Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for June 27th, 2019

ABCDEP&L. PG&E has filed their restructuring plan which includes a rebrand. The Golden State Power Light & Gas Company, or GSPL&G Corp. Some of the restructuring would yield a fund for wildfire liabilities from 2017 and 2018 fires which the Governor is echoing with his ask on a liquidity fund. I have been told that some pre-bankruptcy payables have gone unpaid which means some solar farms have unpaid bills from their off taker, likely to not trigger debt covenants but could create some issues for asset owners if this drags out. 

AC At The North Pole. As homeowners across the Globe are installing air conditioners to deal with the summer heat, the electric load follows. Growing up in Hamburg in northern Germany, I used to get a ‘heat’ day if the temperature was over 75 degrees at 9am and it almost never happened. That rule and that normal is long gone as my family installs air conditioning at the same latitude as Alaska. 

Debate Night 1. Democrats debated for the first time last night where 10 candidates took the stage. Climate change came up both as questions and as answers. Jay Inslee made the point that the clean energy economy can create 8 million jobs while Beto O’Rourke said climate change was the biggest threat to the US. Solar didn’t come up on its own but this was a lot of people in a short period of time, more to come I am sure. 

Quite The Transition. A prominent peaker plant in Oakland CA is going to become energy storage in a deal between Vistra and the East Bay Community Energy (a CCA). Vistra is becoming a leader in this exercise with several projects in backlog. 

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for June 26th, 2019

Back for more solar news tomorrow! Have a great day!

Opinion

 

Have a great day!

Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for June 25th, 2019

Is It Progressive? The headlines about the democratic primary is that the climate discussion is pushing the field to the left. I think that is entirely missing the point given that we’ve been trying to solve energy issues for decades and that many States passed 20% RPS policies more than a decade ago. This isn’t a political shift to the left, this is solving a massive climate crisis through policy because when it comes to highly regulated markets, only government can do that. Putting seat belts in cars and eliminating smoking in airplanes wasn’t a shift to the left, it was common sense. 

Is It Denial? Take a look at the other side of the spectrum, Duke Energy’s IRP in Indiana is a good example. Coal plants that stay open for decades even though that increases the cost to consumers (even when Pence thinks that clean coal is the future) and new gas plants when they aren’t the cheapest option (Duke should ask NextEra about that). There should be a harder look, not only at the monopoly business model, but the decisions that are made counter to the best interests of the consumers. 

The Gas Tax Cost Shift. This is true. EVs don’t pay for the typical gas tax that is included in the cost of fuel which pays for roads, highways etc. There will undoubtedly have to be an equivalent fee on the electricity used to charge electric vehicles once they’ve crossed the chasm in adoption. BUT, at the same time, EV owners including operators of charging stations will have to renegotiate their negative cost shift since they are heavy electricity users and pay for a higher portion of the grid cost than the non EV owners. 

China Grows Roots. China’s Silk Road Fund is buying 49% of ACWA, the Saudi renewable energy development company that is active across the African continent and Middle East. 

Nominations Ahead. I always enjoy seeing nominations and winners in the Cleantech space because it introduces me and the market to people I haven’t met yet. Now is your chance to put forth your names. 

Opinion

 

Have a great day!

Yann

This is your SolarWakeup for June 24th, 2019

Call Your Representative. Don’t forget to call your member of Congress and ask them to fight for the ITC to be included in the tax extenders bill. This is a crucial time to fight for your industry especially in residential, the credits will disappear before you know. Click here to find your Congresswoman or call (202) 224-3121 to have the operator connect you. 

The New Energy Outlook. Bloomberg has released the annual energy outlook which is a forward looking view on the global energy markets. You can see the highlights here and catch the analyst talking about it in the link below. 

Schletter US Factory Auction. I didn’t realize this happened but Schletter auctioned off its factory in Shelby, NC. The reality is that in-house manufacturing requires tremendous volume and backlog, something that is difficult to achieve with utility scale and C&I racking systems especially with a competitive market. Maybe the idea is to rebuild the company with an outsourced model. 

New York Times Gets This Wrong. The New York Times tested “EVs” by driving roundtrip from LA to Las Vegas. The 8 hours of driving took 5 hours of charging. Of course this ‘test drive’ wasn’t done in a Tesla, it was done in a Chevy Bolt which naturally skews the entire test. This shows the fight that’s ahead for us in solar as well, imagine if someone did a test on how much energy you can offset on a house and used 10% efficient modules instead of the market leading technology. 

Job Postings. If you want to have your job openings posted on SolarWakeup, just email me the link to the actual job. I’ll be changing them every day or so. If you want to have it stay on the newsletter you can sponsor that now, email me to inquire. 

Opinion

 

Have a great day!

Yann