This is your SolarWakeup for April 6th, 2022
HELLO FROM NORTH CAROLINA! I’m Ian Mason, VP of Business Development at Carolina Solar Services. Yann has graciously followed through on his promise of allowing whoever won the Solar Wakeup 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Bracket to author this morning’s issue, despite their credentials. I hate to say it, but I’m British, this was my first ever bracket, I have never played a competitive game of basketball, and my 6-year-old son recently beat me at a game of H.O.R.S.E. I guess the age-old adage, “it is better to be lucky than to be good”, has never been more apt…
IF YOU’RE GOING TO SAN FRANCISCO 2022’s conference season has kicked off with a bang. The 8th edition of ‘Solarplaza Summit Asset Management North America’ starts this morning in sunny Oakland. All the key influencers from the Asset Management/O&M world will be there, including Carolina Solar Services’ very own Zack Hobbs (CEO) and Ajulo Othow, Esq. (Counsel). Ajulo will be joining a panel as they discuss DEI in Solar Asset Management on Thursday and we’re glad that CSS is leading on this important subject. Zack will be making connections and picking up on the latest trends. If you’re in town, and you want to learn what is going on from a leader in PV Operations and Maintenance, reach out to him on the handy conference app. If you want more in-depth O&M insight from a front-line, independent provider, reach out to me at BD@carolinasolar.services
THANK YOU YANN!I am super thankful to Yann for giving me the opportunity to author this morning’s edition. I thought there was no way I would win, and it was super close up to the finish (better luck next time SolarWarriors1!) Who doesn’t love curated industry news first thing in the morning?! Solar Wakeup does a great job of keeping the Carolina Solar Services Team up to date with all the trends, tariffs, and technology. We are incredibly grateful for all the effort that goes into it!
News
1 PV-Magazine:
SEIA speaks on potential devastation of the solar anticircumvention investigation
2 Utility Dive:
Lithium-ion roadblocks drive development of US-based alternatives for grid battery storage
3 Axios:
GM CEO says hybrid work helped speed up EV program
4 Vox:
What’s really holding the world back from stopping climate change
5 PV-Tech:
Renewables ready to ‘turn marathon into a sprint’ as IPCC report calls for acceleration
6 Solar Power World:
Solar developers are ready to meet U.S. clean energy goals. The grid isn’t.
7 Energy Storage News:
New York energy storage interconnection queue reaches 12GW, double the state’s 2030 target
Opinions:
8 New York Times:
Louis Head Has Options (Just Not as Many)
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 5th, 2022
It’s Kansas, Tourney Challenge. Leave it to the Brit amongst us for winning this year’s SolarWakeup bracket challenge. “BritishBasketballGuess” can step forward and claim their fame, of course you can also send me an email so we can coordinate your content. While none of us picked UNC as the ultimate winner, my good friend and rockstar solar/storage policy pro Allie Detrio would have won the challenge if UNC had won the game last night. Shout out to second place, “SolarWarriors”, for losing only on the fact that the score of the game was more closely guessed by the winner.
News
1 Politico:
'Swallowing a toad' - Progressives warm to Manchin's fossil fuel demands to clinch climate package
2 CNBC:
‘It’s now or never’
3 New York Times:
How the Recoil From Russian Gas Is Scrambling World Markets
4 Reuters:
Shift to clean energy must speed up to avoid worst of climate change, U.N. panel says
5 Solar Builder:
10 exhibit hall standouts from 2022 NABCEP CE conference
6 Energy Storage News:
BloombergNEF predicts 30% annual growth for global energy storage market to 2030
7 Canary Media:
A deeper dive into 24/7 carbon-free energy
8 PV-Magazine:
North Carolina court to rule whether HOAs can block rooftop solar
9 PV-Tech:
25GW by 2025 - How Lightsource bp is ‘building the machine’ to lead a global solar charge
Opinions:
10 Axios:
What direct air capture can achieve — in theory
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 4th, 2022
Opinion
News
1 CNN:
Democrats see hope for a clean energy bill, but Manchin is adding a new hurdle - More funding for fossil fuels
2 Bloomberg:
The Price for Europe to Wean Off Russian Gas Keeps Going Up
3 Utility Dive:
Connecticut regulators want grid pilots to 'fail fast' in new approach to energy innovation
4 New York Times:
Russia’s Aggression Prompts Calls to Rethink U.S. Uranium Imports
5 Axios:
Biden seeks a crosswalk between oil and clean energy
6 Reuters:
India's electricity output in March grows at fastest rate in 3 months
7 Solar Power World:
Commerce wants to know how much Chinese aluminum and glass are used in imported solar panels
8 Energy Storage News:
Biden invokes Defense act to boost US battery materials supply chain
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
Senator’s anti-solar state legislation fails, now targeting county zoning law
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for April 1st, 2022
Don’t Fall For It. It comes at you every year and every year so many of you fall for it. It’s April 1st, and for the last 10 years, I’ve given you a fib, 9 years ago I told you that SolarWakeup was acquired by an IOU and two years ago I was appointed to the PSC. This is the 10th year of SolarWakeup and I am out of ideas of how to catch you off guard. It remains an incredible honor to bring you this newsletter every day.
Go From Sale to Install at Least 2 Weeks Faster With Better Designs. How much time, effort, and money go into selling a homeowner on a new solar system—only to have the contract fall apart due to a change order? What if your design at the initial sale could be just as accurate as your final design? EagleView is launching a groundbreaking solution that bridges the gap between sales-ready and install-ready designs, reducing the risk of change orders that diminish the customer experience and lead to canceled contracts. Sign up for our webinar on Thursday, April 7th at 2 p.m. ET. to get an early sneak peek.
News
1 Reuters:
EU will do 'whatever it takes' to bring solar energy manufacturing back to Europe
2 PV-Magazine:
Manchin and the BBB, Intel+Microsoft and ESG, and SEIA in NYC
3 RMI:
How Putin’s War Marks the End of the Fossil Fuel Era
4 Bloomberg:
SunPower in Talks With First Solar on Panel Just for Home Rooftop
5 Axios:
Climate groups push together for greener bitcoin
6 Energy Storage News:
Hawaiian Electric launches Battery Bonus scheme’s 10-year programme
7 PV-Tech:
First Solar locks in local steel supply for Ohio module facility
Opinions:
8 Canary Media:
Can 24/7 carbon-free energy become a global standard?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for March 31st, 2022
Go From Sale to Install at Least 2 Weeks Faster With Better Designs. How much time, effort, and money go into selling a homeowner on a new solar system—only to have the contract fall apart due to a change order? What if your design at the initial sale could be just as accurate as your final design? EagleView is launching a groundbreaking solution that bridges the gap between sales-ready and install-ready designs, reducing the risk of change orders that diminish the customer experience and lead to canceled contracts. Sign up for our webinar on Thursday, April 7th at 2 p.m. ET. to get an early sneak peek.
News
1 Bloomberg:
Australian Firms Plan $38 Billion U.K. Infrastructure Spend
2 New York Times:
OPEC and Russia are set to meet as the war continues to roil the oil market.
3 Axios:
The public pulse on energy
4 Politico:
Biden planning to tap oil reserve to control gas prices
5 Reuters:
Europe told to turn down the heating in Russia gas standoff
6 PV-Tech:
Pressure mounts on US policymakers to pass PV manufacturing tax breaks as funding for DOE-led ‘Accelerator’ is proposed
7 Energy Storage News:
Zero carbon lithium extraction project in Portugal joined by ABB
8 PV-Magazine:
Solar advocates reaffirm their approval of Duke Energy’s proposed net metering successor in North Carolina
9 Solar Builders:
Utility-scale batteries? VPP programs? Both? How states are valuing energy storage
Opinions:
10 WV Gazette:
Utility-scale batteries? VPP programs? Both? How states are valuing energy storage
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for March 30th, 2022
Go From Sale to Install at Least 2 Weeks Faster With Better Designs. How much time, effort, and money go into selling a homeowner on a new solar system—only to have the contract fall apart due to a change order? What if your design at the initial sale could be just as accurate as your final design? Eagle View is launching a groundbreaking solution that bridges the gap between sales-ready and install-ready designs, reducing the risk of change orders that diminish the customer experience and lead to canceled contracts. Sign up for our webinar on Thursday, April 7th at 2 p.m. ET. to get an early sneak peek: https://hubs.li/Q016yvmV0
News
1 Bloomberg:
Solar’s First Trillion Watts Arrives During a Wartime Energy Transition
2 PV-Magazine:
Anticircumvention investigation - An industry reacts
3 Reuters:
Global wind and solar growth on track to meet climate targets
4 Axios:
Climate and energy takeaways from Biden's budget pitch
5 PV-Tech:
Altus Power to supply clean energy solutions to US real estate giant
6 Solar Power World:
DESRI brings almost 200 MW of solar online in Michigan
7 Energy Storage News:
Alternative technologies ‘may struggle to compete with lithium-ion’ as duration grows
Opinions:
8 New York Times:
How to Defeat Putin and Save the Planet
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for March 29th, 2022
Go From Sale to Install at Least 2 Weeks Faster With Better Designs. How much time, effort, and money go into selling a homeowner on a new solar system—only to have the contract fall apart due to a change order? What if your design at the initial sale could be just as accurate as your final design? EagleView is launching a groundbreaking solution that bridges the gap between sales-ready and install-ready designs, reducing the risk of change orders that diminish the customer experience and lead to canceled contracts. Sign up for our webinar on Thursday, April 7th at 2 p.m. ET. to get an early sneak peek.
News
1 PV-Tech:
US DOC launches investigation into alleged solar AD/CVD circumvention following Auxin Solar petition
2 Axios:
Unpacking Biden's European energy plan
3 Bloomberg:
Solar Energy Boom Could Worsen Forced Labor in China, Group Says
4 Wall Street Journal:
Ukraine War Drives Up Cost of Wind, Solar Power
5 Utility Dive:
Hawaiian Electric to revisit Maui capacity planning amid supply chain concern
6 Reuters:
U.S., German officials to meet this week on LNG, hydrogen supplies
7 PV-Magazine:
Distributed solar installed in 2021 nearly matches capacity of all new gas plants
Opinions:
8 Renew Economy:
Switching to renewables is most effective way to prevent gas shortfalls, AEMO says
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for March 28th, 2022
Go From Sale to Install at Least 2 Weeks Faster With Better Designs. How much time, effort, and money go into selling a homeowner on a new solar system—only to have the contract fall apart due to a change order? What if your design at the initial sale could be just as accurate as your final design? EagleView is launching a groundbreaking solution that bridges the gap between sales-ready and install-ready designs, reducing the risk of change orders that diminish the customer experience and lead to canceled contracts. Sign up for our webinar on Thursday, April 7th at 2 p.m. ET. to get an early sneak peek: https://hubs.li/Q016yvmV0
News
1 Utility Dive:
Grid-scale storage installations tripled to a record 3 GW in 2021 - report
2 Reuters:
Italy's Terna to invest in power grid as Ukraine crisis drives renewables
3 Vox:
Europe can lead the way through an energy crisis without more fossil fuels
4 New York Times:
How Joe Manchin Aided Coal, and Earned Millions
5 PV-Magazine:
Federal budget includes $500 million for promoting energy storage
6 Axios:
Study - Methane leaks from U.S. oil-and-gas region worse than estimates
7 PV-Tech:
Maxeon’s transformation ‘nearly in place’ as it upgrades production centres and lands SunPower contract
8 Energy Storage News:
Centrica’s 60MWh battery project near Scottish coast will help integrate offshore wind
Opinions:
9 Canary Media:
Amid backlash, USPS orders more EVs — but will still mostly run on gas
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for March 25th, 2022
Opinion
News
1 PV-Magazine:
LG Energy Solution invests $1.4 billion to build battery factory in Arizona
2 Utility Dive:
Illinois renewable energy plan details extensive equity measures for future solar, energy projects
3 Axios:
Banking heavyweight won't fund new oilfields
4 Solar Builder Magazine:
New York celebrates its top spot in U.S. community solar
5 PV-Tech:
Vikram Solar files for IPO to raise funds for 2GW cell and module manufacturing facility
6 Solar Power World:
New York takes first steps in preparing the electric grid for more renewables
7 Energy Storage News:
US installed 1.6GW/4.7GWh of energy storage in Q4 2021 but supply chain challenges are ongoing, says WoodMac
Opinions:
8 GreenBiz:
Renewable energy shouldn’t be blamed for spiking energy prices — it's the solution
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for March 24th, 2022
Opinion
News
1 New York Times:
Britain announces measures to help people cope with inflation, including cutting gas prices.
2 Axios:
Former top GM executive joins Exxon to lead climate unit
3 PV-Tech:
Aker Horizons sells remaining shares in REC Silicon to Hanwha Solutions in ‘major step’ for US solar manufacturing
4 UTility Dive:
FBI - US energy sector faces 'reconnaissance, scanning' by Russian hackers; 5 companies targeted
5 Canary Media:
Duke Energy’s solar plan questioned by North Carolina attorney general
6 PV-Magazine:
KORE Power Acquires Northern Reliability
Opinions:
7 Renew Economy:
Could a capacity market be key to bringing energy storage to market?
Have a great day!
Yann
