Focus
San Diego County to expand its renewable energy sources
The San Diego Union-Tribune – October 20
In addition to renewable energy projects featuring solar, wind, and energy storage, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved looking at the potential of wave energy, offshore wind, and geothermal to someday provide electricity in unincorporated areas of the county. The vote is part of the county’s Regional Decarbonization Framework that looks to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions and reduce pollution and ground-level ozone. The county has adopted a sustainability plan to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and slash net carbon emissions to zero by 2035.
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News
L.A. City Council passes motion aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2030
Spectrum News – October 19
The Los Angeles City Council adopted a motion this Tuesday calling for the city to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, 20 years earlier than the current goal. The motion — which was co-introduced by Council members Nithya Raman, Paul Koretz, and Kevin de Leon — instructs the city's departments to report back to the council before the end of 2022 on a "robust, world-leading plan to achieve the moon-shot goal of carbon neutrality without offsets in Los Angeles by 2030.”
Antin Infrastructure acquires majority stake in developer Origis Energy
PV-Tech – October 19
Funds managed by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure Partners have secured a deal to acquire a majority stake in U.S. solar and storage developer Origis Energy. Expected to close in late 2021, the transaction will see Antin acquire the stake from Origis CEO Guy Vanderhaegen and Global Atlantic Financial Group, a life insurance company that has held an interest in the developer since 2018. Founded in 2008, Miami-headquartered Origis Energy has developed 130 projects and currently operates 2 GW of solar and energy storage capacity.
Renewables will make up majority of global generation increases, EIA projects
Solar Industry Magazine – October 15
A new U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report suggests that renewable resources – particularly solar and wind – will be the largest contributor to the growth in electricity generation through 2050. However, certain regions will still mainly use coal resources for electricity generation. The absence of regional carbon policies or regulations along with rising natural gas prices after 2030 – particularly in regions that rely on higher-cost liquefied natural gas – is likely to make coal the most economical generation fuel to pair with increased intermittent generation from wind and solar.
EEI, utilities want first crack at transmission development as FERC mulls new rules, incentives
Utility Dive – October 19
One of the key questions the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must decide as it considers making sweeping changes to its transmission rules is whether competition will advance transmission development. The answer to the question could affect utility investments, consumer electric bills and the pace of the renewable energy buildout on the U.S. grid. Utilities and the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group for investor-owned utilities, urged FERC to give incumbent utilities the right of first refusal to build regional and inter-regional transmission projects without a bidding process. The request could upend part of FERC's decade-old Order 1000, a landmark decision governing transmission planning and cost allocation that sought to open transmission construction to competition.
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Projects
Coast Guard announces first solar+storage microgrid project
Renewable Energy World – October 19
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) will build its first battery energy storage system (BESS) with its also first-time microgrid at a training center in California. The Coast Guard selected Ameresco to provide energy savings performance contract services at Training Center Petaluma. The $43 million contract centers around the USCG’s first BESS and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s largest solar renewable project integrating in a microgrid.
Swell Energy, sonnen turn household solar storage into grid assets in California and Utah
Energy Storage News – October 14
Swell Energy has signed a contract to collaborate on establishing a network of up to 45 MWh of solar-charged behind-the-meter battery storage at residential and commercial and industrial sites in the service area of California community choice aggregator energy supplier Redwood Coast Energy Authority in Humboldt County. Meanwhile, sonnen has teamed up with ES Solar on a battery retrofit program for Rocky Mountain Power’s approximately 50,000 customers with rooftop solar. The solar-plus-storage systems will become dispatchable grid assets in the hands of the utility.
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