Focus
Expiring U.S. solar subsidy spurs rush for panels
Reuters – July 18
The country’s biggest solar power developers are stockpiling panels to lock in a 30 percent federal tax credit set to start phasing out next year, a strategy that could backfire if projects do not materialize or panel prices slide substantially. Wood Mackenzie projects that developers will “safe harbor” roughly 31.2 gigawatts of U.S. solar installations, representing nearly $30 billion in investment in coming years to maximize their tax credits. If allowed to sunset, the tax credit would drop to 26 percent in 2020, with an annual step-down until 2022. It would then settle at a permanent 10 percent for utility and commercial projects and be eliminated for residential systems.
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News
Duke Energy acquires 8minute’s 200-MW Texas PV project
PV-Tech - July 23
Duke Energy Renewables will develop its largest-ever renewable venture after acquiring the 200-megawatt Holstein project in Texas from 8minute Solar Energy. The project, under construction, will feature 709,000 solar panels at a 1,300-acre site. The bulk of Holstein’s solar power will be sold via a 12-year term hedge agreement – the first such deal ever entered by a solar project by Duke – with Goldman Sachs' subsidiary J. Aron & Company.
Sunrun wins capacity contract for aggregated home storage
Greentech Media - July 18
A network of residential energy systems will help Oakland, California, wean itself off fossil-fueled peakers. East Bay Community Energy, which buys power for Alameda County, approved a contract last Wednesday to pay Sunrun for 500 kilowatts of capacity from residential solar-plus-storage. The 10-year contract, which goes into effect in 2022, builds on Sunrun's commitment to supply 100 megawatts of solar power to low-income housing.
Portland General Electric plans to add 150 MW of renewables by 2023
Utility Dive – July 23
Portland General Electric wants to add an average 150 megawatts of renewables by 2023, along with energy efficiency and 4 megawatts of energy storage. The utility filed its 2019 Integrated Resource Plan with the Oregon Public Utility Commission on July 19, noting that it has approximately 350 megawatts of capacity contracts that expire in the mid-2020s and that it will also be shutting down the coal-fired Boardman plant next year.
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Projects
BLM considers Lake County wind project proposal
Lake County News - July 21
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is analyzing Colusa Wind LLC’s proposal to build up to 42 wind turbines on approximately 2,270 acres of BLM-managed public land in Lake County, California, within the Indian Valley Management Area. The proposed project will generate an estimated 144.4 megawatts, with the energy to be sold to PG&E and tied into an existing transmission line in the area. Under an August 2017 order from the Department of the Interior streamlining the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, BLM has one year from the notice of intention to make a decision about whether or not the project should move forward.
BLM takes comments on massive solar project near Las Vegas
Las Vegas Review-Journal – July 23
The Bureau of Land Management heard public comments this week on a proposed 7,100-acre solar array, 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The agency led two identical presentations discussing the three possible versions of the Gemini project, which will be built and maintained by Arevia Power LLC. The government is weighing Arevia’s initial proposal, a more environmentally protective strategy that involves trimming native vegetation rather than flattening it and a hybrid approach that combines trimming and flattening. The main environmental concern relates to an estimated 220 Mojave desert tortoises living in the area. Arevia signed a 25-year deal with NV Energy that will see all of the 690 megawatts generated by the panels and the 380 additional megawatts stored in the battery during the day to power about 400,000 Las Vegas homes.
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