Focus
New San Diego regional energy program to file with state regulators
The San Diego Union-Tribune – December 9
The San Diego Community Power (SDCP) board voted this Monday to adopt an implementation plan for what will be the second-largest community choice aggregation (CCA) program in California. The plan will be submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission by the end of December. The commission is expected to certify SDCP to compete head-to-head with San Diego Gas & Electric on purchasing sources of energy for customers in San Diego, Chula Vista, La Mesa, Encinitas, and Imperial Beach in 2021. With an estimated 920,000 customers, SDCP will be second in size only to the Clean Power Alliance, serving Los Angeles and Ventura counties, as the largest CCA in the state by customer accounts.
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News
Bifacial solar modules to retain U.S. tariff exemption
Greentech Media - December 5
A court has temporarily blocked the federal government’s decision in October to eliminate the tariff exemptions it granted bifacial solar modules earlier this year, offering a reprieve for U.S. solar developers — and a small but fast-growing portion of the solar industry. Bifacial modules can produce power from both sides of the module. Last Thursday, the U.S. Court of International Trade agreed with renewables developer Invenergy and the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group that the U.S. Trade Representative had acted unlawfully when it withdrew its exemption for bifacial modules. From an installed capacity of only 97 megawatts globally in 2016, bifacial module deployments grew to over 2,600 megawatts in 2018 and are expected to reach 5,420 megawatts by year’s end, according to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.
San Mateo County will have completely green power by 2025, local agency says
Peninsula Press – December 5
By the end of 2019, the Wright Solar Facility in Los Banos will come online, producing renewable energy for more than 100,000 San Mateo County homes. The Wright Facility — the largest solar project of its kind in California — is a local agency’s latest stride toward fulfilling an ambitious promise: supplying enough green power for all of San Mateo County within the next five years. In 2016, Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) became the county’s official energy provider, piping cleaner electricity onto the grid, while PG&E continued to deliver the power through its lines. PCE has supplied nearly all of San Mateo County with 50 percent renewable energy. But as costs for wind and solar power decline, and the threat of climate change mounts, the agency says it will aim to switch the entire county to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025.
Nevada regulators approve NV Energy plan for 1,190 MW of solar and 590 MW of storage
Utility Dive – December 9
The Nevada Public Utilities Commission has approved NV Energy's Integrated Resource Plan, including three solar projects totaling 1,190 megawatts and 590 megawatts of energy storage capacity. The largest of the projects is Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners' Gemini solar and storage project. The company says it is believed to be one of the largest projects of its kind globally, with capital expenditures expected to top $1 billion.
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Projects
Los Angeles wants to build a hydrogen-fueled power plant
Los Angeles Times - December 10
As Los Angeles weans itself off the last of its coal-generated electricity from the Intermountain Power Plant, the city needs to replace that fuel with a natural gas plant in Utah, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) staff insisted this Tuesday. But they also pledged that the facility would eventually burn renewable hydrogen instead of natural gas — something that has never been done before. Utility staff told the board it is critical to build an 840-megawatt gas-fired power plant to replace the coal-burning facility that DWP operates today. But for the first time, DWP leadership committed to installing turbines capable of burning a mix of 30 percent hydrogen and 70 percent gas when the new power plant opens in 2025. Under the timeline described Tuesday, that ratio would steadily change until the plant burns 100 percent hydrogen in 2045, the deadline set by state lawmakers for a 100 percent climate-friendly electricity supply.
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approves large solar project east of Barstow
The Press-Enterprise – December 10
This Tuesday, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors denied an appeal filed by residents over the county planning commission’s approval of San Francisco-based Clearway Energy Group’s plans for a solar-generating facility on about 3,500 acres near the Barstow-Daggett airport. While the decision upholds the project’s approval, supervisors asked the developer to keep it farther away from nearby homes and to use technology to monitor dust and air quality. In September, planning commissioners unanimously approved the project which includes a 650-megawatt photovoltaic solar power generating facility with up to 450 megawatts of battery-storage capacity. The Daggett project is one of a few that were already being reviewed by the county when supervisors voted in February to prohibit utility-oriented renewable energy development in rural zones and most unincorporated communities.
Solar-battery hybrid microgrid bound for EPRI, Navy testing, deployment
Power Engineering – December 10
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has selected a Vermont firm to design and build two transportable microgrid battery energy storage systems (BESS) for the U.S. Navy. Northern Reliability Inc. won the $2 million contract to deliver the two BESS projects. Once built and tested, the microgrid systems will go into operational use at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division in Southern California. Data obtained on the costs, performance, and benefits of the overall microgrid project will help support future commercial deployments of microgrids for military and non-military applications.
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