Renewable Energy Focus
Solar Industry Magazine - Apr 28 In 2015, energy from grid-connected, utility-scale solar plants surpassed that from wind power for the first time ever in California, according to an analysis from Vaisala. The environmental and industrial measurement company says California has been a national leader in renewables since first establishing its renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in 2002, and with a 50 percent RPS recently signed into law, the state is likely to maintain its position for years to come. Today, the state is still one of the largest U.S. wind markets in terms of capacity, but Vaisala says exponential growth of large-scale solar in recent years has considerably altered the structure of the regional energy market.
PennEnergy - Apr 28 According to an update from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. installed more renewable energy capacity than natural gas in the first quarter of 2016. According to the agency’s latest monthly report, nine new units of wind provided 707 megawatts, followed by 44 units of solar at 522 megawatts, nine units of biomass at 33 megawatts, and one unit of hydropower at 29 megawatts. By comparison, two new units of natural gas came online, providing 18 megawatts of electricity generating capacity.
North American Windpower - Apr 27 The U.S. Senate has passed a bipartisan amendment to restore wind energy research funding for fiscal year 2017 to the level provided for the current fiscal year. Co-sponsored by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the amendment passed 54-42 as part of Senate consideration of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R.2028). The Merkley-Grassley amendment restores funding for wind research to $95.4 million, the same level as in FY16. The initial draft of the FY17 Energy and Water Appropriations bill had contained a $15.4 million cut to the program, bringing it to just $80 million.
San Francisco Business Times - Apr 26 Bay Area residents pay more for solar energy than the national average, according to a new report from marketplace hub EnergySage. The Bay Area tends to pay 20 cents more than the national average at a cost of $3.91 per watt of solar power, 10 cents higher than what Los Angeles County residents pay. There's a reason for that disparity, Vikram Aggarwal, CEO and founder of EnergySage, told the San Francisco Business Times, and much of it has to do with the high costs to install and maintain solar in the region.
Reuters - Apr 22 SunEdison Inc., once the fastest-growing U.S. renewable energy company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week after a short-lived but aggressive binge of debt-fueled acquisitions proved unsustainable. In its bankruptcy filing, the company said it had assets of $20.7 billion and liabilities of $16.1 billion as of Sept. 30. SunEdison's two publicly traded subsidiaries, TerraForm Power Inc. and TerraForm Global Inc., are not part of the bankruptcy.
Greentech Media - Apr 25 Commercial real estate remains an area of unfulfilled solar potential. Most deployment in this sector has been constrained to properties where large, creditworthy entities own or have long-term leases and sufficient control of the property to support the credit requirements of solar project developers and their financiers. One of the most promising financing innovations to open untapped solar sectors is property-assessed clean energy (PACE), via which a loan on a solar system can be repaid via a property tax assessment. According to PACENation, an association dedicated to opening PACE financing, PACE financiers have invested $252 million in 734 commercial buildings across 14 states. More than half of those projects have included renewable energy improvements.
PV Magazine - Apr 28 As part of U.S. power company NextEra’s quarterly result call, yieldco NextEra Energy Partners revealed its plans for acquisition of solar PV plants through the end of 2018. But it is the company’s acquisitions scheduled for this year, which are particularly notable. In addition to 2.67 gigawatts of wind, the yieldco is contracted to acquire 1.348 gigawatts of solar PV in 2015 and 2016, with the large majority holding 2016 COD dates. This includes shares of some of the largest solar plants in operation, such as 250 megawatts of the massive McCoy solar project in Southern California and another 250 megawatts in Nevada’s Silver State South.
