CALSSA Board Votes. If you are a member of CALSSA, please vote for me for the board. It’s one set of votes per member company so make sure my name makes it to your designated contact. If you are not a member, you should be!

Solar Boom. It is no surprise that the blackouts has caused customers across the Country to look for solar and storage solutions. Installers are telling me every day that their business is through the roof. Blackouts are the symptom of monopoly control and solar takes some of that power back for the consumer.


Storage Boom. The combination of big and small storage demand is driving the investment case up for manufacturers. Expect cells to sell for well below $100/kWh regularly in just a few years. Cheap storage is the ballgame folks!

DG Boom. One of the best pivots in solar over the past few years is how Sunpower has refocused its business on distributed generation. I think this is a positive driver for the entire market and while DG only represents a fraction of the US market, it is the biggest driver of public and political sentiment. DG is also the value chain where every participant makes money, from module maker to consumer, everyone is adding money to the bank account and growing organically.

The Win-Win. There is always a whisper in the background that DG or utility scale needs to win out. This is a circular argument because one does not grow without the other. Honestly, we would do great things if we spent a day lobbying for the main request of the other segment. We need to act on behalf of solar, not a segment of solar. A utility that lives with performance based ratemaking is going to make consumers happy and buy a ton of solar from utility scale solar farms.

Have a great weekend!

• ABC: Solar companies see surge in demand for battery storage with PG&E power shutoffs
• PV-Magazine: Bulking up – Storage heads for center stage
• Greentech Media: SunPower Grows Distributed Solar Pipeline, Preps for 2020 Storage Rollout
• Reuters: Cheaper solar power gains ground in southeast Asia
• Axios: Keystone Pipeline leaks 383,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota
• Renew Economy: Renewable energy target now overshot by nearly 1GW, says regulator
• Utility Dive: How utilities wield bad science to stunt clean energy
• Bloomberg: World’s Biggest Solar Plant Starts in Abu Dhabi, JinkoSolar Says

Opinion

• PV-Tech: Renewables set new records in Germany, but ‘second pillar’ solar needs to accelerate even further

Best, Yann

Consensus Support. Over 70 associations have sent a letter to Congress asking for their support on the ITC. Here is the letter and make sure to transmit this within your circles.

Board Votes. Two items for your trade group votes. I am running for the board of CALSSA in my capacity as CEO of Quick Mount PV, if you are a member of CALSSA, please vote for me! My friend Kendra Hubbard is running for the board of SEIA, she’s done a great job as chair of the DG division and I would love for her to make the board again. Please vote for us!

More coverage tomorrow, Happy Halloween!

• SEIA: More Than 70 Associations Back Renewable Energy Extension Act
• GreenBiz: Burning questions about insurance and climate
• Greentech Media: Orsted Lowers Offshore Wind Output Forecasts, Warns of Industrywide Problem
• Utility Dive: PG&E shares jump 32% amid power shutoffs as judge appoints bankruptcy mediator
• Cape Analytics: Cape Analytics Data Report – The Most Solar Places in America
• CNN: America’s largest private coal miner files for bankruptcy

Opinion

• Magic Valley: Rainy day for solar?

Best, Yann

Bad News For Coastal Folks. A new report in Nature magazine highlights the risk for coastal communities by the year 2050. Don’t take my hyperbole for it but it is going to be really bad for many, especially some of the world’s poorest communities. Miami Beach may have spent a billion dollars building a pumping system under the roads but this says that those pumps will basically be sitting in the ocean by then.

Enphase Exec Experiences Blackouts. The VP of Marketing at Enphase has been without power at home for over 3 days. This means that he’s working in his car at night and his kids are doing homework by lantern light. We exchanged some messages to compare blackout notes (mine ended at hour 44) and how our kids may be shocked that this is a normal situation for many in the world and that our work fixing our first world problems has positive ramifications to climate change and millions of lives around the world if we do it well.

Markets Go As Insurers Do. In 1957, Congress passed the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act. The act provides for government insurance for nuclear power plants above $12.6billion in liabilities, the rest is self insured. Even in 1957, regulators, industry and governments knew that no power plant would be built without sufficient insurance and no plant could be affordable with private insurance. The same is true today, if insurance providers stop insuring ocean front homes, prices will drop. If they stop insuring gas plants, they will go away as well.

No, It Can’t. PG&E cannot stay in the status quo, there will be changes. An interesting argument is coming out that the public advocate has blame for the wildfires because they opposed rate increases. PG&E rates are well over double that of Florida Power and Light and FPL has to deal with hurricanes every year, spending billions on infrastructure. Execution was the failure point, not the public advocate. 

• Nature Magazine: New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding
• Linkedin: The Promise of True Home Energy
• Axios: U.S. insurance industry under growing pressure to exit fossil fuels
• New York Times: Can PG&E Survive the California Wildfires?
• Reuters: For best climate impact, put renewables in the U.S. Midwest – study
• Utility Dive: 11 attorneys general urge FERC to respect state energy rights
• Rocky Mountain Institute: Massive Investment is Accelerating the Era of Clean Electrification

Opinion

• Los Angeles Times: Power outages in California could make fighting climate change even harder.

Best, Yann

A Vox Endorsement. In the latest installment of his series Vox reporter David Roberts brings his conclusion to paper that the way to solve utility woes in Northern California is through distributed generation. Take the case of the 93 year old living in a mobile home that had to buy an $800 generator to make it through the blackout, a few panels and storage would have likely done the trick and saved money throughout the year. How that infrastructure gets built out so all can benefit is obviously the next question.

Resi Market Growth, Pains. Roth is estimating multiple years of 25% growth in residential market and I concur with that assessment. How we, as an industry, ensure that the labor force is trained to build quality is the obvious question and we need training centers to do that. 

Investigate The Monopoly. As the PG&E stock price reaches record lows, market cap of $2billion, the CPUC is opening an investigation of the shutoffs. According to a Propublica report, there is little to no likely benefit of the shutoffs except for limiting shareholder liability, not actually reducing fire risk.

EV Plan. Interesting to see the Senate Minority Leader come out with a massive EV plan that is supported by this writer and many others in the industry. Let’s hope he finds room in his log of interest that the ITC should be supported as well.

• Vox: Wildfires and blackouts mean Californians need solar panels and microgrids
• PV-Magazine: Residential solar power growing like a “weed”, straining labor
• Axios: California to open investigation into PG&E for power shutoffs
• Utility Dive: Schumer floats $454B plan to accelerate EV adoption in next decade
• GreenBiz: The view from 20 – General Motors’ global sustainability energy manager reflects on changes at the automaker
• Greentech Media: WoodMac – Mexico Set to Miss Clean Energy Target Under AMLO
• Los Angeles Times: California power outages – Here’s how you can keep the lights on next time

Opinion

• Propublica: A Taste of the Climate Apocalypse to Come

Best, Yann