Renewable Energy Focus
VentureBeat - Aug 1 SolarCity Corp agreed to be acquired by sister company Tesla Motors Inc. in a deal worth $200 million less than the initial offer, sending shares of both companies down in early trading on Monday. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the largest shareholder in both companies and chairman of SolarCity. His cousins Lyndon Rive and Peter Rive are co-founders of SolarCity. The deal is expected to win approval in the fourth quarter, the companies said. The combined entity would sell solar panels, residential and commercial battery storage systems, and electric vehicles under a single brand.
Yale Environment 360 - Aug 1 The massive natural gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage site left California electricity providers racing to replace the lost supplies to avoid blackouts and recurring outages in the coming months. But Los Angeles area utilities aren’t solely seeking more fossil fuels to fill the gap in natural gas. They are also turning to virtual power plants: sprawling networks of independent batteries, solar panels, and energy-efficient buildings that are tied together and remotely controlled by software and data systems. The goal is to collectively reduce customers’ energy demand at peak hours and provide renewable energy supplies in targeted areas.
Greentech Media - Jul 27 Hydropower is coming back. That, more or less, is the takeaway from the results of a massive two-and-a-half-year study released by the Department of Energy (DOE) Tuesday. The study asserts that it will be possible to expand U.S. hydropower from the current 101 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity to almost 150 gigawatts by 2050. The majority of that, amounting to 36 gigawatts, would be new pumped storage, joined by 13 gigawatts of new generating capacity.
Bloomberg - Aug 4 Apple Inc., which spent $850 million last year on a 130-megawatt solar farm near San Francisco, can begin selling power into wholesale markets, joining Google parent Alphabet Inc. in the energy-trading business. Apple’s subsidiary Apple Energy LLC may sell energy, capacity, and other services needed to maintain reliable power, according to an order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week. In granting approval, the commission determined that the company did not raise the risk of being able to unfairly hike up power prices.
Los Angeles Daily News - Jul 29 Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey said in a recent study that video surveillance should be used to track how often birds, bats, and insects fly into what’s called the “solar flux” areas around the Ivanpah solar plant’s towers, where temperatures exceed 800 degrees. Bird deaths are now estimated based on a sampling of carcasses found on site. But video technology would allow researchers to count birds that get injured but continue to fly beyond the boundaries of the plant, as well as track insects and small birds that burn up completely. Pam Bierce, a spokesperson for the Pacific Southwest region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said her agency needs more time to evaluate before deciding whether to use video surveillance at Ivanpah.
North American Windpower - Aug 4 Sonoma Clean Power (SCP), the nonprofit public agency that has been generating electricity for 88 percent of Sonoma County’s residents and business owners since launching in 2014, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 20 years of wind power from Golden Hills North Wind Energy Center. The project, located in Eastern Alameda County within the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, is being developed by NextEra Energy Resources and, according to SCP, represents the agency’s first long-term, in-state wind contract.
SeeNews Renewables - Aug 3 8minutenergy Renewables LLC will develop a fourth Redwood Solar Farm project in Kern County, with a capacity of 20 megawatts, or 26 megawatts in direct current. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. picked the company to develop the scheme, which will be a dedicated resource for the utility's Solar Choice program. Construction of the solar farm is scheduled to begin next year.
reNEWS - Aug 3 An affiliate of D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments has acquired the 11-megawatt Rancho Seco solar project in Sacramento County from First Solar. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Golden 1 Center, currently under construction for the Sacramento Kings basketball team, will obtain approximately 85 percent of its power from the project.
