Tag Archives: Daily Rundown

This is your SolarWakeup for August 10th, 2018

Nevada’s Story Of Solar Revival. This was the most contentious national solar fight a few years ago, documentaries featured the famous fight between solar and the Nevada PUC. Fast forward a few years and the market is thriving with the first NEM cap being hit at 80MW. Jobs are being created and supplies are flowing, helping the supply chain economy thrive as well. Nevada has become the market to point to and one that could be mirrored in South Carolina and other States that attempt to keep residential solar choice away from consumers.

Sunrun’s Steady Rise. Sunrun wasn’t always the flashiest residential home solar provider but they’ve reached the top now. Part of what makes the company unique is that it has stuck with the long path of policy centric market development, it’s rare to be at a legislative event or industry conference that a Sunrunner is not at. The financial presentation continues to tell Wall Street a narrative on how solar and public company accounting can coexist, while still be complicated for many. The company announced 91MW of solar deployed, 12,000 customers and an increase of $27million in cash over the last quarter. Congrats to the team.

Juicy PPA In Hawaii. Couple of highlights that I’d like to point out about the solar plus storage project in Hawaii. The project is 5MW of solar with 3MW / 15MWh of storage. The PPA is for $0.17/kWh over 22 years. At the core, this is a great project for the investor and likely for the consumer as well. At 5 hours of storage, the batteries have the ability to shift the entire day’s production even at the peak of summer (or very close to all of the production). This plant is the solar version of baseload to the extent that such a feature is needed on the grid. Dispatchable solar such as this is the future and creates tremendous opportunities for power players across the grid.

New FERC Commissioner. Damn the free market! That’s my paraphrase of the nominee’s comments at a July hearing when asked about market distortions being considered by the administration to bailout coal and nuclear plants. Commissioner Powelson voted against the FERC bailout for coal but McNamee seems a lot more willing to do the bidding required. Stay tuned.

Have You Seen The Rafter? In today’s edition of solar wall of shame, please see the following work of art. This is a direct deck attached flashing mounted on top of the shingle roof. Add some caulking and this installer is happy with the result. Make sure to send your shameful solar pictures alongside your beautiful images to be featured.

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann

 

This is your SolarWakeup for August 9th, 2018

The Other Factors. It’s not all tariffs and duties when it comes to markets. CFIUS and other regulatory approvals can shape markets as well. This isn’t just a China topic, this is all foreign investment in renewables that could be impacted if CFIUS review takes too long. I don’t expect this to become n too big of a topic but keep your eyes on similar things that happen to your business and supply chain.

Tesla’s New Investor. Lost in the ‘funding secured’ tweet was the other story of Tesla’s day. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund has taken a significant position in Tesla, somewhere north of $2billion. Considering that the money was made on selling oil, you have to acknowledge the success that Tesla has had to show the world that electric cars have a future and oil exporters need to create a hedge by taking a stake in the market segment that will disrupt oil.

Making Local Decisions Count. When I asked Jon Carson how his solar development business was similar to the days when he activated local voters for Obama, he told a riveting story. In a classic way, he tells the story of the local ironworker sitting in an open house held regarding the solar farm. The solar project is the political candidate and getting local support means telling a local story. Thank you, everyone, for the feedback on this podcast, I am glad you enjoyed it thus far.

Opposition To Municipal Solar. This has probably happening in the past but it’s the first time I see it in writing. A utility lobbied a municipal government not to sign a solar contract that would save money. It’s the inside baseball that shows how local incumbent markets will get.

Bad Solar Exhibit A. Keep them coming! I got some great submissions yesterday on bad solar, have you seen bad installs and want to share? Send them my way and send a caption for this solar sail!

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann

 

This is your SolarWakeup for August 8th, 2018

I’m Keeping SolarWakeup Private. If you missed the fun yesterday, Elon announced via tweet that he is thinking about taking Tesla private. The talking heads quickly went to SEC violations, Elon’s desire to burn short traders, or the ability for Elon to pull it off. But when you combine the shorts in the stock, the accounting nightmare that solar can cause to GAAP accounting and what Jim Cramer says about Vivint Solar makes you realize that Tesla would be much better off as a private company. Changing the world is hard and takes time, time that Tesla’s investors are willing to let the company have.

Talking Solar In Politics. I like all my interviews, but talking to Jon Carson was a personal high for me. Jon is now leading a solar development firm, Trajectory Energy Partners, which made the interview relevant for our audience. But prior to solar Jon helped elect Barack Obama to the White House and that’s a story I wanted to hear. Aside from his solar development tactics, which were great, I asked Jon about how solar plays at the highest levels of DC politics. Check out the interview here.

Maryland Forward Motion. Frank gives you some details about yet another pilot project in Maryland. Solar could be so much bigger than it is and yet Maryland still struggles with its politics that tries to play the middle. It’s time for the legislature to act on strong policies that enable a sustainable solar market which will lower the costs of energy for consumers.

Bring Your Solar To MS. A 9% increase in rates for Mississippi energy customers means they’ll pay an all in $0.139/kWh for electricity. In 18 months, expect rates to rise drastically once again which means that solar companies will see a great reason to go there now and build some solar homes with storage. Absent strong policies, use the technology price declines to enable MS residents to make their energy choices.

Solar Wall Of Shame. You’ve been sending me great solar pictures, keep doing that and make sure to add your logo to it and send it along. Some of you have been sending the worst of the worst as well. Let’s put some sunshine on the bad solar installs, I’ll be aggregating this and work with SEIA and others to make consumers ask the right installation questions. Send your worst of the worst install pictures and we’ll see who gets on the wall of shame.

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann

 

This is your SolarWakeup for August 7th, 2018

New SolarWakeup Podcast Coming. The first of the interviews from Chicago is coming out on podcast today. Make sure you are subscribed to the SolarWakeup Live! podcast available on iTunes or your favorite podcast stream platform. Jon Carson managed the campaign for Senator Tammy Duckworth before becoming the National Field Director for then-Senator Obama. Now he is a solar developer and a great interview.

Making The South Better For Solar. I had this conversation yesterday, why isn’t solar growing faster across the South? States like Louisiana could do really well with a robust solar policy. It used to be that an RPS had a rate cap of 2% but now you would have to put a cap on the savings because renewable energy is going to save consumers money.

Focus On Local Leaders. This is a great story about a leader that has to look forward. An Illinois town that has its roots in coal looking for a future in solar. All it takes is a young mayor to start with a solar farm project that could yield a much brighter future. I’d love to see a future where solar professionals are talking to every mayor in America, with less than 20,000 local governments across the Country, that puts 10 solar professionals in each office. On that note, who will be joining me at the CALSSA lobby day next week?

Incumbent Market Dynamics. This isn’t directly solar related but what is happening in Florida right now is bad. There are millions of dead fish washing up ashore due to a toxic algae bloom. Goliath grouper and even manatees have been found dead. There is a limit to the power of the incumbents, we must always remember that.

Unshift The Fuel Costs. The real story about the new fuel cost incentive in Hawaii is the subsidy that the current utility regulations hide. When utilities rate base the new power plants, the cost of fuel is covered by the ratepayers. If the fuel costs go up, consumers have to foot the bill regardless of how high they go and there is no reason for utilities to worry about this because there is no risk to the shareholders.

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann