The California Senate Budget Committee proposes a $400M community solar & storage investment in the updated Budget and Fiscal Review

CSBC proposes $400M investment in community solar + storage

Community solar advocates are applauding the California Senate Budget Committee (CSBC) for proposing a $400 million community solar and storage investment in the updated Budget and Fiscal Review, released on May 25.

Earlier this week, a coalition of environmental and environmental justice advocates submitted a letter to legislative leadership, requesting the $400 million appropriation from Clean Energy Reliability Investment Plan (CERIP) funding. The groups specifically urged the legislature to fund projects that deliver bill savings for low-income customers and increase local reliability in low-income and marginalized communities.

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Source: Solar Power World

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Solar is emerging as an energy superpower with this year's investment in the sector ($380B) set to surpass spending on oil production ($370B) for the first time.

Global solar power investment to surpass oil for the first time

Solar is emerging as an energy superpower with this year’s investment in the sector ($380B) set to surpass spending on oil production ($370B) for the first time.

That’s according to Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, who said the

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Source: Seeking Alpha

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California’s innovation and prosperity are the consequence of stakeholder-centric environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies furthering sustainability, consistent with Adam Smith’s invisible hand in the free market economy.

California teaches Florida and Texas a lesson in ESG

Back in 2015 when California had the seventh-largest economy in the world, outperforming the rest of the US, economist Irena Asmundson attributed her native state’s trajectory to a government increasingly in harmony with the diversity of its constituents. The cost of clean energy will “continue to fall” because of the convergence of “public policy and people’s preferences,” she said amid the proliferation of solar roofs and zero emission electric vehicles from Balboa Park to Yosemite Valley. “Everyone can see the writing on the wall, that climate change is happening. These clean technologies are going to be more valued in the future.”

That’s especially true for business in the Golden State, whose gross domestic product is poised to overtake Germany’s and where the 30 publicly-traded companies deriving more than half of their revenue from alternative energy are mostly California-based. Those companies delivered a total return of 1,600% the past 10 years, exponentially greater than the 46% income plus appreciation of the world’s 58 traditional fossil-fuel firms as the cost of solar declined 80%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Solar is now the cheapest source of bulk electricity generation in most sunny countries, on a per-MWh basis, according to Jenny Chase, solar analyst at BloombergNEF.

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Source: The Washington Post

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Governor Gavin Newsom today released an update on the state’s clean energy progress and an implementation plan to reach future targets.

Governor Newsom updates the roadmap to California’s clean energy future

The roadmap, called “Building the Electricity Grid of the Future: California’s Clean Energy Transition Plan,” identifies the challenges ahead and how California will tackle them:

  • We are in a race against climate change
  • California is leading the clean energy revolution
  • California is creating modern rules to build a modern electrical grid
  • California has a plan to manage the transition to clean energy

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Source: CA.GOV

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California energy experts generally agree that the state’s interconnection processes need a broad overhaul, since CAISO’s queues are overwhelmed with hundreds of requests every year

California’s ‘zonal’ approach could revamp clean energy planning, shrink interconnection queue: experts

California energy experts generally agree that the state’s interconnection processes need a broad overhaul, since CAISO’s queues are overwhelmed with hundreds of requests every year from potential developers. The latest window for applications was this April, and the system operator received a total of 546 applications, amounting to 354,000 MW of new resources.

While a previous proposal from CAISO called for 46 transmission projects estimated to cost $9.3 billion, the final version approved by the board of governors last week left out one project pending additional analysis. The vast majority of these projects will be built in California and each costs between $4 million and $2.3 billion, according to the ISO.

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Source: Utility Dive

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France-based off-grid solutions provider Sunwind has developed a PV module that can be used at ski stations, ski lifts and resorts at high altitudes in mountainous areas.

Solar panels for ski areas

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France-based off-grid solutions provider Sunwind has developed a PV module that can be used at ski stations, ski lifts and resorts at high altitudes in mountainous areas.

“The mountain is in our DNA,”§ the company’s founder, Xavier Duport, told pv magazine France. “The high mountain environment is conducive to the production of solar electricity, due to greater irradiation, less atmospheric pollution, and a stronger albedo effect which brings 5 to 10% of production in more about the winter months thanks to the snowpack.”

For the modules, the company uses a special encapsulation process based on a composite multi-layer that gives them the exact shape of the polycarbonate side windows they replace.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Faith leaders & solar installers discuss how and why houses of worship are going solar & how the clean energy tax credits in the IRA can help

Houses of worship go solar

Houses of worship across America are going solar — putting their values into action, helping protect God’s creation, and saving money on their electric bills at the same time.

On May 18, 2023, Environment America Research & Policy Center and the Texas Solar Energy Society hosted a panel discussion featuring Reverend Richard Neusch, the Senior Leader of the Pastoral Staff at True Life Fellowship in Round Rock, Texas; Louis Petrik, the CEO of Longhorn Solar; and Dub Taylor, the Chief Operating Officer of the Texas PACE Authority. The panelists discussed why houses of worship are going solar, how they are going about it, and how to tap clean energy tax credits available to faith-based nonprofits for the first time this year. The panel was moderated by Johanna Neumann, Senior Director of the Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy at Environment America Research & Policy Center.

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Source: Environment America

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BLM has approved the Sunlight Storage II Battery Energy Storage System in Riverside County to add up to 300 megawatts for a total 530 megawatts of energy storage capacity provided to the state power grid.

BLM advances clean energy in California

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The Bureau of Land Management has approved the Sunlight Storage II Battery Energy Storage System in Riverside County to add up to 300 megawatts for a total 530 megawatts of energy storage capacity provided to the state power grid from the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, another step toward meeting the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of achieving a carbon-free electric grid by 2035.

“Continuing to invest in clean renewable energy remains a high priority for the BLM, and battery storage systems help meet increasing demands to energy usage and security,” said Shelly Lynch, California Desert District Manager.

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Source: Bureau of Land Management

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Gov. Newsom’s proposals would streamline projects to unleash construction across the state so CA can reach its world-leading climate goals.

Governor Newsom unveils new proposals to build California’s clean future, faster

Governor Newsom’s proposals would streamline projects to unleash construction across the state – accelerating the building of clean infrastructure so California can reach its world-leading climate goals while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.

STANISLAUS COUNTY – At the site of a future solar farm in the Central Valley, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the state’s most ambitious permitting and project review reforms in a half-century to build California’s clean energy future while creating thousands of good jobs. The measures will facilitate and streamline project approval and completion to maximize California’s share of federal infrastructure dollars and expedite the implementation of projects that meet the state’s ambitious economic, climate, and social goals.

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Source: CA.GOV

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Solar Star is in Rosamond, California. The area is predominantly desert & agricultural and several wild animal species can be found there.

Discover the largest solar farm in California (and what lives around it)

Solar Star, California’s most extensive and best-producing solar farm, provides enough clean energy to power 250,000 homes. The farm stands in Kern and Los Angeles counties and is not only the most significant Solar Farm in California but the largest in the world when completed in 2015. The Solar Farm comprises 1.7 million solar panels spread over 13 square kilometers (3,200 acres). That’s 142 football fields or 4 Central Parks!

California is the leading state in renewable energy and hosts some of the largest solar power plants in the United States. Solar Star produced 579 megawatts of energy, enough to power 255,000 homes. Southern California Edison buys that energy and distributes it to its customers. The farm splits into two installations: Solar Star 1 and Solar Star 2. Solar Star 1 produces 314 MW, and number 2 makes a little less at 265 MW. Solar Star ranks as the largest installed capacity, using 1.7 million solar panels over 13 square kilometers.

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Source: A-Z Animals

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