pvMB 3/29: Ameresco wins eight projects through SMART, University of Minnesota to go solar

Ameresco awarded eight projects in Massachusetts – As part of the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program, Ameresco has been awarded eight solar projects across the state. These include a 494 kW system on the roof of Natick High School and three brownfield projects, totaling close to 2 MW. The company also won 221 small-scale SMART awards to build rooftop arrays, totaling almost 2 MW in capacity. Source: Ameresco

Up to $6 million proposed for University of Minnesota to go solar – A new bill going through the Minnesota state legislature would grant up to $6 million for the University of Minnesota to transition to renewable energy through “solar efforts,” most likely development or purchase agreements. The funding would require the university to present biennial update reports on the transition. Source: MN Daily

Fluence names Brett Galura as CTO – “Fluence, a joint venture of Siemens and AES, has named power industry veteran Brett Galura as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Formerly the company’s Vice President of Customer Solutions… Galura will lead teams in the U.S. and Germany, focused on continuous development of Fluence’s Advancion, Siestorage and SunFlex platforms. His appointment as CTO sets the stage for the next generation of storage technologies that Fluence plans to roll out in the coming months. He will also leverage the company’s relationships with Siemens and AES to further advance its technical capabilities.” Source: Fluence

ET Solar back from the brink – After filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy in Dec. 2017, ET Solar has re-launched in the United States. The company is being supported by partner companies Yuanfar and Wuxi Bardon. Yuanfar is a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Group, while Wuxi Bardon company was formerly in the business of solar cell marketing and module manufacturing. Source: ET Solar

Residential energy storage for grid support – Distributed energy storage has the potential to improve grid economics, reliability, resilience, and safety, so long as battery providers, utilities, and regulators can see their way through complex policy issues, argue Jason Finkelstein, Sean Kane, and Matt Rogers in this article for McKinsey and Company. Check it out for some accessibly presented, yet interesting detail about the potential energy future of the country. Source: McKinsey and Company

ISO New England regional collaboration on energy issues – Isn’t it fun when people work together? Don’t we all love the beauty of collaboration? Well, in the spirit of collaboration, the six New England governors and ISO New England have teamed up on initiatives to evaluate ways to maintain “critical” nuclear and clean energy facilities. The idea is to develop more renewable resources for the strain that prolonged cold puts on the grid, as well as to mitigate any threat of increased fossil fuel consumption in the event of one of the region’s nuclear plants shutting down. Source: ISO Newswire

Pason Power, CPS, offer integrated C&I energy storage solution – “Pason Power, a provider of adaptive intelligent software for energy assets, and Chint Power Systems (CPS), a market leading manufacturer of solar and energy storage power conversion equipment, have announced that CPS has chosen Pason Power’s software to be integrated into its Energy Storage System as the exclusive platform for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers… The integrated energy storage solution fosters a simplified, single-source procurement process for customers rather than having to rely on multiple vendors. Additionally, hardware and software arrive pre-built and pre-configured, making it easy for developers to install so customers can quickly begin seeing the benefits.”  Source: Chint Power Systems

Campus goes green, students save green – While the campus currently gets 10-20% of its electric needs from solar,  The University of New Mexico-Valencia is looking to add more, much to the delight of the school’s students. The end goal? Solar arrays on every building. Furthermore, the school states that the money saved on electrical bills (a goal of $130,000 annually) will be reinvested into classroom infrastructure and the student experience. The campus has already installed solar-powered picnic tables for students to use for charging. Source: KRQE