Renewable Energy Focus
PV Magazine - Sep 23
Equinix, the largest data center service provider in the world, has signed a five-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with U.S. solar power company SunEdison for the provision of solar to power its California data centers. The agreement is a de facto sourcing of solar power to five of the world’s leading web brands, given that Equinix hosts the data of "the top five web properties globally.” Equinix’s PPA stipulates that the server host will receive 105 megawatts of the 150-megawatt Mount Signal II solar farm that SunEdison is currently constructing in Imperial Valley, California.
Reuters - Sep 22
Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled energy legislation focused on cleaner energy production, manufacturing, and vehicles that they say would slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 34 percent by 2025, surpassing the goal pledged by the Obama administration for U.N. climate talks. The bill, announced by Senate Democratic party leaders and the energy committee's chair, Senator Maria Cantwell, lays out the party's vision for the future on energy and contrasts with a Republican approach focused on increased oil and gas production. The bill would mandate a national reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by at least 2 percent each year through 2025.
Renewable Energy World - Sep 23
The U.S. Interior Department’s decision Tuesday not to designate the greater sage grouse as an endangered species means that Phil Anschutz’s Power Company of Wyoming LLC may now proceed with the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre $5 billion wind farm in southeast Wyoming It also opens the door to oil and natural gas development in the region. Anschutz is planning the biggest U.S. wind farm with as many as 1,000 turbines that will have 3 gigawatts of capacity, spanning 2,000 acres in a region that’s home to some of the strongest breezes in the country.
San Diego Union-Tribune - Sep 21
Rooftop solar providers in San Diego are shifting into crisis mode as subscriptions fill up for a generous solar tariff that may expire early next year if a new system is not agreed upon sooner. Solar customers at California's major investor-owned utilities, including San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison, currently receive the full retail rate for the rooftop electricity they produce under a tariff known as net energy metering. That arrangement is being overhauled by the California Public Utilities Commission, which aims to come up with a replacement tariff as soon as December.
Sacramento Bee - Sep 17
Governor Jerry Brown’s administration and Sacramento’s not-for-profit electric utility have reached an agreement that will power nearly two dozen state office buildings with electricity from renewable sources within the next month. The three-year pact between Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the Department of General Services will kick in with the state’s next billing cycle, department spokesman Brian Ferguson said, and immediately catapult the state into one of the largest purchasers of renewable energy in the nation.
PV-Tech - Sep 18
ConEdison Development, a subsidiary of mammoth utility company ConEdison, has acquired a 50 percent stake in the 335-megawatt Panoche Valley Solar Farm in San Benito County, California, from Renewable Energy Trust Capital Inc. Financial details have not been disclosed. RET Capital was the sole owner, having invested in the plant early on, and ConEdison will provide construction management as well as operations and maintenance, with the two partners now owning equal stakes in the project.
Denver Post - Sep 18
NRG Energy Inc. unveiled plans to separate its expensive clean-energy businesses, as part of a series of moves by the power producer to simplify its structure and cut down on expenses and debt. The announcement came as NRG also said it would sell a 75 percent stake in its portfolio of wind farms to another majority-owned affiliate company, NRG Yield Inc., for $210 million.
Bloomberg - Sep 23
Total SA plans to invest $500 million a year in renewable energy, a step by Europe’s second-largest oil and gas company to expand in biofuels and solar. The French company bought a majority stake in SunPower Corp., one of the largest manufacturers of solar panels in the U.S., for about $1.4 billion in 2011. The company earlier this year said it would invest 200 million euros ($223 million) to transform its unprofitable La Mede oil refinery in France into a biofuel plant.
