Renewable Energy Focus
Reuters - May 4 U.S. wildlife managers on Wednesday again proposed granting 30-year permits to wind farms that would forgive them for thousands of eagle deaths expected during that time frame from collisions of the birds with turbines, towers, and electrical wires. The proposed rule, like one struck down by a federal judge last year, would greatly extend the current five-year time frame in the permits required under U.S. law for the "incidental take" of eagles, including those killed by obstacles erected in their habitat. Wind energy companies have pressed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to lengthen the terms of the eagle permits, saying a five-year duration left too much uncertainty and hampered investment in the burgeoning renewable power industry.
Courthouse News Service - May 3 San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said Monday that the city will dedicate nearly $130 million to implement one of the nation's most ambitious climate action plans, aiming to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. Faulconer said that starting in May, the city would take its first step toward implementing its climate action plan by allocating $127.3 million for phase 1 of the plan. The plan identifies five areas or strategies for improvement, including energy and water efficient buildings; clean and renewable energy; bicycling, walking, transit, and land use; zero waste; and climate resiliency. Last December, a bipartisan City Council unanimously approved the plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by the city by 15 percent in 2020 and 50 percent by 2035 from a 2010 baseline. Further, the goals aren't just ambitious, they're legally binding.
Utility Dive - Apr 29 Arizona solar advocates and lawmakers negotiated a compromise, leading them to drop dueling solar ballot initiatives to amend the state's constitution. The cease-fire will allow both sides the opportunity for settlement talks in the hopes of reaching a compromise that will boost solar while addressing the concerns of utilities. Solar companies and advocates crafted The Energy Freedom Act, which would have amended the state constitution to prevent regulators from lowering current net metering rates until 2022. The initiative was filed by Yes on AZ Solar, a political action committee funded by SolarCity. In response, state Sen. Debbie Lesko (R) drafted a ballot initiative that would have prevented state regulators from directing utilities to pay more than the wholesale rate for excess energy exported to the grid by distributed generation.
PV Magazine - May 4 On April 27, the city council of Santa Monica voted to require rooftop solar PV systems on all new construction in the city, both residential and commercial. The ordinance will go into effect at the end of May. The beachfront city of 90,000 residents in Los Angeles County is the fifth in the state of California to include this mandate, following the cities of Culver City, Lancaster, Sebastopol, and San Francisco, which passed a similar ordinance a week prior. However, Santa Monica says that its mandate is stricter than any of these except San Francisco’s.
SeeNews Renewables - May 4 SunPower Corp. has started building around 20 megawatts of solar systems in California. The company on Tuesday announced the start of construction work on installations with a total capacity of 11.4 megawatts, to be owned by the County of Santa Clara. SunPower will build six systems at county facilities: five ground-mounted arrays and one solar carport, all expected to be operational by the end of 2016. Separately, the company today announced it has broken ground on a 9.5-megawatt power plant in Los Angeles County that will generate power for the California Department of Water Resources.
Disclosure: Allen Matkins represents SunPower in connection with the Department of Water Resources project in Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles Business Journal - Apr 29 Los Angeles solar rooftop developer PermaCity is planning to build the region’s largest project that will sell power to the city’s grid. The PermaCity project will place two million square feet of rooftop solar panels on four privately owned warehouse buildings on Westmont Drive in San Pedro, not far from the Port of Los Angeles. When fully operational, the panels are expected to generate up to 16.4 megawatts of solar power, enough to power 5,000 single-family homes.
Disclosure: Allen Matkins is representing a client with respect to permitting matters for the Westmont Drive project in San Pedro.
PennEnergy - May 2 Potrero Hills Energy Producers, a partnership between DTE Biomass Energy Inc. and Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, recently started generating electricity from landfill gas. This cleaner source of electricity comes from a newly constructed renewable energy facility at the Potrero Hills Landfill in Suisun City, California.
CleanTechnica - May 4 U.S. residential solar provider SolarCity has completed its first cash equity transaction with partner John Hancock Financial, to the tune of $227 million. The $227 million transaction will see John Hancock invest in a diversified portfolio of residential, commercial, and industrial solar power projects that, collectively, represents 201 megawatts of solar capacity.
