Developers aim to add 29.1 GW of solar generating capacity to the U.S. grid in 2023, accounting for 54% of planned new capacity for the year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced Monday. The agency said that 54.5 GW of total capacity is expected to come online this year, with solar ahead of the other sources. Battery storage has the second highest amount of capacity expected to come online this year at 9.4 GW, or 17% of the total, while 6 GW of wind capacity is expected. Renewable energy developers in Texas plan to add 7.7 GW of solar capacity to its grid, followed by California, where 4.2 GW is expected. Together, the two states account for 41% of planned new solar capacity.
Since President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law last August, companies have announced more than 100,000 clean energy jobs across the country, according to a report by the nonprofit Climate Power. As of the end of January, companies have announced more than 90 new clean energy projects in small towns and larger cities in the U.S., totaling $89.5 billion in new investments, the report found. Most of the jobs are located in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
EDF Renewables North America has secured approval from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to launch construction of the 300 MW Desert Quartzite solar project in Riverside County. The project will be constructed on roughly 3,000 acres of BLM-administered public land near Blythe and is set to generate electricity for around 120,000 homes. BLM approved the project in January 2020.
Proposals to build a high-speed electric rail linking Southern California to Las Vegas and revive a long-dead solar project in Mojave National Preserve’s aptly named Devil’s Playground have triggered a clash with conservationists over how best to ensure that bighorn sheep populations do not become genetically isolated — or wind up as roadkill. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently announced that it is reviewing a revised version of the controversial Soda Mountain Solar Project that includes requests for permits to “take,” or fatally injure, desert tortoises, and alter desert washes during construction. For Mojave watchers, the situation is a crucial test of state Fish and Wildlife’s ability to mediate compromises among the developers while also planning a sustainable future for complex and fragile ecological networks across the desert.
B2U Storage Solutions has further expanded its in-house second life energy storage project in California to 25 MWh. The Sierra solar-plus-storage project in Lancaster consists of 1,300 reused EV battery packs mainly from OEMs Honda and Nissan with a smaller volume of GM Volt and Tesla Model 3 packs. The expansion to 25 MWh more than doubles its end-2021 size of 10 MWh.
Sunrun and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) have launched an energy reliability program that will provide flexible grid support from residential solar and battery systems during periods of high energy demand. Sunrun will enroll up to 7,500 new and existing residential home solar and battery systems in PG&E’s service area in the program, creating a virtual power plant capable of discharging 30 MW of clean energy back to the grid.
Energy technology company AES Corporation has commenced operations of a 100 MW solar PV plant in Eloy, Arizona, its third in the area. Half of the capacity of the recently operational solar plant will provide energy to tech giant Meta’s future data center in Mesa, while the other half of the energy will be supplied to residential and small businesses enrolled in utility Salt River Project’s Solar Choice program.
Italian renewable energy firm Plenitude, a subsidiary of Eni, has begun operations at the Golden Buckle Solar Project in Brazoria County, Texas. The 263 MW solar facility has the capacity to generate around 400-500 GWh of clean energy a year. General merchandise retailer Target will procure most of the green electricity generated by the solar farm under a long-term power purchase agreement.
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