Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for May 11th, 2021

Solar Spills, Revenues, And Oil Wells. You don’t have to listen to the entire Axios interview with Shell’s CEO but note this one line. “Asked when clean energy will be more than 50% of Shell’s business, van Beurden said, “I think that will probably be somewhere in the next decade.” Shell has one of the largest electricity trading books already (in the US) so electricity as a commodity isn’t new but you’ve also seen some solar pros leading Shell New Energies into several investments and the company also bought storage startup, Sonnen, several years ago. In a world where transportation is electrified, i.e. oil replaced by electrons, you have to ask yourself what the company fuels as the new oil well. While Shell sells 4x as much commodity as it produces, you can correlate that same multiple between trading and generation of electrons. In this decade, Shell’s new oil well is the solar/wind/storage asset that cleans up that solar spill Vote Solar has been warning us about for years.

Midwest Policy Job. Join Vote Solar as the Midwest Policy Director, apply here.

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.

 Opinion

Best, Yann

 

This is your SolarWakeup for May 10th, 2021

Role Of DG And NEM 3.0. We haven’t talked about it in some time but California is coming up to a legislative crossroads and grid operators may have one less tool to use in their grid planning. There is a bill working through the assembly that could possibly end net metering as we know it and change the rules for existing solar that has been installed. In solar we’ve become normalized by the process of being attacked and hearing the worst-case scenarios only to see the end result work for us. The problem with being numb to the process is that you never know when you may just take it for granted and lose. While it cost jobs in Nevada and Arizona when we lost those net metering battles, imagine the future of NEM 3.0 in California is lost to the incumbents. Not only does it destroy 40% of the market, but it also crushes the foundation of the entire solar market, investor confidence, and the opportunity to continue the energy transition.

Pipeline Cyberattack. A fuels pipeline company was attached by ransomware hackers and had to shut down their pipeline as a precaution. While the infrastructure itself was not impacted by the hack, it clearly identifies the risk of large concentration into that system. It also should create the question internally at your companies how your systems are maintained from a compliance and cybersecurity perspective.

What’s The Plan? The IEA is about to publish the report that outlines its view on how to get to 100% by 2050. Interestingly, the road will likely not only include generation but also the ability to expand and integrate more variable generation using more dynamic infrastructure on the grid-like smart transformers, storage, and HVDC. From an engineering perspective, you have to be excited about what a dynamic grid can do, with more elasticity than ever and generation on both ends of it. The entire planning exercise is made more complicated with the electrification of transportation, just think of the single variable of a school bus fleet needing to be charged at the same location at the same time, a couple of thousand times per day across the Country.

The Infra Bill. Congress is back in session this week. Don’t get distracted by some of the crazy sideshows that are happening or any of the commentary from individuals on either extreme side. This week, Biden is looking to play Let’s Make A Deal!

 Opinion

Best, Yann

 

This is your SolarWakeup for May 7th, 2021

The Jobs Census. While the pandemic took some air out of the jobs market in the solar industry, our productivity increased a great deal. We’re now seeing the lack of workers in solar once again while seeing backlogs and pipelines expand across the market ecosystem. Without a doubt, pipeline of trained workers is a crucial piece of the pie.

Busy Week. Sorry for the lack of content this week, it’s been a busy week at FlexGen and I will be getting back to your regularly scheduled programming next week. Have a great weekend!

 Opinion

Best, Yann

 

This is your SolarWakeup for May 6th, 2021

 Opinion

Best, Yann