Focus

CAISO to develop regional day-ahead market for renewables after participant push

Utility Dive – September 23

The California ISO (CAISO) will move ahead with the development of a stakeholder process to create a regional day-ahead market, building on the capabilities of the Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) it has operated since 2014, the grid operator decided last Wednesday. EIM participants estimated a day-ahead market could generate aggregate gross benefits between $119 million and $227 million annually. The current EIM has produced $736.26 million in total benefits since its launch in November 2014, according to an ISO assessment, with $86 million in the second quarter of this year. The market’s system automatically finds and delivers the lowest cost energy across eight western states. CAISO’s move to develop a day-ahead market drew praise from regional clean energy advocates, even as all involved cautioned it would not be an easy task.

News

New coalition pushes for 10 GW of California offshore wind

North American Windpower - October 1

A newly launched coalition, Offshore Wind California (OWC), is dedicated to growing the state’s offshore wind industry. Noting advances in floating platform technology and declining costs, OWC urges California to set a goal of reaching a minimum of 10 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2040, which would help meet the state’s commitment of obtaining 100 percent renewable power by 2045. Citing the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the group says building 10 gigawatts of offshore wind in California would create 18,000 jobs and generate $20 billion in GDP by 2050. NREL estimates that California’s technical potential for offshore wind at an enormous 112 gigawatts, including up to 8.4 gigawatts in the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s three designated call areas.

Digital Realty signs clean energy deals for data centers on both coasts

Data Center Knowledge – October 2

Digital Realty Trust announced on Monday two renewable energy deals in connection with its U.S. operations. The two power purchase agreements will add 227,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy to the regional grids powering the company’s data centers. One is a deal with the energy company Engie North America for electricity from a planned 50-megawatt solar project expected to come online late next year. Digital Realty Trust agreed to buy 107,000 megawatt-hours of energy from the project per year for its data centers in Northern Virginia, the world’s largest data center market by capacity. Under the second agreement, Portland General Electric will supply 120,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy to power Digital Realty Trust's Oregon data center development project.

Projects

Massive $1 billion Riverside County solar project moves closer to approval

Patch - September 27

The final environmental impact reports for a proposed $1 billion solar project in Blythe, California, were made public last Thursday, moving the development a step closer to breaking ground. If approved, the Desert Quartzite Project would feature a 450-megawatt solar energy facility on 3,800 acres of public land, according to a Bureau of Land Management spokesperson. The publication of the reports will open an appeal period that includes a 30-day protest window and a 60-day governor’s consistency review.

California firm contracts ‘astoundingly’ cheap solar-plus-storage pipeline

PV-Tech – September 30

California has witnessed yet another claim of ultra-low solar prices, recorded in the context of a major contracting exercise by a community energy group. The board of East Bay Community Energy, the power supplier for Alameda County, approved deals last Friday to acquire 225 megawatts of solar and 80 megawatts/160 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage. The late September procurement brings EBCE’s purchase pipeline volumes up to 550 megawatts of clean energy and 137.5 megawatts/390 megawatt-hours of energy storage. According to EBCE, the solar portfolio resulting from this year’s procurement raft was contracted at average prices of $22 per megawatt-hour. One of the newest two deals will see EBCE acquire the entire output of sPower’s Solar + Storage Project in Southern California, set to mix PV (125 megawatts) and batteries (80 megawatts/160 megawatt-hours). The second deal involves the 100-megawatt Edwards Solar Project that Terra-Gen is developing within a 600-megawatt complex at the Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County.

IID launching ‘one of the largest low-income’ solar projects in the nation

News Channel 3 – September 25

Last Wednesday, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) announced what it called "one of the largest low-income community solar projects in the nation." The program in its current form aims to serve over 12,000 electric customers and is set to help provide relief in the form of reduced monthly bills under its Residential Energy Assistance Program and new eGreen Program. The 107,000-panel module project will be located on a 200-acre plot of IID-owned land near the district’s Midway Substation near Calipatria.