Renewable Energy Focus
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - Sep 30
Solar energy pricing is at an all-time low, according to a new report released by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Driven by lower installed costs, improved project performance, and a race to build projects ahead of a reduction in a key federal incentive, utility-scale solar project developers have been negotiating power sales agreements with utilities at prices averaging just 5¢/kWh. These prices reflect receipt of the 30 percent federal investment tax credit, which is scheduled to decline to 10 percent after 2016, and would be higher if not for that incentive.
PennEnergy - Sep 30
Legislation approved in California this month to boost the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by 2030 contains a provision requiring the California ISO to prepare to become a regional grid operator. The legislation, SB 350, which Governor Brown is expected to sign, calls for the California ISO to prepare governance modifications to aid the transition to a regional grid operator, such as entering into compacts with states within the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, allowing the California ISO to be similar to PJM Interconnection and ISO New England.
KQED - Sep 29
The Valley Fire, which leveled more than 1,900 structures and left 3,000 homeless, also appears to have done more damage than initially thought to facilities at The Geysers geothermal field, along the border of Sonoma and Lake counties. Texas-based Calpine, which operates the damaged plants, estimates it will cost $30 million to $35 million to repair infrastructure damage from the fast-moving blaze, which scorched wooden cooling towers and communications infrastructure at five of its 14 power plants.
PennEnergy - Sep 30
At a dedication event today, Phelan Pinon Hills Community Services District (PPHCSD) and SunPower are celebrating the completion of a 1.16-megawatt solar power system, designed and constructed by SunPower. The electricity generated by the system is being used to power district operations, offsetting nearly 50 percent of the district's total electric bill, according to PPHCSD.
MyNewsLA.com - Sep 29
A newly expanded Nevada plant is providing renewable energy to 22,500 Los Angeles households, reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 14,600 cars off the road, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) officials announced Tuesday. As part of its efforts to hit its mandated renewable energy target of 33 percent by 2020, DWP signed a 20-year deal with the developer of the geothermal power plant in Mineral County, Nevada.
PV-Tech - Sep 25
Families on low incomes in California will be able to benefit from a new SolarCity effort, enabled by the California Public Utilities Commission, which has run the MASH (Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing) program since 2008. SolarCity announced yesterday that through an additional $54 million in incentive funding being made available to MASH, it will be able to install solar energy projects on the rooftops and carports of affordable housing communities.
PV Magazine - Sep 30
The County of Riverside is flipping the switch on its first facility to be powered by the sun as part of the largest countywide conversion to solar ever launched in the U.S. Through a collaborative partnership with OpTerra Energy Services, Riverside County celebrated the ongoing implementation of 12 megawatts of solar across 10 sites, starting with the energization of the Perris Sheriff Station today.
Greentech Media - Sep 30
Southern California Edison (SCE) issued a request for offers (RFO) to add an additional 100 megawatts of strategically placed renewable energy and "preferred resources" to its grid. Preferred resources include renewable distributed generation, demand response, energy storage, and renewables teamed with energy storage, essentially anything but fossil-fuel power plants. This is the second RFO supporting SCE’s Preferred Resources Pilot, which seeks to deploy 300 megawatts of clean-energy assets over the next five years. SCE hopes to develop an approach for orchestrating distributed assets, building on the needs of the Johanna and Santiago substations in grid-congested Orange County.
Bloomberg - Sep 29
NextEra Energy Inc. plans to invest $100 million in energy-storage systems over the next year to back up its fleet of solar and wind energy plants. NextEra is the world’s biggest producer of wind and solar power, and will use the battery systems to manage energy fluctuations caused by cloudy weather and lulls in the wind, Jim Robo, chief executive officer of the Juno Beach, Florida-based company, said Tuesday at an analyst conference.
CleanTechnica - Oct 1
The Colorado-based solar energy project developer AES Distributed Energy will be securitizing a portfolio of solar energy assets for a total of $100 million, according to recent reports. The notes will be secured with the revenue from around 1,548 U.S. solar energy installations. The deal marks the sixth major solar securitization of its type in the U.S. in recent years.
