Focus
Alphabet-backed Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners invests in start-up paying customers to cut energy use
CNBC – December 7
As rolling blackouts continue to plague California, one company is hoping that a new $100 million investment will help it keep the lights on — by paying customers to turn the lights off. OhmConnect recently received $100 million from Alphabet-backed Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners to build the largest distributed clean power plant in North America, with $80 million going towards building a virtual power plant, known as “Resi-Station.” Founded in 2014, OhmConnect acts as a power supplier during times of peak demand by taking energy offline. When the grid is overwhelmed, the company sends alerts to customers through in-home smart devices asking them to reduce usage. Since OhmConnect is considered a power plant, it’s paid for the energy it supplies by users cutting back, passing down some of the savings to its customers. The company has around 150,000 active customers in California, and is expecting to add another 750,000 through its Resi-Station.
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News
Engie and Hannon Armstrong invest in solar-plus-storage portfolio
Power Technology – December 8
Engie North America and investment firm Hannon Armstrong have agreed to jointly invest in a portfolio of solar and storage across the United States. The two companies plan to invest in distributed generation, community solar, and commit to installing an array of commercial and industrial ground-mounted, carport/rooftop solar, and solar-plus-storage projects. The solar portfolio is worth $172 million to deploy 70 MW of capacity with projects spread across Massachusetts, Illinois, Vermont, California, Texas, and Arizona. In addition to retaining a minor stake in the projects, Engie has agreed to build, operate, and maintain the assets.
Southern California Edison inks another massive round of utility-scale battery contracts
Greentech Media – December 7
Six months after signing California’s single-largest energy storage procurement, Southern California Edison has added another three massive utility-scale battery projects to its portfolio. The new contracts include 585 MW of lithium-ion batteries: 325 MW from NextEra Energy’s Desert Peak project, 200 MW from Recurrent Energy’s Crimson project, and 60 MW from 174 Power Global/Hanwha Group’s Eldorado Valley project. It also adds a 5-MW behind-the-meter battery aggregation from Sunrun, expanding on a pilot project with the solar-storage provider earlier this year.
GE Renewable Energy selects Veolia for blade recycling agreement
North American Windpower – December 8
GE Renewable Energy signed a multi-year agreement with Veolia North America to recycle blades removed from its U.S.-based onshore turbines during upgrades and repowering efforts. Veolia will process the blades, which typically have a 20-year life, for use as raw material for cement production. Compared to traditional cement manufacturing, blade recycling enables a 27% net reduction in CO2 emissions from cement production and a 13% net reduction in water consumption. In addition, a single wind turbine blade recycled through this process enables the cement kiln to avoid consuming nearly 5 tons of coal, 2.7 tons of silica, 1.9 tons of limestone, and nearly a ton of additional mineral-based raw materials.
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Projects
EDF to build microgrid at Port of San Diego
Energy Storage News – December 8
EDF Renewables North America won the competitive bid to construct a project including 700 kW of rooftop solar PV capacity and a 700-kW/2.500-kWh ground-mounted battery system. The project will be sited at the Port’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. The $9.6 million project will be funded by a $4.9 million grant by the California Energy Commission through its Electric Program Investment Change (EPIC) program supporting scientific and technology research to accelerate the transition to clean energy, with the remainder paid by the Port and the University of San Diego. The project is expected to result in $3.2 million in energy cost savings over 20 years.
Residential renewable energy developer Swell is raising $450 million for distributed power projects in three states
TechCrunch – December 10
Swell Energy, an installer and manager of residential renewable energy, efficiency, and storage technologies, is raising $450 million to finance the construction of four virtual power plants representing a massive amount of energy storage capacity paired with solar power generation. It’s a sign of a transition from large-scale power generation projects feeding into utility grids at the edge of smaller, point solutions distributed at the points of consumption. The project will pair 200 MWh of distributed energy storage with 100 MW of solar PV capacity. The Los Angeles-based Swell was commissioned by utilities in three states to establish a dispatchable energy storage capacity which will be made available through the construction and aggregation of approximately 13,000 solar energy generation and storage systems, with the ultimate goal of making the grids more efficient, less susceptible to the outages and rolling blackouts recently seen in California.
Amazon becomes largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy
The Hill – December 10
Amazon becomes the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world with its addition of 3.5 GW of renewable power portfolio including 26 new solar and wind projects located in the United States Australia, South Africa, and Europe. The new projects will supply renewable energy for Amazon’s corporate offices, warehouses, and data centers. Amazon’s portfolio includes 127 renewable energy projects worldwide including 59 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects and 68 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers. With the latest additions, Amazon’s investment in renewable power has grown to 6.5 GW and it is reportedly on-track to run on 100% renewable energy by 2025.
Portland General Electric and NextEra subsidiary energize trailblazing large-scale facility combining wind, solar, and storage in eastern Oregon
Solar Industry Magazine – December 8
Portland General Electric Co. (PGE), an Oregon-based fully integrated energy company, has started commercial power generation at the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility, a joint project of PGE and a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources LLC. Wheatridge will be one of the first large-scale energy facilities in the U.S. to combine wind, solar, and battery storage resources at a single location. The 300-MW wind farm is now complete and delivering power to PGE customers. The 50-MW solar and 30-MW battery facilities will be completed by the end of 2021.
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