Electrek green energy brief: ‘energy storage normal course of business’, less than 1% of $100T, net metering 2.0, more

New York state: “Utilities should be using energy storage as part of their normal course of business” – We’re seeing energy storage grabbing onto more chunks of the power grid. There is a game that occurs inside of us – we see headlines of something happening far away, we see rich thought leaders do it, we see others we know do it, we see our competition do it – each of these occurrences build up a certain confidence in ourselves. New York State is pushing because they recently bore the consequences of a hurricane combined with ocean rise, and were reminded of the need to be resilient. The reason they chose this path i particular is because others had shown it to be sound. No fluff – just your normal course of business.

$100 trillion of institutional money in the world, and less than 1 percent is invested in anything green – I’ve heard $1T/year is needed to fix the co2 issue. Globally – $287B in green investments. In the US, $200B in 2016 in a broader set of technologies. These numbers aren’t covering the exact same area – but they give you a scope of the work being done, and that we need do more work still. After we juxtapose those needs with the available capital – we should feel a bit more optimistic on the financial potential. Solar, wind and energy storage projects are able to come on piece meal and relatively quickly, meaning cash flows back to investors start sooner than later – time value of money stress is lowered and money gets deployed again. Virtuous cycle.

U.S. solar soared in 2016, but investors still leery – This article is a good update on various level pressures hitting the solar industry. I get emails asking about investment advice, and how to design programs on a nation-state level – and I try to cover these ideas in my communications with people. And its because the industry is complex – like anything else that is large on this planet of ours. Maybe the complexity is part of the reason I am in the industry…

PV CellTech Talk: Dr Gunter Erfurt, COO at Meyer Burger – First off, an interview with a maker of the machines that make solar components. Cool. Particular lines that I enjoyed reading – ‘The company is targeting PERx cell efficiencies of over 22%’ and ‘ efficiency increases beyond 22%, the industry is in the early R&D development stages in my opinion and therefore it is not yet clear which paths will be the best.’ Those statements tell me that efficiencies up to 22% are solved equations at PERC prices. That excites me! 90% of what I install is 16% – 22% is 37% more energy per area, and cheaper systems as the same labor deploys 37% more watts. Of course, these are not the ¢35/W solar panels on the spot market in shipping containers – these panels probably cost double, but that’s ok these days.

Headline 1: Pruitt says CO2 not ‘primary’ contributor to climate change or Headline 2 (mine): Pruitt admits CO2 IS A DRIVER of climate change – quibbles on relative significance.

See what I did there? Language is powerful. When you have the pew at your control you can influence how trillions of dollars flow. This has been the model of the fossil fuel industry since the 1970s. Buy the politicians – undercut the science. We know that Pruitt and the fossil fuel industry are close, and we know that Exxon and Shell – as corporate entities – acknowledge their products as drivers of climate change. But because our legal structure is right now in flux moving toward climate crimes being real, there is still space to manipulate. Today – Pruitt is going to try to say that he accepts the fundamental laws of the EPA, CO2 is a climate change gas – however – he will try to undercut it in language and alter the sentiment of the people.

The art of the compromise: Inside the APS solar rate design settlement – The reason I read this article is that I am fascinated watching New York above, California, Arizona other regions deal with advanced solar deployment. Net Metering 2.0 is real folks. Blunt tools like paying $4/W in Florida as an incentive in Florida until 2008-2009, are now being replaced with fine tuned payment schedule of what time delivered, where it is located, what it is located with and how well it can regulate itself – and these payment schedules are no longer ‘incentives’ but instead revenue for production. The game is getting smarter.

Note the people on the lower right –

.@Broadwind builds wind turbine towers at this former submarine factory in Manitowoc Wisconsin #windworks pic.twitter.com/irseSbXAaA

— American Clean Power (ACP) (@USCleanPower) March 10, 2017

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