Click here to read the The Sol SOURCE Q1 2020.
The Sol SOURCE is a quarterly journal that our team distributes to our network of clients and solar stakeholders. Our newsletter contains trends and observations gained through quarterly interviews with our team, and it incorporates news from a variety of industry resources.
Below, we have included excerpts from the Q1 2020 edition. To receive future Journals, please subscribe or email SOURCE@solsystems.com.
STATE MARKETS
Virginia - With Democrats taking both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly last year and Democratic Governor Northam nearing the end of his four-year single term, Virginia only allows governors to serve one term, renewable energy industry advocates are out in full force promoting several pieces of renewable friendly legislation. Namely, they are pounding the pavement for the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), a mandatory renewable energy portfolio standard bill that aims to shift the Commonwealth’s electric grid to 100% clean energy by 2050 and see Virginia join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
When it comes to solar specifics, the bill would remove stand-by charges for residential solar systems, legalize power purchase agreements statewide, and increase the net energy metering cap from 1% to 10%, among other measures. Altogether, the bill’s provisions are anticipated to expand Virginia distributed solar energy capacity to 2,500 megawatts from the 92 megawatts installed today. A study commissioned by MDV-SEIA showed that the VCEA would create 29,500 direct solar jobs in Virginia and generate more than $4.3 billion in economic investment over the next decade.
Maine - Since three bipartisan clean energy bills were signed into law in June 2019, Maine has been home to an abundance of renewable energy activity. One of the laws, LD 1494, amended the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS), increasing its renewable energy target to 80% by 2030 to eventually reach 100% by 2050. While the state had only a modest 60 MW of solar installed as of the third quarter of 2019, its renewables market is now poised for big things in 2020 and beyond.
To reach the state’s goals, the state’s public
utilities commission (PUC) has been directed to incentivize distributed solar
and solar-plus-storage deployment, improve
renewable energy access for low-to-moderate-income consumers,
and launch competitive long-term procurement processes for new renewable
generation. This January, the PUC announced that it is planning to release an
RFP in the second quarter of 2020 for the newly established Class 1A tier
resources, which
now only include resources with the highest value and
lowest environmental impact. By the end of 2021, utilities will have to procure
Class 1A resources equal to 14% of the state’s 2018 retail electricity sales
through at least 20-year-long contracts.
As we move into the 2020 state legislative
season, Maine has already seen four more clean energy bills introduced. Among
others, the bills seek to create a new clean energy fund, require
investor-owned utilities to contract for community solar generation, and
further aid the deployment of net metering projects across the state. The
future of Maine is looking greener and greener.
New York - The Empire State recently hit a significant milestone on its path to carbon neutrality by 2040. With the December addition of a large community solar project in Saratoga County, the state reached 2 GW of total installed solar capacity. While this may seem like a cause for celebration, the solar community has no time to rest. New York now has five years left to install an additional 4 GW of distributed generation (DG) to reach its ambitious goal of 6 GW of DG by 2025. The state is expected to install 3.6 GW of solar within the next five years: theseventh largest five-year projection in the nation.
To that end, last November the New York State
Energy and Research Authority (NYSERDA) petitioned the state public service
commission (PSC) for an additional $573 million in funding to extend the NY-SUN
MW block program to 2025. This funding will help to bolster the Value of Distributed Resources program, particularly for community
solar projects, while improving low-to-moderate income access to solar through
financial incentives.
As of January 2020, the New York State
Electric & Gas Corporation and National Grid’s Community Distributed
Generation (CDG) adder tranches have filled up and closed. Solar stakeholders
await anxiously for the PSC to provide certainty about the future of CDG
compensation in these areas so that community solar can continue to be
available. Despite the lack of clear market signals, we expect to see
continuing renewable development activity across the state.
SOLAR CHATTER
- Despite a push from the solar industry, the
30% federal Investment Tax Credit for solar was not extended as part of
Congress’s year-end spending bill, and the tax credit stepped down to 26% at
the start of the year. Abby Hopper, President and CEO of SEIA, stressed that the industry will survive just
fine during the stepdown, pointing out
that efforts to extend the 30% ITC remained vital to the fight to combat
climate change and the industry would continue to advocate for the credit. In
any case, it’s just another day on the solarcoaster. - A new report
by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that 76% of 2020
planned electricity generation additions will come from wind and solar, a
further example of the momentum renewable energy has built over the last
decade. This follows an EIA report from earlier this month showing that renewable electricity generation
surpassed coal in April 2019 as the country continues to transition from fossil
fuels to cleaner sources of energy. - On January 27, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy
outlined a plan for the Garden State to reach 100% renewable
energy by 2050. In parallel, the Board of Public Utilities is finalizing the
transition plan from its closing SREC program while settling on its successor.
New Jersey, which has long been a leader in solar energy, continues its search
in paving the next path forward. - Everything is bigger in Texas, even renewable
energy. An eye-popping report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance found that the state accounted for a quarter of globalcorporate renewable energy deals
signed in 2019. Yes, a quarter of corporate renewable deals worldwide. We’ve often written regarding
the growing market of corporate renewable buyers, and with the size of
corporate renewables contracts growing 40% year-over-year in 2019, this growth
shows no signs of slowing. - The Section 201 tariffs are back in the news
(though still on your modules). The tariffs enacted last year are up for a
mid-term review, for which the International Trade Commission (ITC) has been
collecting data since Summer 2019 to send to the President on February 7. SEIA is monitoring the situation closely to ensure the ITC understands the gravity of
the tariffs’ impact on solar.
ABOUT
SOL SYSTEMS
Sol
Systems is a leading national solar energy firm with an established reputation
for integrity and reliability across its development, infrastructure and
environmental commodity businesses.To date, Sol has developed and/or
financed over 850 MW of solar projects valued at more than $1 billion for
Fortune 100 companies, municipalities, counties, utilities, universities and
schools. The company also actively shapes and trades in environmental commodity
and electricity markets throughout the United States. The company was founded
in 2008, is based in Washington D.C, and is led by its founder. Sol Systems
works with its team, partners, and clients to create a more sustainable future
we can all believe in. For more information: www.solsystems.com