California regulators on Thursday proposed changes to the state's residential solar market designed to encourage more at-home battery systems

California pushes incentive program to promote more at-home solar systems

California regulators on Thursday proposed changes to the state’s residential solar market designed to encourage more at-home battery systems that can help the electrical grid rely less on fossil fuels in the evenings, especially during heat waves.

It’s the California Public Utilities Commission’s second attempt at updating the state’s incentive program for home solar systems. Last December, the commission proposed new charges for solar customers and lessened the subsidies for installing rooftop panels, which utilities wanted but solar companies warned would cripple the booming industry and hinder the state’s move to clean energy.

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Source: Fox News

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Large car parks in France will be covered by solar panels under new legislation approved as part of Pres. Macron’s renewable energy drive.

France to require all large car parks to be covered by solar panels

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All large car parks in France will be covered by solar panels under new legislation approved as part of president Emmanuel Macron’s renewable energy drive.

Legislation approved by the French Senate this week requires existing and new car parks with space for at least 80 vehicles to be covered by solar panels.

The owners of car parks with between 80 and 400 spaces have five years to comply with the measures, while operators of those with more than 400 will have just three years. At least half of the area of the larger sites must be covered by solar panels.

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Source: The Guardian

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The CEC issued a $31M grant to build a 60MWh long-duration energy storage system to provide backup power to the Viejas Tribe.

California funds 60 MWh tribal long-duration storage project

More than 4 GW of battery storage has been installed in the California Independent System Operator footprint, and the state projects that it would need another 48 GW of battery storage and 4 GW of long-duration storage by 2045. The project is the first to be awarded under the state’s $140 million long-duration energy storage program.

The 60 MWh system is “one of the first of its kind in the country,” according to the CEC, and will be developed by Indian Energy, a Native American-owned microgrid developer. In addition to providing the Viejas tribe with renewable backup power during outages, it will allow the tribe to reduce electricity use from the grid when the state needs more resources.

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Source: Utility Dive

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The Latin American country has far exceeded its goal to reach 20% of energy production from renewable sources by 2025

Chile, the land of mines, leads the way in solar energy

In the middle of the Atacama Desert, 10,600 mirrors face skyward. Each one measures 140 square meters and weighs about three tons. Their function is to follow the sun’s trajectory, reflecting and directing the radiation towards the receiver and converting it into energy. The Concentrated Solar Power plant occupies 1,000 hectares and is located in northern Chile’s Cerro Dominador. This area has the highest level of solar incidence in the world and is the site of Latin America’s first solar thermal plant. Most of the country’s clean energy is generated there and, because of the plant, Chile achieved one of its most ambitious environmental targets last year, four years ahead of schedule.

The country set itself the goal of producing 20% of its energy from non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE) by 2025. This year, the percentage has already reached 31.1%, according to the Chilean Association of Renewable Energies and Storage (Acera). This comes primarily from photovoltaic energy, which represents 15% of the country’s renewable energy. Cerro Dominador’s proximity to Chile’s large mining areas has also made it easier for that industry to incorporate more solar energy. In 2019, mining’s use of renewable energies did not exceed 3.6%, but it rose to 10.5% in 2020. In 2021, solar energy consumption in the mining sector reached the milestone of 36.2%. That rate is projected to climb to 50% by the end of this fiscal year.

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Source: El Pais

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Solar power capacity in the US has grown from just 0.34 GW in 2008 to an estimated 97.2G W today, providing enough energy to 18 million homes.

US solar capacity has grown 28,500% since 2008

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The U.S. has plans to expand its solar energy market exponentially in support of its optimistic climate change policies. The country has already established several widescale solar projects, and with the introduction of the recent Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), renewable energy companies are being provided with the funding and tax cuts needed to encourage more rapid expansion of a variety of green energy projects. With a massive solar pipeline over the next few years, the U.S. will soon become a regional solar power hub.

The solar power capacity in the U.S. has grown from just 0.34 GW in 2008 to an estimated 97.2 gigawatts (GW) today, providing enough energy to power 18 million homes. However, at present, just 3 percent of the country’s electricity comes from solar photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), demonstrating the potential to expand the industry much further.

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Source: Oil Price

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The IRA created a massive opportunity for clean energy. EDF President Krupp argues that businesses need to take advantage of this moment.

Clean energy is the biggest market opportunity in a generation. Businesses can’t afford to ignore it

The government may have created the internet, but the private sector drove the information revolution. A similar opportunity now exists for companies to lead the transition to a cleaner economy. New funding and incentives—through the Inflation Reduction Act, bipartisan infrastructure law, and CHIPS law—will give smart businesses the chance to compete for a share in this multitrillion-dollar market.

American companies have a choice: lead the net-zero transition, or let their competitors capture its opportunities. Businesses and investors who fail to seize the moment may find themselves becoming cautionary tales. As former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, no one wants to be “the last investor in Blockbuster as Netflix emerged.”

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Source: Fast Company

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Utility-scale solar and wind each added more generating capacity than natural gas during the first nine months of 2022

More utility-scale solar has been installed this year than all other forms of energy

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Utility-scale solar and wind each added more generating capacity than natural gas during the first nine months of 2022, according to a SUN DAY Campaign review of FERC data. FERC’s latest three-year forecast suggests that installed natural gas capacity will begin to decline by 2025 while solar and wind continue to rapidly expand.

Solar (6,751 MW) and wind (6,328 MW) each provided more new generating capacity during the first three-quarters of this year than did natural gas (6,086 MW). Combined with capacity additions by geothermal (90 MW), biomass (22 MW) and hydropower (14 MW), renewable energy sources accounted for 13,205 MW or 68.4% of the 19,316 MW of new generation put into service this year.

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Source: Solar Power World

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CPUC is considering changes to the rules on compensation for solar customers who generate excess power from their rooftop solar systems.

California Public Utilities Commission to hear oral arguments on rooftop solar rules

It looks like a decision is finally moving forward on a long-awaited and controversial rule affecting the roughly 1.3 million customers in California who have installed rooftop solar panels on their homes and businesses.

The California Public Utilities Commission said in a notice Friday it will hear oral arguments from parties who have battled one another over potential changes to NEM, or Net Energy Metering — the rules that determine the size of the credits customers receive on their utility bills when their rooftop solar systems generate more energy than they consume.

The remote hearing is set for Nov. 16 and will run for two hours.

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Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

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The study found about 1/3 of Golden State households that installed rooftop solar in 2021 were solidly working- and middle-class families.

California’s middle-income residents outpace wealthy in rooftop solar installations in 2021

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Middle-income and working-class Californians represented by far the largest block of the million-plus households in the state that installed rooftop solar in 2021, according to a new Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study.

The study shows how essential California’s subsidies for rooftop solar are in helping deploy the clean, renewable power source across the state. Solar not only cuts rates for consumers suffering from astronomical bills caused by California’s monopoly utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric, but it also helps to fight the climate crisis.

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Source: ewg

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Sunrun will build the first virtual solar power plant in Puerto Rico. It will be 17 megawatts and designed to strengthen the power grid.

Solar company to build Puerto Rico’s first virtual solar power plant

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Sunrun, a solar power and battery company based in San Francisco, will build the first virtual solar power plant in Puerto Rico. The virtual power plant (VPP) will be 17 megawatts and is designed to strengthen the power grid with solar energy aggregated from more than 7,000 customers’ residential solar and battery systems.

During 2023, Sunrun will work on enrolling customers into the VPP program and expects network dispatches to begin in 2024. According to the company, the enrolled customers receive cost savings from generating solar energy, and any backup power also earns customers money for sharing stored energy with the power grid.

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Source: EcoWatch

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