Morning Brief: Duke makes plays in Georgia, Dominion’s electric bus program

Duke acquires 20 MW in Georgia: Duke Energy Renewables has acquired a 9-project, 20-MW portfolio of distributed energy projects in Georgia from Inman Solar. The projects bring Duke Energy Renewables to 47.4 MWac of distributed solar projects in Georgia. Each of the projects has a power purchase contract with Georgia power, ranging from 30 to 35 years. Source: Duke Energy

Dominion to pursue electric school bus program: “Electric school buses will soon be on the roads in Virginia as Dominion Energy moves forward with the nation’s largest electric school bus deployment. Phase one will bring 50 electric school buses to 16 localities within Dominion Energy’s Virginia service area by the end of 2020. In December, the company selected Thomas Built Buses as the vendor for the 50 buses for phase one of the project. The electric school buses will serve as a grid resource by creating additional energy storage technology to support the company’s integration of distributed renewables such as solar and wind. The ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology leverages the bus batteries to store and inject energy onto the grid during periods of high demand when the buses are not needed for transport.” Source: Dominion Energy

Oak Hill Solar 1 and 2 in jeopardy: The Duanesburg Town Board in New York has enacted a moratorium on major solar installations, following complaints from town residents over the burden of having to look at the planned Oak Hill Solar 1 and Oak Hill Solar 2 projects. If the projects are denied, this will mean a 25% success rate for proposed solar projects seeing the light of day in the New York town. Source: Altamont Enterprise Regional 

Silicon Ranch’s grazing sheep partnership: “Silicon Ranch is partnering with White Oak Pastures and employing its flock of sheep and holistic grazing methods to manage vegetation, remove carbon and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store them long-term in the soil, restore overall ecosystem function and strengthen the rural economy. This partnership will bring holistic planned livestock grazing and regenerative land management practices to nearly 2,400 solar farm acres in Southwest Georgia to create carbon sinks, restore biodiversity and soil health and add to the environmental, social and economic benefits of these clean energy projects.” Source: Silicon Ranch

Solar badgers: W.S. Badger company is set to install a 1,445-panel, 524-kilowatt capacity solar energy system later this year. The plan for Badger’s site is to capture sunlight with both roof- and ground-mounted solar arrays. The project is being developed by ReVision Energy. Source: Forbes