Why Illinois is a Solar Market to Watch with Lewis Butler, Nelnet Renewable Energy | EP188

I can I don't know if I can think of a single company that is the same today that it was five years ago, right? They've had to change financing or change, you know, the products that are installing something is always going to be changing. So I think having that Rolodex of, you know, trusted advisors is one one way that I think about the membership, I think is pretty helpful because, you know, you never know when you're gonna need help with an install or solving or procurement problem. So I think the network is worth its weight in gold.

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Today on the Clean Power Hour, we continue our journey learning about ISEA the Illinois Solar Energy Association. I'm Tim Montague, your host, check out all of our content at cleanpowerhour.com Give us a rating and a review on Apple and Spotify. Happy New Year. And I'm looking forward to bringing you lots of interviews, and our regular news roundup with John Weaver this year, we rebooted that in December. So check out all of our content, cleanpowerhour.com. We have a very robust YouTube channel, hit that bell, get our regular updates and reach out to me I love hearing from my listeners on LinkedIn or on my website, cleanpowerhour.com. The Illinois Solar Energy Association is a storied organization here in the Midwest. It was founded in 1979. And it is our state's organization, every state has one pretty much. And if you're not involved, you don't necessarily know what it does, but it does lots of things. So I'm here today with Lewis Butler. He is the head of sales and business development for Nelnet renewable energy. Welcome to the show, Lewis.

Thanks for having me, Tim. Great to be here.

It's been great getting to know you a little bit in the last couple of months. And of course, I know no net from its grnd roots. But tell our listeners a little bit about yourself. How did you get into the solar industry? And what is known at renewables?

Yeah, big question there. I've been in the industry for six years now got my start at a small EPC out in Iowa. And actually, thanks to the Illinois Solar Energy Association, I got connected with Eric Peterman at GRNE solar, which ultimately became nomad. So I owe a decent amount of of my current career to ICs, as it were, but yeah, but grnd for two years now. And we got acquired by Nomad about a year and a half ago. And, you know, we currently do a lot in the solar space, you know, we have a residential division, I obviously have been heavily involved in our behind the meter sea and AI efforts, we have a Greenfield and development team. And then we're also doing a decent amount on the tax equity side. So if there's a market segment, there's a chance that we're somehow tangentially involved in it, if we're not directly involved in it already. So, you know, for those reasons and more, it's, it's important for us to keep up on policy and, you know, to keep our professional network relatively strong, because, you know, no one company can do it alone.

And GRNE had its roots here in Illinois, and was in Iowa, what were the original states? And then tell us a little more about the footprint now?

Yeah, so the original states were actually Nebraska and Illinois. Okay. And then obviously, all the great legislation that's that's happened over the last number of years, really made Illinois, a top market for us. And then, you know, in the last 12 months, we've opened up an office and have started to do some projects out in New York, and the same out in Colorado. So, you know, we're doing projects in a number of states right now, but Midwest focus, and we're starting to branch out and do some EPC work and hopefully own some assets in those other regions as well.

Now, Illinois is is has a very robust DG market, that's residential, commercial industrial community is no not playing in the community solar space at all. We

currently don't have any projects, it's an area of interest for us, we are starting to put more resources behind our greenfield development. So I don't think we have anything on the docket today. And you know, as I'm sure you know, that community solar space and an Illinois a pretty interesting one. So I don't know how focused we're gonna be on that here in the short term, but the long term, we do want to continue to develop projects, you know, kind of in our own backyard. And

for those who don't know, you know, Illinois is a very good solar market. We kind of burst onto the scene in 2017 with FEJA, the Future Energy Jobs Act. Then we got CEJA, a few years later, I think 2021 and And what these, what that does is it provides for consumer funded incentives, right, that take the form of renewable energy credits, one rack is one megawatt hour of electricity. And that makes the payback period shorter for consumers and business owners. And it makes it economical for community solar developers to build a central power plant like the one you see behind me, that's a two megawatt solar plant. And then subscribe subscribers, anyone in Amarin, or comment territory, can subscribe to the project and save money on their power bill by buying green energy. That's the long and short of it. But getting a piece of legislation like CEJA, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act is no small feat. It's 900 pages of legislation. It's a massive bill. And I like to say that Illinois is complicated. But if you're sophisticated, you can do well here. And many developers and EPCs are doing very well. We

Yeah, so you know, my path I see is maybe a little have something like, I think upwards of 500 solar companies operating in Illinois now. And that includes OEMs, of course, service providers, installers, developers and financiers, to full spectrum. I think of the nucleus of the solar industry, though, as being installers and developers. It's like that's where the rubber meets the road. Right? These are the folks that make projects come out of the ground, and green the grid. So, Lewis, you've been involved with ISEA for a period of time now, how did you get involved? And tell us a little bit about your role and why you're involved? bit different than you know, Kevin's who's he's been in the policy world for the last 1015 plus years, right. Um, my company at the time, we were focused primarily in Iowa, and someone came to me and they said, You know, I think Illinois has some interesting incentives going on. This is back in 2017 2018. So believe it or not, I sat down with a copy of the longterm renewable resource procurement plan. You ever seen it, you know, this Tim, the things like two or three, two to 300 pages long, I sat down, I read it, I pretended that I understood a third of it. And then I got on the phone with ash called Anthony star at the IPA to ask a clarifying question. And then I ended up talking to Lesley McCain, the executive director of the Illinois Solar Energy Association. And, you know, she got us signed up as members got me invited to some industry events. And then one thing led to another and, you know, I ended up being on the board. But, you know, that legislation passing for somebody who went from knowing nothing about policy in Illinois, to trying to get a whole company ramped up and up to speed was quite an undertaking. And so, you know, I know one person at ISEA did that. But, you know, the newsletters talking with people like Kevin or Shannon fold, and they're just, Brian and all the other people that that you've you've spoken with, was a huge help to me. And then, you know, I like to think that, you know, serving on the board is kind of paying it forward and, you know, try to be a sounding board and a resource for others trying to figure everything out because holy smokes, there's, there's a lot to know, you know, no, I don't know that any one person knows it. All right, but collectively, we got we got a shot. I think it gives you access to simply have your

That's the thing. It's, it's really not what you know, it's who you know, of course, what you know, is important, and you need to know your business, you need to know your market. You need to know what works and what doesn't, what kind of a project is going to pencil. It's so funny, when landowners, you know, approached me about projects, and they just think, Oh, I've got real estate, I can make a solar farm and sell the power and everything's gonna be wonderful. Well, Brent, maybe not. It's complicated, but, so, it is who you know, and I see it is a gateway to an ecosystem of players of stakeholders of influencers have OGS in the solar industry, like I said, it was founded in 1979, when solar thermal was the thing right, and then PV came along in the 90s and eclipsed, thermal thermal is almost non existent in the state of Illinois. Now, it is making a resurgence in CNI. I think there are some emerging technologies, which I've covered here on the Clean Power Hour. So you'll see solar thermal in you know, in the mix, but for the most part, making electrons with photons is where it's at economically, and what is economical is going to rule the day. So chart. Tell us a little more though, if you're a solar installer, developer, financier, you know, you're you could be a niche PPA provider focused on LMI or faith communities. Are you know, there's all kinds of niches within the solar industry. But if you're not involved, what is it that you don't know, that you should know, that might inspire you to reach out to me, and you can just reach out to me, I am doing business development for ISEA, helping them secure new business members. And I'm happy to tell you, there's no cost to have a con conversation. So reach out to me. And we'll schedule a call and we can discuss what how you can get involved in why that makes a difference. But from your perspective, Lewis, tell us more about that, when you get involved with I see as a member, what is it that it gives you access to? Yeah, voice heard, you know, we think about these couple 100 page documents of where do they come from? I think there's like a question that everyone really should sit down and ask themselves, because, you know, on the periphery, at least, you know, from my board position, you know, we get to have a say sometimes and, you know, how long are the wreck payback period is going to be, for example, how did we end up, you know, with that six to seven year payback in the scene in that large DG space, that came from someone coming to the trade org and saying, Hey, what's palpable we have a budget, can we stretch it to 10 or 15 years, and, you know, at least from my perspective, I knew the economics of the payback on the large G side, and I said, Hey, we really can't go past this five to seven year span, right? So every sentence in these in the, in the legislation, every sentence in these guidebooks, somebody's writing it and, you know, believe it or not, they're reaching out seeking public comment feedback. And so if you're a member of ISEA, and you're providing that feedback, you know, we're able to channel that, and we might be able to change or nudge, you know, that paragraph that's really important to you, or clean up a definition that really impacts your business that's been difficult to get around over the last couple of years. So, you know, it feels like this giant, unwieldy thing to like, put your arms around. But if you have some feedback or some some input, I mean, that's what the trade org is there to do is to impact change on the margin, to help you out to make your life just that much easier, and help your customers out that much more. So I think it's a great conduit for for actually, you know, having impact in the industry that we live in working every single day. The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America. The maker of North America's number one three phase string inverter with over six gigawatts shipped in the US. The CPS America product lineup includes three phase string inverters ranging from 25 to 275 kW, their flagship inverter, the CPS 250 to 75 is designed to work with solar plants ranging from two megawatts to two gigawatts, the 250 to 75 pairs well, with CPS America's exceptional data communication controls and energy storage solutions, go to chintpowersystems.com To find out more. And while we do have wonderful legislation, okay, if you work in Illinois, you're familiar with CEJA and Illinois shines Okay, Illinoisshines.com is the main website for the program. That the the IPA oversees the Illinois Power Agency, which is our PUC. But it's not a static thing, right. There are so many nuances, and it gets regularly reviewed and modified along the way. And then there are things like electrification of transportation that really matter to solar installers, right? Because solar alone is is a very, very shallow value proposition. It's good, it saves you money on your energy bill, right. But there are other value stacks that solar installers are indulging in. Now. battery storage for one is a big one. But electrification of transportation. If you're an a solar installer, you should be thinking about installing evey charging infrastructure if you're not already. And you definitely need to be thinking about installing batteries. And we have good battery incentives in Illinois. Reach out to me if you want to learn about the value stack of batteries in Illinois in PJM, which is in Northern Illinois, which is the largest grid in the in the United States. And then there's miso in the central and southern part of the state, different value stack in miso. But anyway. So these things are not static, you get to participate in for example, Lobby Day, right? A group of stakeholders, members of ISEA will go to Springfield, which is our state capitol, and talk to legislators all day long in small groups, and you get to rub shoulders with all these story players in the industry, get to know them on a personal level so that, you know two weeks down the road, you can call them and say hey, I've got a problem. What do you think about this? How do I solve this? You know, just those little relationships will grow over time and we are tribal animals, right? So if you don't know somebody by face, if you haven't met them and shook their hand, it's going to be harder for you to access their knowledge base and their network and we're all nodes in a network, Lewis. So tell us a little more about the benefits of membership, there's events that I see is going to be hosting on a monthly basis networking events. There's the lobby day that I just mentioned, there's being an influential stakeholder when legislation is modified. What else should our listeners know? Who are considering membership in ISEA?

Yeah, I think I just, I mean, all those things you said are absolutely correct. To me, I think like the network, and just development opportunity alone is worth the price of admission, you know, those networking events, or having a group of people that you can call up with your questions. Or, you know, you mentioned a whole bevy of new technologies, and solutions that the industry is offering right batteries, Navy infrastructure, and just having a resource of people that can be trusted, that are involved in the industry that you can instantly feel comfortable calling down that list and getting their perspective, to me that that's an invaluable thing to have, as we're all trying to navigate changes over time, right? I can, I don't know if I can think of a single company that is the same today that it was five years ago, right, they've had to change financing or change, you know, the products they're installing, something is always going to be changing. So I think having that Rolodex of, you know, trusted advisors is one, one way that I think about the membership, I think is pretty helpful, because, you know, you never know when you're gonna need help with an install or solving the procurement problem. So I think the network is worth its weight in gold.

Well said, you know, Illinois is such an attractive market that many companies come to Illinois from out of state, they might be based in Indiana, or Michigan, or New York, you know, far flung places, or California for that matter, but operate in Illinois, because we have a robust community solar market, with lots of runway, we have 10 years of runway with CEJA, right? Check out the guidebook, Illinois shines, and then you can just download the guidebook. And that will give you a good understanding of the program. Kind of a cliffnotes of the program. But just remember that it's not static, you have to be involved, you have to be engaged. And I see a is the de facto way to do that. There's other stakeholders, and we're, you know, super grateful for vote solar. Right. And, and several other organizations that are stakeholders. And it's together, right? It's, it's through collective action, that we are able to influence the legislature and maintain good net metering rules. That's an uncertainty in any solar market, right? We see in 2023, how nem 3.0 in California devastated the residential and to some extent, commercial solar markets, right? Just by reducing the value of solar electrons by 75%. Right? It what it does is it extends the payback period for consumers and stakeholders. And people don't like a 10 year payback. They go well, I don't know if I'm going to be in this building in this house for 10 years. That's a very long time for us humans. And a five to seven year payback, which is what you get with fija and CEJA. is palatable and it really catalyzes a robust DG market. If you go to Florida, you don't have a robust DG market like we have you have utility market. There's utility solar being installed by Florida Power and Light in 75 megawatt chunks, right. And so So yeah, solar is a thing in Florida, big solar fields. But there's not a lot of rooftop solar happening in Florida because they don't have good net metering, and they don't have renewable energy credits. So in our closing few minutes together, Lewis real appreciate your time. What else I guess is on your radar, you know, you're doing sales and BD for CNI, solar with no net. When you kind of look at the landscape here in the Midwest, what is on your mind? And what are you looking forward to in 2024?

Yeah, so, you know, unsurprisingly, I see. And what I'm thinking about for the future have a decent amount of overlap. So I would just start by a plug of, you know, if, if I see a if you're a current member, and you feel like there's something you'd like to see the organization do by no means are already perfect, right? We're doing our best. So come with the new ideas, up your level of involvement, right, we have a policy committee that's forming, always want to hear what's new and exciting to the memberships make sure we're addressing that. But then on my radar going into 2024, you know, I think storage is going to continue to become more and more prevailing. You know, the incentives that were in the legislation, I think are attractive, I think people are starting to get their heads around, you know, the value proposition there. So I think we're gonna continue to see more battery. So that's where I'm investing some of my mental energy heading into this year. I think working with utility companies is going to continue to be of importance, the interconnection queue, not just for those, those larger projects, but we're starting to see it creep in to the behind the meter CNI projects as well. So I think keeping an eye on the interconnection process and, and how that decision making continues to evolve, I think is going to be pretty important. And then, you know, I think the last thing that is top of mind, for my team now is just, you know, how do we continue to provide a good end to end experience managing inflation and procurement over the long run, you know, if we have a project, and this ties into the interconnection process a little bit if we sign a contract today, but we get delayed in the interconnection queue for some reason, you know, how are we going to manage that in the contract from a pricing perspective? You know, modules are going to change what's going to happen with Module pricing. There's a lot of long term factors, I think we're still trying to have good answers to that will continue to evolve. But you know, and that's where talking to people really helps out to see, you know, what they see coming down the pipe combined with what we're seeing and trying to synthesize that in a way that's, you know, ultimately good for our end customers and can deliver a good product form.

Well said, Well, I want to encourage you, my listeners to reach out to me about ISEA, the Illinois Solar Energy Association, if you're involved, like Lewis said, if you're already involved, great reach out to the board members, they would love to hear from you and hear your perspectives. If you're not involved, or your membership has lapsed, please reach out to me and I will give you the download on why this matters. We are hosting monthly events, like I said, and I will also tell you about those and those are opportunities for your company to sponsor those events, and gain visibility. That's another big thing I think is getting listed on the ISEA directory so that other solar companies, whatever they're looking for, that you're providing, you can be found in that directory. That's one of the go to places. So reach out to me on LinkedIn or at cleanpowerhour.com. I want to thank Lewis Butler with ISEA. And Nelnet Solar or Nelnet renewable energy for coming on the show today. Thank you so much, Lewis.

Great. Thanks, Tim. I appreciate it.

Let's grow solar I'm Tim Montague, take care. Hey, listeners. This is Tim, I want to give a shout out to all of you. I do this for you twice a week. Thank you for being here. Thank you for giving us your time. I really appreciate you and what you're all about. You are part and parcel of the energy transition, whether you're an energy professional today, or an aspiring energy professional. So thank you, I want to let you know that the Clean Power Hour has launched a listener survey. And it would mean so much to me. If you would go to cleanpowerhour.com. Click on the About Us link right there on the main navigation that takes you to the about page. And you'll see a big graphic listener survey, just click on that graphic and it takes just a couple of minutes. If you fill out the survey, I will send you a lovely baseball cap with our logo on it. The other thing I want our listeners to know is that this podcast is made possible by corporate sponsors. We have chin power systems, the leading three phase string inverter manufacturer in North America. So check out CPS America. But we are very actively looking for additional support to make this show work. And you see here our media kit. With all the sponsor benefits and statistics about the show. You know we're dropping two episodes a week. We have now over 320,000 downloads on YouTube. And we're getting about 45,000 downloads per month. So this is a great way to bring your brand to our listeners and our listeners our decision makers in clean energy. This includes projects executives, engineers, finance, project management, and many other professionals who are making decisions about and developing, designing, installing and making possible clean energy projects. So check out cleanpowerhour.com both our listener survey on the about us and our media kit and become a sponsor today. Thank you so much let's go solar and storage