Stimulus Package Gets Stuck. DC politics are thick right now around the stimulus package. There was a path to a quick passage in the Senate but that will not happen which means your work to advocate for solar to have a chance to be included continues. Politics are a fluid race to the finish but the finish line is always moving, it’s also the industry we’re in so let us take a deep dive on politics, policy and solar.
Bipartisan Means What? Poll after poll shows that solar support from voters is bipartisan, in some cases even a swing issue. Solar pros often tout the bipartisan nature of what we do, and I agree with them. I also agree that solar is resilient to withstand most solar politics, the industry is still doing well under Trump which was considered a major risk. But, there is a caveat. Solar is not that bipartisan, most instances of solar market creation by State and Federal government happened when political power shifted from republican to democrat. I asked my Twitter followers for good examples and here are some of their views. NJ, VA, and MD are some examples. I think SC is an example where a GOP majority worked with the industry.
Why Does It Matter? 7 GOP Senators gave solar the bipartisan support that we seek as an industry, here is a public policy poll that shows you why it was sent. Maine, North Carolina and Arizona all have clean energy jobs as +40 when polled. Senators from all three States signed on to the letter, betting that the letter is the only action needed to get some of that vote. This is an important note to consider because it underpins the comment “solar will be fine regardless of who is in charge”. Polling and experience suggests that neither party wants to destroy the solar industry but differs in their willingness to grow the market.
Like It Or Not, Policy Matters. Status quo may be enough for some but growth in this market means being involved in policy. Look at the work done in Virginia by advocates that took dominion from <200MW to a future of 19,000MW. That is policy at work. Florida still benefits from the policy pushed in 2007 by then Governor Charlie Crist and Vote Solar. It is very dangerous for the solar industry to be spectators in policy, you can advocate hard for policies without being partisan. This is my call to action because we are still underinvesting in policy, your budget should include at least 1% of revenue for policy activities.
Just Look At Oil. The big 5 oil companies are spending nearly $1million per day just to lobby on the topic of climate. That doesn’t include the millions spent on PR and marketing consultants to get stories like today’s New York Times story. Add the State level lobbying dollars and you realize that we’re not in a fair fight.
- CNN: Republicans revolt against GOP’s initial stimulus plan
- Bloomberg: A Totally Green Electric Grid Will Dramatically Speed Up Climate Action
- Forbes: Oil And Gas Giants Spend Millions Lobbying To Block Climate Change Policies
- Rocky Mountain Institute: Solarize Campaigns – Helping Communities of Color Access Rooftop Solar
- New York Times: Oil and Gas Groups See ‘Some Common Ground’ in Biden Energy Plan
- Utility Dive: DC regulators consider ‘light touch’ when it comes to microgrid rules
- Solar Power World: Solaria introduces free design and sales proposal tool to U.S. solar installers
- PV-Tech: US utility CPS Energy looks to add up to 900MW of solar, 50MW of storage to portfolio
Opinion
Best, Yann
The post This is your SolarWakeup for July 29th, 2020 appeared first on SolarWakeup.com.
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