Renewable Energy Focus
Silicon Valley Business Journal - Apr 22
SolarCity is activating a fund that will finance more than $1 billion in commercial solar projects, or 300 megawatts of energy, over the next two years. The San Mateo-based solar company said it believes the fund, which includes an investment by Credit Suisse, is the largest of its kind. The fund was created to install SolarCity technology (including battery storage systems) on businesses, schools, and government buildings across the U.S.
KPCC - Apr 29
California would aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 under a plan announced Wednesday by Governor Jerry Brown that steps up the state's previously established target. The governor's executive order goes further than a federal proposal also aiming to curb global warming but lacks specifics on how to accomplish its goals. Brown set a target of reducing emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels over the next 15 years. California already has been moving toward an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050 under a 2005 executive order by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. President Barack Obama announced a plan last summer to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2030, with 2005 levels as the starting point.
Bloomberg - Apr 14
PacifiCorp, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is studying the feasibility of becoming a transmission-owning member of the statewide network operated by California Independent System Operator Corp. The Portland utility would become one of only two transmission owners outside of California to be a part of the system. The ISO would take operational control over PacifiCorp’s 16,300 miles of transmission lines spanning six western states, expanding its footprint by almost 40 percent and increasing the renewable energy available to help meet California’s goal of buying 33 percent of its power from renewable energy resources by 2020.
Bloomberg - May 1
Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk unveiled a suite of batteries to store electricity for homes, businesses, and utilities, saying a greener power grid furthers the company’s mission to provide pollution-free energy. The Tesla announcement marks the company’s expansion beyond electric cars. Batteries can be used to store solar and wind electricity during peak production and dispense it later, when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.
KCET - Apr 22
Some new figures have been published about the likely wildlife impact of a controversial solar facility in the Mojave Desert by biological consultants working on contract with the plant. According to the firm H.T. Harvey and Associates, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System was the site of somewhere between 2,500 and 6,700 bird mortalities in the plant's first year of operation, between October 2013 and October 2014. The firm says the most likely actual figure is somewhere around 3,500 birds killed in that time.
Renewable Energy World - Apr 23
According to a new report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects, wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower combined provided over 75 percent of the 1,229 megawatts of new U.S. electrical generating capacity placed into service during the first quarter of 2015. The balance (302 megawatts) was provided by natural gas.
Notable Renewable Energy Projects and Deals
Renewable Energy World - Apr 29
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has opened its new 75,000-square-foot, $438 million Central Utilities Plant (CUP). The new facility will be 25 percent more efficient than the previous 50-year-old CUP. An 8.4-megawatt cogeneration plant consisting of gas turbine-driven generators will provide electricity and the “waste” heat will be reused for heating and to power additional steam-driven chillers.
Greentech Media - Apr 28
General Electric (GE) is rebooting its battery business with a foray into downstream storage development. GE will supply Con Edison Development, an unregulated arm of Consolidated Edison Inc., with an 8-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system in California's Central Valley. Rather than supply one of its own Durathon batteries, GE will acquire a lithium-ion battery for the project, marking the first time GE has offered the technology.
reNews - Apr 29
Electrical contractor Rosendin Electric has consolidated its renewable energy divisions under one unit called Rosendin Electric Renewable Energy Group. The new group, based in La Palma, California, bridges the company’s solar and wind energy divisions, and it adds battery storage and sustainable power to support the emerging microgrid market.
