Renewable Energy Focus
Reuters - Mar 13
An ambitious plan to put California's renewable energy projects in areas where the environment will face the least harm is getting a major overhaul after years of delays and criticism from developers, environmentalists, and counties. Started in 2008 under then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan aims to identify 22.5 million acres of land for solar, wind, and geothermal projects to meet California's ambitious goal of sourcing one-third of its electricity from renewable sources. It assumes that 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects could be built in the California desert by 2040. In a joint announcement on Tuesday, federal and state agencies said a major portion of the plan would go back to the drawing board as counties fear losing control over what happens on their turf, conservationists demand more wildlife protection, and companies seek quick approvals of development permits.
KCET - Mar 4
The agency responsible for planning development in one of California's most sparsely populated counties just threw a curveball that may prove a game-changer for desert solar energy. In a unanimous 5-0 vote Wednesday in Independence, the Inyo County Planning Commission recommended that new solar facilities in the county be limited to no more than 20 megawatts, about one-twentieth the size of the well-known 392-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System just across the line in San Bernardino County. The Commission also recommended reducing the size of several "Solar Energy Development Areas" and entirely eliminated two controversial ones in the Amargosa River basin in the eastern part of the county near Death Valley.
Bloomberg - Mar 4
Tesla Motors Inc. is staffing up for its new stationary storage unit that will make battery packs and help founder Elon Musk expand beyond electric vehicles into providing energy for homes, businesses, and utilities. The electric car maker currently lists 78 open jobs on its website for the storage team, including chief counsel, several engineers, an installation project manager, and a regulatory and policy advocate.
Greentech Media - Mar 5
The U.S. is on the cusp of a breakout year for energy storage, according to a new report from GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association. The U.S. is forecasted to deploy 220 megawatts in 2015, more than three times its 2014 total, and growth should continue at a rapid clip thereafter.
Notable Renewable Energy Projects and Deals
PV-Tech - Mar 10
Japanese CIS thin-film manufacturer, Solar Frontier, will acquire the entire U.S. project pipeline of Gestamp Solar in what the company said marked its first step towards becoming a significant global downstream player. The company has agreed to buy 280 megawatts of utility-scale projects that the North America team of Gestamp has been developing in California, giving it a toehold from which it said it hopes to move into other markets in the Americas and further afield.
Greentech Media - Mar 11
Sonoma Clean Power has contracted to build the largest floating solar project in the U.S., which will produce enough electricity to power 3,000 homes when it comes on-line in 2016. The 12.5-megawatt installation is one of the largest projects of its kind in the world, second only to a 13.4-megawatt solar farm under construction in Japan.
Reuters - Mar 5
U.S. solar project developer SunEdison Inc. is expanding into the fast-growing market for grid energy storage with the acquisition of Solar Grid Storage LLC, a startup that pairs big batteries with solar installations. The deal with Solar Grid Storage is the first pairing of a solar generator with a storage firm since California Governor Jerry Brown called in January for an increase in the state's renewable energy goal to 50 percent by 2030 from 30 percent by 2020.
