Focus
The first major long-duration storage procurement has arrived
Greentech Media – October 16
California regulators said this year that the state will need 1 gigawatt of long-duration storage by 2026. But the technologies that can cost-effectively meet that need have so far attracted more attention from white-paper authors than paying customers. That changed last Thursday, when a coalition of eight Californian community-choice aggregators, led by Silicon Valley Clean Energy, published a request for offers seeking 500 megawatts of long-duration storage capacity. In doing so, they beat the state's investor-owned utilities in making good on the California Public Utilities Commission's call to invest in this resource. The Joint CCAs stipulated that eligible projects must provide at least 50 megawatts of power capacity with a minimum of 8 hours of discharge duration, and they have to come online by 2026. Bids can earn extra points for coming online sooner.
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News
Bill to protect critical facilities in power outages proposed
KFI – October 13
A Southland congresswoman introduced a bill last week that would create the first federal program to build clean energy microgrids to power critical infrastructure for communities in the aftermath of an extreme weather event or power shut-off. Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan, D-San Pedro, who introduced the measure with Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, D-Brooklyn, said the Energy Resilient Communities Act would help communities recover from extreme weather events by centering the most vulnerable communities at the heart of the "clean energy revolution." The measure would authorize $1.5 billion in annual grants to support the construction of 100% clean energy microgrids, along with $50 million in annual grants for technical assistance.
Corporate demand driving U.S. renewables surge
Renews.biz – October 20
Demand for renewable power by the corporate sector will account for between 44 gigawatts and 72 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity in the U.S. from next year through 2030, according to new analysis by IHS Markit. The report found that corporate-driven PPAs will represent about 20% of all utility-scale renewable power additions for the period, depending on the extent to which corporations expand and fulfill their renewable ambitions. In 2018 corporate procurement more than doubled and increased again in 2019, with almost 16 gigawatts announced between the two years.
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Projects
Canadian Solar closes supply contract with Goldman Sachs Renewable Power
Solar Industry Magazine – October 19
Canadian Solar Inc. has closed a supply contract and long-term service agreement with Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC, part of the Renewable Power Group of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, to deliver and integrate a 75-megawatt/300-megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery storage solution into the 100-megawatt AC Mustang solar plant in Kings County, California. The new energy storage system is a retrofit addition to the Mustang solar plant.
5-MW solar project completed at Westfield shopping centers
Solar Power World – October 19
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has completed solar projects on three shopping centers, including Westfield Valley Fair in Silicon Valley and Westfield UTC in San Diego, bringing several megawatts of solar online. The Valley Fair project was a system expansion completed in partnership with Pacific Gas and Electric and added approximately 3,800 panels, reaching 2.5 megawatts of capacity. The UTC project was also an expansion, adding more than 2,800 solar panels installed by San Diego Gas and Electric, bringing the center’s solar power system to a capacity of approximately 1.2 megawatts.
350-MW wind farm under development in Mohave County, Arizona
Mohave Daily News – October 18
Scores of turbines have been erected where a utility-scale 350-megawatt wind farm is expected to begin producing power before the end of the year near the rural town of White Hills, Arizona. NextEra Energy spokesperson Lisa Paul said that more than half of the 126 turbines had been assembled and positioned by early October where the project is being developed on more than 24,000 acres of public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Most of the electricity from the White Hills Wind Project is being sold to the Clean Power Alliance (CPA), a community choice aggregator operating in Southern California. CPA and NextEra have a 20-year contract involving 300 megawatts of power.
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