Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for April 17th, 2020

Survey Is Back. This week brought us movement on three topics that allows this survey to give better insights. Companies know whether they are receiving PPP funds from the first tranche, how building departments are coping and how sales and leads are shaping up. Submit your input in this 4 minute survey available here. Please forward it to your trade association and other solar colleagues.

EEI Comes In For Strike. A small and unknown group called New England Ratepayers Association has filed a rather advanced docket with FERC. While the group spends about $40k per year on legal matters, this filing, seemingly prepared by an EEI associated lawyer, is seeking to put net metering under FERC’s jurisdiction. You read that right, in the middle of a pandemic, utilities are seeking to federalize state energy affairs. Harvard’s Ari Peskoe explains the filing in this twitter stream which is summarized in the article in the rundown.

FERC Says No Thanks. In case you were wondering how FERC was feeling with regard to renewable energy measures, the controversial MOPR was denied further hearings. While New Jersey is threatening to leave PJM due to the policy, renewable energy advocates had asked for additional opportunity to argue against the ruling but keeping coal plants operational won out. FERC could view this as a way to push their will on an issue largely considered out of their jurisdiction. I’d like to hear from SEPAs board, many of whom are EEI members how they feel about this filing and how it could affect a slew of other DER topics the group claims to support.

PG&E Sees No Pandemic. Many of San Francisco’s commuters live in lovely Marin County and while they are stuck at home due to stay at home orders, PG&E continues their network upgrade work. Imagine being stuck at home, working remote and losing power multiple times because PG&E can’t get their act together. At this point PG&E should give up residential service and pay for everyone to get solar with storage.

Talking Solar. Join me Wednesday, April 22nd at 10am EST, I will be speaking with Phil Shen from Roth Capital to update on the current trends in residential solar. You can register for that call here and you should join Phil’s mailing list by emailing him at pshen@roth.com. We’ll be discussing the results of the survey which opens today.

Solar Stimulus $0 Year 1 PPA. My friends over at Sustainable Capital Finance are offering an extremely beneficial financing option for businesses & non-profits looking to adopt solar. Their Solar Stimulus PPA offers a $0 solar energy spend for the first year of operation, helping organizations redirect those dollars towards payroll and other critical operating expenses. If you are a solar installer or developer whose potential clients have voiced concerns over COVID-19 in relation to adopting solar, this is a great solution for you. 

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 16th, 2020

ACORE Takes Charge. Finally someone in DC took charge on the issue pressing solar companies and that’s that reality that the clean energy economy is being hurt by the pandemic. In a one-two punch, solar lost the ability to sell door to door and in person consultations as well as closing building departments for permits and inspections. ACORE released the report that highlighted the numbers and the press coverage reflects that.

Evolving SMART. MA has released the next segment of SMART which received praise from advocacy groups with the message from Vote Solar that more can and should be done.

Get Involved, Exhibit A. You don’t have to be a regulatory lawyer or a large corporation to explain common sense policies that benefit consumers to the public service commission. Any single person or company can intervene in a docket and make an argument to the commission when a utility files something that just doesn’t make sense. Congrats to Scenic Hill Solar for making a clear case in Arkansas that the utility is not helping the consumer with their ideas.

Inside Texas Oil. A rare view into the Texas oil industry as it cuts product for the first time in half a decade. I believe it is the White House Director of the National Economic Council that says “Free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity” but I guess producing at a cost higher than market price doesn’t really work. Who said that the free markets should actually help consumers? Good thing that the solar industry is crushing it in Texas so that consumers can lock in that sunny solar price.

Residential Solar Resilience. First, community solar and residential solar are complementary. Anyone that can put solar on their roof likely wants to and then supplements with community solar. If you can’t then just sign up for a community contract. Here’s my thesis for residential solar in the time of COVID, take it for what it’s worth. While residential solar is completely locked out of in person sales, over 75% of sales come from referrals. Lead generation appears to be holding at normal levels which means that installers need to learn to sell remote and they are. It also helps that selling remote is the only way for a consumer to buy, which means there is no objection to the lack of personal contact. During this transition, some companies will stumble but as a result acquisition costs will come down in the long run. Paired with instant/digital permitting, which could become a permanent feature, you remove the two biggest obstacles to acquiring solar. The current reductions in forecast have nothing to do with solar, they are based on the expectation of economic malaise and while some consumers will struggle to buy now, others will seek ways to lower operating expenses and go solar.

Talking Solar. This Friday at 2pm EST you can join in on a discussion I’ll be attending with other clean tech news outlets, register here. And on Wednesday, April 22nd at 10am EST, I will be speaking with Phil Shen from Roth Capital to update on the current trends in residential solar. You can register for that call here and you should join Phil’s mailing list by emailing him at pshen@roth.com.

Solar Stimulus $0 Year 1 PPA. My friends over at Sustainable Capital Finance are offering an extremely beneficial financing option for businesses & non-profits looking to adopt solar. Their Solar Stimulus PPA offers a $0 solar energy spend for the first year of operation, helping organizations redirect those dollars towards payroll and other critical operating expenses. If you are a solar installer or developer whose potential clients have voiced concerns over COVID-19 in relation to adopting solar, this is a great solution for you. 

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 15th, 2020

Bernie, Obama and Biden. Within the last week Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign and endorsed Joe Biden. Obama joined with his endorsement yesterday as well. Part of the Sanders endorsement comes with moving the Biden campaign into a more progressive platform including on climate. I look forward to seeing policies like Jay Inslee’s climate plan make an appearance but it is important to remember that the election between Biden and Trump will probably not have much policy depth.

Steyer Weighs In. The former presidential candidate writes in an op-ed that DC shouldn’t keep throwing good money after bad when it comes to oil infrastructure (my summary). I assume he is referring to a possible deal around infrastructure that bails out bankrupt oil companies. Reality in this scenario is not whether one gets the other, its whether both or neither happen.

Solar Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania solar development is the next frontier, like Texas before it was. Yesterday we saw an announcement from UPenn that it signed a 220MW solar deal. The School District of Philadelphia is hiring a new Solar Energy Teacher for Pennsylvania’s first Solar Energy Career and Technical Education program. The Bright Solar Futures vocational training program is the first of its kind in the nation and will kick off at Frankford High School this fall. The job post can be found here.

Talking Solar. This Friday at 2pm EST you can join in on a discussion I’ll be attending with other clean tech news outlets, register here. And on April 22nd at 10am EST, I will be speaking with Phil Shen from Roth Capital to update on the current trends in residential solar. You can register for that call here and you should join Phil’s mailing list by emailing him at pshen@roth.com. 

Solar Stimulus $0 Year 1 PPA. My friends over at Sustainable Capital Finance are offering an extremely beneficial financing option for businesses & non-profits looking to adopt solar. Their Solar Stimulus PPA offers a $0 solar energy spend for the first year of operation, helping organizations redirect those dollars towards payroll and other critical operating expenses. If you are a solar installer or developer whose potential clients have voiced concerns over COVID-19 in relation to adopting solar, this is a great solution for you. 

Opinion

Best, Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for April 14th, 2020

Making Virginia Official. Governor Northam has signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act into law. The 100% clean energy by 2050 bill also accomplishes several other clean energy goals between now and 2050. Just a few years ago this would have been hard to imagine but when a few elections ushered in new leadership, Virginia’s clean tech policy advocates had the ability to see their hard work pay off. Advocates had been working on this well before the politics seemed possible and there is a lesson learned. In politics, the education and advocacy never stops even when things seem unlikely. Same is true in your state and in DC, it may seem far fetched right now to see how we move our ball forward but we need to keep trying and working it.

Negotiating Package 4. Speaking of politics, it appears that while negotiations have broken down in the Senate they have reappeared elsewhere. Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin look to be negotiating the next package. Before you get too excited, most of the public discussion are said to be around economic issues like expansion of the PPP and more stimulus. And that is where my hope is, solar has the unique opportunity to create economic growth for the oil sector and others hurt by the pandemic.

Oil’s Postcard From The Future. Over the weekend, OPEC+ announced a major cut to product at almost 10million barrels per day. The pandemic has created a bigger problem than drilling though, nobody is using oil quite like they were before. Airplanes are grounded and cars are sitting in driveways which has reduced consumption by somewhere around 25million barrels per day. The Texas oil sector still needs support and will likely be looking for that help in DC in the coming weeks. With the House set to return on May 4th, expect dealmaking to happen between now and then.

How Are You Adapting? What are you doing different now that you expect to continue well past the current work restrictions? If you have a unique process that you care to share, I’m interested to see how the rest of you are adapting to the reality that meeting face to face will not be happening for the foreseeable future. I am still hopeful that things return to somewhat normal by this summer, meaning we all get to meet again at SPI but I know that hope is not a strategy.

Solar Stimulus $0 Year 1 PPA. My friends over at Sustainable Capital Finance are offering an extremely beneficial financing option for businesses & non-profits looking to adopt solar. Their Solar Stimulus PPA offers a $0 solar energy spend for the first year of operation, helping organizations redirect those dollars towards payroll and other critical operating expenses. If you are a solar installer or developer whose potential clients have voiced concerns over COVID-19 in relation to adopting solar, this is a great solution for you. 

Opinion

Best, Yann