Massive municipal solar for Cincinnati, Ford’s Mach E: pvMB 11/25/19

Massive municipal solar project coming to Cincinnati – It’s being heralded as the largest in the nation. It isn’t, but that doesn’t make the 100 MW municipal solar project coming to Cincinnati Ohio any less impressive. The project was announced by Mayor John Cranley and, when completed, will represent nearly ⅓ of all total installed solar capacity in the state of Ohio. 

Ford releases electric Mustang SUV – After remaining unchanged for 55 years there are changes being made to Ford’s Mustang line, as the first electric Mustang and the first Mustang SUV are coming at once. “When it arrives in late 2020, Mustang Mach-E will be available with standard and extended-range battery options with either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive powered by permanent magnet motors. Equipped with an extended-range battery and rear-wheel drive, Mach-E has a targeted EPA-estimated range of at least 300 miles. In extended-range all-wheel-drive configurations, Mach-E is targeting 332 horsepower and 417 lb.-ft. of torque – with the standard all-wheel-drive variation targeting quicker times to 60 mph than the base Porsche Macan series. Ford also will offer two special performance versions. The GT is targeting 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds2, making it faster off the line than a Porsche Macan Turbo. The GT Performance Edition, meanwhile, is targeting a comparable 0-60 mph in the mid-3-second range to a Porsche 911 GTS. Both GT configurations are targeting an estimated 342 kW (459 horsepower) and 830 Nm (612 lb.-ft.) of torque.” Source: Ford

Alaska’s largest solar farm set to go online December 2019 – Hello Alaska, haven’t talked about you recently. We are now, however, as The 1.2 MW Willow Solar Farm has gone on-line, making it the largest solar installation in the entire state! The Willow Solar Farm is located at 20696 West Allen Road, Willow, Alaska if we have any Alaskian readers who want to take a look. The project is expected to generate enough electricity to power 200 homes. Source: Matanuska-Susitna Valley Frontiersman

AltaGas project would add 60 MW of Tesla Megapacks – “Elon Musk made a bet in Australia that he could install 100 megawatts of energy storage in 100 days or less, or his Powerpack batteries were free. He won, stemming the blackouts plaguing the southern part of the country. It earned not only $50 million for Tesla’s energy division, but it proved that bringing battery storage online was quicker than building new power plants. One of those storage facilities may be coming to Goleta. Destined for the far side of the parking lot outside M.Special and Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, the 60-megawatt set of lithium-ion Megapacks — utility-scale batteries that have 60 percent more energy density than the Powerpack — would store power and return it to the grid when needed. Though the installation uses 41 of Tesla’s Megapacks, which are about 23 feet long, 8 feet high, and 5 feet wide, the installer is AltaGas, a Canadian company with U.S. headquarters in Virginia, which provides natural gas to several East Coast cities and has expanded into the “clean energy” field. The 6864 Cortona Drive project met Goleta’s Design Review Board on Tuesday in a largely positive conceptual review. Goleta’s design review team was enthusiastic about the concept, which will be on the far side of a six-foot wall from the yet-to-be-built Cortona Apartments. On the parking lot side, it will be shielded from view by trees and from trespassers by a no-climb fence. The wires connecting the facility to the Isla Vista substation across Storke Road would run underground. After reassurance that EMF waves were not generated by the relatively low-voltage units, the only concern expressed was over the look of the containers, which board members recommended covering in shades of beige, cream, and tan, much like the decomposed granite that will cover the just under two-acre property.” Source: Santa Barbara Independent 

Constellation acquires most of Agera Energy’s electric retail/natural gas customers – 50,000 of Agera Energy’s 70,000 electric retail and natural gas customers will be coming over to Constellation as the two have officially come to terms on an agreement. This deal consists of customer contracts only, and Constellation will not be acquiring the Agera brand name. In the same vein, residential and commercial customer contracts assumed by Constellation will experience no disruption to service as a result of the transaction and the terms of all acquired customer contracts will be honored. Source: Constellation