The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) last Thursday asked federal regulators for permission to cancel its annual interconnection study process for any interconnection requests submitted this year so it can deal with a “tsunami” of existing interconnection requests. CAISO’s rules call for it to open an interconnection cluster study on April 1 for new generator interconnection requests. However, its last two cluster studies have been delayed because of their size, according to the grid operator.
The federal government has finalized two areas for floating offshore wind farms along the Oregon coast, authorities announced Tuesday, bringing the state closer to commercially developing and producing a renewable energy source that's part of the fight against climate change. The two zones cover roughly 195,000 acres and are both located in southern Oregon, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said. They have the capacity for producing 2.4 GW of energy, the agency said, enough to power roughly 800,000 homes.
In a step toward building the first massive wind farms off California’s coast, three Assemblymembers have proposed a $1 billion bond act to help pay for the expansion of ports. The bill, if approved, would place a bond before voters aimed at helping ports build capacity to assemble, construct, and transport wind turbines and other large equipment. Long Beach and Humboldt County have plans to build such expansion projects. The California Energy Commission projects that offshore wind farms will supply 25 GW of electricity by 2045, powering 25 million homes and providing about 13% of the state's power supply.
A pair of atmospheric rivers that drenched California in recent weeks will bolster the state’s hydropower systems by filling reservoirs and building up snowpack levels after a prolonged drought cut supply, the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) data showed. As of February 10, the state’s reservoir storage was at 118% of its historical average. Hydropower is a key component of California’s transition to cleaner energy sources as it aims to become carbon neutral by 2045, but its contribution to power supply has declined in recent years due to lack of available water.
The Biden administration is putting $60 million into three geothermal energy pilot projects, it announced Tuesday. The funds, from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will go to three projects that aim to demonstrate that geothermal energy that comes from reservoirs is effective and able to be used on a large scale. The projects receiving federal funds are a Chevron New Energies project in California, a Fervo Energy project in Utah, and a Mazama Energy project in Oregon.
Arevon Energy has secured $350 million, with the assistance of a unit of Blackstone, to advance a 200 MW/800 MWh energy storage project in Grand Terrace, California. With the arrangement, Arevon has reached a financial close for the Condor Energy Storage Project which is expected to become operational in the second quarter of 2024. The facility has been contracted under a 15-year agreement with Southern California Edison.
An Irvine office campus is adding a mega-solar project atop its roofs and car canopies in addition to a battery array. MetLife Investment Management is working with DSD Renewables to install the 2.2 MW solar project and 510 kWh battery storage system at Intersect, on behalf of property owners PGGM and MetLife. MetLife and DSD estimate the solar project will generate more than 3.5 million kWh of energy annually, which should provide for 74% of Intersect’s required power.
Avangrid, a member of the Iberdrola Group, has signed a new power purchase agreement with Amazon to source renewable energy from a 98.4 MW Avangrid wind farm located in Gilliam County, Oregon. Avangrid has also executed contracts to recycle all turbine blades that will be decommissioned with this project, which is estimated to divert more than 1,000 tons of mass from landfill.
The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is seeking developers for a 5.2 MW PV project on two separate parcels at SUNY Oneonta, while also inviting vendors to propose a BESS to operate in parallel with the array. Proposals are due March 5.
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