The Energy Show

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry CInnamon Like every other industry, the Covid-19 impacts on the solar industry have been significant. Supply chains have been disrupted, customer demand has decreased as economies suffer, and then, customer demand has gone up as people realize they need their own reliable source of power. And, there is a big question mark on government policies towards clean energy –especially here in the U.S. People in the global solar and storage industry want information to help them navigate these uncertain times and one of the best information sources in the solar industry is IHS Markit. IHS Markit is a leading provider of data analytics and expertise serving a number of industries including cleantech and renewables, oil and gas, automotive, financial and economics and my guest on this week’s Energy Show is Cormac Gilligan, Associate Director of Solar and Energy Storage at IHS Markit. Cormac is like a human crystal ball for the global solar industry and is widely regarded as a leading authority on the global PV inverter market. His analysis and commentary is regularly published by leading PV industry media and the global press. Given Covid-19 impacts on the solar industry, we could all use some accurate forecasting, so please listen up to this week’s Energy Show.

Copyright 2020, The Energy Show - Barry Cinnamon Solar and battery backup systems are the ideal antidote to the triple threat of high evening electric rates (over $0.50/kwh), frequent power failures (some of which are deliberate shut-offs), and our increasing dependence on electricity for the necessities of life (food, phones and fun). Several established companies — including Tesla, LG-Chem, SolarEdge and Enphase — have developed excellent solar and storage systems for homeowners. These systems are great, but they must be designed properly so that they meet both the power (watts) and energy (kwh) needs of a home during an extended blackout. Please listen to this week’s Energy Show as we talk about the evolution of battery storage technology, how solar and batteries work together, the technical limitations of storage systems, and the critical software and hardware components that factor into design considerations for battery backup systems that will reliably keep your lights on and your fridge cold.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon The solar industry is used to rapid changes, hence the moniker “The Solar Coaster.” But this year the changes are at their most extreme in my recollection: rapid adoption of battery storage, tariffs, blackouts, the coronavirus pandemic and a recession. It takes a varied set of skills to run a successful solar business over the long term in such a dynamic environment. Not only does a company need the right mix of technology, marketing and strategy, but they also need a management team that is focused on long term success. Companies that are in for the quick buck, featuring n low prices and “free” solar deals, usually disappear just as quickly. Over the past decade I’ve gotten to know some of the best locally-focused solar companies around the country. One of the companies that stands out is Renova Energy, based on the Coachella Valley in California. Please listen up to this week’s Energy Show featuring Vincent Battaglia, CEO of Renova Energy. Vincent shares his perspectives on meeting customer's changing energy needs, the future of the solar industry, and his insights into the keys to long-term success in the solar and storage industry.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Today’s solar technology is the most sustainable way of generating energy. Solar power is inexpensive on a kilowatt per hour basis, is low maintenance, has zero fuel requirements, generates no emissions, and is completely silent. But even solar leaves a waste footprint, primarily because there is a lot of equipment that is manufactured and installed. Energy is consumed during component and equipment manufacturing, shipment and installation — whether on a utility-scale field, commercial flat roof or home. Waste is inevitably generated, especially packaging materials (I was kicked out of my first home office because we were recycling too much cardboard). Perhaps the biggest waste footprint issues will arise when solar installations are de-commissioned at the end of their life. Aluminum and steel racking can be profitably recycled. However, as with many other consumer and industrial products (tires, electronics, etc.), there are significant costs associated with shipping and recycling solar panels. It is not an easy process to separate the aluminum, glass and silicon that are the primary components of solar panels. This all comes back to the concept of sustainable solar development, and in the solar industry, sustainability is more than just a buzzword. We strive to walk the talk. As a result, most solar companies have solar panels on their roof, use EVs in their fleet and are compulsive about recycling. Our guest on this week’s Energy Show is TJ Kanczuzewski, CEO of Inovateus Solar. Based in South Bend, Indiana, Inovateus is emphasizing corporate sustainability on all of their projects. Please listen up to this week’s Energy Show as TJ discusses how Inovateus Solar has established their sustainability plan, and how they are extending sustainable solar development for their projects and with business partners.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon With the upcoming wildfire season in California and Covid-19 stay-at-home requirements, many people are looking into ways to power their home when utility power goes out. Battery backup systems coupled with rooftop solar are an ideal solution to keeping the lights on during these blackouts. Although these battery backup systems are affordable, quiet and clean — there are limits to the amount of power they can provide. We all have had experiences with the limited energy capacity of batteries — neither our phones nor EVs seem to run as long as we would like. Moreover, we know that battery-powered devices cannot provide as much power (sometimes referred to as in more technical terms as “oomph”) as devices that have cords plugged into the wall. These limitations are based on both the energy capacity in the battery (measured in kwh), as well as the power delivery capacity of the battery (measured in watts). Large appliances in homes presents the biggest challenge to powering a whole house with battery power. Power requirements for a central AC, electric oven/stove, pool pumps or EV chargers can be over 5,000 watts each. If these appliances were to be powered by a battery backup system with a 10 kwh or 13.5 kwh battery, that battery would be discharged completely within a few hours — leaving no more energy for more essential items such as refrigerators, lighting and computers. Of course, a determined DIY homeowner could turn off the circuit breakers to these appliances when the power goes out. But this approach does not work if the blackout occurs at night or when no one is home. To solve this problem, Span has developed a “smart” electrical panel that provides detailed control and monitoring over every single electric circuit in your house. Arch Rao, CEO of Span, is our guest on this week’s Energy Show. Prior to founding Span, Arch was head of products at Tesla Energy, working on their PowerWall, and previously he was at the Westly Group and Stanford University. Please join me as Arch explains how Span makes home energy connected and intuitive with a smart electrical panel.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Everyone is looking forward to a return to some degree of normalcy as we recover from the corona virus pandemic. But it is very hard to make sense what a new normal would be with all the conflicting information from health, economic and policy experts — not to mention the almost diametrically opposed viewpoints expressed in various media outlets. The reality is that the progression of the corona virus will dictate the pace at which we will return to normal. Unfortunately, there are just way too many variables — on a worldwide basis — to predict when the corona virus will be reduced to a manageable level, perhaps like the flu or common cold. I’m not a medical or economic or political expert — but I do know a bit about energy, solar and storage. As a result of the corona virus, the solar + storage industry has been on an extreme version of the Solar Coaster. Like most businesses, almost all solar and battery companies were completely shut down for a few weeks in the March/April time frame. Since energy systems are generally considered “essential infrastructure,” many companies were able to restart as long as they followed applicable social distancing protocols. Unfortunately, local building departments have been slow to resume their permitting and inspection activities. More troubling has been that utility processing of interconnections has been extremely slow; our local utility continues to find virtually every excuse to delay solar and storage installations and increase costs. Fortunately, the supply chain for solar and storage equipment has been pretty good — so far. Most companies have not experienced any significant shortages of solar panels, inverters or batteries. But the increased need for home and business backup power — coupled with the upcoming wildfire season here in California — is increasing the demand for battery backup systems. As a result, the biggest “supply chain” limitation that most contractors are experiencing relates to the availability of experienced solar and battery installers. So please listen up to this week’s Energy Show as we discuss the changes the solar industry has experienced during the corona virus pandemic, and our outlook on the future as we move toward the “new normal.”

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon As our society recovers from the triple threats of Coronavirus, economic collapse and social unrest, the longer term threat of global warming continues to hang over our heads. Earlier this year — just as the Coronavirus hit and our economy went into a recession — the Trillion Trees Act was introduced. Representative Bruce Westerman, a pro-logging advocate from Arkansas introduced this act, along with several Republican colleagues. Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio hailed the act as offering a powerful solution to combat our changing climate. And President Trump declared the US will join this initiative. A fundamental claim of this initiative is that a trillion trees is an important part of solving the global climate crisis. In itself, this claim is an acknowledgment by Republicans that there is indeed a global warming problem that humans can effectively address. Both political parties to some degree acknowledge that global warming is a man-made problem. With abundant apologies to Joyce Kilmer: "I think that I shall never see, a Global Warming Solution as lovely as a tree. So the real question becomes: “how effectively can a trillion trees solve global warming?” Please listen to this week’s Energy Show as we delve into a few of the scientific and economic issues related to the Trillion Trees Act, including: how trees sequester carbon, how much CO2 will a trillion trees remove, how much land is required, how much will it cost to plant a trillion trees, how long will it take for these trees to capture atmospheric CO2, and to cap it all off — can Congress pass such a bill.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon In response to the Financial Crisis of 2008, Rahm Emmanuel — at the time Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff — quipped: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” The death, economic destruction and havoc wreaked by the Covid-19 crisis is by no means “good;” nevertheless, sometimes it does take a life-economy-society altering crisis to overcome the inertia that stands in the way of fundamental changes. One of those changes that we need to make relates to our archaic electric grid. New technologies — wind, solar, batteries, EVs, computer controls, building electrification, software, heat pumps — make the distributed electric grid cheaper, safer and more efficient. But we have over one hundred years of established grid infrastructure practices standing in the way of transforming our electric grid. Companies that are transforming our electric grid have a tremendous market opportunity, magnified and accelerated by any government stimulus spending that may be allocated. The problem is not just isolated to regular upgrades and maintenance of our grid. Instead, the big opportunity is to redesign the grid — much as the interstate highway system revolutionized transportation in the U.S. One new company in this space is Veloce Energy. It’s my pleasure to have Jeff Wofe, CEO of Veloce, as our guest on this week’s Energy Show. I’ve known Jeff for over 15 years since he was the founder and Chairman of GroSolar, a pioneering national distributor and installer of solar equipment throughout the US. Jeff and I served for many years on the board of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), where we worked side-by-side on solar policies such as the Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Please listen to this week’s Energy Show as we Jeff describes Veloce Energy’s grid-edge system architecture. This architecture will provide simplified connections for distributed generation, cost-effective resilience for both buildings and vehicles, and a streamlined path to help us in transforming our electric grid of the future.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon With the Stay At Home orders in place throughout a large part of the U.S., many of us are now 100% dependent on our home's electric grid for work — as well as lights, refrigeration, HVAC and entertainment. Unfortunately, our old fashioned electric grid is not up to the challenges of wildfires and storms, not to mention ever-increasing maintenance costs. Transmitting power long distances over high voltage transmission lines is particularly vulnerable to disruptions. Although this old grid was good for over a hundred years, new technologies — particularly battery storage, solar and smart appliances — are more reliable and less expensive. These new technologies move the generation and storage of electricity much closer to the buildings that need this power — a design that is called Distributed Generation. In suburban areas there is often enough available roof space for solar panels; power for these systems is generated Behind the Meter (on the customer’s side of the meter). But in urban areas there is rarely enough roof space; instead, large solar power systems can be installed over parking lots, on brownfields, or on warehouse rooftops. With this design the power is generated on the utility’s side of the meter — a concept called Wholesale Distributed Generation. Wholesale distributed generation makes terrific environmental and economic sense. The Clean Coalition was established in 2009 to accelerate the deployment of wholesale distributed generation. They advocate for a modern, efficient power system that takes advantage of these new solar and storage technologies to provide clean, reliable and more affordable energy. My guest on this week’s show is Craig Lewis, the Executive Director of the Clean Coalition. I’ve known Craig for almost 15 years — going back to his work at GreenVolts, one of the pioneering solar concentrator companies. Please Listen Up to this week’s Energy Show as Craig shares how the Clean Coalition is working to create fair, transparent, and effective policies and programs to help power the United States with renewable energy from local sources.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon The Covid-19 crisis will transform many of our traditional businesses processes. Although this podcast was recorded before Shelter In Place became a household phrase, Greenlancer‘s outsourcing business model is proof that there are better, faster and safer ways to handle many traditional business processes. Solar hardware costs — such as solar panels, batteries and mounting equipment — continue to decline. However, non-hardware costs, referred to as “soft costs — such as permitting, labor and overhead — have continued to increase steadily. With equipment costs going down and soft costs going up, there has not been much change in the overall cost of a solar and battery backup system. As a long time solar contractor, I’m always looking for ways to reduce our costs while still installing top quality systems. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are no magic bullets. Nevertheless, there are a a number of smaller actions that we can take that, in the aggregate, keep costs down for our customers. Design and engineering costs used to be a huge expense. I once had a room full of 60 engineers and project managers working on projects across the U.S. It was challenging to manage, very expensive, and not particularly responsive to the ups and downs in the solar industry. Now, by outsourcing the electrical design and drafting, I’ve been able to reduce my design and engineering costs by more than half. Moreover, I can turn around engineering projects in a day or two — providing faster installation services for our customers. I’ve been using Greenlancer’s outsourced solar design and engineering services for almost seven years. We send them the design, pictures, equipment and project details, and in a day or two they send back a comprehensive plan set which we then submit to the local permitting office. Not only do they reduce our costs and improve our customer service, but Greenlancer’s outsourced business model is also a perfect example of a way to both reduce costs and respect the Shelter In Place requirements. Please listen to The Energy Show to learn more about Greenlancer, the services they provide and how they are reducing solar soft costs for solar installations across the US.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon With the gradual improvements in solar technology over the past 15 years, many early solar customers are considering a solar system upgrade. Some people want to add more panels because their electrical demand has increased. Some people have inverters that are past their warranty. Some people want better system monitoring. And some people are doing a home renovation and want to re-use their existing panels. Not surprisingly, the most common reason for an upgrade is to add battery backup capabilities to keep their lights on and their fridge cold. Systems based on older string inverter technology (and some microinverters), need an inverter upgrade to be compatible with the latest lithium ion battery technology. Thinking back on the equipment we installed 20 years ago to today, a lot has changed. Solar panel efficiency has gone from 14% to over 22%. Inverter efficiency has gone from 93% to 99%. Monitoring (while still somewhat complicated) is now standard. And, perhaps most importantly, battery storage systems are automatic, more reliable and have 10-year warranties. Remember, the 26% tax credit applies to solar and battery upgrades. So if you are thinking about a solar system upgrade, are about to re-roof or do a home renovation, or want to add battery storage, please listen to this week’s Energy Show. We will review the latest solar technology, detail what’s involved in upgrading, and provide useful tips to ask your solar installer so that you get the best solution for your home.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon The general consensus is that there is a climate emergency –global warming, climate change, whatever you want to call it but it looks like its happening. Candidly, there is still not 100% consensus of the problem, cause and solution but 90% of people including the science community and politicians believe global warming is a big problem. On this week’s Energy Show we are talking about “Project Drawdown” which is a plan to reverse the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. Not just slow down the emissions but reverse the trend of these emissions so we can reverse global warming. We are currently over 400 parts/billion of CO2 in the atmosphere, and it use to be 100 so were looking at reducing that number through lower emissions and other methods such as sequestration. The key to this project drawdown is finding a way to reduce every source of C02 in the atmosphere so that over time, the concentration is reduced. The Drawdown effort was led by a couple of environmentalists Paul Hawken and Amanda Joy Ravenhill who gathered a diverse team of over 200 scholars, scientists, policymakers, business leaders, and activists worldwide to assess, map, and model the most substantive solutions to achieve this goal. Results of the initial study were published in 2017 in a book called Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. The plan includes 80 documented solutions to achieve the goal ranked by the amount of CO2 reductions that can be accomplished and the total cost to enable these solutions and resulting savings over a period of 30 years. So please listen to this week’s Energy Show as we review the top 10 solutions ranked in Drawdown.

Copyright 2020, The Energy Show - Barry CInnamon The global warming crisis is a slow-motion train wreck that requires an all hands on deck response. Individuals, businesses and government all need to be pull in the same direction to minimize the effect of this crisis. Unfortunately, our federal government continues to focus more on supporting the incumbent fossil fuel industry instead of the clean energy technologies encouraged by the rest of the world. The good news is that leadership in many state and local governments are stepping up with practical, effective and affordable climate change solutions — and the City of San Jose is clearly a leader when it comes to implementing these solutions. A key component of the City’s efforts is the award-winning Climate Smart San Jose program. This community-wide initiative focuses on reducing pollution and improving the quality of life for San Jose residents. Basically, it’s the city’s plan to align with the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement. Our guest on this week’s Energy Show is Ken Davies, Director of Climate Smart San Jose. For over ten years Ken has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley’s environmental efforts. There is no doubt in my mind that the work he and his team are doing in San Jose will exceed our local goals for the Paris Climate Agreement. Please listen up to this week’s Energy Show as Ken discusses some of the key components of Climate Smart San Jose, including electrification rebates, the Climate Smart Challenge, zero net carbon buildings, vehicle electrification, San Jose’s Reach Code, and 100% green electricity.

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon What started as a trickle of a few EVs has turned into a flood of models from virtually every single manufacturer. Hats off to Tesla for opening the floodgates, and making GM’s EV1 a crude and distant memory. While the specifications for some of the new cars coming out in 2020 are still getting fined tuned —battery pack capacity, horsepower, range — the 2020 EVs look pretty impressive. Like all successful new products, EV market adoption goes through phases: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. We are still at the innovators stage in most of the world. California is leading in the U.S., with China clearly on a path to be the leading EV market. For cost, reliability and environmental reasons, EVs are destined to represent the majority of vehicles on roads within a few decades. Nevertheless, before EVs dominate they must be comparable to gasoline engines in terms of range and cost. Continuing reductions in the cost of batteries solve both problems. Not only are EVs becoming less expensive because batteries are less expensive, but larger batteries are going into EVs — giving these vehicles comparable ranges to gasoline engines. For more about 2020 EV model specifications, including EPA MPGe ratings, ranges, and costs, please tune in to this week's Energy Show.