Morning Brief: Mississippi approves two 78.5-MW PV projects, U of I solar construction starts

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$80 million solar facilities approved for two Mississippi counties: Public Service Commission Chairman Dane Maxwell drafted orders that would allow developers of the Moonshot Solar project in Hancock County and the Cane Creek Solar project in Clarke County to move forward with construction plans for their solar farms, according to statements from Maxwell’s office. The projects would bring separate 78.5-MW electric generating stations to each county that would deliver wholesale power directly to the Mississippi Power Company/Southern Company transmission grid. Source: Asssociated Press

America’s largest solar company joins RE100, pledges to power U.S. operations with renewable energy by 2026: First Solar announced a commitment to power 100% of its global photovoltaic solar manufacturing operations with renewable energy by 2028. As part of an interim goal, the company has pledged to transition its facilities in the U.S. to carbon-free electricity by 2026. Source: pv magazine

Construction is underway on the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign’s Solar Farm 2.0, with a commercial operation date expected for early 2021. Once completed, the solar farm will produce 20,000 MWh annually, almost tripling the university’s existing on-site renewable energy generation. Through a combination of utility-scale installations, integrated facility rooftop arrays, and wind power purchase agreements, clean power usage at the U of I will increase to more than 52,000 MWh per year, which is over 10 percent of the campus electrical demand. The project developer, Sol Systems, LLC (Washington, DC), has contracted with Inovateus Solar, LLC (South Bend, IN), to perform engineering, procurement, and construction for the array. The design features 31,122 bifacial PV modules. Source: University of Illinois

Energy transition prompts Peabody to write down value of largest U.S. coal mine by $1.42 billion: The largest coal mining company in the U.S. substantially lowered the value of one of its top-producing thermal coal assets based on low expectations for future coal demand. Peabody Energy impaired the value of its North Antelope Rochelle coal mine in Wyoming by $1.42 billion in the second quarter. Peabody said it was lowering the expected value of the coal mine, the largest in the U.S., because of assumptions regarding lower long-term natural gas prices, the timing of coal plant retirements, and continued growth from renewable generation. Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence and more

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