Renewable Energy Focus
Utility Dive - Nov 2 Staff of the California Energy Commission have completed an assessment of the state's transmission grid and its ability to bring online large amounts of additional renewable capacity, finding significant investment will be required to alleviate widespread constraints. The report finds several Transmission Assessment Focus Areas where more than 40,000 megawatts of wind, solar, and geothermal resources could be developed to help California meet its goal of 50% renewables by 2030. However, the report found the state's existing transmission system, including projects under development, has limited capability for new full capacity resource interconnections. More than $5 billion in investment could be required.
E&E News - Oct 27 Building a clean energy program from scratch, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has approved 60 commercial-scale solar, wind, and geothermal projects that would power millions of homes and businesses. Up next is a set of ambitious rules and policies that Dylan Fuge, counselor to BLM Director Neil Kornze on energy, said would "finish the job" begun by Obama. Among the administration's priorities outlined to E&E News by Fuge and others: finalize a rule to launch competitive leasing for renewable energy on federal land across the West, establish two solar energy zones (SEZs) on federal tracts along the Nevada-California line and identify the first wind energy zones where projects would be encouraged through streamlined permitting, and authorize construction of the first phase of the 3,000-megawatt Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project in Wyoming, the largest wind project in North America, and the TransWest Express transmission line, which will carry the project's electricity to major Western load centers.
Reuters - Nov 2 Top oil companies including Saudi Aramco and Shell, are joining forces to create an investment fund to develop technologies to promote renewable energy, as they seek an active role in the fight against global warming, sources said. The chief executives of seven oil and gas companies, BP, Eni, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil, and Total, will announce details of the fund and other steps to reduce greenhouse gases in London this Friday. The sector faces mounting pressure to take an active role in the fight against global warming, and the event will coincide with the formal entry into force of the 2015 Paris Agreement to phase out man-made greenhouse gases in the second half of the century.
Renewable Energy World - Nov 2 The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on October 28 sold a total 18 geothermal leases in Nevada and Utah, adding nearly $169,000 to local, state, and federal treasuries. Fourteen geothermal leases, more than half those on offer, were sold in Nevada, and four of six were sold in Utah. Bids were not received for two in California and two in Utah, which, along with those unsold in Nevada, will remain on the block for sale on a non-competitive basis for two years.
Fresno Business Journal - Nov 2 A Fresno County solar project will sell energy to Bay Area customers seeking up to 100-percent renewable energy to power their homes. Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar has struck a power purchase agreement with Northern California community choice aggregator MCE (Marin Clean Energy) to provide energy from First Solar’s Little Bear project in Fresno County. The project will generate up to 40 megawatts of energy to start, with plans to eventually build out to 160 megawatts. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2019, with commissioning expected in 2020.
PV-Tech - Oct 28 Balfour Beatty Communities and SolarCity are nearing completion of close to 7 megawatts of PV energy at Air Force family housing over four states. The rooftop panels are being installed across the residential communities managed by Balfour Beatty Communities at Travis Air Force Base (AFB) in California, Sheppard AFB in Texas, Tyndall AFB in Florida, and Luke AFB in Arizona. Together, these PV installations are comprised of 26,000 solar panels and will provide power to more than 2,000 households.
San Diego Union-Tribune - Oct 31 The Tule Wind Project has received the go-ahead from the State Lands Commission to build a second phase of a venture that will dot the landscape in San Diego’s East County with wind turbines. In a unanimous decision, members of the commission on October 13 approved a 40-year lease on 640 acres for what is being called “Tule II.” The first phase of the Tule Wind Project is about to break ground in the wind-swept McCain Valley. Some 52 General Electric turbines with towers 262 feet high and 351 feet in diameter are expected to start spinning by September 2017. Tule II will not be built until the first phase of the project is completed and will be much smaller, with permits for as many as 24 turbines. The project’s second phase is sized at 69 megawatts.
Solar Industry Magazine - Nov 3 Mercedes-Benz is bringing its stationary energy storage business to the U.S. To handle the expansion, parent company Daimler AG has established a new unit, Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas LLC, which will assume the development and sales of the storage systems for residential, commercial, and utility applications for the North American market. Working in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America in Sunnyvale, Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas will bring initial product offerings to the U.S. in early 2017, beginning with the launch of a modular residential product.
