Gas Shortage, EV Impact. Walking up to the cash register at the grocery store, the customer in front of me asked me if I had waited in line to get gas yet. I replied, no, I drive an electric car, without thinking much of it. Until I read today’s top headline, I had not considered the optionality that now exists for consumers. Gas shortage? not for EV drivers. Blackouts? not for folks with solar plus storage. Yes it’s true that there are downside scenarios for EV drivers but the decentralized nature of consumers’ self reliance and self-generation is new to the economic model.

Activism Or Capitalism. ESG investment may seem like an activism victory but I see the investment thesis to be driven by the capitalism side of the ledger. LPs may be calling out ESG reasons for capital allocation but that may be the PR benefit from doing what’s best on a risk adjusted investment. To be clearer, if owning a coal power plant had a 10%+ return opportunity with little risk, capital would still be pursuing that investment regardless of the negative ESG case. On the other hand of the spectrum, capital flowing to solar/storage/wind aren’t doing it because it’s green, but because it has a contracted cash flow that provides a market viable yield.

Generation Forecast Analysis. What happens when the Country heats up this summer and potential fire hot spots cause transmission to shutdown? Reports are saying that outages may occur. In parallel, ACORE has a report that highlights the opportunity created by investing a more dynamic grid. 

No Infrastructure Solar. Equal parts sad and positive, the New York Times goes into Syria to report on the use of solar in a part of the world that has no real infrastructure after much of the Country has been torn apart.

PPAs For C&I Deep Dive. On May 26th, 10am PST, Sustainable Capital Finance (SCF) will host the next webinar in its 2021 webinar series analyzing solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) for Non-Profits and Municipalities, including SCF’s 8-Step PPA process. Additionally, SCF will examine a series of project case studies illustrating common challenges specific to school, non-profit and municipal projects, and requisite solutions. This webinar is recommended for anyone looking to provide solar PPAs for schools, non-profits and municipalities, as well as solar developers & installers looking to increase their knowledge on SCF’s PPA solutions. Click here to sign up for this exciting, free webinar!

• Bloomberg: A Dry Pipeline Asks – Who Wants an Electric Car Now?
• Axios: Kerry – Banks aren’t “pressured” on CO2 pledges
• Canary Media: MISO takes a deep look at electrification’s potential impact on its grid
• New York Times: Syria’s Surprising Solar Boom – Sunlight Powers the Night in Rebel Idlib
• Reuters: Extreme heat could cause U.S. power shortages this summer -NERC
• PV-Tech: ACORE – Transmission ITC could spur 42GW of wind and solar capacity
• Energy Storage News: Eos’ post-SPAC financial results show high cost of commercialisation for zinc battery player
• PV-Magazine: Minnesota is primed to turn a page on the conflict between solar growth and farmland preservation

 Opinion

• Solar Power World: New York redefines the future of community solar

Best, Yann

Friday Rundown. Before we get into the quick recap of the news, let’s do a review on what it takes for an issue to become a big issue. When Colonial was attacked by ransomware it was a story, but when gas stations run out of fuel and there’s a run on gas across the east coast it will make headlines that won’t go away until the lines at the gas stations do.

The Hack And Pipe Shutdown. Colonial was attacked by ransomware hackers. The shutdown of the pipelines was precautionary but therein lies the problem for anyone in the energy space. One phish of your employees at the corporate level and companies have to determine what that means to their operating infrastructure, definitely a thought exercise for companies around the Country. The hack, as well as what happened with Solarwinds (not solar related), creates the impact of reaching the President’s desk and an executive order to tighten cyber-security protocols in infrastructure sectors including energy.

Pricing Signals (Again). The grass in California hasn’t been green for a few months and moisture levels don’t look promising. With a tough fire season anticipated and hot days to pressure the energy load, regulators are hoping that energy storage is going to play a role. A role indeed but it that doesn’t mean that energy storage asset owners and developers have received any new pricing signals from the operator, CAISO or any other.

What’s The Right Trade Policy? Administrations may have changed but it comes to trade policy in solar, not much has. There is a universal desire to have cheap solar for consumers while also having a domestic manufacturing market. This means that lowering tariffs for solar modules doesn’t work well for either party including the Biden administration.

Come To Florida. (Everyone else is and the traffic is out of control) But the sun is shining on the solar industry! Florida SEIA is hosting a Solar and Storage Summit on June 3 in Orlando! There will be continuing education classes, an exposition hall, two tracks of panel discussions, a cornhole competition during happy hour, along with a keynote by Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO of SEIA. Pre-registration is required, and tickets are selling fast with less than 120 remaining! Register here.

• Axios: Colonial pipeline hack – Key takeaways from Biden’s first energy crisis
• Energy Storage News: California battery additions help summer energy situation but state still faces ‘reliability risks’
• Politico: The green schism threatening Biden’s climate plan
• Canary Media: The political fight over solar tariffs wages on
• Brookings: Environmental permitting might block Biden’s clean energy targets
• PV-Magazine: Biden signs Executive Order addressing cyber vulnerabilities in energy and other sectors
• New York Times: An NYC Street Sweeper Like You’ve Never Seen
• Solar Power World: More than half of output at New Jersey community solar array to be allocated to low-income subscribers

 Opinion

• Los Angeles Times: Newsletter – How should utility companies spend your money? A debate rages

Best, Yann

More Tomorrow. 
Come To Florida. (Everyone else is and the traffic is out of control) But the sun is shining on the solar industry! Florida SEIA is hosting a Solar and Storage Summit on June 3 in Orlando! There will be continuing education classes, an exposition hall, two tracks of panel discussions, a cornhole competition during happy hour, along with a keynote by Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO of SEIA. Pre-registration is required, and tickets are selling fast with less than 120 remaining! Register here.

• PV-Tech: Array Technologies withdraws 2021 guidance amidst ‘unprecedented’ rise in materials, logistics costs
• PV-Magazine: California’s grid is better off than a year ago, but worries linger as CAISO looks toward summer
• Utility Dive: FERC deems Duke, Southern SEEM proposal ‘deficient’, sends utilities back to the drawing board
• Axios: U.S. sees escalating climate change impacts, EPA report finds
• Reuters: Spain’s Repsol to invest in U.S. renewable energy developer Hecate – sources
• Grist: Two-thirds of California’s counties are in a drought emergency. Get used to it.
• Energy Storage News: LS Power buys distributed energy infrastructure group GI Energy and its New York battery projects
• Canary Media: AlphaStruxure’s solar-powered, electric-bus-charging microgrid

 Opinion

• RMI: Bringing Back Clean Air

Best, Yann

It’s Another Lightning. Everything is about to change. With the release of the F-150 EV, especially if it looks like a traditional F-150, Ford will be changing the future of transportation. They should do the Explorer at the same time!

Come To Florida. (Everyone else is and the traffic is out of control) But the sun is shining on the solar industry! Florida SEIA is hosting a Solar and Storage Summit on June 3 in Orlando! There will be continuing education classes, an exposition hall, two tracks of panel discussions, a cornhole competition during happy hour, along with a keynote by Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO of SEIA. Pre-registration is required, and tickets are selling fast with less than 120 remaining! Register here.

• Car And Driver: Ford Confirms Electric F-150 Will Be Called Lightning
• GreenBiz: Why we should electrify the US school bus fleet
• Utility Dive: Duke ‘optimistic’ on seeing broad North Carolina energy bill in 2021 amid Democratic, NGO exclusions
• Axios: Biden officials green-light nation’s first big offshore wind project
• Reuters: Pandemic derails Caribbean islands’ bid for greener, cheaper energy
• Canary Media: PG&E’s $7.5B securitization – A bellwether for utility efforts to cover the costs of climate change?
• PV-Magazine: Dominion buys solar developer Birdseye Renewable

 Opinion

• PV-Tech: Swell Energy readies solar-plus-storage VPP offer for SCE customers ahead of wildfire season

Best, Yann