The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is offering up to $300 million for states, tribes, and local governments to bolster transmission siting and permitting processes while supporting economic development. Through the Transmission Siting and Economic Development grant program, the DOE’s Grid Deployment Office expects to offer $100 million for permitting and siting and $200 million for economic development in communities affected by transmission line projects. Transmission systems will need to expand by 60% by 2030 and may need to triple by 2050 to meet clean electricity and resiliency demands, DOE said, citing independent estimates.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday released detailed guidance on wage and apprenticeship requirements for projects using clean energy tax credits, providing flexibility for fixing underpayment errors and for projects unable to hire apprentices. The proposed new Internal Revenue Service rules for construction of clean energy production and manufacturing facilities build on initial guidance last year in the Inflation Reduction Act, which has enabled the announcement of more than $110 billion worth of clean energy manufacturing investments.
Total U.S. battery storage capacity soared 61% year on year to 12.689 GW by the end of the second quarter, but only about half of the expected facilities actually came online, as Q3 is expected to see roughly 3.5 GW added. The California Independent System Operator leads the nation in battery storage capacity at 6.314 GW, or 47.8% of total US capacity, according to the data.
Local, state, and federal officials joined renewable developer Pattern Energy at a celebratory groundbreaking just north of Corona last Friday for the company’s SunZia transmission and wind project, kicking off a three-year construction process to bring the system online by 2026. Once built, SunZia will transport up to 3 GW of wind energy — enough power to meet the needs of 3 million people — from Central New Mexico to South Central Arizona for use in western markets via a new 550-mile high-voltage transmission line. The project, which took 15 years to get all government approvals in place, is billed as the largest single clean-energy development effort in U.S. history, and possibly the largest ever in the Western Hemisphere.
Avangrid, part of the Iberdrola Group, has unveiled its plan to build the Camino Solar project (57 MW DC/44 MW AC), its first solar project in California, a state in which the company currently operates more than 500 MW through six wind energy facilities. Cupertino Electric Inc. will construct Camino Solar in Kern County, adjacent to Avangrid’s 189 MW Manzana Wind farm.
San Diegans in an east county desert community are giving San Diego Gas & Electric control of some of their power systems as part of a pilot program that could change the way energy is stored and distributed in the future. This "virtual power plant" allows SDG&E to control opted-in customers’ connected technology -- like smart thermostats, rooftop solar, energy storage, and water pumps -- in order to reduce energy demand and put electricity back on the grid when strained. Once the pilot is complete, SDG&E will look to expand the effort to other communities.
Pasadena Water and Power will be obtaining up to 39 MW of electricity from the Sapphire Solar project in Riverside County starting in December 2026, in accordance with a 20-year contract with the Southern California Public Power Authority. EDF is building the Sapphire Energy Project which is expected to be online in late 2026.
Origis Energy has announced construction has begun on the Escalante Solar Project near Grants, New Mexico. The 200 MW solar project is at the site of the decommissioned Escalante Station, a 253 MW coal-powered plant that Tri-State closed in 2020.
Solar energy will be used to power most of the Sphere’s nightly light shows and other entertainment produced at the $2.3 billion Las Vegas venue under a plan scheduled to be reviewed by Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission. Under the agreement, the Sphere eventually would get around 70% of its energy from a new solar energy facility and a battery storage complex to be built by the utility in Northern Nevada.
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