The News We Didn’t Want. The ITC is going to step down to 26% after it failed to be included in the final $1.4Trillion spending bill agreed to by Congress and the White House. After nearly a year of negotiation, solar was left at the trough while the pigs got fat. EV’s and energy storage were also left behind while wind received a one-year extension. Of note, biodiesel got a major retroactive extension which was close to Chairman Grassley’s heart.
What Happened. On Monday it became clear that there would not be a continuing resolution that punts the spending bill to January. This meant that negotiators would have to finalize the spending and tax extension packages which they did on the hill late afternoon. To finish the process, the tax extensions would have to go to the White House for approval prior to getting voted on. Solar had a one-year extension in the bill firmly set heading to the White House. Just after midnight, the house rules committee printed the agreed upon version from the White House which had the solar portion stripped out. The White House had, with pinpoint accuracy, targeted solar for elimination from the package which brings us to a major loss.
The Rumors Of Why. The White House had a problem with solar and it was personal. If you recall, SEIA published a report saying that the 201 tariffs have caused job losses and loss of private investment. This announcement had a major blowback from the White House including calling SEIA a “loose confederation of Chinese solar companies seeking to destroy American solar manufacturing jobs.” The White House also appeared to be upset that SEIA continued to push back on the bifacial exemption which resulted in a court victory by SEIA.
The Case For. The case for the process, outside of the result, is that SEIA started with their hands tied behind their back and built a strong bipartisan coalition to get the ITC into the package in the first place. This includes publishing the job impact report on December 3rd which showed the need for the ITC support in the face of tariffs, support that moved Senate republicans into solar’s corner. In short, SEIA’s federal affairs team executed on the strategy successfully to give the extension life in the first place including getting it all the way to the White House. On the other hand, SEIA couldn’t simply roll over in the trade fight without looking weak in a town that responds to power.
The Counterpoint. SEIA played the game but didn’t play the man. It’s 2019 and Donald Trump is President and in Donald Trump’s DC flattery is key. Solar enjoys bipartisan support by voters but the elongated trade battles made no friends in the White House. In retrospect, the trade job loss report was a mistake to publish. The mid-year review should have been a procedural event without much fanfare by SEIA and as such would not have resulted in the blowback by Peter Navarro. It is apparent now, that there should have been more of a Trump voice inside the group including staffers at SEIA that come at this from a more republican point of view. The counterpoint is that the GOP is anti tariff and pro free trade but they have stayed quiet on the topic due to the risk of upsetting Trump. Should SEIA have held an event at Trump Hotel? Should SEIA have thanked Trump for helping open factories with the 201 tariff?
Careful Consideration. There will be a discussion on two fronts. AWEA has been vocal that they didn’t really need/want/advocate for a PTC extension but got one anyways. With ongoing discussion about SEIA and AWEA merging, this will become a louder topic since wind ‘won’ and solar ‘lost’ but I urge restraint on jumping into that. The bigger topic will be how SEIA reacts to the continuously growing utility scale / DG gap on the board. As SEIA elects a new board chair today, there will be an internal consideration for allocation of resources. Utility scale and DG are tied at the hip even though folks don’t recognize it. DG needs the scale of large solar to drive down the price of materials but utility scale would not have the ability to drive policies ahead if supporters can’t put solar on their own home, in short we cannot let one side try to win over the other and drive a wedge in the industry. I worry that this result, the first tax credit loss in 15 years for solar, will put extreme pressure on the split. Now is not the time to alienate State chapters or any particular segment in the solar space, it is the time to build bridges and create a bigger tent going forward.
Next Steps. No, I’m not calling for anyone to be fired today, no need to call/email/text anymore. Everyone wanted the ITC to pass and put forth their best effort. Unfortunately the result is a loss and that can’t be ignored, somewhere the strategy failed us. This means that we have to assess the things that worked and what could or should have been done different. This process also tells us who our friends are and those that left us out to dry, yes this is another conversation about SEPA which stayed out of the fight once again hiding behind their tax structure while raking in nearly $10million from our solar trade events. This cannot continue to stand, either we are partners or we are not. Likewise, SEIA needs to build a bigger tent internally including having a GOP insider that gives the counterpoint on political moves. Most importantly and I would urge board members to propose this immediately, invest heavily in grassroots. The SEIA activism and supporter email list should have over 1 million names on it. This is something that CALSSA invested in through the Solar Rights Alliance and that the NRA has ridden to victory for decades. SEIA needs to triple down on homeowners, apartment dwellers and supporters that have or want solar on their rooftop, through community solar or through their utility.
Last Word. It is time to put fights from previous eras behind us. 2019 has been a brutal year for solar in federal policy, if we want 2020 to be better we need to build back the relationships that are somehow chafed from events that happened 15 years or 1 week ago. Solar’s future is too bright yet too fragile to let internal fights get in the way. I have been writing this newsletter for over 7 years and today may be the closest I have gotten to saying that’s it. But then I think about how I used to write and maybe what I planned to say today to realize that a tempered message may achieve more than burning the house down. Trust me, I’m angry about the result but maybe this is what creates the better industry going forward because we realize we need to be united and working together. We will not win if one side has it better than the other.
- Greentech Media: US Lawmakers Stiff Solar, Wind Gets Modest Victory in Tax Deal
- Axios: The coming Wall Street battles over climate change
- PV-Magazine: New York is a 2 GW solar state
- Bloomberg: A Solar Boom Without the Subsidy Gloom
- Pew Research: More U.S. homeowners say they are considering home solar panels
- GreenBiz: Top 10 transportation trends to watch for in 2020
- PV-Tech: Encavis snaps up BayWa r.e.’s maiden subsidy-free PV plant in Germany
Opinion
Best, Yann
The post This is your SolarWakeup for December 18th, 2019 appeared first on SolarWakeup.com.
Lắp đặt điện mặt trời Khải Minh Tech
https://ift.tt/2X7bF6x
0906633505
info.khaiminhtech@gmail.com
80/39 Trần Quang Diệu, Phường 14, Quận 3
Lắp đặt điện mặt trời Khải Minh Tech
https://ift.tt/2ZH4TRU
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét