Advanced Energy Perspectives

This week we saw a couple of big deals announced for solar involving AEE member companies. First Solar, the world’s largest solar company, has entered into a strategic partnership with the Clean Energy Collective (subscription required) to get into the largest potential market for residential solar in the United States – residents who can’t put solar installations on their own roofs. And for those who can, SolarCity has teamed up with Bank of America Merrill Lynch on a $400 million fund to help them do it.

Remember a few months ago when Eric Wesoff of Greentech Media the story, “I Almost Bought Hawaii’s Utility,” in which a reported coalition of investors came incredibly close to purchasing Hawaii’s largest utility and implementing an aggressive transition to advanced energy? Well, it wasn’t Wesoff’s investment group, but this week NextEra announced that it had acquired Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI) for $4.3 billion.

Wind power had a particularly good week, with announcements of three major advanced energy deals – investments from Google and IKEA, and a big acquisition by SunEdison.

Ever since California’s Public Utilities Commission announced a new energy storage mandate last year, the storage market in California has exploded. Last week, Southern California Edison (SCE) announced that it would acquire 250 MW of energy storage system as part of a larger plan to acquire 2,221 MW of new generation assets. This week we learned more details of SCE’s overall plans for the future of its energy storage.

This week we saw news of a new “electric power superhighway” in Kansas, a bumper crop of energy storage in California, and the small matter of the 2014 Midterm Elections. Kansas cut the ribbon on a 100-mile-long transmission line, SoCal Edison procured more storage than expected, and Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate. Think of it this way: Power Lines, Power Storage, and Power Shift.