyists and the activists know at the top levels, but letting the constituents know and getting the message all the way down. So, legislators are dealing with this situation and talking about solar you know, there's a perception you know, that Solar is intended for you know, a dentist who works in-- who lives in a very high flew affluent community, and you know some people, most people I would say, you know who aren't in the industry don't realize that it can affect everybody. It affects you know, it's not just a solar bill, but it's a jobs bill. It's an economic stimulus for the entire Commonwealth and it's a--you know, there's middle-income earners in solar as high-income earners and solar and it affects everybody, you know. When me and my staff are drafting this bill, I almost wanted to call it and that metering bill for the purpose of creating jobs. Because when you talk about creating jobs, I think it resonates with more legislators across the Commonwealth. YANN: Is there you know kind of going on that topic? Is there a political risk for anyone that votes against your bill? SENATOR: I would say so. I mean, I would say you know, I would say this is a political risk with certain demographics. When they don't invest-- when they don't vote for the bill, I think with the rhetoric going on at the national level as to you know, what climate change is, what renewable energy is, I mean it's on us at the local level to take up this mantle and I think in you know in California which probably leads the nation in solar development and investment and in Massachusetts which is second, I mean on those two coasts, I think any legislature not paying at any mind or being a void of what the real realities of not moving towards a renewable energy portfolio or strengthening that and having government influence, and making sure that that's growing. I think that that any legislator who doesn't-- who would vote against raising it a mere 5% is taking a huge political risk. YANN: So, you know the other side of the table you mentioned, the jobs and the job creation that this generates is that the people that are using solar energy in almost every project that I've been involved in and most of the room the consumer is also saving money. You served on a Housing Authority board and housing authorities have become one of the largest counter parties to solar projects. There's still a perception that as you mentioned that this only helps the affluent dentist. From a-- for those and I know there are some bills to also work on this issue, you know, what does it represent to middle and low income energy consumers when it comes to having access to more solar energy? SENATOR: I mean I think you know they're realizing it, I mean what are you talking about middle income earners, even low income earners, these are people who are not planning financially you know, and a lot of instances for the future. So, they don't see an investment today oftentimes paying dividends tomorrow. And when you talk about housing authorities you know, in some housing authorities these people on subsidized housing who aren't paying the energy bill, the housing authority in fact pays the energy bill. And that's why the public sector cap, is about 1% higher because the state sees it, but to get it to the end user is a different discussion. And I think when we start to talk about community solar and on the municipal level, you know changing ordinances and having a say at the municipal level in opening up solar farms, which would be very difficult in my district it's obviously densely populated, but having some form of community solar, letting the end-user see in their energy bill what the real results are. You know I think we're getting there, I think by the good work everyone here is doing and having a conversation like this, you know we're getting it to where it should be going. YANN: So, you know your bill covers net metering, but we have a parallel track going on in Massachusetts right now is smart. The DOER has finalized its rules and now it's at the D P U. The, there is a combination of the two being that the parties that are trying to influence, maybe water down some of this policy is on both your bill as well as the D P U process currently. How powerful is the anti solar or the, I want to slow solar down legislative force in Massachusetts? SENATOR: I mean, I think it's you know when we're talking about growth of an industry, obviously were taking away from another industry and an effect and I think that was the idea of you know meter capping, what we're doing in that metering and also what smart growth. You know we're trying-- well smart growth is a little different. I don't see smart growth directly related, I do see smart growth as a plan by the governor and the administration to ensure that incentives, you know weren't so out of whack that the end user is the rate payer you know it wasn't worthwhile anymore. So kudos, to the governor and his administration for taking on this issue and I'm beginning to understand this issue. And that's what-- they're going to do, what they're going to do. They're going to set up the regular-- they set up the regulatory framework, they had to go through D P U, you know and as the governor does that, I think we can't be complacent with that? I think we still need to have this conversation about raising the cap. I mean smart growth was a legislative initiative, to get the incentives back into whack and ensure that, you know the tax incentives were made sense now, that more people are using solar. So, while that's tracking, we still need to keep our eyes on the prize with net metering and raising that cap. So, I mean I do see them a little separate but I think you know listen, there to the original question, you know we are battling you know fossil fuel industry that that's been very powerful. I think Massachusetts does have an advantage with local activist groups and people who have stepped up and kind of you know taken on that cause, so it's at all levels of government people are having that conversation. YANN: If you were to look back and I mean Massachusetts I don't know the numbers second or third biggest solar market now definitely on a per capita basis nationally, especially outside of California, solar industry kind of there's California and there's X California. How would you view the progress that Solar has made over the past five or so years and what kind of advice would you give to the solar market and solar advocates, on how they can continue to improve in both legislative messaging and market penetration? SENATOR: I mean seeing we are the number two market for solar growth in the country, I think Massachusetts has made incredible strides. Massachusetts has a 2020 goal of getting to 1600 megawatts of solar energy on the grid and I think so, where I think comparatively to other states you know, we're really on the cutting edge. As we are on most things, I like to say so, I think in the past five years just setting goals, having goals and making the investments. We have five billion in investments in solar energy in Massachusetts, you know comparatively per capita or otherwise that’s really big. I think the advice to-- my advice to solar energy is you know this is an easy conversation for the senator from Boston and Cambridge to have because I have financial institutions in my district, I have innovative institutions right here we're in one of them you know. I think as we talk to other legislators, we need to change a little bit of the rhetoric on how we're talking about. We need to make sure that you know it is jobs we're talking about, its development, its economic development and when we grow solar in a responsible way, you know that it's not us first Sam, it's not versus first, fossil fuels but it's growing in a way that it's going to bring down the cost to the end-user in the Berkshires if a solar farms built out there. And it's really very much making it a local issue I think in government it's something that's lost. I think it's something that's starting to come ahead now, with kind of the lack of work going on in Washington DC in Congress and with the executive branch. But you know making it a local issue and letting know the end user from all across the Commonwealth is going to see you know their pocketbooks hit or not hit or you know and making sure that people, everyone has access to solar. And it's not just for the dentist from Lexington Massachusetts, it's for you know-- the middle income earner and the Berkshires or Springfield or Wooster. I think moving the rhetoric that way it's just going to help the entire market from the top down. YANN: So, there's an ongoing movement in the solar industry to engage more of our-- I mean there's 270,000 people now working in the solar industry in the US. And there's an ongoing push to try to get some of them to run for public office. I don't think there are any solar professionals in the state legislature here now, but what would you-- what kind of advice would you give to you know to someone that wanted to run for office to move certain things forward? And given some of your background and your expertise and the work you're doing in criminal justice based on your background. How valuable is it to have a member of the legislature that has some domain expertise and can have the conversation you're saying without sort of the advocates in the room? SENATOR: Yeah, I mean it I think it's you know it's incredibly beneficial to have you know somewhat of an expert in the room. You know, just last week the Senate took up criminal justice reform. You know, I've been in the Senate for 18 months, there are people who have been in the Senate for 30 years you know I had more to say and more influence on that bill than probably any other senator in the room, just because of my background and experience. So, to have someone familiar with the industry, like I said before I wasn't familiar with the industry, I have this one issue and that metering that I'm happy to champion and carry because it makes good sense to me. But beyond that to get into the weeds on this some of this stuff, you know I would encourage someone from the industry to run you know. Hopefully not against me, so I want to be very clear with that, no but even, if you did run against me, you know you know elections are a good place to bring out these issues and press the issues. And you know even if you don't win, you make sure that your opponent or the person you're running against for that seat, you know has an idea of what's going on. You really press them you bring them up to speed, as it will go. So, I would say that experts in the industry, as long as you're that's not the only reason you're running and as long as you're not so much of an ideologue around it. That you're not able to work with others to get to a goal, because we can't in this country and in the state you know let good be the evil of perfect right? We got to be able to get there and we got to get to good. I mean this makes a lot of sense for everybody in the room to get to 5%, probably makes a lot of sense of everybody in this room to get to 10%. But we need to work in a collaborative way and to ensure that everyone in the Common wealth is heard and dealt with and it's a process. And ideologues typically don't make the best legislators; because they're a little too you know they're not pragmatic about getting to a solution. So-- but expertise in the legislature, because of the bandwidth of legislators and the fact that there's 2,000 bills right there, that we're dealing with this session, I mean some expertise in an area will truly you know you'll be a legislator on such ago. YANN: So, a) were you surprised when Sia-- I mean the way I found out about this bill is Sia last month wrote a press release saying, “Massachusetts needs to step up and pass your bill.” And so that kind of got some national attention on the issue. And you know how helpful was that and handicapped the forward progress, because the worst thing in the solar industry is the uncertainty. When you don't know if you can make an investment to hire someone or when you're looking at a customer in the eye and say I don't know what the value of the net metering will be, that hurts and that stops progress and investment. Handicap for us how this looks going forward. SENATOR: I mean, I think with the national recognition it's gotten and with the local recognition, I hope you will all still push for, you know it looks pretty good. I mean there is an understanding with certain members of TUE, the telecoms utilities an Energy Committee that I talked to, that this needs to be done. So, I'd say those people who are in the trenches with this bill and the hundreds of other bills that just that committees dealing with, they understand that something has to be done. I can speak to the Senate President Stan Rosenberg, he knows we need to raise the cap. He knows that doing what we're doing is just helping some of the backlog and not garnering further investment, further capital, further job growth in the Commonwealth. So, I'd say there are people that understand it, but not everyone does it's not a priority for everyone and I think it's, you know we need to get it down to the level of each individual legislature in the Commonwealth. Their constituents need to be talking about this as a priority. Their constituents need to see the benefit of the job growth of solar being really, for everyone, for every level of income earner and they need to see the progress that can be made with what solar. So, I'd say the bill will look really good coming out of the Senate. I would say in decamp it very high coming out of the senate and then as we as it gets further down the process and over to the house, we're going to need a bigger push on that under. YANN: Any of you on timing of when you think this could happen? SENATOR: Again, I'm not on the committee, so I can't even speak that when it will be reported out. You know I'm happy I've written and my staff has written letters to see that it's reported out after the hearing, but our legislative cycle goes through next July. So, I you know I would expect it to come out of it to at least be debated on the floor before that. YANN: Okay, so a little bit on a federal issue and because we know that you have the year of the president there the trade— SENATOR: The senate president? YANN: [laughter] No, the other guy. The trade commission, early this morning voted for recommendation to increase the cost of solar panels by about 35%, in what some would dub a protectionist move brought on by some players in the solar market. SENATOR: I would agree with those people. YANN: Which ones? SENATOR: The protectionist. YANN: Yeah, the protectionist and what message would you-- so now the president's going to decide if there should be increased costs of solar modules. What would you say to the president, what the impact of that might be to your constituents and the folks that you're talking to in the solar market here in Massachusetts and the taxpayers given that this would have an impact across the board? SENATOR: What would I say to the president? That's an interesting question [laughter]. But in this realm and then we're adding solar what I would say to him is that, in Massachusetts we're doing a lot to grow solar in a responsible way. To make sure that the end user, the rate payer is seeing the benefit of solar. I would tell this president that, this protectionist move and this ruling is not going to benefit solar. Making solar more expensive to people is going to stymie growth and we can't have this stymie of growth. You know, this is one place where if foreign markets are creating you know a similar product for less money at this time and at this special time and growing this economy forward, that we need to keep costs low to grow the industry. We need if we-- if investors I mean if finance companies are seeing that it's too expensive to do it, I mean there's other places they can spend this money, there's other places they will spend this money. Solar growth in this Commonwealth and across this nation is what we need to do for future generations. So, I would advise against it, I'm sure he would tweet something at me on the other end that was unrelated and something probably about me personally. But, I would certainly advise against it and let him know that, you know an investment in solar is an investment in our future. YANN: So, I want to thank you for your leadership, I join everyone in the room to wish for your success in this especially this bill. SENATOR: Our success. YANN: Our success or your success to make us more successful and please give a round of applause for the senator [Applause].
In this episode of energywakeup Yann is joined by Senator Boncore, the Massachusetts State Senator representing a large part of Boston and Cambridge. He is the sponsor of the net metering cap increase bill that would raise the cap by 5% across the board, clearing a large amount of backlog for SREC II projects. Senator Boncore provides valuable insights on where the policy is going and how it may or may not progress. This interview was recorded at SolarWakeup Live Boston, which means that your competition that attended the event already has this valuable information. Make sure to catch previous … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for November 28th, 2017
Moving Puerto Rico Forward. As Puerto Rico continues its recovery from Hurricane Maria, it is undoubtedly planning for the next step in recovery. There are less eyes and ears focused on the initial emergency response but as a solar industry, there are still great people with knowledge and resources helping create the next grid. A network of interconnected microgrids with a grid system made to maximize the distributed generation.
Join Representative Gonzalez-Colon. To further this conversation, I will be joined by Congresswoman Gonzalez Colon. She represents the Americans of Puerto Rico in the US House of Representatives. Gonzalez-Colon spent time in the Puerto Rico legislature with a clear understanding of the many factor that impact the energy market. She will be at SolarWakeup Live! DC to tell the solar industry about the current state of relief in Puerto Rico and how solar can continue to work on the effort.
Rural Utility Co-Ops. Some of the best solar deals in America will happen in co-ops that you’ve never heard of. Co-ops have boards made up by customers and don’t share the need to deploy capital for a return to a 3rd party. Given the circumstances, co-ops make sure that any transaction has long term benefit to customers. Keep your eyes on this space.
Run For Something. We focus a lot on congressional seats and utility commissions but we rarely talk about the need to run for the boards at utility companies that serve you. If you live in a co-op served geography, think about finding your way into that board room. If you need to run for a seat, make sure to let the solar industry know so we can be supportive.
Solar World Without SolarWorld. SolarWorld is spending some of its remaining capital buying ads on solar publication platforms. I’m disappointed to see publications take their money, I wouldn’t take their money because the success of SolarWorld in the 201 petition would mean a smaller solar industry and a negative market for you, the readers. As a reader, you have a choice on where to get your news, which I recognize with every new subscriber. My frustration sits with the fact that this is the 3rd time SolarWorld has come back to the trough and keeps wanting more. The solar industry is united in its opposition because this case is bad for solar and has already caused drastic impacts on business planning.
Presented By True Green Capital. Our current partnership, Fund III, is actively seeking investment opportunities and channel partners to deploy capital in a scalable focused on DG and small scale projects. Fund III has ~$350million in equity commitments to build out a ~$1billion solar portfolio.
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This is your SolarWakeup for November 27th, 2017
8 Days Out. Next Wednesday, December 6th, is a big day for solar. If you aren’t going to DC, you will be missing the coordinated efforts to move solar forward. More below.
Live! DC. Tickets are about half gone but you can still get in with a 50% off black Friday special. Join me as I speak with Andrea Luecke, Amy Harder and Lidija Sekaric. We’ll have a few more speakers to announce through this week but rest assured, the conversations will be worthwhile. So, if you are not waving signs in front of the USTR hearing, you should be here. I look forward to seeing you.
USTR. The public comment period has ended and now the trade representative will hear testimony from relevant parties about the case. This appears to be less about the case law, as it was in the 201 proceedings, but about the politics and real life impacts that a tariff would cause on the industry. I know that Trump’s comments of “I want tariffs” is in the back of everyone’s mind but jobs and foreign policy is also in play. Senators are also legitimately involved in this process and nobody wants a trade war with China over solar panels, that would be a lose/lose.
Solar Happy Hour. At the top of this email you will find a link to a solar happy hour for December 6th. After attending SolarWakeup Live and the USTR hearing, join Vote Solar, SEIA and SolarWakeup as we host a happy hour. Short notice means limited space available, send me an email to get on the list.
Michigan Solar. PURPA tariffs for solar are looking good in Michigan. While limited to 2MW projects, the contracts are 20 years which are attractive for any solar investor. Will this be the next North Carolina?
Equal Time Is Flawed. You won’t find it here and it restates the same tired arguments. Matt Card from Suniva has an op-ed out and the Washington Post ran it as some sort of equal time contribution. When an argument is 99% to 1%, the 1% doesn’t get equal time but journalists feel the need to provide equal coverage. Not here, especially not when you are paid to lie.
Big Storage. Australia is leading the charge on big storage. As I’ve mentioned in the past, this is where I have been spending a large amount of my non-SolarWakeup time. The value of large storage is more than move energy from one time period to another especially when coupled with a solar farm. You can’t just co-locate storage with a solar farm, two inverters means two systems. What you want is energy storage behind the solar inverter, moving energy in and out of a single point of interconnect.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 21st, 2017
Happy Thanksgiving. 50/50 shot at a newsletter coming your way so I am taking the time to thank you for your continued readership and support for our Live! events. Interacting and learning from you makes this a path worth undertaking. If you buy tickets for DC and sell out the event this week, I’ll be even more thankful.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 20th, 2017
Short Week. I will be off for Thanksgiving and the Wednesday edition is up in the air depending on if there are enough articles to send your way. Enjoy your holiday and make sure to do something that we can all be thankful for – starting with the 1st item on the rundown.
Your Comment? Have you taken a few minutes to send comments to the trade representative ahead of the December 6th hearing? You can use this script from SEIA and send the comments on this page. Make sure to have your entire office do this as well.
Tesla’s Rig and Roadster. No doubt, Elon puts on a show. Electrification of transportation is the leap we need for climate change. At 500 miles per charge, I am also interested in the impact to the grid for the electrification of freight. With an 8-pin charger (and a dose of real-life needs), some engineers are theorizing that the “mega-charger” could be up to 1.6MW of power to charge the semi in 30 minutes. Power density times massive scale (3.5 million trucks in America) means having to re-rethink the energy grid, mostly around our highway system. Best of all, this will get financed through non-dilutive funding from 1,000 rich people that want to go fast – placing $250k payments for the new roadster. If the money were in my account, it would no longer be there either because this thing is sick.
Public Manufacturers. As JA Solar goes private with its manufacturing, I wonder how long it will take for all of them to be off the public markets. In relation to Renesola, taking the manufacturing private while keeping the public vehicle to focus on owning assets, it comes across as an internal reverse merger. This strategy makes sense to me, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is replicated again.
Another Great Speaker. I’m excited to have Amy Harder from Axios join us at SolarWakeup Live! DC. Amy has been covering energy for years and was in Bonn for COP23 last week. Axios has an incredible insight to the DC ecosystem and was the publication that brought us Trump’s “I want tariffs, bring me tariffs.” I look forward to speaking with Amy about the news of energy. Get your tickets here.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 17th, 2017
A Nuclear Mea Culpa? Citing customer frustrations, South Carolina’s SCE&G will be canceling a set of rate increases stemming from the construction of the failed VC Summer nuclear plant. The shareholders of the utility will be ‘paying’ for $2.2billion in construction costs in what appears to be future reduced ratepayer earnings over the next 50 years. In short, it seems like the ratepayers are lending the write down of the losses. While the reporting appears to show a utility showing ‘remorse’ over its business actions – utility monopolies continue to operate in a dreamland far away from reality.
In Murphy We Trust. With the election of Phil Murphy, who ran strong on the solar issues, New Jersey is looking to reinvigorate its market. While projects are happening, it is nowhere near the scale as previous eras in the New Jersey solar market. David Crane has been named to the transition team which bodes well for us looking at markets for a long term sustainable sector. I look forward to seeing how that plays out as he takes the Governor’s mansion.
Subsidy Prescription. The DOE NOPR is looking like FERC is open to the idea, Commissioner Chatterjee is quoted wondering why anyone would consider it controversial. The article also goes into the concept of resiliency and focusing on the power plant as opposed the distribution lines. When I was in Boston a few weeks ago, a million customers lost power – some for as long as a week. They didn’t lose power because generators went down, they lost power because trees and wind took down the transmission infrastructure. In my mind the controversy is based in the cost to consumers. If ISOs offered $10billion in incentives for resiliency, I doubt a single coal plant would be offered. My interview with Jon Wellinghoff covers much of this.
MA NEM Cap. If you haven’t listened to or read the latest podcast (there is a full transcript on the page) you are missing on vital information for your business or understanding the impacts to your customers’ business. The other interview that will come out next week is with Senator Boncore about the NEM cap in Mass. While the takeaway is muted, there are a bunch of crumbs that would make me look hard to ignoring NEM caps for my business. More to come on this.
Kentucky Coal. Even in coal country with what I would assume to be a utility friendly regulatory body, PPL is shutting two coal plants that are old (~50 years) and would cost too much to make compliant with environmental standards. These aren’t the first and far from the last coal plants to close – this is purely a consumer induced move since customers want cheaper energy and clean air & water.
Live! DC. The event will now feature Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, the resident representative of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is more than a goodwill story, it has been one of the most enticing solar markets plagued with external issues. Now that the grid is torn apart and people have no energy, it represents a challenge to rebuild the grid in a 21st century way. I look forward to having this discussion and finding the path to the opportunity that it represents for the solar industry to help.Get your tickets now.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for November 16th, 2017
DC Tickets. 4 of the speakers are almost confirmed, as soon as they are, you will be told their names. Andrea Luecke and Dr. Lidija Sekaric are confirmed and two more have signaled their availability. Solar Foundation is doing great work including the ongoing jobs census, analyzing diversity in solar and now their leadership on helping rebuild Puerto Rico. Dr. Sekaric spent the entire Obama tenure working on solar related issues including as the director of the SunShot initiative. She is now at Siemens working on innovation in energy including how microgrids are put together. I will be talking to her about the City that gets 100% of its power and energy from renewable energy – what does that look like and what would it cost? Get your tickets now, early bird pricing only goes until Thanksgiving.
Bourbon With Your Whine. The WTO is likely to allow retaliatory tariffs against US goods if Trump goes forward with 201 tariffs. The threat now looks to target bourbon and cheese, neither of which have really anything to do with solar except for their lobbying impact on two important individuals – Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Maybe someone needs to get Duterte from the Philippines to target US investment into local real estate, that could get some attention.
CAISO Projects. Advisory work – I am looking for a few projects that have CAISO interconnection but no offtakers. If you have this or know where I could find it, please let me know. My advisory work keeps the SolarWakeup lights on for everyone.
Puerto Rico Update. An interesting pro and con take on the topic of how to rebuild the grid in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, as Bernie Sanders points out, more than 50% of the Americans in PR still don’t have power after two months. Imagine that happening anywhere in the US – it would never happen.
On To Emissions. The finish line isn’t at 100% renewable energy for operations after all. Microsoft is out with a goal to drop emissions 75% by 2030. Google had previously outlined its energy goals to not only match geography but also time of use. It may seem like corporations were close to finished, but it seems like they are just getting started.
Solar On Coal Mines. Solar should have a quiet goal of getting Senators Capito and Joe Manchin to be as avid of solar supporters as they are coal today. Part of that is showing the value of land is greater with solar and the second would be to switch the economy into a solar focused one. There are great teams on the ground in West Virginia looking at this and doing some ‘greenfield’ development. Rocky Mountain Institute also published a report appropriately titled ‘A Second Life For Legacy Mining Sites.’
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Yann