The Software Imperative. We will get into this more in the future but important note to you today as it’s covered in the top article. As solar gets more involved in grid services, virtual power plants, and energy trading, it also gets closer to grid operations. For grid operations, many of the fleet management functions are digital/software focused but they also need to meet regulatory compliance and ensure cybersecurity is central to the function. Solar plus storage plants also have the generation functionality which makes the communication between hardware and software a central function that is hard to find when the experience is not deep given the newness of the market.

Perpetual Interconnect. When the power plant has a perpetual interconnect and opportunity to extend site leases, what happens to the power plant over time? Can you adjust the modules? Will the utility allow for new inverters or even upsizing? What about adding DC or AC-coupled energy storage? All of those revenue opportunities could prove to be a secondary market for existing projects.

Regan To EPA. Congratulations to the new EPA administrator, Michael Regan.

A Product Showcase. In two weeks, join CALSSA and the dozens of manufacturers in a product showcase. This is a free event if you register in advance, you can do that here. Absent in-person events and a desire to stay in front of a computer all day, CALSSA brings you the best way to learn about the latest and greatest. 

• Utility Dive: What’s in your software? Federal initiative targets frequently overlooked electric utility vulnerabilities
• Solar Builder: The case for large-scale solar plant repowering-as-a-service
• Axios: Senate confirms Michael Regan as EPA administrator
• Greentech Media: California’s Latest Demand-Side Emergency Plan Draws Criticism From Providers
• PV-Tech: Array Technologies increased revenue 35% to US$872.7 million in 2020
• Bloomberg: India to Tax Solar Equipment Imports to Help Local Companies
• Reuters: Factbox – How Fukushima helped to transform Germany’s power sector

Opinion

• RMI: Financing 1.5°C – Contextualizing Wall Street’s Latest Climate Commitments

Best, Yann

All Eyes On DC. With the American Rescue Plan headed to Biden’s desk today all eyes move towards the climate and infrastructure bill. It was Senator Manchin that said it could be as high as $4trillion investment and it launches Mayor/Secretary Pete into the spotlight. In bipartisan formats, energy storage standalone ITC is center stage alongside the rest of the ITC expansion/extension. This major bill would be a decade of infrastructure improvement for grids, roads, bridges and more but likely the most meaningful expansion of climate policy in the history of the Country.

Manchin’s Role And Rule. The West Virginia Senator has been saying that he will not take the bill up in reconciliation and exclude Republicans from the start. Lindsay Graham is posturing some talk about adding the GOP to the climate discussion, which quite frankly would be a welcome addition from my perspective. Manchin holds the key as the 50th vote and could be pressuring the GOP to get involved or risk being left out as they did in the latest COVID stimulus. The reality is that all infrastructure is local and when it comes to our market, it would mean hundreds of thousands of well paying jobs for many years across America.

Standard Standards. NREL Is out with a new permitting database assessing the state of permitting, in progress and inspection across 20,000 jurisdictions. Ahead of the launch of SolarAPP, NREL is showing that even though there are national standards for solar construction, there are no standards carried across the Country. NREL is currently processing and selecting the administrator for the SolarAPP platform which should help carry the program into the next phase of launch.

New Energy Demand. Markets continue to understate the role and impact that EVs will have on the grid. When we need power, how much we need and where it’s needed.

A Product Showcase. In two weeks, join CALSSA and the dozens of manufacturers in a product showcase. This is a free event if you register in advance, you can do that here. Absent in person events and a desire to stay in front of a computer all day, CALSSA brings you the best way to learn about the latest and greatest. 

• PV-Magazine: Lawmakers propose energy storage system tax incentive
• Solar Power World: New NREL tool aggregates solar permitting timelines, requirements across all jurisdictions
• Reuters: EV rollout will require huge investments in strained U.S. power grids
• Utility Dive: ‘A total mindshift’: Utilities replace gas peakers, ‘old school’ demand response with flexible DERs
• Bloomberg: Goldman Weighs Sale of Majority Stake in Japan Renewable
• Renew Economy: Australia’s big fossil fuel generators are being replaced by big batteries
• Recharge News: BOEM chief pledges new US offshore wind leases ‘as quickly as we can’

Opinion

• Axios: Energy and climate move closer to center stage on Capitol Hill

Best, Yann

• Utility Dive: Buttigieg says infrastructure faces a ‘once-in-a-lifetime moment’ as power grids, roads get C- grade
• Fox New: Manchin pledges to block Biden infrastructure bill if Republicans aren’t included
• Axios: Scoop – Lindsey Graham is talking to John Kerry about climate — again
• GreenBiz: 25 badass women shaping climate action in 2021
• PV-Magazine: Bill would mandate rooftop solar on new homes and commercial buildings
• Solar Power World: Renewable energy advocate submits Solar Farm design to LEGO Ideas
• Solar Builder: Nexamp secures $440 million for community solar portfolio of nearly 100 projects

Opinion

• Greentech Media: Jigar Shah’s Plan to Manage DOE’s $40B Loan Program

Best, Yann

In Case You Missed It. I joined FlexGen, the second largest integrator in the US, last week. Read here. I want to give you a behind the scenes of why I joined FlexGen at what I see as a crucial moment in our market and the energy transition.

The Macros. Renewables are going to continue taking addition share of the generation portfolio. Politics will drive that continuation to some degree but cost and emissions are the leading factors. Consumers are leading the charge by adding solar at record levels, remember my 1million solar homes forecast a few years from now. The climate related impacts with hurricanes on the east coast, fires in the west and heat/freeze temps causing new grid peaks. Lastly, with solar costs down 90% since I joined the industry in 2006, battery costs are also coming down. The ability for solar and storage to be market makers not market takers is a fundamental reason for me making this leap.

Grid Needs. Natural disasters caused the grid to shutoff but the heat waves and winter freezes really put the pressure on the grid. This behind the scenes in ERCOT shows just how close to long term disaster the grid came. A grid only works when generation and demand are close to matching up and when either side of the chain falls down, there is a slack in the line that can cause major issue. This slack is optimized in the ancillary services portion of the power market and result in what you would imagine the details of grid services is. So whether it was front of the meter batteries or a virtual power plant, batteries play a major role in this dispatch capability.

A ClimateTech Play. ClimateTech is the nexus where hardware meets software to enable the energy transition happening today. For the past 10 years, FlexGen has been building the most advanced software platform that spans from electron controls to trading integration in the energy management system. The energy storage systems are true systems, power electronics, controls and battery racks brought together by hardware vendors with billions of R&D in play to make technological leaps. For us, as integrators, we will always bring the most bankable technology to our partner EPCs, IPPs and other asset owners. That’s the advantage of being hardware neutral in clean tech, something I’ve believed in since making that mistake in the 08/09 years.

Maturing Market. Like solar, energy storage is finding its comfort with all of the market participants. Who does what and how does it work are going to be solved. As a technology partner to the market, Kelcy said it best. “We didn’t just wake up and say, ‘Let’s make this software capability because we think it could create a lot of value,” he added. “Our software platform has been built over a decade with all the learnings and scars and bruising that occurs in being on the front edge of innovation.”

Learning Together. Over the coming weeks, months and years, I hope to bring you along my learning curve. You’ve come to know me as wanting to be in every room and every conversation and I want to learn from you and explain what market discoveries I’m making as we work this in parallel. I know that we will make 100% clean energy grids a reality and that means we all have to do a lot more of what we are doing, so let’s go forth and execute together. In the meantime, I’ll be here every morning and you can hit reply anytime to say hello or ask a question. 

• Axios: John Kerry to travel to Europe next week for climate talks
• CNBC: Biden climate envoy John Kerry talking to banks, asset managers about mobilizing capital for clean energy
• Reuters: Give shut-out U.S. coal, auto workers a chance in green energy – Manchin
• Utility Dive: Glick commits to avoid repeat of ‘disturbing’ lack of action in Texas after 2011 outages
• PV-Tech: New US Energy Secretary shakes up DOE, calls for ‘hundreds of gigawatts’ of new clean energy
• Solar Builder: You down with VPPs? How the virtual power plant movement is going so far
• Bloomberg: Saudi Arabia’s Bold Plan to Rule the $700 Billion Hydrogen Market

Opinion

• Grist: The First 100 – Prospects for a CLEAN Future

Best, Yann