Renewable Energy Focus
Bloomberg
- Dec 16 In a deal announced late Tuesday, Congress approved an additional five years for the solar investment tax credit (ITC), which is scheduled to end at the close of 2016. It also provided a five-year retroactive extension of the production tax credit (PTC), which benefits wind-power developers and expired at the end of 2014. Extending the ITC has been one of the solar industry’s top lobbying goals this year, and uncertainty over its future has been a drag on development. Congress agreed to let the ITC run through the end of 2021 as part of a broader budget deal. The credit will apply to projects that begin construction in that period instead of the current policy that applies to power plants that go into service before the deadline. The PTC, used primarily by the wind industry, pays 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. It will be gradually decreased over the next four years and phased out completely in 2020.
KPCC
- Dec 15 Solar advocates are hailing a proposed decision by the state’s energy utility regulator to continue a popular program that pays money to customers with solar panels for the excess power they produce. The program known as "net metering" allows owners of solar panels to get full retail rates paid back to them for electricity they send back to the grid. The current net metering program in California is set to expire in July 2017. It will likely end earlier, because the program also caps the amount of participation in solar at five percent of peak energy demand. The three investor-owned utility companies the proposed decision affects — Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric, and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company — are expected to hit their caps next year.
Sacramento Business Journal
- Dec 15 The city of Roseville in Northern California may build a solar project for customers who want clean electricity but can't put an array on the roof. The Roseville City Council on Wednesday will consider letting the city-owned electric utility start work on a community solar plant. The utility envisions a project in which customers can invest, said Shawn Matchim, customer and government relations manager with the utility. Customers also could share in the power it generates. City land is available for the project at the Roseville Energy Park.
Greentech Media
- Dec 16 Year-over-year, overall solar PV system pricing has fallen by 2 percent to 18 percent, depending on the market segment, with the largest declines in ground-mount PV systems. On a quarterly basis, pricing continues to trend downward, with some leveling-off in the residential sector due in particular to strong investment in customer acquisition ahead of 2016. In the non-residential and utility sectors, there have been declines of 3 percent to 7 percent, reflecting continued aggressive cost reductions in national system pricing.
UC Santa Barbara
- Dec 16 In a move that is estimated to cut total greenhouse gas emissions from campus energy use by 6 percent — and potentially save the institution millions of dollars in energy costs over time — UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) is partnering on an expansive new solar project. Six new solar arrays will be installed at UCSB as a result of the agreement with Silicon Valley-based SunPower, a global solar technology and energy services company. SunPower will erect, operate, and maintain the arrays, selling the harvested green power to UCSB at a significantly lower rate than what the campus currently pays for electricity.
In a move that is estimated to cut total greenhouse gas emissions from campus energy use by 6 percent — and potentially save the institution millions of dollars in energy costs over time — UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) is partnering on an expansive new solar project. Six new solar arrays will be installed at UCSB as a result of the agreement with Silicon Valley-based SunPower, a global solar technology and energy services company. SunPower will erect, operate, and maintain the arrays, selling the harvested green power to UCSB at a significantly lower rate than what the campus currently pays for electricity.
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In a move that is estimated to cut total greenhouse gas emissions from campus energy use by 6 percent — and potentially save the institution millions of dollars in energy costs over time — UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) is partnering on an expansive new solar project. Six new solar arrays will be installed at UCSB as a result of the agreement with Silicon Valley-based SunPower, a global solar technology and energy services company. SunPower will erect, operate, and maintain the arrays, selling the harvested green power to UCSB at a significantly lower rate than what the campus currently pays for electricity.
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In a move that is estimated to cut total greenhouse gas emissions from campus energy use by 6 percent — and potentially save the institution millions of dollars in energy costs over time — UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) is partnering on an expansive new solar project. Six new solar arrays will be installed at UCSB as a result of the agreement with Silicon Valley-based SunPower, a global solar technology and energy services company. SunPower will erect, operate, and maintain the arrays, selling the harvested green power to UCSB at a significantly lower rate than what the campus currently pays for electricity.
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In a move that is estimated to cut total greenhouse gas emissions from campus energy use by 6 percent — and potentially save the institution millions of dollars in energy costs over time — UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) is partnering on an expansive new solar project. Six new solar arrays will be installed at UCSB as a result of the agreement with Silicon Valley-based SunPower, a global solar technology and energy services company. SunPower will erect, operate, and maintain the arrays, selling the harvested green power to UCSB at a significantly lower rate than what the campus currently pays for electricity.
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Central Valley Business Times
- Dec 15 The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has awarded sPower, a renewable energy company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, a 20-year power purchase agreement to provide solar power to the State Water Project from the Solverde I Solar Facility. The Solverde I Solar Facility will be an 85-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility built near Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County. Power from the solar plant is expected to assist DWR in meeting its long-term goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Vallejo Times-Herald
- Dec 15 The U.S. Forest Service’s Vallejo regional office is among nine federal sites in California and Nevada to have solar power installed through a first-ever joint solar power procurement, and it is expected to achieve “net zero” for electricity through this process, officials announced. The U.S. General Services Administration, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Forest Service, awarded a contract for this joint solar power procurement to San Mateo-based SolarCity Corporation. The multi-agency approach will save the government $5 million in energy costs, and help achieve the Administration’s 2025 Renewable Energy Goal.
CleanTechnica
- Dec 16 California-based solar sales company Sungevity has closed an equity and project financing round worth $650 million. This is the largest financing of a private company in the solar industry for 2015. The new funding includes $50 million in equity financing by existing investors, including GE Ventures, and new investors including Apollo Investment Corporation.
SolarServer
- Dec 14 8minutenergy Renewables LLC and an affiliate of D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments, L.L.C. announced the completion of permitting, financial closing, and start of construction of the 191-megawatt Springbok 2 Solar Farm, located 70 miles north of Los Angeles in Kern County. 8minutenergy recently announced that it had signed a power purchase agreement for the Springbok 2 Solar Farm with the Southern California Public Power Authority, on behalf of its participating member, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Renewable Energy World
- Dec 14 A large-scale floating solar panel array road tested in the South Australian Outback is set to soak up the Californian sunshine. The City of Holtville has signed an agreement with Australian company Infratech to manufacture the 1-megawatt floating solar system including 3576 panels, 276 rafts, and 12 treatment pumps. It will float on the surface and power a new water treatment plant to be used for the town’s drinking water supply and irrigation. The system will also significantly reduce evaporation and decrease the reliance on chemicals, such as chlorine, to treat the water.
