This is your SolarWakeup for January 24th, 2017

The Coal Mine. If it isn’t news, I missed it originally, but I am not surprised. Being small in the solar lease business is like being in no-man’s land. Your overhead will kill you before you ever dream about having a portfolio big enough to trade down to cheaper cost of capital. One Roof seems like it’s about done, moving out of its HQ and closing the doors perhaps. Rumor on the Linkedin boards also talked about some layoffs at Sungevity which is unfortunate after the canceled reverse merger.
Policy versus Politics. As I mentioned during the Episode 3 of the EnergyWakeup podcast, I am becoming concerned about the level of political engagement and level of rage in the fight to save net metering. TASC is seeking the ACC to revisit the end of net metering in Arizona based on legal non-compliance. That’s a policy argument about process, it would be much better to have a thousand people in front of the ACC.
The end is in sight. Thankfully, Terraform and Terraform Global have signed an MOU to negotiate exclusively to be acquired by Brookfield. There is still a bit to go, target closing of April 1^st, but we’ll take the progress nonetheless.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 23rd, 2017

Another EnergyWakeup, and it’s good. On her first day on the job as SEIA CEO, I interview Abby Hopper who joins the solar industry after 2 years in the Federal Government. Bryan and I cover a ton of material about the nomination hearings, the Trump Administrations first day in office (a deleted webpage) and what NV Energy is really up to in Nevada. Don’t miss this episode, sponsored by Conductive Capital.
America’s Oil, Gas and Coal First Policy. The Koch brothers have put their official energy policy up on the website, the White House website. Promptly at noon on inauguration day, as is typical, on admins pages come down and the new ones go up. In a drastic comparison, climate change and renewables were deleted and America First Energy Policy is the top issue on the whitehouse.gov site now. It doesn’t mention climate change or renewables but does give a shoutout to clean coal. In case you are wondering who is in charge of energy policy, read this 4^th grade level policy document.
DG Costs Nothing! The Berkeley National Lab has come out with an extensive study on the cost or benefit of distributed solar at current and 10% penetration rates. The results are negligible with any costs or benefits being less than a penny per kWh and could go in either direction. However, the amount of solar has a large impact on the future levels of utility investments which in every circumstance are a cost to the consumer. But on the other hand more investments mean higher returns for shareholders. Now do you understand why there is an inherent conflict between shareholders and ratepayers?
Rick Perry’s Heritage. DC’s worst kept secret is that Committee chairs and Agency Secretaries appreciate anything that maintains or increases their budget oversight. Why? Because a higher budget means more lobbying which means more work after public service. Rick Perry was strongly supporting the Offices of Science, National Labs and other work at DOE while the Trump team was releasing the Jim DeMint, Heritage Foundation’s blueprint on how to gut the Federal Budget.

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Yann

EnergyWakeup – Episode 3 – Interview with SEIA President, Abby Hopper, and Bryan explains what NV Energy is really doing

In this Episode, sponsored by Conductive Capital,  Yann and Bryan cover a wide range of important topics for the solar and cleantech industry. Yann interviews Abby Hopper, the new SEIA CEO and President, who joins the solar industry after leading the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. We cover her vision for SEIA, how to get new members to join and if she sees SEIA working with EEI, the utility’s lobbying group. Bryan and Yann go into the nominating hearings of Scott Pruitt, and why the environmental groups are trying to make him the target, why the nominees are normalizing Rex Tillerson, a man that is synonymous with Exxon, and Rick Perry’s continuing ability to make soundbites for SNL. At the State level, Bryan covers what is actually happening in Nevada with NV Energy’s latest filing and if it really matters. Yann argues that the solar industry may be getting too soft when it comes to playing politics. Listen to the Episode and subscribe on iTunes, Soundcloud or Stitcher. This episode was supported by Conductive Capital, a distributed generation platform looking to acquire your projects. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/303819221" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=false&visual=false&show_playcount=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 20th, 2017

Your dream job? So, I want you to be Secretary of Energy! That’s amazing, I’d love to do that and be America’s ambassador on our oil and gas capabilities. Telling the world about our energy strengths sounds great! That is how I imagine the conversation went between Governor Perry and Trump. Perry spent the day speaking with the members of the US Senate answering questions and doing his usual, giving SNL some great material to work with. Now that he will be Secretary, Perry regrets wanting to close the Department but was surprised to find out while speaking that the President’s administration doesn’t actually want to fund DOE. At least Congress still doles out the dollars, which bodes well for the Department.
You want a revolution? I want a revelation. We are all living the fact that the energy sector is changing but also recognize that much of the sector is the same. Same wires, same power plants and same way to recoup monopoly investments. If we really want to change the way it’s done, which needs to happen, then we need to admit that doing it the same way isn’t going to work.
Words matter, even if nuanced. Of all the nominees, the target from the environmental groups is squarely on Scott Pruitt, the Attorney General from Oklahoma. His hearings have been revealing with some old rhetoric (debate on climate change is ongoing) and some new things (it doesn’t matter what the administrator thinks about climate change). He did open up the possibility that EPA will be a watchdog on the States, in particular those that value clean air and go for enhanced fuel efficiency. Pruitt is going to get confirmed (listen to EnergyWakeup next week to see why I think that’s a good thing) and I cant wait for the Jerry Brown/Kevin de Leon versus Pruitt matchups.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 19th, 2017

Solar is pro-islanding. Hawaii has been long aiming at 100% renewables and last year stopped the acquisition of HECO by NextEra because they were worried that the goal wouldn’t be met. HECO had some trouble getting the plans to achieve the goal passed the PUC in 2014 when it was rejected and now is laying out its vision on getting it done.
Peachy innovation. Southern Power is getting into the efficiency business and handing out some rebates for residential efficiency technology. If you recall, Southern tried to get into the solar game as well with little success. Surely with $100 off Nest thermostats, there will be a bit more appetite for taking up some efficiency and maybe leave the solar industry to handle what they know best.
A debate about Pruitt. Attorney General Scott Pruitt is going through the committee hearings regarding his EPA administrator nomination. As the Oklahoma AG, he has sued the EPA countless times, put a company’s letter on his letterhead for them and isn’t sure what the effects of lead in water supply could be. During the hearing he also said that there is still debate about climate change. Listen in to the EnergyWakeup episode to hear what Bryan and I think about the hearings.

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Have a great day!
Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 18th, 2017

Oh Nevada. I’m somewhat entertained by the fact that the solar industry is whining about what NV Energy is doing but not getting political about it. I don’t mean argue policy but pick a political fight. There is total nonsense going on about energy savings and how people with solar shouldn’t get savings. In translation, it means that the utility is producing less electrons that it can add to the demand growth and build more infrastructure. I really hope that people drop the good guy act and throw our weight around. 80%+ support amongst both parties, solar should be a third rail for politicians except we don’t make them pay the price.
What’s the deal NY? I can think back to many years ago and someone is pitching me on the idea of solar in New York. When is it really going to pick up so people can actually get some things done outside of key projects that are pushed through the political arena? Someone please get the REV or whatever other policy the regulators want into the market.
Peak Coal? China just called the top of the coal market and is canceling 104 coal plants. The country was famously adding a coal plant per week Now that total coal usage is going down in China and the US will continue to decline, I think it is safe to say that coal consumption on a global basis will also reduce over time. Of course, we need to do more to eliminate those plants, and that is why we cover the importance of baseload solar/battery stations that can do exactly that.
What’s in an RPS. Every solar pro should be walking around with the latest DOE employment report. Solar and renewables are responsible for the vast majority of all job growth in the electric power sector. Solar is bigger than most other fossil segments, combined. 370k people spend time in solar and that is why Governors, who actually have to run the State and pass a budget, are looking at strengthening the RPS’s in their States. I’m sure some States will play politics and potentially try to reduce them but for the most part, RPS’s are looking good to Governors from both parties.

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 17th, 2017

No Commentary. It’s just too funny not to make it the number 1 story today but I continue to be amazed what politicians can dream up.
Solar jobs, jobs, jobs. DOE is out with the second annual energy employment analysis and the numbers create some political reality for DC. They may not care much but when it comes to the electric power sector, more people work in solar than any other fuel. Over 370k Americans spend all or part of their time within the realm of solar energy. Take that to the next legislative debate you have.
PR sets the bar high. I’ve become a bit jaded. When I read an article about solar or renewables in national papers like the NY Times, I wonder who pitched the story. Someone pushed the story so that a message was put out and in this case the article is all about how AES is excited about the crucial job energy storage is going to perform in California. No fossil fuel plant with much bigger capacity goes through the PR of this level to set the bar of importance this high. It makes me think that any minor issue will be covered with the same lens which perhaps is the intent of this article, to set the bar high.

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Have a great day!
Yann

These are the top 10 most read solar articles by your peers this week!

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Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for January 13th, 2017

Growth by decline. The data comes out every year. Massive capacity growth across the world but lower capital deployment. With modules at low 30 cents, who would think that you can get more with less? Focus on the GW top line but also note that you’ll more deals to get your investors happy.
Enphase gets more money. Private capital into a public company doesn’t usually mean positive news but hey it’s solar and winter season is never pretty. On the other side, the investors are high end and Enphase makes a good product that needs more runway to get scale. The one piece of concern is the end of the article, some of the funds will be used to hire consultants on how to get more demand globally.
NV Energy goes for it again. First off, NV Energy policy folks need to listen to the EnergyWakeup podcast. We covered their overreach tactic this week here, but it seems that they continue to get bad advice from their lobbyists. NV Energy wants the PUC in Nevada to undo the net metering for the Northern part of the State. The policy was just put back into place in December. Maybe the company should focus on its baseload in the Casinos that continue to leave their service, solar on every home in the State wouldn’t get close to that kind of demand reduction.

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Have a great day!
Yann