NY’s renewable mega mandate passes the House, Trump’s “Dirty Power Plan”: pvMB 6/20/19

NY’s renewable mega mandate keeps on rolling – S6599, the 70% by 2030 renewable mandate for New York officially passed the state’s Assembly last night, after passing the Senate the previous evening. This bill is a big deal and now will become law, as the only action left is for the governor to sign it – which he had said he will do. For background on this groundbreaking bill, click here. Source: Vote Solar

NEXTracker reaches 20 GW of trackers deployed – “NEXTracker announced its latest industry milestone, 20 GW of its award-winning smart solar trackers delivered and under active fulfillment globally. NEXTracker was named the No. 1 supplier of photovoltaic (PV)  tracker systems globally in 2018, a title it has held for four consecutive years… To serve expanding customer demand, the Company has doubled its global manufacturing capacity over the past year to 300 megawatts per week… According to IHS Markit, global shipments of single-axis solar trackers increased by over 40 percent in 2018 and surpassed 20 GW globally for the first time.” Source: NEXTracker

Trump advances “Dirty Power Plan” – Last night, The Trump administration finalized the proposed Affordable Clean Energy (ACE), an act which looks to solve the emissions crisis… by providing leeway in carbon dioxide emission reduction efforts. Not all is lost, as all coal sites will be required to install on-site retrofits aimed at cutting down pollution. ACE replaces 83 different Obama-era protections and virtually eliminates previous emission-reduction requirements. Source: the Huffington Post

SEIA calls for ITC extension – The below is a statement by Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA president and CEO:

“The ITC is a common-sense policy that helps every day Americans, whether it’s on a house, within a community, or on a tract of farm land. Until we have comprehensive legislation addressing climate change, the ITC is the strongest policy there is to incent clean energy development. We already know that the ITC has generated hundreds of thousands of jobs and injected more than $140 billion in private investment into the economy… The ITC has a record of bipartisan support, and circumstances since 2015, such as trade tariffs and a heightened awareness of climate change, only serve to bolster the case for extending the wildly successful policy. Fully, 81% of American voters believe solar is good for the economy and 73%, including 65% of Republican voters, believe solar can help address climate change… We strongly support an ITC extension and respectfully urge Congress to support the credit.”

Source: SEIA

New York Stock Exchange hosts auction for 1 GW of US clean energy projects – In a unique move, attendees at The Project Sales & Cocktails event, hosted by FTI Capital Advisors, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, DNV GL and Novogradac have bid on different renewable energy projects across the country. At the event, two wind and five solar power, with a total capacity of over 1GW, were auctioned off to investors on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The auction worked by having developers and owners of mid- and late-stage development assets offer their projects to the financial community and renewable energy investors. Source: FTI Capital Advisors

SunPower, Hannon Armstrong and SunStrong secure financing – In a joint announcement, the three amigos of SunPower, Hannon Armstrong and SunStrong let it be known that the companies secured financing commitments for its residential solar lease program, enough to meet SunPower’s expected customer demand into the coming year. The majority of the funding came from repeat loaners that SunPower has worked with before. Source: SunPower

The Energy Systems Integration Group forms Advisory Council – “The Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG) is pleased to announce the members of the inaugural ESIG Advisory Council. The diverse energy experts on the council will provide their strategic insights and advice to encourage greater collaboration, interaction, education and joint activities for the wide range of organizations and entities in our evolving integrated energy systems.” The full list of advisory board members can be found here. Source: Energy Systems Integration Group

Duke tests new battery – “Today, Eos Energy Storage announced two new projects deploying the Company’s Aurora 2.0 battery system in major markets on both coasts of the United States. The next generation solution integrates the company’s aqueous, zinc Znyth battery technology—built on ten years of relentless testing and learning—as a safe, sustainable, and scalable alternative to Lithium Ion. The Eos Aurora 2.0 has been installed by Duke Energy as part of a DC-coupled solar + storage system in North Carolina while Eos concurrently deploys its battery as a behind-the-meter solution at the University of California, San Diego in a project funded by the California Energy Commission.” Source: EOS Energy Storage

Gemini solar project faces resistance – Fear the turtle. This term may no longer extend just to opponents of the University of Maryland, as environmentalists and conservationists alike have taken issue with the proposed 690 MW Gemini Solar Project, planned just outside of Las Vegas. There is growing concern that the project will damage the habitat of the desert tortoise population. The argument is that, once the tortoise habitat is lost to make room for the project, the displaced tortoises will either become walking targets for predators or attempt to return to the site, get confused and die due to sun exposure. Our take: This pits two of my greatest loves, solar energy and turtles, against one another. I’ll house the tortoises myself if I have to. Source: Las Vegas Sun