Focus
Plunging renewable energy prices mean U.S. can hit 90% clean electricity by 2035 without extra cost
Forbes – June 9
Renewable energy has historically been considered too expensive and too unreliable to power our grid, but new research has overturned that trope for good. According to a new study, plummeting wind, solar, and storage prices have fallen so fast that the United States can reach 90 percent clean electricity by 2035 – without raising customer costs from today’s levels, and actually decreasing wholesale power costs 10 percent. The new research, released by the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, is the first study to definitively show that wind, solar, and storage can deliver massive emission reductions and economic growth without increasing consumer costs. The exhaustive modeling simulates hourly U.S. power system operation over 60,000 hours across 134 regional zones, 310 transmission lines, and more than 15,000 individual generators.
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News
All newly added U.S. electricity sources in April 2020 came from renewables
Solar Power World – June 8
According to the SUN DAY Campaign’s review of new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) data, wind, solar, and hydropower provided 100 percent of the 1,328 megawatts in new U.S. electrical generating capacity added in April 2020. FERC’s latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through April 30, 2020) also reveals that renewable energy sources have accounted for 5,113 megawatts — or 56.3 percent — of the 9,082 megawatts added during the first four months of this year. Renewable energy sources now account for 22.87 percent of the nation’s total available installed generating capacity and continue to expand their lead over coal (20.32 percent).
California CCAs solicit info on long duration storage, with possible procurement launch this summer
Utility Dive – June 9
A group of 11 community choice aggregators in California last week issued a request for information (RFI) for storage technologies with a minimum duration of eight hours. The California Public Utilities Commission approved a decision in April adopting a 46 million metric ton (MMT) greenhouse gas emission target for the electric sector by 2030 — while leaving the door open for a more rigorous 38 MMT goal — as well as the ideal resource mix to get to that point, including doubling current solar capacity, tripling battery storage, and adding in nearly 1-gigawatt of either pumped hydro or some other kind of long-duration storage by 2026. The RFI is a first step in identifying resources that could meet these needs.
Oregon’s PacWave aims to jump-start U.S. marine energy market
Greentech Media – June 3
At the end of 2019, there were just 531 megawatts of wave, tidal, and other marine energy technologies installed globally, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. But the fledgling marine energy industry will soon get a boost in the United States. Oregon State University’s PacWave testing facility is in its permitting home stretch and could begin construction this year. The project has received $35 million from the U.S. Department of Energy and $3.8 million from the state government of Oregon. In the works since 2013, PacWave will comprise four wave-energy testing berths at a site located about seven miles from shore on Oregon’s Central Coast.
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Projects
Public comment sought on new solar project on the Moapa River Indian Reservation
The Progress – June 3
A series of scoping meetings were held last week to draw public comment on the newest solar power generation plant being proposed on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. The Southern Bighorn Solar Project is expected to spread across a study site totaling 6,038 acres, about 3,600 acres of which will be used to install solar panels. The proposed plant is expected to generate up to 400 megawatts of renewable energy.
Construction starts on New Mexico wind and solar projects
Albuquerque Journal – June 8
New Mexico’s renewable energy development received a significant boost in May. Developers broke ground on a planned 306-megawatt wind complex in Torrance County known as the La Joya Wind Farm. The Public Regulation Commission approved construction of two new solar projects, including one with backup battery storage, to provide El Paso Electric Company with another 250 megawatts of renewable electricity, and Kit Carson Electric Cooperative brought a new 3-megawatt solar installation online in Taos.
Sunpin Solar says construction of 98-MW solar farm in California on schedule
Renewables Now – June 8
Sunpin Solar last week said construction of the 98-megawatt Titan Solar 1 project in Imperial County, California, remained on schedule in spite of the complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project remains on track to start operation in the final quarter of 2020. The park's power will be fed into the grid of the Imperial Irrigation District.
Texas to get 15 utility-scale battery storage sites
Houston Chronicle – June 10
Broad Reach Power, a Houston energy storage company, said it will install 15 utility-scale batteries at sites in Houston and Odessa as it seeks to store electricity when it’s cheap and sell it into wholesale power markets when prices jump. Six sites, including five in the Houston area, are expected to be operating this summer. The other batteries will be installed in the fall. Each site will contain battery systems capable of storing and distributing up to 10 megawatts of power. One megawatt powers about 200 homes during a hot summer day in Texas.
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