Tag Archive for: california

Α broad and unlikely coalition has united behind a proposal that would finally let community solar flourish in California. Utilities are trying to stop it.

The fight over California community solar: ​‘It’s everyone vs. utilities’

Community solar and storage could help power California toward its goals for clean energy, grid reliability, energy equity and affordable housing — but only if regulators don’t allow the state’s biggest utilities to undermine it.

That’s the argument a sprawling coalition of solar industry groups, consumer advocates, environmental justice organizations, labor unions and the state’s homebuilding industry has been making before the California Public Utilities Commission over the past few months.

The fight has centered around a new proposed payment structure for community solar called the Net Value Billing Tariff (NVBT), which the coalition says is crucial to revamping California’s moribund community solar market and would make community solar in the state both economical and effective. A structure for community solar payments was ordered up by AB 2316, a state law passed last year.

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Source: Canary Media

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The mystery surrounding a project to convert farmland into a new green city in California is finally being unraveled.

Silicon Valley elites want to build a new green city outside San Francisco

The mystery surrounding a project to convert farmland into a new green city in California is finally being unraveled. The would-be “mega-city” is the brainchild of a novice developer backed by some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent names.

But despite the heavyweights behind the project, it has already been embroiled in legal tussles and is being greeted by suspicion from talkative neighbors in and around Fairfield, a city in Solano County about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.

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Source: FORTUNE

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The mechanical experience of installing arrays in various regions may differ only slightly based on their separate environments with distinct temperatures and weather conditions. The greater difference is in oversight from regional policies and permitting bodies.

How much do solar projects differ from California to Massachusetts?

The steps to building a solar array are mostly the same anywhere an installer is putting panels on a roof. They secure mounts and racking, attach modules and inverters and run wiring. It’s physically demanding work, but with the right experience, a solar installer could move anywhere in the country, pick up some panels and get them on a roof and quickly generating power.

The mechanical experience of installing arrays in various regions may differ only slightly based on their separate environments with distinct temperatures and weather conditions. The greater difference is in oversight from regional policies and permitting bodies.

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Source: Solar Power World

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Data from the CEC highlight California’s continued progress toward building a more resilient grid, achieving 100% clean electricity and meeting the state’s carbon neutrality goals.

Last decade saw solar generation boom, natural gas slowdown in California

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Data from the California Energy Commission (CEC) highlight California’s continued progress toward building a more resilient grid, achieving 100% clean electricity and meeting the state’s carbon neutrality goals.

Analysis of the state’s Total System Electric Generation report shows how California’s power mix has changed over the last decade. Since 2012:

  • Solar generation increased nearly twentyfold from 2,609 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to 48,950 GWh.
  • Wind generation grew by 63%.
  • Natural gas generation decreased 20%.
  • Coal has been nearly phased out of the power mix.

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Source: Solar Power World

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California now has the capacity to store 5,600 megawatts of power using batteries. That's enough to supply more than 4 million homes.

Batteries, not blackouts: California’s power grid gets boost from battery energy

As California increases its reliance on renewable energy sources like solar and wind, there’s a concern that there may not be enough energy during certain seasons and times of the day to keep the lights on.

But this summer, the state is setting a major milestone in energy storage.

California now has the capacity to store 5,600 megawatts of power using batteries. That’s enough to supply more than 4 million homes.

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Source: CBS News

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CA’s energy storage portfolio could yield net grid benefits of up to $1.6B a year by 2032 as the state looks to expand grid-scale battery installations to 13.6 GW

California’s storage portfolio could provide grid benefits of up to $1.6B per year by 2032, report finds

Lumen’s study takes a closer look at the operations, costs and benefits of storage resources in California – largely lithium-ion batteries, but also including thermal energy storage and other battery chemistries. These resources range from 25 kW to 300 MW, with discharge durations that range from less than an hour to seven hours.

The report found that from 2017 through 2021, California’s stationary storage market developed from a pilot phase into deploying lithium-ion batteries at commercial scale. At the same time, storage costs dropped significantly – with third-party contract prices ranging from $5 to $8 per kilowatt-month for capacity by the end of 2021 – and the use of storage to meet reliability needs increased significantly.

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Source: Utility Dive

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Recent studies have proposed using solar-plus-storage microgrids to minimize public safety concerns from PSPS during the wildfire season.

Solar-plus-storage microgrids minimize power shutoffs during wildfires

Recent studies have proposed using solar-plus-storage microgrids to minimize public safety concerns from power shutoffs (PSPS) during the wildfire season for communities located in wildland-urban interfaces, such as California and much of the US west coast.

A comprehensive assessment of microgrids had not been performed to evaluate the potential to enhance resilience for up to 46 million Americans living next to forests, or a wildland-urban interface, where wildfire risk is acute.

To address this research gap, a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory looked at a novel modeling framework and assessed the potential of solar and batteries for districts where power can be turned off based on wildfire warnings.

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Source: PV Magazine

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A NextEra Energy Resources subsidiary won approval from the US BLM to build a 300 MW battery energy storage project at a solar farm in CA’s desert.

BLM approves 300-MW Sunlight Storage II project in Southern California

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The newest project will add to the 230 MW Desert Sunlight Battery Energy Storage System that BLM said in August was fully operational. It’s on 94 acres of BLM-managed public land near Desert Center in Riverside County.

All Desert Sunlight Solar facilities, including the newly-approved Sunlight Storage II Battery Energy Storage System, are in an area analyzed and identified as suitable for renewable energy development in BLM’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, which is focused on 10.8 million acres of public land in the desert regions of seven California counties.

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Source: Utility Dive

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Once completed, the Sunlight Storage II Battery Energy Storage System project will increase the project’s total storage capacity by 530 megawatts, enough to power over 90,000 homes.

BLM expands California desert solar farm

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The Bureau of Land Management is advancing construction for its energy storage system in Riverside County, California, furthering the energy capacity of the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm.

Once completed, the Sunlight Storage II Battery Energy Storage System project will increase the project’s total storage capacity by 530 megawatts, enough to power over 90,000 homes. BLM’s Desert Sunlight Battery Energy Storage System, approved in 2021, already provides 550 MW of electricity and 230 MW of energy storage for the state’s power grid.

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Source: Environmental Leader

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The CEC approved a state load shift goal of 7,000 MW by 2030, which is double current levels of demand flexibility and could power up to 7 million homes by the end of the decade without new power plants.

California’s 7 GW load shift goal is ‘starting gun’ for dramatic expansion in flexible demand

The California Energy Commission last week approved a state load shift goal of 7,000 MW by 2030, which is double current levels of demand flexibility and could power up to 7 million homes by the end of the decade without new power plants, according to the agency.

The goal, which comes from a requirement in state Senate Bill 846, passed last year, includes a series of measures including demand response programs and time-of-use rates that incentivize the use of electricity when it makes the most sense for customers and the grid.

The goal is “essentially the counterpart to the renewable portfolio standard,” said Cisco DeVries, CEO of OhmConnect. The RPS was “a giant starting gun for utility-scale renewable power… we’ll look back on this as a starting gun for dramatic expansion of flexible demand across the state,” he added.

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Source: Utility Dive

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