Renewable Energy Focus
North American Windpower - Dec 15 The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has released the final version of its long-anticipated revised eagle management plan. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the final eagle permit rule is intended to reduce harm to bald and golden eagles from any unintentional source by setting very conservative limits to impacts on eagles and requiring permit applicants to submit conservation plans that offset any such impacts. In the case of golden eagles, under the final rule, permittees must even go beyond offsetting any potential impacts and provide a net conservation benefit to the species, AWEA explains. In short, through the issuance of permits, eagles realize a conservation benefit that helps to ensure the continued stability and growth of their populations, the group adds.
PBS Newshour - Dec 13 Bill Gates launched a $1 billion fund for investment in clean energy innovation Monday to combat the effects of climate change. The Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, which Gates will chair and run with a host of other high-profile investors, is focused on clean energy technology. In addition to the private investments, Gates said he and other investors convinced 20 governments to double their energy research and development budgets over the next five years. Gates and his investors expect the fund will be used to supplement government funding, which provides a major catalyst for clean energy research through business subsidies and university grants to universities.
Reuters - Dec 15 President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana, a former Navy SEAL commander who questions whether humans are largely the cause of climate change, as his choice for secretary of the interior. If the Senate confirms Zinke, a Republican, to lead the Interior Department, he will head an agency that employs more than 70,000 people across the country and oversees more than 20 percent of federal land, including national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite. As a one-term U.S. congressman, Zinke took several stances favoring coal, which is high in carbon emissions when burned. Coal output suffered during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama as the development of competing fuels natural gas and solar and wind power soared.
Greentech Media - Dec 13 The U.S. solar market just shattered all previous quarterly solar photovoltaic installation records. According to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association’s Q4 2016 U.S. Solar Market Insight report, 4,143 megawatts of solar PV were installed in the U.S. in the third quarter of the year, a rate of 1 megawatt every 32 minutes. That pace is even faster today, with the fourth quarter on track to surpass this past quarter’s historic total.
Utility Dive - Dec 14 Two major transmission lines in the West nailed down final federal approval earlier this week, Deseret News reports. The 730-mile TransWest Express Project and the 416-mile Energy Gateway South project would link up western states such as Wyoming and Utah to California, Arizona, and Nevada. Both transmission projects have been locked in federal review processes and debate over impacts to wildlife. Combined, both transmission lines can ship 4,500 megawatts of renewable power in the West, Southwest, and California markets.
Business Insider - Dec 14 Solar company Sunrun Inc. is expanding its home battery storage offering to homeowners in California after enjoying better-than-expected demand for the product in Hawaii. With a solar energy system combined with storage, a product Sunrun called BrightBox, homeowners will be able to store some of the electricity generated by their solar panels in the middle of the day for use after the sun goes down, when power prices from the grid are higher. The battery will keep 20 percent of its charge at all times for backup power in the event of an outage.
Solar Industry Magazine - Dec 12
New Energy Solar, an Australia-based investment fund, has acquired a substantial majority interest in two large-scale solar projects that U.S.-based SunPower developed, designed, and constructed in Kern County. The two projects total over 134 megawatts, and SunPower will retain an ownership interest in them and provide ongoing operations and maintenance services. Stanford University has a long-term agreement to purchase 100% of the power, as well as the renewable energy credits, generated from one of the projects, the Stanford Solar Generating Station.
Disclosure: Allen Matkins represented SunPower in developing the two solar projects discussed in this article.
PV-Tech - Dec 15 Solar Frontier Americas, the U.S. subsidiary of one of the world’s largest CIS module manufacturers, is nearing completion of two solar plants totaling 106 megawatts in Southern California. Located in the Imperial Valley, the projects Midway I and II are situated in the great Mojave Desert and were both installed with NEXTracker single-axis trackers and Power Electronics rugged HEC PLUS inverters.
Solar Industry Magazine - Dec 15 Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co., and Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc., have announced the commercial operation of the 200-megawatt Garland Solar Facility. Located on 2,000 acres of land in Kern County, the Garland Solar Facility features approximately 723,000 Canadian Solar CS6X-P photovoltaic modules mounted on single-axis tracking tables. Southern Power is the majority owner of the facility, and Recurrent Energy managed the development of the project and owns the remaining interest.
PennEnergy - Dec 9 The Sacramento Kings have announced the completion of their 700kW rooftop array on top of their Golden 1 Center home arena. The venue will be the first indoor sports arena to have its entire energy supply sourced from solar power, with a 700kW rooftop array, combined with energy supplied from the Rancho Seco solar farm 40 miles away, powering the stadium which can house nearly 20,000 fans.
