Renewable Energy Focus
Solar Industry Magazine - Mar 16 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has announced that 69.3% of the electricity delivered to its customers in 2016 came from greenhouse-gas-free resources, including nuclear, large hydro, and renewable sources of energy. According to the company, PG&E delivered an average of 32.8% of its electricity in 2016 solely from renewables, including solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydroelectric sources. That’s more than a 3% increase in just one year and the highest percentage yet for the state’s largest combined natural gas and electric company.
Greentech Media - Mar 21 Last month, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) quietly announced that it could face a record-breaking need for curtailments: paying, or forcing, generators to stop pumping electricity into a transmission grid that just doesn’t have the demand for it at the time. “With the bountiful hydro conditions expected this year and significant additional solar installations, both in the form of central station and on rooftops, we expect to see significant excess energy production this coming spring,” CAISO CEO Stephen Berberich wrote in a memo to the grid operator’s board of directors. “Currently, the forecast is that we could have the need to curtail from 6,000 [megawatts] to 8,000 [megawatts].” Managing oversupply conditions isn't new to CAISO, spokesperson Steven Greenlee said. But, he added, “We haven’t had this potential amount of excess supply on the grid before.”
PV-Tech - Mar 22 In a move to expand solar access to more Nevadans, senator Mo Denis has introduced community solar bill SB392. This legislation particularly caters to those renting property as well as those in low-income families. If passed, the bill would not only increase solar opportunities for residents, but also create more local jobs. The state-wide program proposal has been welcomed by Nevada’s solar industry, which sees the bill as a chance to deliver cost-competitive solar and achieve energy savings for those who are ineligible for conventional rooftop solar.
PV-Tech - Mar 12 Electrical power used by SamTrans and Caltrain in San Mateo County will soon come from 100 percent renewable sources, such as solar, wind, and small hydroelectric power. The agencies use electrical power for train signals, stations, bus depots, and offices. The boards of directors for the transportation agencies voted recently to switch from PG&E power to 100 percent renewable electrical energy through a joint powers authority in San Mateo County known as Peninsula Clean Energy.
Commercial Property Executive - Mar 22 Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project, a 250-megawatt AC solar energy facility located approximately 30 miles north of Las Vegas on the Moapa River Indian reservation, is now fully operational. The solar power plant is estimated to generate enough energy to power around 111,000 homes while avoiding the use of approximately 341,000 metric tons per year of carbon dioxide emissions. The prevention of carbon dioxide emissions is estimated to amount to the equivalent of taking nearly 73,000 cars off the road. The Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project is the first utility-scale solar plant to be built on tribal land and has a long-term power purchase agreement of 25 years with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Renewable Energy World - Mar 21 San Diego Gas and Electric has launched a 2-megawatt vanadium redox flow battery storage pilot project in coordination with Sumitomo Electric. The utility said that the four-year demonstration project will help determine if flow battery technology can economically enhance the delivery of reliable energy to customers, integrate growing amounts of renewable energy to the power grid, and give the utility flexibility in how it manages the grid.
North American Windpower - Mar 21 Salka LLC, a San Diego-based renewable energy company, has signed a purchase and sale agreement for the Summit Wind Project, a 55-megawatt wind farm under development in the east San Francisco Bay area. The agreement was signed with Castlelake LP, a global private investment firm, on behalf of the funds it manages. The project will repower a former Altamont Pass wind farm by replacing 569 100-kilowatt turbines with 27 more modern turbines.
East Bay Times - Mar 22 A hydrogen-cell fueling station that would cater to a new generation of automobiles and buses is set to open as soon as next month in San Ramon, almost a year after it was originally envisioned to become the first such station in the Interstate 680 corridor. New Jersey-based Linde Group is building the fueling station on a half-acre of land owned by Toyota Motor Sales USA, adjacent to a Toyota regional office site. Hydrogen fuel-cell-powered automobiles are a still-nascent market, and three models are commercially available — the Toyota Mirai, the Hyundai ix35, and the Honda Clarity. Other companies have pre-production models in operation. They are touted as creating no carbon emissions and being more energy-efficient than internal-combustion vehicles, but they remain relatively rare.
