Renewable Energy Focus
SFGate
- Nov 10
Federal and state officials said Tuesday they will allow solar, wind, and other renewable energy development on 400,000 acres of public lands in the California desert, while setting aside 5 million acres for conservation as part of a big push by the Obama and Brown administrations to combat climate change. The long-awaited decision covers millions of acres of public land in one of California’s last comparatively undeveloped frontiers, seeking to correct what were widely perceived as mistakes during the first years of the Obama presidency when publicly subsidized, industrial-scale solar projects were plopped on pristine desert habitat.
PennEnergy
- Nov 11
Turlock Irrigation District (TID) and SunPower Corp. signed a 20-year power purchase agreement under which TID will buy renewable solar power from SunPower. To serve the agreement, SunPower is starting construction this month on a 54-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant at the company's Rosamond Solar site in Kern County, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2016. TID anticipates the plant to generate an equivalent amount of energy to serve about 20,000 homes.
Disclosure: Allen Matkins is representing SunPower with respect to the development of the Rosamond Project.
PV-Tech
- Nov 6 Suncrest Solar has marked a big play in the residential market by expanding into northern California and launching into two new U.S. states. Suncrest is to establish nine new offices in California, South Carolina, and Utah to further the expansion, while its ProAlliance partner program, which allows other sales-based industries to incorporate solar products into their offering, will also be launched into additional markets.
PV-Tech
- Nov 12 According to a new NextGen Climate America report, the U.S. could add over 1 million jobs by 2030 and nearly 2 million by 2050, with over 1.2 million jobs in the construction market as a result of developing renewable energy projects. By lowering emissions levels 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, the U.S. would also boost its GDP by up to $290 million and raise household incomes across the country.
Greentech Media
- Nov 11 Veterans are an increasingly attractive target for solar companies looking for employees to fill their fast-growing ranks. In partnership with Wells Fargo, GRID is ramping up a program, called Troops to Solar, targeted at training 1,000 veterans over the next three years. Many of the solar systems used for training will be deployed on the houses of veterans, including a large number of Native American veterans. (More Native Americans serve in the U.S. military on a per-capita basis than any ethnic group.)
Bloomberg
- Nov 11 SunPower Corp., the second-biggest U.S. solar manufacturer, is developing a plan to sell electricity in California. As the company combines its rooftop solar, energy storage, and management systems, it will tap those resources to sell into the California bulk-power marketplace, Chief Executive Officer Tom Werner said in an interview Tuesday at the Edison Electric Institute Financial Conference in Hollywood, Florida.
San Jose Mercury News
- Nov 9 In a venture that could pit the state's commitment to green energy against its famed coastal environmental movement, a Seattle company is proposing to build the first ocean wind farm off California's coast in Morro Bay. Trident Winds has filed early paperwork with Morro Bay city officials for a plan to install 100 floating turbines, each up to 636 feet tall, about 15 miles off the San Luis Obispo County shoreline. The project would generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 300,000 homes.
SolarServer
- Nov 6 E.ON Solar, a subsidiary of E.ON SE, announced that Maricopa West, a 20-megawatt solar photovoltaic project located in Southern California, has completed the construction phase and is set to become fully operational. Maricopa West occupies land purchased by E.ON Solar within the Maricopa Sun Solar Complex, a 4,000-acre solar park near Taft, California.
Utility Dive
- Nov 12 A small California water utility is integrating energy storage into its operations, a plan designed to reduce its peak demand, lower energy costs, and keep facilities running in the event of a power outage, PV Magazine reports. Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA), which supplies water to an area of about 242 square miles, will install approximately 3.5 megawatts of storage at its regional water-recycling facilities and pump stations in Southern California. The project will utilize Tesla's PowerPack and is expected to reduce total energy costs for IEUA by 5 percent to 10 percent.
