Bad Idea To Ask. If PG&E asks the bankruptcy court to cancel PPAs for solar and wind generation and the court grants it, PG&E will have eliminated its ability to sign new contracts and increased the cost to consumers in one giant mistake. This will make CCAs the viable alternative for developers to sign contracts with and reduce the need for PG&E to exist. That is exactly why they are busy doling out advertising dollars across the energy universe, because goodwill is always needed most right before you do something like this. 

MI IRP Approved. Good news for Michigan. Now let’s go back and make distributed generation better for all the homeowners in the State. 

Electric Mass Transit. Great interview with one of the more interesting CEOs in the clean tech space, the CEO of Proterra. 

Support Solar Foundation. On June 20th, if you are in the DC area, join The Solar Foundation for their annual summer solstice party. You can get your tickets here and let them know you saw it here on SolarWakeup!

• Greentech Media: PG&E’s Bankruptcy Judge Leaves Door Open to Shedding Renewables Contracts
• Utility Dive: Michigan approves Consumers’ IRP eliminating coal, reducing emissions 90% by 2040
• Bloomberg: The Electric Bus Is ‘Close to Inevitable’: Q&A With Proterra’s CEO
• GreenBiz: Renewable energy microgrid to power Oakland conference
• Rocky Mountain Institute: Electric Vehicle Charging for Dummies
• Axios: Natural gas is helping combat climate change — but not enough

Opinion

• Grist: What’s on Iowans’ minds going into the 2020 caucuses? Climate change

Have a great day!

Yann

Bloomberg Commits $500million. True story, my first winter in Baltimore, someone had donated a ton of money border the walkways with granite pavers which were a blast during icy days. Bloomberg is allocating capital to better causes these days, committing another $500million to close the remaining coal plants in the US. Here’s my issue with this approach. The world would be a better place if that money endowed solar advocacy, our industry has the best return on investment when it comes to lobbying because we have the facts and voters on our side. So how about a compromise? $400million for coal and $100million for solar?

Deregulation Autopilot Gone Awry. Trump is looking to clear the proverbial field for auto OEMs, setting up a fight with California over fuel standards. The problem with that is that OEMs know that the trend goes the other direction and a 2 year return to the 1980s isn’t going to help their shareholders. They know that cars need to be electric and efficient regardless of the regulation and changing the rules stops them from being able to explain to their short term focused shareholders what they need to be doing right now. 

A Debate Topic Versus Debate. The DNC says that climate change will be a topic during the debate and Presidents need to be able to multi task. So I ask the DNC, what will the question be? What will you do about climate change? Your answer in 90 seconds, go! This will only lead to a 6 minutes abs scenario where everyone goes for the 100% by answer and forgets the meat of the topic. Solving energy transition in coal communities, retooling manufacturing to clean energy (candidates should come visit me in Walnut Creek), and how to leverage climate topics in foreign policy to get other countries on board. 

Fire Season Starts. PG&E had its first outage this weekend, shutting off power to about 25,000 customers and businesses. This wasn’t a population center but it caused chaos with calls flooding the 911 centers. Imagine when this strikes the Bay Area and business, factories and hotels have to shut down or go to backup generators.

• Utility Dive: Bloomberg commits $500M to phasing out coal, halting new gas plants
  
• Time: The World’s Largest Automakers Asked Trump Not to Loosen a Climate Change Standard. Here’s Why
  
• Think Progress: DNC argues climate will still be debate topic after nixing dedicated debate. History says otherwise.
  
• San Francisco Chronicle: PG&E restoring power after intentional shut-offs affect 20,500 customers
  
• Greentech Media: Summit Ridge Energy Secures Project Finance Fund for 100MW of Community Solar
  
• New York Times: California Reckons With the Cost of Wildfires to Come 

Opinion

• Axios: 2020 Democrats pushing to end public financing of fossil fuels

Have a great day!

Yann

Have a great weekend!

• Solar Industry: CT Legislature Approves Bill To Halt Net Metering Sunset
• Axios: The U.S. has the largest amount of new energy storage deployments ever
• Renewable Energy World: Is vegetation management a problem for your solar farm? Just add sheep
• Bloomberg: Meet Malawi’s ‘Solar Mamas’
• PV-Tech: Spain ordered to pay €290m-plus over subsidy u-turn
• Greentech Media: California Faces Tough Choices on Utility Wildfire Liability Reform
• Utility Dive: Ninth Circuit rules it can’t make NorthWestern pay higher PURPA rates for solar facilities

Opinion

• GreenBiz: The crisis formerly known as climate change

Have a great day!

Yann

 DNC Failing On Climate. Governor Inslee, who is running on the climate platform, took to Twitter yesterday and let us know that the DNC has declined to host a debate solely focused on climate change. Not only did they decline but they will ban him from future debates if he attends an unsanctioned debate. 

Support From Warren. Senator Warren retweeted the Governor and said the issue is too important to run away from. (See the tweet) Warren understands that the middle class she is fighting to expand has plenty of opportunity in clean energy and has unveiled a clean energy manufacturing program. Companies like Quick Mount PV, which manufacturers in Walnut Creek California not only grows jobs in sales and operations throughout the country but also expands aluminum manufacturing and logistics jobs similar to those in the auto sector for example. 

The Climate Tide Has Shifted. Biden will be the 17th Presidential candidate to sign the no fossil fuel money pledge and most major campaigns have unveiled trillion dollar plans to speed up the clean energy transition focused on a time sensitive decarbonization effort. AOC and the Sunrise Movement have made the Green New Deal mainstream and Congressman Massie of Kentucky brags about the solar on his house. Voters want to learn more about what some consider the most important issue in politics today, there is no downside in the DNC sponsoring this debate. The host of Political Climate, Julia Pyper, has offered to moderate the debate!

More From Biden. Biden released a 5 minute video talking about climate and clean energy. 

Trade Issues For Solar. Keep your eyes on the tariff Trump is threatening on Mexican imports. Much of the plan B for Chinese tariffs involved Mexico and Trump knows that. The Senate republicans look like they may push back on it however but the power of tariffs heavily relies on the President. 

• Politico: DNC opts against climate change debate, Inslee says
• CNN: GOP senators demand a direct request from Trump on Mexico tariffs
• Axios: AOC calls for $10 trillion to address climate crisis
• Los Angeles Times: California has too much solar power. That might be good for ratepayers
• Greentech Media: Starbucks Buys Aggregated Wind and Solar Portfolio With Help From LevelTen
• GreenBiz: The future of ferries is electric, too
• Utility Dive: ‘Not all batteries are made equal’ – APS battery fire highlights safety risks, lack of knowledge
• Bloomberg: The World’s Biggest Solar-Panel Maker Is Seeing a Slowdown in China

Opinion

• Vox: 10 ways to accelerate progress against climate change

Have a great day!

Yann