pvMB 1/31/19: 50 States of Solar Q4 review, An alternative to carbon taxes… and more!

Hello and thanks for spending your last day of January reading the pv magazine morning brief. Today we’ll take a gander at Atlas Renewable Energy’s deployment of NEXTrackers TrueCapture Control System in Latin America, APA Solar Racking launching the TITAN Series Racking System, Delta complying with rapid shutdown requirements using Tigo and all else that came across our desks in the world of solar.

January 31, 2019 Tim Sylvia

Image: Ideal Energy - NEXTracker tracking system.

Atlas Renewable Energy to deploy NEXTracker TrueCapture Control System in Latin America – “NEXTracker, along with Atlas Renewable Energy, announced that the TrueCapture smart control system, developed by NEXTracker, will be deployed across Atlas Renewable Energy’s existing Latin American solar plants and on select greenfield projects currently under construction.” For perspective, note that this is over 500 MW of projects across Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. “TrueCapture is a self-adjusting tracker control system for solar power plants that boosts energy production using machine learning and the sensor technology.” Source: Atlas Renewable Energy, NEXTracker

Green Mountain Power gets the go-ahead on three solar + storage projects – Regulators in Vermont have approved Green Mountain Power’s bid to develop just 14 MW of solar capacity and 6 MW of energy storage over three projects in the Green Mountain State. The company is looking to develop 4.5 MW with 2 MW in Essex, and 4.99 MW with 2 MW storage in both Ferrisburgh and Milton. The projects are being developed to contribute to the state’s 75% renewable energy by 2032 regional portfolio standard. Source: Utility Dive

50 States of Solar Q4 review and year-end roundup – The N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) has released the most recent installment in it’s excellent “50 States of Solar” report series, analyzing state regulatory and legislative discussions and actions on distributed solar policy throughout Q4 of 2018 and the year as a whole. The report outlines specifically that 47 states and the District of Columbia took some type of distributed solar policy action during 2018. “A total of 264 state and utility level distributed solar policy and rate changes were proposed, pending, or decided in 2018.” Source: N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center, link to report

APA Solar Racking announces launch of the TITAN Series Racking System – APA Solar Racking is officially launching their TITAN Series Racking System, a 3-rail system that features an asymmetrical clamping design. The company says this design provides faster per-watt installation times. Furthermore, the series can be installed with either a single driven C-pile or a Dual Screw foundation and is engineered for rocky soil conditions. Source: APA Solar Racking

An alternative to carbon taxes – A fascinating article by Anthony Patt, Johann Lilliestam and ETH Zurich exploring the notion that carbon taxes don’t actually spur investment away from fossil fuels as much as greater promotion of alternative resources would. Source: Phys.org

CleanCapital purchases 13 MW portfolio from General Energy Solutions USA – “CleanCapital acquired a 13.2 MW solar portfolio from General Energy Solutions USA, comprised of sites in Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. CleanCapital now owns and operates 108 solar sites in 11 states ranging in size from 25 kW to 12,600 kW.” Source: CleanCapital

Southamption, NY’s commercial solar mandate proposal – Call it the California influence because Southampton New York may be on its way to establishing a mandate that solar panels be added to new commercial developments. “Lewis, along with research director Andrew Manitt, said the town should require that any new non-residential construction of more than 10,000 square feet be equipped with enough solar panels to provide a kilowatt of power for each square foot of the building as part of the renewable resource mission of the Long Island Clean Energy Leadership Task Force.” Source: The Independent East End

EAH HOUSING, others brought together by SOMAH – California’s Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program has some new partners, as EAH Housing, Everyday Energy and Omni Energy entered into a partnership to install PV systems at several of their affordable housing communities in California. The group joins a powerful program, as earlier this year SunRun committed 100 MW to be deployed by 2028 as part of SOMAH. Source: Omni Energy

Delta reaches rapid shutdown with Tigo – “Tigo Energy, Inc. today announced the new Underwriter Laboratories (UL) certification of its TS4 Platform Rapid Shutdown Systems (RSS) with Delta Group.” The Delta M36U, M42U, M60U and M80U inverters were successfully certified TS4-F (Fire Safety), with M4-TL-US, M5-TL-US M6-TL-US and M8-TL-US agining TS4-O (Optimization), and TS4-L (Long String) certification.

Standard Solar to build a 4.2 MW PV plant in Rhode Island – As part of Rhode Island’s Renewable Energy Growth Program (REG Program), Standard Solar has agreed to build a 4.2 MW system that will be integrated into that program. “The REG Program will support the development of 560 MW of new renewable energy projects in Rhode Island between 2015 and 2020. The REG Program is the successor program to the contract-based 40 MW Distributed Generation Standard Contracts Program (DG Program) that was in place from 2011 to 2014. Eligible technologies include wind, solar, hydropower, and anaerobic digestion.” Source: Standard Solar

Blurb: Introducing the next great political strategy, “nerding out.” Elizabeth Warren has been a proponent of this nerding early in her campaign including saying “Do I have any net metering wonks out here? I’m a big believer in net metering.”

https://twitter.com/jslovegrove/status/1089705936388874241

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