Judge dismisses Native American challenge to Pattern Energy’s $10B SunZia energy transmission project in Arizona

Associated Press – June 6

A U.S. district judge has dismissed claims by Native American tribes and environmentalists who sought to halt construction along part of a $10 billion energy transmission line that will carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California. Judge Jennifer Zipps said in her ruling that the plaintiffs were years too late in bringing their challenge. It followed an earlier decision in which she dismissed their requests for a preliminary injunction, saying the Bureau of Land Management had fulfilled its obligations to identify historic sites and prepare an inventory of cultural resources.

News

California budget cuts could decimate key virtual-power-plant programs

Canary Media – June 5

Two years ago, California committed $6.7 billion in state funding to protect the grid against the risk of heat-wave-driven blackouts. Nearly $1 billion of that funding was committed to cleaner alternatives — financing small-scale batteries connected to low-voltage power grids and paying utility customers to turn down their power use to forestall grid emergencies. Now, as California grapples with a budget shortfall, Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers have proposed slashing hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for these cleaner alternatives. A group of distributed-energy companies and advocates is calling on state leaders to reverse the proposed cuts to the Demand Side Grid Support and Distributed Electricity Backup Assets programs.

BOEM finalizes environmental review of Central Atlantic potential offshore wind lease activities

North American Windpower – June 6

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued its final Environmental Assessment (EA) concerning possible impacts from issuing leases for potential offshore wind development off the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia coasts. The EA concluded that there would be no significant impacts from lease issuance. BOEM is exploring additional opportunities for offshore wind energy development, including in the Gulf of Maine and elsewhere off the Central Atlantic coast.

U.S. trade commission presses ahead in probe of southeast Asian solar manufacturers

The Hill – June 7

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday voted to continue with an investigation into potential tariff-dodging by manufacturers of photovoltaic solar cells in southeastern Asia, the latest in a years-long saga that the U.S. solar industry claims could devastate manufacturing. The Biden administration has set ambitious goals for increasing U.S. production of solar power, but many of the key components for panels are only manufactured overseas. The Solar Energy Industries Association has argued that penalizing the companies would cut off a vital source of those components and could irreparably obstruct U.S. deployment.

U.S. solar sector shows record-setting growth

Power Magazine – June 6

A new report from two energy industry groups said a record 11 GW of new solar power module manufacturing capacity entered service during the first three months of this year, representing the largest quarter of solar manufacturing growth in U.S. history. According to the report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie, total U.S. solar module manufacturing capacity is now more than 26 GW annually. Wood Mackenzie projects that the U.S. solar industry will install another 40 GW of generation capacity this year.

Projects

CPA approves solar, BESS deal with BHE Renewables

Solar Industry Magazine – June 7

The Clean Power Alliance (CPA) board of directors has approved two 20-year PPAs with BHE Renewables for solar + storage projects co-located at BHE Renewables’ Solar Star 3 and Solar Star 4 facilities in Kern County. CPA is slated to begin receiving energy from Solar Star 3 and Solar Star 4 next year. Each project is projected to provide 24 MW of solar power generation and 23 MW of four-hour battery energy storage.

Arevia, NV Energy seal PPA for 700 MW solar project in Nevada

Renewables Now – June 7

Arevia Power, a renewables developer backed by KKR, has signed a power off-take deal with utility NV Energy, securing the output of the 700 MW Libra solar-plus-storage complex in Nevada. The Libra photovoltaic park will be installed on 5,141 acres of public lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Nevada’s Mineral County.