The federal government will fund 17 projects across the US to expand access to renewable energy on Native American reservations and in other rural areas.

Biden administration taps $366M to fund clean energy for Native American tribes and rural areas

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The federal government will fund 17 projects across the U.S. to expand access to renewable energy on Native American reservations and in other rural areas, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.

The $366 million plan will pay for solar, battery storage and hydropower projects in sparsely populated regions where electricity can be costly and unreliable. The money comes from a $1 trillion infrastructure law President Joe Biden signed in 2021.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called the announcement “historic” at a clean energy tribal summit in Southern California that began Tuesday.

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Source: yahoo!finance

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Arevon Energy has secured $1.1 billion in aggregate financing commitments for its Eland 2 Solar + Storage Project in Kern County, California.

California solar + storage project secures $1.1 billion in financing

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Renewable energy project developer Arevon Energy has secured $1.1 billion in aggregate financing commitments for its Eland 2 Solar + Storage Project in Kern County, California. The 374-MWDC solar project coupled with 150 MW/600 MWh of energy storage is under early-stage construction and is anticipated to come online in Q1 2025.

Wells Fargo provided a $431 million tax equity commitment. Arevon obtained $654 million of debt financing including a construction-to-term loan, a tax equity bridge loan and letter of credit facilities. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) served as the Administrative Agent, Coordinating Lead Arranger, Green Loan Coordinator, and Bookrunner. Other Coordinating Lead Arrangers included BNP Paribas, CoBank, Commerzbank AG, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and National Bank of Canada. J.P. Morgan served as Joint Lead Arranger, Collateral and Depositary Agent. Amis, Patel & Brewer, LLP represented Arevon as Sponsor Counsel; Milbank LLP served as Lender Counsel; and Sheppard Mullin served as Tax Equity Counsel.

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Source: Solar Power World

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The Edwards Sanborn Solar & Energy Storage project incorporates the highest capacity solar farm in the US with the largest battery storage system in the world.

Solar and batteries go big in the desert

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Discussions of solar energy can be quick to point out its intermittent nature: the Sun does not always shine in any one place all the time. It does, however, shine quite a bit in the Mojave Desert in California. And as it happens, the Mojave is the location of a large new solar power plant integrated with battery storage. The Edwards Sanborn Solar and Energy Storage project incorporates the highest capacity solar farm in the United States with the largest battery storage system in the world.

The facility came online in February 2023 and became fully operational in January 2024. The OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9 captured this image of the project and its nearly 2 million solar panels on January 12, 2024. The site lies approximately 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, in an area of the U.S. with some of the largest amounts of solar energy reaching the ground.

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Source: Earth Observatory

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The federal IRA has made it possible for governments and tax-exempt entities like houses of worship to get tax credits for renewable projects.

Across the country, houses of worship are going solar

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On a Sunday morning in Charlevoix, a small town surrounded by lakes in northern Michigan, people gathered in the Greensky Hill Indian United Methodist Church. The small, one-room log building is almost 200 years old and the hymns are sung in English and Anishinaabemowin.

It was December, so Pastor Johnathan Mays was leading an Advent service, one of his last, since he would soon retire. In between reflections on scripture, Mays touched on an important venture: The church was planning to install solar panels on its larger meeting hall, working with Michigan-based nonprofit Solar Faithful to do so.

Greensky Hill has a long history of environmental care and stewardship, grounded in Anishinaabe culture, with a majority Native congregation.

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Source: Grist

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The North Carolina Utilities Commission has given Duke Energy the green light to move ahead with its PowerPair residential solar-plus-storage incentive program

Duke Energy pilot could open door to VPPs at vertically integrated utilities

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Dive Brief:

  • The North Carolina Utilities Commission has given Duke Energy the green light to move ahead with its PowerPair residential solar-plus-storage incentive program, which will begin enrolling customers in May.
  • The program — capped at 30 MW each for Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas — will award incentives of up to $9,000 for 6,000 customers who agree to install rooftop solar and home batteries and to participate in one of two cohorts. One cohort will test Duke Energy’s time-of-use rates, while another cohort will receive a monthly incentive in exchange for allowing utility control of the installed batteries.

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Source: Utility Dive

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San Diego Community Power recently added a pair of renewable energy projects to its energy portfolio, including one in South County.

San Diego Community Power OKs contract for battery storage project in Chula Vista

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San Diego Community Power recently added a pair of renewable energy projects to its energy portfolio, including one in South County.

At its monthly meeting earlier this month, the community choice energy program serving customers in seven jurisdictions across San Diego County approved signing contracts for a solar and battery storage project in Kern County and a battery facility that will be built in Chula Vista.

SDCP agreed to a 15-year deal with Wellhead Electric Company, which is building the Chula Vista Energy Center 2 that will provide 50 megawatts of capacity and nearly 200 megawatt-hours of power from a 4-hour lithium-ion battery system.

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Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

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A new 1.5-megawatt solar array will be installed atop a warehouse in Panorama City that will generate renewable energy to power 200 homes.

Large-scale rooftop solar project unveiled in Northeast San Fernando Valley

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With a flip of a ceremonial switch, Los Angeles elected officials, business leaders, and community partners celebrated one of the largest rooftop solar panel systems to be installed in the Northeast San Fernando Valley – a new 1.5-megawatt solar array atop a warehouse in Panorama City that will generate enough renewable energy to power 200 homes.

The Valley project is the latest to take advantage of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) Feed-in Tariff (FiT) solar program, which enables building owners to create solar power plants on their rooftops and sell the power they generate to the Department for distribution on the city’s power grid.

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Source: yahoo!finance

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BLM issued a Notice to Proceed authorizing Avangrid to begin construction of the Camino Solar Project, a 44MW solar photovoltaic facility.

BLM approves Camino Solar Project in Kern County

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Today, the Bureau of Land Management issued a Notice to Proceed authorizing Avangrid to begin construction of the Camino Solar Project, a 44-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility that will be located on 233 acres of public lands and 150 acres of adjoining private land in Kern County.

“The Camino Solar Project will expand access to clean energy for Californians and increase reliability for the state’s power grid,” said BLM California Desert District Manager Shelly Lynch. “Projects like this one support the nation’s transition to a clean energy economy by adding more carbon-free electricity to the grid, creating jobs, and boosting local economies.”

The project is expected to employ 150 people during peak construction, include a 34.5-kV underground electrical collector line, and connect to the existing Southern California Edison Whirlwind Substation through the Manzana Wind Substation and associated 220 kV generation-tie line.

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Source: BLM.gov

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The project generates 875 MWDC of solar energy and has 3,287 MWh of energy storage with a total interconnection capacity of 1,300 MW.

The largest US solar + storage project is complete

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Terra-Gen and Mortenson have substantially completed the Edwards & Sanborn Solar + Energy Storage project, the largest solar + storage project in the United States. Mortenson was the full engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor on both the solar and energy storage scopes.

This project stretches over 4,600 acres and includes more than 1.9 million First Solar modules. In total, the project generates 875 MWDC of solar energy and has 3,287 MWh of energy storage with a total interconnection capacity of 1,300 MW.

The project supplies power to the city of San Jose, Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the Clean Power Alliance and Starbucks, among others. A portion of the project is situated on the Edwards Air Force Base and was the largest public-private collaboration in U.S. Department of Defense history. The project uses LG Chem, Samsung, and BYD batteries.

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Source: Solar Power World

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Jim Gillum, a consultant on the project said that it would provide 130,000,000 kWh per year. The developer says it would power 12,000 homes.

Sacramento County approves 372-acre solar development

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The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a permit for a 372-acre solar development project on agricultural land near Wilton, the same day that the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service officially announced that 2023 was the hottest year on record. The project would power thousands of homes.
The new 50-megawatt solar project, Sloughhouse Solar, is being developed with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments by the intersection of Meiss and Dillard roads. SMUD has a goal to reach zero carbon emissions by 2030. Climate change is primarily driven by carbon dioxide emissions.
The design will allow sheep to graze the land under and around the panels. Additionally, Jim Gillum, a consultant on the project, told the board that the development would provide 130,000,000 kilowatt-hours per year. The developer says it would power 12,000 homes.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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