{"id":8182,"date":"2014-03-22T11:19:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-22T15:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=8182"},"modified":"2014-03-22T11:27:43","modified_gmt":"2014-03-22T15:27:43","slug":"utility-owned-rooftop-solar-tom-fanning-and-steven-chu-agree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/utility-owned-rooftop-solar-tom-fanning-and-steven-chu-agree.html","title":{"rendered":"Utility-owned rooftop solar: Tom Fanning and Steven Chu agree"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n<\/a>\r\nTom Fanning is getting support for his idea of utility-owned\r\nrooftop solar.\r\nCan we see that tiger team report, Tom?\r\nAnd FPL, how about you get on with this, instead of\r\n\r\ntrying to gouge an unneeded yard-wide methane pipeline<\/a> through here?\r\n\r\nSun, wind, and water can power each U.S. state<\/a>,\r\nso how about FPL in the Sunshine State and Southern Company in the southeast\r\nget out in front and lead?\r\n

\r\nJeff McMahon wrote for Forbes yesterday,\r\n\r\nSteven Chu Solves Utility Companies’ Death Spiral<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\nUtility companies have been looking for new regulations and higher\r\nconnection charges to save them from a “death spiral”\r\nspurred by a surge in rooftop solar installations. Instead, says\r\nformer Energy Secretary Steven Chu, they should get into the rooftop\r\nsolar business.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nLike that \r\nALEC solar tax<\/a>\r\nfor charging people to connect solar generation to the grid<\/a>\r\nthat\r\n\r\npassed in Virginia and was tried by Georgia Power<\/a>\r\nbut wasn’t even considered by the GA PSC because of\r\n\r\ncitizen opposition across the state<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nUtilities are in danger of being FedExed, Chu said, “like the\r\nPost Office got FedExed,” as rooftop solar modules drop in\r\nprice.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nLike Southern Company\r\n\r\ngets downgraded because of coal and nukes<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n“The cost of modules has plummeted. In California where I\r\nlive, that means for $10,000 you can generate a lot of electricity.\r\nThe cost of batteries is plummeting, so that in five maybe 10 years\r\nat the outside, a $10,000 or $12,000 system will allow me to go, on\r\naverage, 80 percent off grid.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSolar is now cheaper than any other power source,\r\n\r\nincluding natural gas<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“That’s pretty exciting. So this is a technology that could be\r\ndisruptive to electricity production and generation.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe industry-funded Edison Electric Institute warned utilities of\r\nthis scenario in a January 2013 report called “Disruptive\r\nChallenges: Financial Implications and Strategic Responses to a\r\nChanging Retail Electric Business” (pdf<\/a>). Wall Street Journal\r\nreporter Liam Denning described this scenario, in which solar\r\nbecomes increasingly attractive to the customers who can afford it,\r\nas a “death spiral<\/a>” in December, and utility insiders\r\nhave been echoing that phrase.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nChu’s solution?\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“So I’m telling utility companies, this is coming down the\r\nline, so let’s think of a new business model where you can profit\r\nfrom this.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nIn Chu’s business model, utilities will borrow money—because\r\n“utility companies get to borrow money as inexpensively as\r\njust about anyone in the United States”—to buy rooftop\r\nsolar modules and batteries. Then they’ll partner with private\r\nrooftop-solar installation firms—”because I don’t expect\r\na utility company to figure out how to do that”—to\r\ninstall rooftop panels and batteries at customer homes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe utility will own the panels and batteries and sell electricity\r\nto the customers at a much lower rate.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCustomers would not only get lower rates, they would get solar power\r\nwithout having to pay for installation, Chu said, and they would get\r\na battery backup that can keep the lights on and the refrigerator\r\nrunning for up to a week in a power outage.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nUtility companies, meanwhile, would benefit from a distributed\r\nnetwork of panels and batteries “where they need it the most,\r\nat the end of the distribution system, for grid stability.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nTom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, suggested exactly that\r\n\r\nat last year’s SO stockholder meeting:<\/a>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nAnother way to think about those resources, John — and we’re\r\njust considering all this right now in this tiger team — is\r\nthe idea to think about a rooftop not as a customer-owned or\r\n“we own” kind of resource, but as a potential site. And\r\nwhat we’ll pay the home is a site lease. Isn’t that interesting?\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nTom Fanning\r\n\r\nalso said<\/a>:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nOne of the things we’re trying to figure out is to have the vision\r\nand courage to kind of think about the future and how do we\r\nparticipate in a constructive way. We’re getting about that business\r\nright now. And, in fact, the initial report of this tiger team is\r\ngoing to happen sometime later this summer. So it’s an interesting\r\nkind of prospect for us.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWell, he didn’t say which summer.\r\nBut I like that vision part, and Steven Chu and Forbes are talking about the same vision.\r\n

\r\nLike I said in May 2013:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nOne thing that Southern Company can do that SolarCity cannot do\r\n— that Google cannot do — is it can do a reliable,\r\nsustainable, adaptable grid. It was very refreshing that\r\npresentation about distributed solar and offshore wind. Southern\r\nCompany is the very company that could do that. It has the financial\r\nresources; it has the biggest R&D operation,\r\nif I’ve heard you correctly, of any private company in the U.S….\r\n

\r\nSouthern Company could make the Southeast a net exporter of the\r\nenergy from solar and wind within a decade and could lead the entire\r\ncountry and the world. What is your plan — what is Southern\r\nCompany’s plan — to make that happen?\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nCan we see that tiger team report now, Tom?\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nPS: We don’t even have to wait on SO:\r\nlocal governments can issue green bonds<\/a>, too.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Fanning is getting support for his idea of utility-owned rooftop solar. Can we see that tiger team report, Tom? And FPL, how about you get on with this, instead of trying to gouge an unneeded yard-wide methane pipeline through here? Sun, wind, and water can power each U.S. state, so how about FPL in […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,18,2,6687,24],"tags":[7522,8704,6140,8701,8708,8699,8702,12,7,6076,637,8714,108,3324,7362,6339,7521,6],"class_list":["post-8182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-georgia-power","category-government","category-pipeline-2","category-solar","tag-death-spiral","tag-economy","tag-edison-electric-institute","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-power","tag-government","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-pipeline","tag-rooftop","tag-solar","tag-southern-company","tag-steven-chu","tag-tiger-team","tag-tom-fanning","tag-utility-owned","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-27Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8182"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8189,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8182\/revisions\/8189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}