Advanced Energy Perspectives

Last Friday, AEE member company Opower rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, marking the end of its first day as a publicly traded company (NYSE: OPWR). See video of the NYSE celebration here and more photos here. While a big occasion for the behavioral efficiency company, Opower’s IPO is an important moment in the transition toward a 21^st century electricity system. Opower and other advanced energy companies like it are helping to change the long-held utility business model. The “energy-data nexus” is one of the big areas of opportunity for investment and innovation.

The wind blew strong on the plains of Texas last week. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) announced that wind turbines in Texas broke an electricity generation record, on Wednesday, March 26. Wind turbines were producing 10,296 megawatts of electricity, or 29 percent of the total electricity generated in ERCOT, at 8:48 pm. This beat the previous instantaneous output record by more than 600 MW. In sum, ERCOT has 11,000 MW of installed commercial wind power – when the record was broken, 94 percent of the state’s total wind power capacity was being tapped.

Surprise, surprise: Tesla was all over the news this week, with several states taking action, for or against, direct vehicle sales. Tesla’s sales model of boutique store fronts and direct purchases from the company is unique among automotive sales and cuts out the dealer as a middleman. Tesla has insisted that the direct sales model is necessary to introduce consumers to this new technology.“We strongly believe it is vital to introduce our own vehicles to the market because electric cars are still a relatively new technology,” says Tesla on its blog.

Tesla is at the battlements again, grappling with the state of New Jersey for the right to sell its breakout (and high-end) electric cars. This week, New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission, acting at the behest of local car dealerships, blocked direct sale of vehicles to consumers. That means shutting down showrooms – previously licensed by the same Motor Vehicle Commission – in Paramus and Basking Ridge, where the company has been selling its Model S cars directly, rather than through local dealers.

Hot on the heels of AEE’s Advanced Energy Now 2014 Market Report, SEIA and Greentech Media released their analysis of (and infographic on) the 2013 Solar PV Market. More solar was installed in the U.S. during the period from June 2012 to December 2013 than had been installed in the 30 years prior.