A trio of environmental groups wants the CPUC to upend last month’s decision that overhauled the rules for rooftop solar.

California slashed rooftop solar payments. Now opponents want a rehearing

A trio of environmental groups wants the California Public Utilities Commission to upend last month’s decision that overhauled the rules for Californians who install rooftop solar on their homes and businesses, reducing payments to new solar customers for the electricity they generate.

The Protect Our Communities Foundation, the Environmental Working Group and the Center for Biological Diversity filed an application for a rehearing and a reversal of the Dec. 15 ruling by the commission.

“They made a mistake,” said Bill Powers, an engineer and board member of the Protect Our Communities Foundation. “This was the wrong decision.”

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Source: Los Angeles Times

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FERC’s latest Energy Infrastructure Update said that just over 72.8GW of solar is expected to be added from Dec. 2022 until Nov. 2025.

Solar to dominate US capacity additions with 73GW expected through 2025

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Nearly two-thirds of US generating capacity additions in the next three years will be fulfilled by solar, with the technology’s share of power generation in the country set to almost double, according to a report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

FERC’s latest Energy Infrastructure Update said that just over 72.8GW of solar is expected to be added from December 2022 until November 2025. By this prediction, total US solar capacity would increase from 78.8GW to 151.6GW, a near-double increase. The figures account for utility-scale “high probability” projects and do not include distributed capacity.

In addition to the “high probability” project forecast, FERC published data showing “all additions” that could possibly be installed through November 2025. This scenario presents a potential 201GW three-year solar pipeline, encompassing the maximum possible additions based on all proposed or potential projects.

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Source: PV Tech

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The Coalition for Community Solar Access has 30GW vision for community solar in the US by 2030, which is almost 6x the 5.3GW installed now.

Community-solar industry shoots for 30GW by 2030

On Wednesday, a national coalition of companies and nonprofit groups announced a big vision for community solar in the U.S.: 30 gigawatts by 2030. That’s nearly six times the 5.3 gigawatts installed now.

The Coalition for Community Solar Access, which counts companies Arcadia and Con Edison and nonprofits Groundswell and Grid Alternatives among its members, made the announcement at the Community Solar Power Summit in San Diego.

Community solar puts renewable power within reach of those who can’t install solar panels on their roofs. Users can instead subscribe to a part of an offsite array, and in return for the energy their portion of the array produces, earn credits that save them money on their electric bills.

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Source: Canary Media

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The CPUC approved 800MW of new solar and battery storage projects to ensure Californians can get reliable power through 2026.

California approves solar, battery projects to strengthen the grid

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The California Public Utilities Commission, the agency that regulates utility companies in the Golden State, approved 800 megawatts of new solar and battery storage projects this week as part of a broader effort to ensure Californians can get reliable power through 2026.

Commissioners signed off on four contracts from Southern California Edison and three from San Diego Gas & Electric — all but one of which are for battery projects, which allow energy generated by solar and wind to be saved up and deployed when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. The remaining contract, the Edwards Sanborn Solar Storage Facility from San Diego Gas & Electric, is for a hybrid solar-and-battery facility that the developer hopes will be the world’s largest of its kind. Upon completion, it could provide enough power for more than 158,000 homes.

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Source: Grist

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Renewables developer Intersect Power has brought a 310MWp PV, 448MWh energy storage system project online in California.

310MWp PV + 448MWh energy storage system comes online in CA

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Renewables developer Intersect Power has brought a 310MWp PV, 448MWh energy storage system project online in California.

The company announced the 22 December 2022 start of commercial operations for its Athos III solar project in Riverside County yesterday (11 January, 2023).

The solar PV can generate a maximum of 224MWac/310MWp of solar energy and the project features a 112MW/448MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), a four-hour unit.

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Source: IEEFA

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Ivy Energy saw the lack of advocacy for VNEM solar projects and actively joined the proceeding representing the multifamily customer class.

Massive win for multifamily solar in CPUC proceedings

The highly controversial CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) NEM 3.0 proceedings began in early 2021, and have been ongoing ever since. The Commission recently released its new proposed decision (PD) and voted on it December 15, 2022. It set out to revise the Net Energy Metering (NEM) tariff, which is the key policy allowing customers to install and monetize solar panels. One of the sub-tariffs, Virtual Net Energy Metering (VNEM), was included in the PD and several consequential changes were being proposed that would impact the compensation mechanism for clean energy projects at multifamily properties. Ivy Energy, a shared solar software provider saw the lack of advocacy for VNEM solar projects and actively joined the proceeding, exclusively representing the multifamily customer class.

Ivy’s policy team reviewed the initial stakeholder comments and found that the multifamily market was severely underrepresented. Furthermore, the CPUC’s initial analysis and proposal did not specifically study the impact on multifamily properties, yet was anticipating to change the entire program based on data strictly originating from the single-family home market. VNEM multifamily solar projects account for 1% of the live California solar projects. This was both eye-opening and alarming to see, as apartments and multifamily buildings have not seen the same level of market adoption of solar as single-family residential and have different challenges and opportunities. Changing the VNEM tariff without robust analysis would have had consequences on future market growth opportunities and the ability of multifamily owners to invest in solar. With the long-term impact in mind, Ivy stepped up huge with policy leadership to advocate for multifamily buildings in California’s solar transition.

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Source: Multi Family Dive

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In total, 326 companies contracted 77.4GW of wind and solar energy by the end of 2022, which is enough energy to power 18M American homes.

Amazon, Meta and Google buy more clean energy than any other companies

Technology companies are leading the charge of companies buying wind and solar power.

Amazon, Facebook parent company Meta, and Google, owned by parent company Alphabet, are the top three corporate purchasers of wind and solar energy, according to a report published Wednesday from the American Clean Power Association, an industry group.

Amazon had contracted 12.4 gigawatts of clean wind and solar energy in the United States through September 2022, while Meta had contracted 8.7 gigawatts and Google had contracted 6.2 gigawatts, according to the report.

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Source: CNBC

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New research is being conducted to develop methods for keeping solar panels operative in the high seas.

Scientists developing floating solar farms that can withstand rough oceans

Floating solar farms are solar panels that are installed on the surface of bodies of water — such as lakes and reservoirs — to save space on land or provide electricity to remote locations.

Now, engineers and scientists are beginning to develop ways to put solar farms on the surface of the ocean to bring electricity to isolated places, such as the island nation of Indonesia, where more than a million people are without access to electricity, reported BBC News.

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Source: Eco Watch

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During the first ten months of 2022, renewable energy sources out-produced both coal and nuclear power by 16.62% and 27.39% respectively.

Analysis shows US wind and solar could outpace coal and nuclear power in 2023

A new analysis of federal data shows that wind and solar alone could generate more electricity in the United States than nuclear and coal over the coming year, critical progress toward reducing the country’s reliance on dirty energy.

The SUN DAY Campaign, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable energy development, highlighted a recently released U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) review finding that renewable sources as a whole—including solar, wind, biomass, and others—provided 22.6% of U.S. electricity over the first 10 months of 2022, a pace set to beat the agency’s projection for the full year.

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Source: Eco Watch

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US energy storage industry has met many milestones in recent years, but 2023 should be a banner year for battery adoption across all markets.

With more compensation and incentive options, energy storage adoption is on the rise

The U.S. energy storage industry has met many milestones in recent years, but 2023 should be a banner year for battery adoption across all markets. Thanks to the new storage investment tax credit (ITC), systems of any size have access to a 30% installation credit.

Research firm Wood Mackenzie is forecasting 59.2 GW of energy storage capacity to be added through 2026, up from the market’s 13.5-GW cumulative capacity in 2022.

“The U.S. energy storage industry is reaching maturity,” said Jason Burwen, VP of energy storage at the American Clean Power Association, in a press release. “Energy storage is now regularly being installed at over 1 GW per quarter. Combined with the tailwinds of newly available tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, the question for investors and grid operators now is not whether to deploy storage, but how much storage to deploy — and how fast.”

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Source: Solar Power World

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