This is your SolarWakeup for August 18th, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Reuters:
Solar could be 40% of U.S. power by 2035 -Biden administration
2 Energy Storage News:
US utilities set to add 10,000MW of battery storage to the grid by 2023
3 Wall Street Journal:
Generate Capital Invests $240 Million in Solar Developer Nexamp
4 Canary Media:
Infrastructure bill contains less transmission funding than advertised
5 PV-Tech:
Petitions call for US investigation into ‘illegal’ circumvention of solar antidumping measures via Southeast Asian entities
6 Solar Power World:
Biden administration reveals possible intent to extend ITC in new briefing
7 PV-Magazine:
Solar modules are being detained by customs agents, reports suggest
8 GreenBiz:
Behind data center giant Equinix's $3.7 billion investment in green bonds
Opinions:
9 New York Times:
Who Created the Renewable-Energy Miracle?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 17th, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Axios:
Climate change becomes key theme in Q2 corporate earning calls
2 Solar Power World:
California solar contractors must be aware of new licensing, consumer protection rulings
3 PV-Magazine:
Residential solar pricing down 6.3%, hints of greater drops coming
4 Bloomberg:
Elon Musk’s SolarCity Trial Nears Conclusion With $2 Billion at Stake
5 Reuters:
U.S. declares first Western reservoir water shortage, triggering cuts
6 Energy Storage News:
Powin in multi-gigawatt LFP supply deal with EVE, hopes to see more US-made cells in market
7 Utility Dive:
Michigan regulators push for utility pilots to test how energy storage benefits the grid
8 PV-Tech:
FTC Solar turning to alternative shipping methods as losses forecast to mount in third quarter
Opinions:
9 RMI:
Why Aren’t More Grid-Edge Startups Investable?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 16th, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Axios:
July breaks record as world's hottest month
2 Los Angeles Times:
Biden wants to create clean energy jobs. Here’s what they might look like
3 Reuters:
Droughts shrink hydropower, pose risk to global push to clean energy
4 CNBC:
How solar power can become a small part of Big Oil’s future
5 Utility Dive:
PSEG unloads fossil fuel plants for $1.9B in push toward decarbonization
6 PV-Tech:
How solar-backed virtual power plants can displace peaker plants
7 Solar Power World:
Swinerton Renewable Energy expands operations with new San Diego headquarters
8 Energy Storage News:
Sungrow to supply 1GW of battery storage equipment for Broad Reach Power Texas projects
9 Canary Media:
Solar High Rollers - Reasons to be cheerful
10 PV-Magazine:
Report shows strong solar+storage market growth… and plenty of room for improvement
Opinions:
11 Bloomberg:
What Are You Willing to Sacrifice to Stop Climate Change?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 13th, 2021
Have a great weekend!
News
1 CBS:
New Orleans will require COVID vaccines or negative tests for bars, Superdome and more
2 The Hill:
Pelosi breaks bad news to moderates - No vote on infrastructure this month
3 Energy Storage News:
Stem Inc affirms 2021 guidance despite US$100m loss reported in first quarterly results since public listing
4 Utility Dive:
As Senate passes infrastructure bill, Democrats eye opportunity for more energy spending
5 Bloomberg:
Blackstone to Invest as Much as $500 Million in Solar Firm Array
6 Axios:
Bill Gates pledges $1.5B for climate projects with Energy Department
7 Reuters:
RWE CEO - don't believe in renewable megadeals in next years
8 PV-Tech:
US solar manufacturers secure DOE funding to help develop innovative tech
9 Solar Power World:
Nexamp expands into utility-scale solar development market
Opinions:
10 Canary Media:
We need gargantuan investment in EV charging stations. Where will the money come from?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 12th, 2021
A Budget Resolution. The Senate passed their budget framework which sets up the reconciliation path and the House is expected to do their framework week of August 23rd. This sets up for the committees to put their language together in time for Biden’s September 15th deadline. This $3.5trillion spending bill has some goodies in it, we’re talking some real money in this one!
News
1 Politico:
Senate adopts budget that paves way for $3.5T spending plan
2 PV-Magazine:
Solar highlights in the Senate’s $3.5 trillion budget proposal
3 Energy Storage News:
‘Tremendous investment’ - US bipartisan infrastructure legislation puts billions into energy storage
4 Canary Media:
California takes bold steps to make electricity the fuel of choice for new buildings
5 Utility Dive:
California utilities, clean energy groups urge CPUC to move quickly following Newsom's emergency call
6 Axios:
Exclusive - Strange bedfellows come together on EV charging
7 PV-Tech:
Shoals Technologies reports record Q2 revenue despite components
9 CleanTechnica:
U.S. Department Of Energy Awards $45 Million To Advance Solar Manufacturing
Opinions:
10 Reuters:
California's clean grid may lean on oil, gas to avoid summer blackouts
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 11th, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Politico:
Biden scores a bipartisan win. Even his team isn’t ‘Pollyannaish’ about more.
2 Utility Dive:
FERC requests more evidence of reliability impacts as Spire STL pipeline seeks temporary approval
3 New York Times:
Biden Finds a Bipartisan Victory, but Democratic Unity May Prove More Elusive
4 Axios:
IPCC's journey from "probable" to "unequivocal" on human-caused warming
5 Reuters:
Canada's Heliene opening its second U.S. solar panel factory
6 Grist:
The Dixie Fire is moving too fast for California’s emergency alert systems
7 PV-Tech:
US Senate passes landmark infrastructure bill as attention turns to solar ITC extension
8 Canary Media:
Ambri's liquid metal battery digs up $144 million in storage investment gold rush
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
Standard Solar installs one of New York’s largest community solar + storage projects
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 10th, 2021
IPCC Sounds Climate Alarm. It’s getting hot out there and scientists are saying it’s all coming earlier than previously expected. When my favorite sports podcast starts talking about climate change and rising oceans sinking Miami, you know that climate concerns are getting mainstream. Unfortunately, there is no correlation to the political reality of anyone really giving enough thought to how to actually avoid this outcome. Read the details because I can’t do the scientists justice in how to accurately portray the red alarm.
Budget Bill Timeline. Schumer released the plan for the budget bill and the plan for getting it to the Senate with a goal timeframe of September 15th. This is the target for committees doing their legislative work but largely ignores the House and how they will package the bipartisan infrastructure bill with the budget bill. Will Pelosi sit on the bipartisan bill for 6 weeks or more?
Stranded Not Stranded. Stranded assets is how the market defines coal and gas power plants that are losing their value beyond the current contracts when cost of production exceeds value of generation. I see energy storage being the savior to stranded assets or at least the perceived value of those sites. Land plus interconnection are the two ingredients most crucial to a storage asset, particularly in competitive power markets. Look for those asset owners to make a big run and install storage assets on those sites and unstrand those investments.
Helioscope Acquired. Congrats to Paul and Paul at Folsom Labs. From the empty office in the Genability office to the pioneers of digital layouts, you made your mark on the solar industry for a long time. Getting acquired by Aurora makes sense and I look forward to seeing how you build the next generation with even more resources.
News
1 The Guardian:
Major climate changes inevitable and irreversible – IPCC’s starkest warning yet
2 Vox:
The devastating new UN report on climate change, explained
3 Axios:
World leaders, activists react to "sobering" UN climate report
4 New York Times:
Senate Democrats Begin $3.5 Trillion Push for ‘Big, Bold’ Social Change
5 Utility Dive:
Push for green energy could strand more than $68B in coal and gas assets, S&P says
6 PV-Tech:
ReNew Power signs PPA for ‘India’s first’ round-the-clock renewable energy project
7 RMI:
We Have Solutions to the Climate Crisis. Now We Must Act.
8 Solar Power World:
Aurora Solar acquires Folsom Labs in big solar software move
9 Canary Media:
Why rooftop solar leader Sunrun chose a utility executive as its next CEO
Opinions:
10 PV-Magazine:
Who is working against distributed solar - State campaigns in the East
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 9th, 2021
Infra 1 To Pass Senate. Late last night the Senate ended the threat of filibuster on the bipartisan infrastructure bill with 18 GOP members joining the democrats. This puts the bill to pass the Senate sometime today or as late as Wednesday depending on procedural moves to delay. As we head into the recess, look for the House to decide how to get their votes in order as it appears that it could be really close to not being able to pass without a move on the budget reconciliation bill which would be the vehicle for the ITC extension. Democrats in the House aren’t particularly fond of this infrastructure bill and may hold it hostage for ensuring that the Senate passes the reconciliation bill.
The EV Gas Station Business. It’s already happening, when I don’t charge at home, I use a supercharger that is collocated with a WaWa gas station. Last night I added over 200 miles for around $6 in less than 20 minutes. EV infrastructure spending was largely removed from the infrastructure bill and it begs the question why this is needed anyways. Tesla, Chargepoint, EVgo and others have already proven that you can grow a network infrastructure with charging and the delta between fuel mile and electric mile is wide enough to charge a nice premium and run a business. Speed is the argument, I think, to get more stations up and running and get more people into EVs earlier but that’s what the other OEMs should be doing. Obviously EVgo just went public, but why hasn’t GM bought that business yet? Ford already did a deal with Sunrun for a car powered home backup system, why wouldn’t they own that business and expand into EV stations?
Hydrogen As A Solar Market. Green hydrogen is starting to look like the best path to greening dense energy consumption and I think it’s one of the best opportunities to speed up the growth of renewables by expanding the offtaker need and market. Would be great to see some numbers on this.
Solar (Freakin) Roadways. Secretary Pete thought he was hyping a fun thing in Georgia, their solar roadway pilot. Have you given him some love for showing off solar on his Instagram?
News
1 Politico:
Biden's infrastructure bill on cruise control to Senate passage
2 Utility Dive:
Entergy touts hydrogen as tool to meet industrial customers' green goals
3 Axios:
The long road to Biden's electric vehicle goal
4 Grist:
Big Three’ automakers join Biden in electric car promises
5 Energy Storage News:
What we know about Europe’s ‘largest grid-connected battery project’ so far
6 Pv-Magazine:
Sunrun names Mary Powell as CEO and looks to faster growth to finish the year
7 Canary Media:
California's biggest utility plans to bury 10,000 miles of power lines. How much will that cost residents?
Opinions:
8 GreenBiz:
Do we still need rooftop solar?
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 6th, 2021
From Day 1. For the better part of my career in solar, Lynn Jurich has been the CEO of Sunrun. If you go back to the 2008 era of solar, residential wasn’t really the thing that was expected to be the big thing, especially if you were based outside of California like I was. Think of all the companies in resi that came and went since then but Sunrun and Lynn stayed the course even while they were being counted out and placed in second. Here are some things I think folks should know about Sunrun and Lynn that impact the industry and where it is today. Sunrun held a central conviction that being aggressive on defending and advancing solar policy was a vital interest to the business. That meant investing millions of dollars every year to fight policy battles in Kansas, Wisconsin and other places that weren’t core to their market. It meant playing a founding role in TASC alongside others and always letting team members build partnerships with state associations and having them be the first to raise their hands when donation requests came in. Not only at the State level but I also give Sunrun big recognition for playing a leading role in the ITC extension in 2015 but that’s a story for another year. All of that to say that it’ll be a different when Lynn leaves her post as CEO at the end of the month. Of course, it is great to see Mary Powell join Sunrun as CEO coming in from her board director role that she’s held for 3 years and of course as former CEO of Green Mountain Power.
News
1 New York Times:
A Rooftop Solar Company Hires a Utility Veteran as Chief Executive
2 CNBC:
Biden pushes for electric vehicles to make up half of U.S. auto sales by 2030
3 Bloomberg:
Carlyle’s Pooja Goyal Mixes Finance With Sustainability
4 Utility Dive:
DC Circuit orders FERC to analyze climate, environmental justice more thoroughly
5 Axios:
Moody's to acquire disaster risk modeling company RMS for $2 billion
6 RMI:
The Urgent Need to Clean Up Transportation
7 Energy Storage News:
EIA - US battery storage installed capacity hit 1,650MW by end of 2020
8 Canary Media:
Long-duration energy storage is now a reality. How can it make money?
9 PV-Magazine:
Three more companies ask the ITC to extend solar tariffs for four more years
Opinions:
10 PV-Tech:
Don’t expect shipping pressures to ease anytime soon, say industry analysts
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for August 5th, 2021
Opinion
News
1 Axios:
Kerry names G20 climate holdouts, slams Trump for destroying U.S. credibility
2 Washington Post:
Bipartisan bill leaves out key climate, clean energy steps
3 The Hill:
White House trying to beat back bipartisan Cornyn infrastructure amendment
4 Canary Media:
Enphase wants customers to know exactly how much money they earn with batteries
5 CNBC:
These names could be winners as solar stocks resurge, strategist says
6 Utility Dive:
The US power sector is halfway to net zero emissions, but it gets harder now, analysts say
7 PV-Tech:
AEMO releases report outlining five scenarios for Australia’s energy future
8 Energy Storage News:
UK sees record-breaking submitted battery storage capacity under planning in Q2 2021
Opinions:
9 PV-Magazine:
New York adds $52.5 million in community solar incentives for low-income residents
Have a great day!
Yann
