Morning Brief: Saipem and Equinor to develop floating solar off the Indian Coast, Covid-19 is taking solar sales out of the home

Also in the brief: a lawsuit filed against the Spotsylvania solar project, West Virginia’s solar future sits at the governor’s desk, 16 MW for Richmond, Indiana and more.

March 23, 2020 Tim Sylvia

Image: Vivint Solar

Italy’s Saipem has reached an agreement with Norway’s Equinor to develop technology to build floating solar power farms close to India’s coast, the energy contractor said. Saipem, a market leader in subsea construction for the oil and gas industry, is looking to develop new lines of business. The government of Odisha plans to develop around 500 MW of floating solar power plants on various reservoirs in the state in collaboration with National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, shared power minister R.K. Singh in Parliament recently. Notably, Odisha has the potential of generating 17,755 MW of electricity from floating solar over 877 sq.km of water surface area in its reservoirs, according to a report by sustainability thinktank The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

Covid-19 is taking solar sales out of the home, and companies are responding, as Bloomberg reports that Sunnova and Vivint claim that the companies haven’t seen meaningful impacts to their businesses due to Covid-19. These companies and others are shifting to online and phone sales, new avenues that provide their own challenges. If you find yourself in the same position and want to learn how to sell effectively in the face of a pandemic, it’s not too late to register for tomorrow’s webinar, “How to Sell Solar Remotely During the Era of Social Distancing.” If there was ever a time to learn how to more effectively sell remotely, it’s now, so join the webinar to gain insights from experts at remote sales: Meital Stotland, senior solar energy consultant at Baker Electric Home Energy and Elliot Goldstein, account executive at Aurora Solar. Source: Bloomberg

Lawsuit filed against Spotsylvania solar project: Another day, another attempt made to shut down the Spotsylvania solar project. The most resent attempt comes via a lawsuit filed by the next county over, Orange County, Virginia, where officials claim that trucks working on the Sustainable Power Group project are wreaking havoc on local roads. The demands of the suit are twofold: keep the trucks off roads in Orange and stop all work one the project entirely. Source: Fredericksburg.com

West Virginia’s solar future sits at the governor’s desk and renewable proponents across the state and country are hopeful that Gov. Jim Justice (better name for a judge than a governor) sign Senate Bill 583 into law. SB 583 would allow American Electric Power and FirstEnergy to each install up to 200 MW of solar generation capacity in 50 megawatt increments through the program’s expiration on Dec. 31, 2025. That’s important, because the 400 MW of combined capacity represent more than 44 times the state’s total installed capacity thus far: 9 MW. The state ranks 48th among all states for total installed solar, according to SEIA. The costs of constructing the projects would be recouped by a rate hike, estimated to be 18 cents/month for the average ratepayer. Source: WVNews

We’re going to Indiana to round out the brief, as the city of Richmond is moving forward with plans to install a 16 MW solar project. The Indiana Municipal Power Agency has received final approval to build the project on about 75 acres on the southwest corner of Wernle Road and South 23rd Street, with construction beginning either late this year or the beginning of 2021 and ending in late 2021. Source: Pal-Item

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