This is your SolarWakeup for October 11th, 2016
I came away from the debate with only one thought. How amazingly shortsighted can Donald Trump be when he brings up Ohio’s coal workers? Ohio is a must-win for the Trump campaign and the coal talk is strong in the GOP but Ohio was a rapidly growing solar market until June of 2014. At that time, Governor Kasich signed a 2 year freeze for the State’s RPS bringing SREC values to near zero values. Even with the headwind, solar jobs outpace coal jobs by nearly 60% and will grow to double the coal sector this year. Imagine if the GOP looked at the polling regarding solar support and Governor Kasich actively sought to train more coal workers in solar. Read my full story on the topic here
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Yann
Why Trump Shouldn’t Worry for the Coal Workers in Ohio
According to The Ohio Coal Association, there are 3,000 coal workers in Ohio. Their jobs are in jeopardy in a State that gets 69% of its energy from coal and is the 4th largest consumer of coal in the Country. So the question is why are their jobs in jeopardy and what is the policy answer to the problem?
by Yann Brandt, Managing Editor According to The Ohio Coal Association, there are 3,000 coal workers in Ohio. Their jobs are in jeopardy in a State that gets 69% of its energy from coal and is the 4th largest consumer of coal in the Country. So the question is why are their jobs in jeopardy and what is the policy answer to the problem? In the last policy question of the second Presidential debate, Ken Bone asked, “What steps will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job … Read More
This is your SolarWakeup for October 10th, 2016
That debate was a disaster and made a Nevada/Arizona net metering hearing look normal. In all of the discourse we miss a debate on what Americans agree on like having more solar on the grid, giving consumers more choice, etc. Interestingly more utility front groups have come up recently to engage in the debate about solar energy and how subsidized it is. What I would like to discuss is how regulated monopolies have a misalignment with consumer choice and costs. I would like to talk about hedging of fuel cost curves that are used to build fossil power plants. In the next decade the energy debate will center around consumer choice, that’s the discussion that I want to have.
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Yann
These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
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The Top 10 is ranked by the number of SolarWakeup.com readers that clicked on the news article during the previous week. It is the poll of the most relevant solar news of the week as judged by your colleagues and competitors.
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for October 7th, 2016
Update on the hurricane situation is positive, the South Florida region has been spared from the worst of the storm. So short of the loss of production today due to less than optimal conditions, everything is back to normal tomorrow. As I was waiting for my power to go out, I gave a lot of thought about adding storage to my house. Given that I have 70kWh already in the driveway, the easiest solution is still the car but I know we are not quite there yet. I’d love to understand the policy implications of load shifting solar in residential setting. Clearly the ratepayers benefit, it eliminates a massive amount of infrastructure required for the grid and consumers make an investment for themselves that also benefits the community. On the other hand, less infrastructure is required and less ratebase is required to be invested in. I call this a misalignment of interests but maybe someone else can clue me in on what I am missing.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for October 6th, 2016
It’s been over a decade but I spent the better part of the last two days getting ready for Hurricane Matthew. We’re hoping for a ‘miss’ which means that we have to deal with winds in the 70mph range and a ton of rain, half a foot is the forecast. So while I anticipate trying to do Friday’s SolarWakeup under generator power, it is not lost on me that the last time I had a hurricane I didn’t have kids. That is why I wasn’t so upset having to do the preparation on the day that the Paris Agreement was officially ratified by enough polluting Countries and goes into effect in 30 days. Paris doesn’t mean the end of Climate Change but it means that we will look to work together to begin to solve this problem we have. In the meantime, I am a bit annoyed that my 5kw won’t be giving me backup power in my home in the likely event of a power outage, maybe Tesla will send me a Powerwall from the marketing department?
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for October 5th, 2016
Solar always polls well and now we have another great data point from Pew. The highlight is that 89% of Americans want to see more solar but for me there is much more in the poll. Th biggest number on solar for me is that 41% of Americans have given serious consideration about putting solar on their home including the 4% that have already done so. Think about that. We have a known 10x at today’s point with really a limited educational standard across the Country. Moreover, 75% of people said that they are worried about the environment and their energy views reflect this. Surprisingly for me, fracking now polls as badly as coal while being in the same range as nuclear and offshore oil drilling. Solar more than doubles each of the other energy segments. Recall that earlier this year we saw that independents would use solar as a tipping issue to go towards one candidate instead of another. Here is the entire poll, the top story has the breakdown.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for October 4th, 2016
The regulators in Massachusetts pushed back emphatically against the cost increase requests by National Grid. Amongst other items, the commission did not find enough evidence to persuade them that a cost shift from solar to non-solar customers existed. Therefore, it struck down the large increase of fixed costs. Additionally, regulators did not find that that demand charges were avoidable or understood by the consumers in a residential setting. As an industry we focus on the losses (2) versus the wins (>40). Even ‘journalists’ at outlets like UtilityDive don’t count these types of victories, victories which is shameful. Our policy teams work hand in hand and shows what happens when competitors come together with trade groups to ensure a bigger market for all. To learn about how these things happen, listen to Tom Kimbis from our podcast yesterday.
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Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for October 3rd, 2016
New York’s REV is getting into implementation phase and it is loaded with policy. It has been a long time coming and many solar developers have been in the market doing the early work for quite some time. Some have even left the State because it has taken so long. Now is the time to look back at the policy and get an understanding how it impacts the market. What do you think is the most important part of the policy? Where will developers focus and what market segment will pick up first?
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Yann
These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!
News
The Top 10 is ranked by the number of SolarWakeup.com readers that clicked on the news article during the previous week. It is the poll of the most relevant solar news of the week as judged by your colleagues and competitors.
Have a great day!
Yann