Focus
PV-TECH - Jun 19 Wind and solar could provide half of the world’s energy generation by 2050 on the back of continually declining technology costs, particularly in battery energy storage, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The 150-page New Energy Outlook 2018 report predicts that the future of the global electricity system will be dominated by tumbling lithium-ion battery prices. These have already fallen 80 percent per megawatt hour since 2010 and will continue to decline as electric vehicle manufacturing builds up through the 2020s.
GREENTECH MEDIA - Jun 21 California has championed clean energy and climate change mitigation, but legislators last year failed to pass SB 100, a 100 percent clean energy bill authored by Senate leader Kevin De León and supported by Governor Jerry Brown. A different bill to regionalize the California grid faltered last year, and one to create a long-term funding program for energy storage disappeared from the agenda before a vote last July. All three have returned to the hearing agenda this June, and evidence suggests old sources of opposition are receding. SB 100 this year is scheduled for a committee hearing July 3. The grid regionalization bill, AB 813, passed out of committee Tuesday. Another bill, SB 700, which would create a long-term storage program modeled on the California Solar Initiative, enjoyed a visible thaw with potential critics. It cleared a committee vote Wednesday afternoon. With stakes high all around, the negotiations in the full Assembly and Senate will keep the suspense going for the rest of the summer.
THE SACRAMENTO BEE - Jun 20 Hours of testimony, reams of documents, and the concerns of ranchers and others are being weighed as New Mexico regulators consider clearing the way for the $2 billion SunZia power line project that will funnel wind and solar energy from rural spots in New Mexico and Arizona to larger markets in the Southwest. A five-day hearing before the Public Regulation Commission wrapped up Tuesday, but it will likely be months before a final decision is made. The two 500-kilovolt lines would span 520 miles of state, federal, and private land in New Mexico and Arizona, with the capacity to transfer 3,000 megawatts to Arizona and California. The Public Regulation Commission is expected to make a final decision in September.
THE FRESNO BEE - Jun 14 Fresno has been lauded as the U.S. city with the second-highest solar power generating capacity per person, second only to Honolulu, Hawaii. The recognition of the city by Environment California Research & Policy Center in its April 2018 "Shining Cities 2018" report was celebrated Wednesday by Fresno City Council President Esmeralda Soria in a news conference at Central High School-East. Fresno's total solar power generating capacity was reported at about 179 megawatts. That's fourth among California's big cities behind Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose, and ahead of Sacramento, San Francisco, and Riverside. But when that total capacity is divided by the city's population, Fresno generates more watts of solar power for every person in the community than not only any California city in the report, but more than any of the other major cities in the continental United States included in the list.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER - Jun 20 Last Tuesday, a crowd of city employees hit San Francisco’s streets in a big, green transit-machine. The event marked the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s first, official test drive of an electric bus. The city recently joined numerous other municipalities across the country committed to ditching diesel and electrifying their fleets. While no other large transit agency has converted its fleet to electric this way, the advanced battery technology in SFMTA’s new hybrids may make it possible and put San Francisco on the road to electrifying its fleet before the 2035 target.
LOMPOC RECORD - Jun 19 The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved an energy efficiency business plan submitted by a Tri-County collaboration, said a spokesperson for Santa Barbara County. Approval of the business plan will give local governments more flexibility over energy program designs so they will meet local needs while bringing ratepayers’ dollars directly to the region, the spokesperson said. It is one of only three approved regional energy networks within the state.
FOX 5 - Jun 21 The Port of San Diego announced Tuesday that it secured more than $5 million in grant funding for the installation of a solar-powered microgrid at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. The grid will include battery storage that will allow solar power to be used during nighttime hours. Improvements are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enable the use of backup power during emergencies, and save the port an estimated $168,000 per year — 60 percent of current utility rates at the terminal.
SOLAR INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - Jun 21 A 2-megawatt rooftop solar array is now powering Honda’s Southern California campus, American Honda Motor Co. Inc. Located in Torrance, the on-site project features more than 6,000 solar panels and is expected to generate approximately 3,000 megawatt hours annually. It will offset roughly 30 percent of purchased electricity for the entire campus, Honda estimates. Solar also will provide 100 percent of the electric vehicle charging power in a parking lot to the south of the system.
