Tag Archive for: solar

In 2023, wind, solar and battery storage account for 82% of new utility-scale generating capacity in the US.

Wind, solar, and batteries increasingly account for more new US power capacity additions

Wind, solar, and battery storage are growing as a share of new electric-generating capacity each year. In 2023, these three technologies account for 82% of the new, utility-scale generating capacity that developers plan to bring online in the United States, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.

Utility-scale solar capacity didn’t start ramping up in the United States until 2010. As the cost of solar panels dropped substantially and state and federal policies introduced generous tax incentives, solar capacity boomed. As of January 2023, 73.5 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar capacity was operating in the United States, about 6% of the U.S. total.

Just over half of the new U.S. generating capacity expected in 2023 is solar power. If all of the planned capacity comes online this year as expected, it will be the most U.S. solar capacity added in a single year and the first year that more than half of U.S. capacity additions are solar.

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Source: eia

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The California utility PG&E is trying out two different models with Tesla and Sunrun to help ease summer grid stress.

PG&E is testing different flavors of virtual power plant

As a demand-response manager for California utility Pacific Gas & Electric, John Hernandez knows all about how hundreds or thousands of battery-equipped homes can be remotely controlled to serve the grid’s needs, much as central power plants do. These aggregations of controllable home solar-plus-battery systems are called virtual power plants, or VPPs for short.

The question is, what kind of power plants should these VPPs be modeled after? This summer, Hernandez’s team at PG&E will be testing two types of VPPs that use similar tools but different methods to help keep the grid stable during hot summer evenings.

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Source: Canary Media

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Developers plan to add 54.5 GW of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity to the US power grid in 2023. The 54% will be solar power.

More than half of new US electric-generating capacity in 2023 will be solar

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Developers plan to add 54.5 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity to the U.S. power grid in 2023, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. More than half of this capacity will be solar power (54%), followed by battery storage (17%).

Solar. U.S. utility-scale solar capacity has been rising rapidly since 2010. Despite its upward trend over the past decade, additions of utility-scale solar capacity declined by 23% in 2022 compared with 2021. This drop in solar capacity additions was the result of supply chain disruptions and other pandemic-related challenges. We expect that some of those delayed 2022 projects will begin operating in 2023, when developers plan to install 29.1 GW of solar power in the United States. If all of this capacity comes online as planned, 2023 will have the most new utility-scale solar capacity added in a single year, more than doubling the current record (13.4 GW in 2021).

In 2023, the most new solar capacity, by far, will be in Texas (7.7 GW) and California (4.2 GW), together accounting for 41% of planned new solar capacity.

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Source: EIA

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The new 464 MW solar array is the largest ground mounted solar array project constructed on any Air Force installation.

Edwards AFB solar & battery storage project goes live

Edwards Air Force Base in southern California is home to the Air Force Test Center, Air Force Test Pilot School, and NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. It is the Air Force Materiel Command’s center for conducting and supporting research and development of flight, as well as testing and evaluating aerospace systems from concept to combat. It also hosts many test activities conducted by America’s commercial aerospace industry.

Its history as an Air Force installation began in 1932 when General Hap Arnold began acquiring land adjacent to Muroc Field for a place to practice bombing runs. During World War II, development of fighter planes was shifted there to prevent prying eyes from learning about America’s newest attack aircraft. Over the years, it has played a role in several historic aviation events, including Chuck Yeager’s flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around the world flight of the Rutan Voyager.

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Source: Clean Technica

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The scientists claim that, for an average annual generation for solar of 1,370 kWh/kW, 38 million hectares would be needed.

Solar may cover the world’s electricity demand with 0.3% of its land area

Solar energy could theoretically cover the world’s electricity demand by just 0.3% of its land area. This is one of the main conclusions of new research by a group of academic institutions, led by Aarhus University in Denmark. The researchers claim that raw materials and land availability will not present real barriers to PV in its race to dominate the global energy landscape.

The scientists claim that, for an average annual generation for solar of 1,370 kWh/kW, 38 million hectares would be needed. They noted that the world has a total area of 13,003 million hectares.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Solar and agriculture are beginning to converge as farmers learn renewable energy can make farming more efficient.

Why solar & farming is a match made in heaven

A plot of land can do a number of things. It can grow trees and crops. It can support a home, an office tower, or a factory. It can be a parking lot. But it can’t do all those things at the same time. Choices have to be made. It’s no use to erect the world’s tallest apartment building if there is not enough food for the people who will live there. It is no use to put solar panels everywhere if they don’t leave space available for crops or dwellings.

Multi-tasking is a word that has crept into our vocabularies lately. Computers can have a bunch of tabs open at the same time and still be able to do online chats. As the world becomes more densely populated, land will need to multi-task as well. Here are some examples of how that can work.

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Source: Clean Technica

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The Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a utility-scale solar storage project that can provide power to both AC and DC high-voltage lines

This solar + storage project could be a US grid game changer

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A team at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a utility-scale solar and storage project that can provide power to both AC and DC high-voltage lines, and thus shore up grid stability – here’s how it works.

Most of the US power grid uses alternating current, or AC, which constantly switches the direction of electron flow. But solar and battery storage uses direct current, or DC, that flows in a single direction.

The US power grid includes a smaller number of high-voltage DC lines that are more efficient at delivering bulk power over long distances or to remote regions.

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Source: electrek

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Element Resources plans to build and operate a major renewable hydrogen production facility in Lancaster, California.

Element Resources to use solar to fuel green hydrogen production facilities in California

Element Resources plans to build and operate a major renewable hydrogen production facility in Lancaster, California. The facility, which is targeted to begin commercial operations in early 2025, will use dedicated solar to power Element’s electrolyzers to produce zero-emission, green hydrogen.

When complete, the project will be one of California’s largest green hydrogen production facilities. Located within Lancaster’s city limits, the facility will be less than 100 miles from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and will supply end-users throughout the greater Los Angeles region.

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Source: Solar Builder

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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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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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