Morning Brief: Nautilus acquires a Minnesota portfolio, Perdue is pollinator-friendly

Nautilus Solar Energy has acquired a 10.4 MW community solar portfolio from ReneSola Power, comprised of eight single-axis tracker solar installations across the southern half of Minnesota. The sites are expected to be operational by Q1 of 2021 and Nautilus will be responsible for the project management, long-term asset and subscriber management and maintenance services for this portfolio, while ReneSola will be responsible for securing the subscribers. Source: Nautilus Solar Energy

Perdue Farms has achieved the recognition of being the first poultry company in the United States to have pollinator-friendly ground cover at a company solar installation. It is located at the company’s headquarters in Salisbury, Maryland. 2020 is the first year the habitat has been in bloom. Planting took place in 2018, and it took two years for the seeds to take root and bloom. The company partnered with Fresh Energy, a catalyzer of pollinator-friendly solar, and the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund, whose mission is to increase and improve pollinator forage and habitat, to develop the project. Source: Perdue Farms

Powin Energy’s 20-year lithium-ion Energy storage system: Powin has unveiled three new products utilizing Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL)’s large form factor cells, and Powin’s patented StackOS battery management and controls software. Powin’s products can perform a wide variety of in front of the meter, behind the meter, and microgrid applications. Already in mass production, Powin’s 2–hour duration systems offers a 10-year, one-full-cycle-per-day performance guarantee. A shorter duration product is aimed at applications such as frequency regulation and other ancillary services. Powin’s first product released to the market providing a 20-year, one-full-cycle-per-day performance guarantee designed for PV-plus-storage applications, which typically require 3+ hour system durations and can greatly benefit from a 20-year warranted life span, aligning with the typical life cycle of PV modules. Source: Powin Energy

Orange County Public Schools has signed an agreement with Secure Futures Solar of Staunton to install and operate solar panels at eight facilities across the school division. Together, solar arrays will generate a total capacity of 2.5 megawatts of power, providing nearly half of the total electricity for the facilities. Two arrays will be installed at Orange County High School, and one array will be installed at each of six other facilities: the Taylor Education Administration Complex, Prospect Heights Middle School, Orange Elementary School, Locust Grove Primary School, Locust Grove Elementary School and Locust Grove Middle School. With a capacity of 945 kW, the solar panels installed at Locust Grove Middle School will be among the largest solar arrays placed on a rooftop in the state of Virginia and will generate approximately 90% of the electricity required by the school during the course of the year. Source: Orange County Public Schools