Morning Brief: Palladium Energy forms JV to develop 500MW of big solar projects, California orders phase out of gas vehicles

Share

Palladium Energy, a company focused on the origination, acquisition, and development of energy infrastructure projects across the U.S., just announced a joint venture agreement with Inverdale Energy Partners to form a development company that will develop an initial portfolio of 500 MW of utility-scale solar and solar-plus-storage projects across the U.S.

pv magazine spoke with Nobel Chang, managing partner at Palladium, a new solar developer in the growing and volatile world of developing big solar projects.

After ten years in solar and and experience at large developer PineGate, the founders of Palladium Energy have raised capital — an equity investment in a JV that will allow Palladium to acquire more than 500 MW of utility-scale solar projects over the next two years.

Currently, the company’s largest project is 150 MW in size with more projects in development. Chang claims that even in today’s Covid-challenged finance world, availability of  “tax equity is not that big a constraint.” Chang said the company works in the early days and mid-stage of project development.

Newsom orders 2035 phaseout of gas-powered vehicles, calls for fracking ban: Emphasizing that California must stay at the forefront of the fight against climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to require all new cars sold to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 and threw his support behind a ban on the controversial use of hydraulic fracturing by oil companies. Under Newsom’s order, the California Air Resources Board would implement the phaseout of new gas-powered cars and light trucks and also require medium and heavy-duty trucks to be zero-emission by 2045 where possible. California would be the first state in the nation to mandate 100% zero-emission vehicles, though 15 countries already have committed to phasing out gas-powered cars. Newsom called on the state Legislature to ban fracking, setting up what could be a contentious political fight when lawmakers reconvene in Sacramento next year. Source: Los Angeles Times

Solar dominates Maine’s largest renewables procurement on record: Maine utility regulators have announced the results of the state’s largest renewables procurement to date, with solar developers coming away with the majority of winning bids. Solar will account for about 482 megawatts of the 546 megawatts of projects approved Tuesday by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Maine now has about 90 megawatts of solar installed, putting it in the bottom 10 states in the country, according to rankings from Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association. However, the state is slated to add more than 800 megawatts in the coming years. The 17 projects approved this week also include onshore wind, hydro and biomass. Source: GTM

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.