Renewable Energy Focus
reNEWS - Aug 16 The U.S. has taken a major step forward in offshore wind development in the deep waters off the coast of California. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued a request for interest in a lease area requested by Trident Winds for a 765-megawatt floating project. The department has determined Trident is qualified to hold an outer continental shelf lease and now wants to find out whether other developers also are interested in the 68,000-acre site. If no other developers come forward, BOEM can issue a lease on a non-competitive basis. Otherwise, it will go ahead with a competitive lease auction.
Greentech Media - Aug 18 Facing the threat of rolling blackouts next year, Southern California’s utilities are turning to energy storage developers to get battery projects up and running at a record speed, and at a higher-than-usual cost. This week, utilities Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric officially asked the California Public Utilities Commission to approve contracts for lithium-ion battery projects, accounting for more than 50 megawatts. They range in size from 2 megawatts to 20 megawatts, and use lithium-ion batteries, like many other storage projects in the state. But the deadline for getting them up and running, Dec. 31, 2016, is much tighter than we’ve seen for projects of their size in the past. The rush is driven by the shutdown of the Aliso Canyon natural-gas storage facility, due to a leak that was first detected last fall.
Denver Business Journal - Aug 15 Xcel Energy Inc. has reached a sweeping settlement agreement on renewable energy and pricing that could change the way electricity is produced and paid for in Colorado, if state regulators sign off on it. The settlement covers three proposals the power utility has submitted to state regulators: One to change its customer rate structure, another to create a community solar program, and a third to add more renewable energy to its portfolio. The agreement, filed Monday with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, involves 22 of the 26 groups that are parties to one or more of those efforts, which Minneapolis-based Xcel is pushing in the state as part of its “Our Energy Future” plan.
PV Magazine - Aug 15 Last week, the Sierra Club issued a report that looks at communities that are planning to move or already have moved to 100 percent renewable energy in at least one sector, as part of its “Ready for 100” campaign. The cities and towns featured are located around the nation, although the three largest are in California. San Jose, San Diego, and San Francisco have all made commitments to go 100 percent renewable, by 2022, 2030, and 2035 respectively. Together these three cities have over 3 million residents, and all have made commitments to renewable energy exceeding California’s 50 percent by 2030 mandate, itself the third-strongest in the nation (tied with New York).
PV-Tech - Aug 16 NV Energy has asked regulators for permission to retire a utility-owned coal plant 10 months early, as well as for approval of a new 100-megawatt solar plant. In its latest Emissions Reduction and Capacity Replacement second amendment filing, Nevada’s largest utility sought an earlier retirement date for the 257-megawatt coal generation unit at the Reid Gardner Generation Station. As part of a concerted effort toward a cleaner fuel portfolio, NV Energy’s 100-megawatt solar project in Boulder City would also be low-cost; with the average cost of energy for the life of the facility to be around US$0.04/kWh, according to the PUC filing.
San Jose Mercury News - Aug 17 More and more homeowners are shifting to solar power in Menlo Park. Almost 10 percent of building permits, 12 out of 141, issued by the city last month were for residential solar installations, according to city documents. Since 2009, a city official noted, 281 solar permits have been issued, accounting for just over 2 percent of all households. The city stopped charging permit fees for solar installations in 2007.
SolarServer - Aug 18 Diversified energy infrastructure company AltaGas Ltd. has selected Greensmith Energy as the software provider and system integrator for a 20-megawatt energy storage system in Pomona, California. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2016.
