How To Screw Up Solar With One Horrid Bill (Connecticut Edition)
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: The swath of destruction the Connecticut legislature is about to cut through the solar industry with their latest bill to replace net metering is breathtaking and stupefying to behold. The absurdity of the legislation is so mindblowing I’m going to have to take more than one piece to do it justice, but it includes the illusory cost-shift, a buy-all, sell-all scheme, an arbitrary commercial solar cap….oh, yeah. This legislation is a beaut. The worst part of it is, the legislative session ends next Wednesday, so there’s little time to scuttle this monstrosity (fire … Read More
Sources Say Sunnova Is Heading To Lucrative Florida Market
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Following a Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) decision that third-party solar installations won’t be considered regulated utilities, residential solar giant Sunnova is set to get into the game, sources tell SolarWakeup. The company has been quietly setting up its partner network in the state over the past year waiting for the right time to enter this lucrative market. When they move into the state, Sunnova will be offering “solar finance agreements” (known everywhere else in the country as loans). SolarWakeup’s View: It feels like I’ve been writing about Florida’s potential as a solar … Read More
The Energy Show: Gigawatt Scale Solar Installations
We often talk about smaller solar power systems on homes or commercial buildings. On this week’s Energy Show we are discussing gigawatt scale solar installations. The logic is simple: solar panels are getting cheaper and installation costs are declining. At the same time, utility electric prices keep increasing. When prices go up and costs go down profits can skyrocket – so it’s no surprise that there is a big market for large-scale solar installations. When I started doing PV installations in 2001 the biggest projects were about 5 MW. Now there are several 500 MW installations proceeding in the U.S., and several 1,000+ MW (a gigawatt) installations are under way in India and China. Solar power plants in the gigawatt range are now being planned in the U.S. To put a gigawatt solar power plant in perspective, it is twice the capacity of most natural gas plants, covers about ten square miles, uses over three million solar panels, and employees thousands of people during construction. To fill us in on the details of projects of this size, my special guests are Mark Cox and Shola Ashiru with the New Energy Fund II. Mark and Shola have been financing solar companies and projects for almost 20 years. They are currently working on a 1.2 gigawatt project which would be one of the largest systems in the world and the biggest in the U.S.
We often talk about smaller solar power systems on homes or commercial buildings. On this week’s Energy Show we are discussing gigawatt scale solar installations. The logic is simple: solar panels are getting cheaper and installation costs are declining. At the same time, utility electric prices keep increasing. When prices go up and costs go down profits can skyrocket – so it’s no surprise that there is a big market for large-scale solar installations. When I started doing PV installations in 2001 the biggest projects were about 5 MW. Now there are several 500 MW installations proceeding in the U.S., … Read More
Nice Headline, Doctor – But That Doesn’t Make It True
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:Ah, ya gotta love drive-by hit pieces led by tricky, click-bait headlines, don’t you (you don’t, and you SHOULDN’T)? Vox ran an article (which you no doubt saw, given how many of you clicked on it) that implied somehow battery storage was bad for the electrical grid, headlined “Batteries have a dirty secret.” Then, in the subhead, David Roberts, aka “Dr. Vox,” asserts that the actual deployment of batteries increases carbon emissions. OMG, if true, right? Well, as you probably have already guessed, that’s not what the story says at all. Quelle surprise. SolarWakeup’s … Read More
Turns Out, Silvio Marcacci May Be On To Something (About 320 GW Of Untapped Solar Potential)
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:The Interstate Renewable Energy Council has released a report outlining two potential paths to enable greater solar access for renters and multifamily residents, and low-to-moderate income communities. The report, titled Expanding Solar Access: Pathways for Multifamily Housing, suggests shared solar, whether on-site or off-site, is the key. Following on last week’s Forbes magazine article by Silvio Marcacci arguing that there could be 320 GW of untapped solar potential in just these types of applications, the report seems timely. SolarWakeup’s View: Last week, I gave major props to solar support Silvio Marcacci’s article in Forbes … Read More
MPSC Issues Most Unsurprising Ruling Ever (And Approves $1 Billion DTE Energy Plant)
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), in a decision that surprised no one, awarded DTE Energy the right to build its $1 billion boondoggle natural gas plant. The commission appears to have ignored, you know, the evidence that showed renewable energy – specifically solar – would provide a much better bang for ratepayers’ bucks than this natural gas plant. The action comes as a blow to solar advocates across the country, who were watching this case to see if the aggressive tactics would stop the plant. Proposed natural gas plants are increasingly being denied … Read More
Hawaii Revolutionizes Consumer-Utility Relationship With New Law
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Hawaii has rebalanced the relationship between utilities and their customers with a new law tying rate increases to performance data. According to Hawaii Public Radio, “The Hawaii Ratepayer Protection Act will require the Public Utilities Commission, the PUC, to develop incentives for local electric companies to modernize and manage costs.’ The law takes effect July 1st. The PUC will then be required to create an incentive framework by January 1, 2020. SolarWakeup’s View: To call Hawaii’s solar situation “complicated” would be like calling World War II a “kefuffle.” Ever since October 2015, when … Read More
Does Chapter 11 Shelter Schletter From Employee Wrath?
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Schletter’s bankruptcy just got more interesting to me, based on some public information a friend of mine shared with me. Did you know that Schletter had been sued by its employees in the Western District of North Carolina – the same one in which they have field bankruptcy – after one of their employees fell prey to a W-2 phishing scam that caused the sharing of all the employees’ private information with some identity thieves? Did you also know that in late March (full document below) the judge dismissed Schletter’s attempts to dismiss … Read More
Michigan Utility Under Fire For Alleged PURPA Violations
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened:DTE Energy is in the news again, and it is yet again not for a good reason. Greenwood Solar has filed a complaint against the utility alleging that it is not negotiating to buy their electricity in good faith as is required under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. Under PURPA, utilities are legally required to buy power from independent power producers (IPP) if it is below their cost of generation from other sources, also known as “avoided costs”. Congress passed PURPA at the height of the 1978-1979 oil crisis, when Western … Read More
Schletter U.S. Files For Chapter 11
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What Happened: Schletter’s U.S. subsidiary filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Western District of North Carolina, where the company’s headquarters are located. By written consent of the company’s board of directors, Schletter is seeking protection from between 299 and 1,000 creditors. The filing, signed by Schletter U.S. President and CEO Russell Schmit, confirms what SolarWakeup first reported on Monday, which was that the company was on the verge of closing. ch SolarWakeup’s View: We hate to say we told you so, but … oh, who are we kidding? We LOVE telling you we … Read More