Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for July 20th, 2020

John Lewis And Environmental Justice. I read the news of John Lewis’s passing with sadness. He’s been an example of leading by action while also working within the congressional process. As it pertains to work we participate in, Lewis often included references to environmental justice, clean air and water in his speeches. Our industry is more than just generating electricity fueled by the son, we have a greater responsibility to cast benefits far and wide.

SolarAPP Moves Forward. Rocky Mountain Institute is deeply involved in the SolarAPP launch and is updating their view of the endeavor. For those of you unfamiliar with SolarAPP, it is a project led by NREL and others to create fast track and instant permitting for solar. As installers and users of permitting systems, your involvement is starting to be more crucial. First you will want to educate yourself on the project. Second, installers will be asked to identify and lobby AHJs to get involved as pilot participants or adopters of the system. Instant permitting is one of the best tools we can use to move the industry forward, cutting the speed from contract to install in half and savings thousands of dollars in the process.

Virtual World Designs!  Here’s the latest from our friends at OpenSolar, the free sales software we discussed in the interview with Birchy, it’s co-founder.  We talked then about the digital toolkit and how it supports inside sales and customer management online – now, today they launched their next generation design tool, OpenSolar 3D – the short video clip here has a nice overview (excuse the pun).  Pretty cool technology flying around your customers roof live with them online, placing panels with pitch, azimuth and shading all automated in what they describe as an “immersive customer facing experience”.  I know Birchy’s answer to yesterday’s question of “how do we scale 100% by 2035”: design and close your leads efficiently in a virtual, online customer experience with no site visit (COVID or not), then click a button to auto-populate SolarAPP to receive your digital permit, then and only then do you invest your money in driving a truck – and that’s to complete the install!  Seems OpenSolar’s mission is to make that a reality for all installers, no matter the size (interesting given the Sunrun-Vivint news) – and deliver that for free.  Good to see bold moves and innovation across the space. What else do you think changes the game on 100% by 2035?

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 17th, 2020

Happy Friday. I hope you all have a nice weekend and perhaps get to spend some time getting away in the near future. In the meantime, post a nice comment about SolarWakeup on your LinkedIn and tell your network where you get your news in the morning. Here is your rundown.

Good News FERC. The NERA filing that threatened net metering and the federalization of state regulations was dismissed by FERC yesterday. Utilities will have to continue making their case for monopoly power at the state level.

Not All Roses. FERC also ruled on a redefinition of PURPA around how states can adjust contracts. It also lowers the standard for challenging the qualifying facility status. Reception online was tepid to angry, more analysis to come.

SMUD Tries Too Hard. I like the idea of SMUD wanting to go carbon neutral by 2030 but let’s look at the track record. SMUD, on more than one occasion, has come for solar net metering and tried to minimize that market. Lately, SMUD looked to kill the new home solar mandate. The large muni has the opportunity to be a national leader with solar, I hope they recognize that.

Next Week. The launch of SolarWakeup 3.0 is about ready to be announced and I thank you all for your guidance and help along the way. My goal is to fundamentally change the power dynamic in the industry to those that get more customers to go solar. 

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 16th, 2020

Checking In On Solar. Making it a quick rundown today, lots of interesting news to catch up on. Reuters does a trans-atlantic review of rooftop solar. SolarWakeup readers will catch that analysts have not adjusted their 2020 forecast which was brought to 30% down from 2019 when Corona started. We’ll be up in 2020, as I’ve said before.

Digging For C&I Gold. With their unique way of financing C&I solar, Wunder now has more dry powder behind them with a $100million capital raise. Congrats to the team that is looking to solve this large and untapped market.

Hedge The Gas Bridge. Natural gas is a bridge for marketing purposes only. In reality most of the gas utilities also want to repower with renewables as long as they can rate-base that change. One way to do it is to get regulators to start including the cost, or equivalent of, a hedge to guarantee the 30year fuel cost estimates for those power plants. That hedge is expensive if impossible to get, and ratepayers currently provide it for free.

V2G Has My Attention. Vehicle to grid technology is fresh and in the very early stages. I can’t wait to see how it works and how the market creates revenue streams. It’s going to be like uber for utilities except I don’t have to drive anyone, just let the utility take electricity from my car.

Vote To Make Impact. BlackRock takes its climate voice into the board room and proxy votes. 53 is a good start, I look forward to seeing it at 5,300.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Studies are out that there are almost 1 million jobs available in the clean energy industry with targeted stimulus in the next package. Congress should see that there is great value for growth right here.

New Pod On Midwest Solar. I talk with TJ Kanczuzewski, the CEO of Inovateus Solar, about his company’s recently released sustainability report. Both how sustainability impacts their customers demand for solar and how they recently installed a solar farm with zero waste. Catch it on your favorite podcast app.

Event Today. Clean Energy for Biden is hosting a discussion on the Clean Power Plan with the plans policy advisors. There are some great events coming up that are focused on the policy and how it can be implemented.

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for July 15th, 2020

$2 Trillion Man. As expected, Joe Biden announced a $2 trillion plan green infrastructure plan. The plan centers around two fundamental truths, we can create a generation of great jobs while also achieving 100% clean energy by 2035. With less than 100 days to the election, I can’t emphasize enough how feasible this plan is. Both to get this done legislatively and have the leadership to push this as a must have for future generations. As I mentioned, my oldest turned 10 yesterday and I spent a good part of the day thinking about the future and the year 2035 kept coming up in my mind. 2035 is the year my oldest goes to college and 2020 is the year that Columbia opens its climate school. That being said, my kids know that they are bound to Hopkins.

The Tech Is Already Here. One of the realities with a 2035 plan is that we already know how to execute it and the costs already near competitiveness across the board. We need to scale up some of the manufacturing but otherwise the industry is ready to act. Where this falls short is regulatory leeway. Whether it means approvals for projects, allowing companies to enter into competitive agreements for energy or instant permitting for residential solar, the regulations still prioritize incumbent monopolies.

Location, Location, Location. The concept of buying the land around coal plants makes all the sense in the world if only for the proximity to the substation and transmission. Much like the PG&E project at Moss Landing, California, where the coal plant building is being retrofitted  with massive banks of batteries. Why not just buy the coal plant instead?

Biden Talks Transmission. In a Clean Energy event with Biden which raised over $1 million for the campaign the Vice President brought up his focus on transmission not once but twice. It reminds me of when Senator Warren got into a policy discussion about net metering, this time with the VP wanting to get serious about reducing the barriers of implementation for cleaner generation. 

Opinion

Best, Yann