Renewable Energy Focus
Solar Industry Magazine - Jan 11 Although the concrete statistics for the final months of last year aren't in yet, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says it expects renewable generation capacity to have accounted for most of the 2016 capacity additions in the country. The agency notes it based its numbers for November and December on planned reported additions, and those projections are subject to change. Once the final figures are in, though, the EIA expects 24 gigawatts of new generating capacity to have been added to the U.S. power grid during 2016. For the third consecutive year, more than half of these additions are slated to have been renewable technologies, especially wind and solar.
San Diego Union-Tribune - Jan 9 The California Public Utilities Commission has rejected a request by owners of the failed San Onofre nuclear plant to delay negotiations with consumer advocates to re-assign $4.7 billion in premature closure costs. In a joint letter last month, Southern California Edison and minority owner San Diego Gas & Electric Co. asked to put off settlement talks because they expect a resolution to a years-old arbitration case against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which built the generator that caused the 2012 plant failure. State utility regulators said there is no reason to put off the discussions, which under a December commission order must begin later this month.
Solar Novus Today - Jan 12 Mercom Capital Group, LLC, a global clean energy research and communications firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition activity for the solar sector in 2016. Total global corporate funding in the solar sector, including venture capital/private equity, debt financing, and public market financing, raised by public companies came to $9.1 billion, compared to $25.3 billion in 2015. Solar downstream companies accounted for $985 million of the $1.3 billion raised. Investments in PV technology companies reached $97 million.
Popular Mechanics - Jan 11 Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory will feature a giant 70-megawatt solar farm on the factory's roof, the largest rooftop solar installation in the world. Tesla's goal is that the Gigafactory, which will make battery cells for the company's Model 3 cars, will be powered entirely with renewable energy. The installation will be more than seven times larger than the world's next largest rooftop solar farm.
SolarServer - Jan 11
Duke Energy Renewables has acquired three solar photovoltaic projects from SunPower Corp., totaling 55 megawatts. The sites include the 20-megawatt Rio Bravo I, the 20-megawatt Rio Bravo II, and the 15-megawatt Wildwood Solar II PV plants. They are located in Kern County, adjacent to two existing solar sites owned by Duke Energy Renewables.
Disclosure: Allen Matkins represented SunPower in the acquisition, development, and sale of the Rio Bravo and Wildwood projects mentioned in the article.
PV Magazine - Jan 12 Nearly two years after the pair collaborated on the 24.3-megawatt Catalina Solar 2 Project, EDF RE and SCE have signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for the 111.2-megawatt Valentine Solar Project in Kern County’s Mojave Desert. The new project, nearly five times larger than Catalina, is expected to be commissioned and producing power in December 2019.
Utility Dive - Jan 10 The San Diego County Water Authority and the City of San Diego are testing the waters on a pumped storage project that could help provide the region with up to 500 megawatts of clean energy, Windpower Engineering reports. The agency last week released a joint request for letters from electric utilities, developers, investors, and energy consumers to try and gauge interest in the project. Central to the proposal is an interconnection and pumping system between the existing San Vicente Reservoir and a new, smaller reservoir located uphill.
SeeNews Renewables - Jan 11 Petaluma-based microinverter maker Enphase Energy Inc. announced a $10-million strategic investment from T.J. Rodgers and John Doerr. Rodgers, who is founder and former chief executive of San Jose-based Cypress Semiconductor Corp, will be appointed to Enphase's board of directors as part of the investment. Doerr is chairman of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers.
