Focus
Los Angeles won’t invest $5 billion to rebuild coastal gas plants
■Greentech Media - February 12
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Tuesday that the city will not spend $5 billion to rebuild three natural-gas generating plants on its coast. Instead, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) will phase out the gas plants over the next decade and invest in the development of renewable energy alternatives. Garcetti’s announcement did not offer specifics on how the generating capacity will be replaced. But in recent months, consultants presented officials at LADWP with potential alternatives for replacing the 1,661 megawatts of generating capacity provided by the gas units. Officials reviewed two viable paths, both of which call for adding 1,800 megawatts of energy storage. One plan includes the construction of hundreds of megawatts of large-scale generating capacity from solar, wind, and geothermal power. The other relied mostly on new solar and energy efficiency upgrades, with a small percentage of distributed energy resources.
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News
Arizona extends gas plant moratorium, punts on PURPA reforms
■Utility Dive - February 11
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) on Wednesday extended a partial moratorium on utility construction of new large gas-fired generators in the state until Aug. 1, 2019, as they consider a broad 80 percent clean energy proposal from Republican Commissioner Andy Tobin. Shortly before ACC's meeting, Republican Chairman Bob Burns removed an agenda item that would clarify the state's rules under the federal Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA). Tobin had requested the discussion, writing last month that Arizona could miss out in $500 million in solar energy developments without policy changes.
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California clears another hurdle to energy storage net metering
■Energy Storage News - February 7
California has cleared another obstacle for energy storage installations to be eligible for access to the state’s net metering program. The California Public Utilities Commission will continue to break down barriers for energy storage systems. This process ensures on-site renewable energy powers on-site battery systems. Solar net metering and storage have not been natural bedfellows thus far with the former nullifying many of the benefits of the battery and contributing to the slow take-up of residential storage systems in the state.
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Utility bosses expect sharp rise in consumers going off-grid
■Power Engineering International - February 12
Utility bosses believe that the risk of electricity consumers going off-grid and using it only as occasional backup will increase significantly in the next two years. According to a new study from Accenture, 95 percent of utilities agree that the deployment of distributed generation technologies like rooftop solar is increasing faster than utilities can build new grid capacity to handle it in high-demand areas. The proportion of both residential and commercial consumers with rooftop solar PV in the markets modelled in the report could exceed 15 percent by 2036 in some parts of the world, such as California.
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Projects
Wind+solar+storage for the first time in the U.S. utility space
■PV Magazine - February 13
Portland General Electric (PGE) and NextEra have announced plans to construct 300 megawatts of wind, 50 megawatts of solar power, and a 30-megawatt AC-coupled energy storage plant at the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility in Morrow County, Oregon. Prior to this announcement, the site had been developed for a 500-megawatt wind farm that NextEra bought the rights for in June of 2017. PGE will own 100 megawatts of the wind project, expecting an investment of $160 million. A subsidiary of NextEra will own the balance of the project and sell its output to PGE under 30-year power purchase agreements.
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California oil and gas company invests in on-site solar
■Solar Industry Magazine - February 12
E&B Natural Resources Management Corp. is investing in solar to help run its oil production activities in Santa Barbara and Kern Counties, which the company says will result in a combined carbon dioxide emissions reduction of more than 700,000 metric tons over the 20-year life of the projects. An integrated solar oil field operation consisting of a 23-megawatt photovoltaic facility will be constructed at the Poso Creek oil field in Kern County, co-owned by E&B and Grade 6 Oil LLC. In Santa Barbara County, E&B will deploy a 3-megawatt photovoltaic facility at its oil operation in New Cuyama.
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EDPR makes 104MW Colorado power play
■ReNews - February 12
EDP Renewables will sell electricity from the 104-megawatt Crossing Trails wind farm in Colorado to Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association under a 15-year power purchase agreement. The deal will enable the continued development and construction of the project, which is expected to come online in 2020. Tri-State is a wholesale cooperative power supplier owned by 43 member electric cooperatives and public power districts.
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