Morning Brief: Solar FlexRack goes Northeast, Aggreko delivers grid stability, Namasté Solar and Solaris win up to 10 MW of PV at CSU

Also in the brief: The Trump administration is burying dozens of studies detailing the promise of renewable energy, plus battery stewardship and recycling

October 29, 2020 Eric Wesoff

Image: Solar FlexRack

The Trump administration is burying dozens of studies detailing the promise of renewable energy, impeding a transition away from fossil fuels: Dan Simmons of the U.S. Department of Energy doesn’t appear to fully support renewables. In fact, he has presided over his agency’s systematic squelching of dozens of government studies detailing its promise. One pivotal research project, for example, quantifies hydropower’s unique potential to enhance solar and wind energy, storing up power in the form of water held back behind dams for moments when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. By the time of the Hoover Dam ceremony, Simmons’ office at the Energy Department had been sitting on that particular study for more than a year. In all, the department has blocked reports for more than 40 clean energy studies. The department has replaced them with mere presentations, buried them in scientific journals that are not accessible to the public, or left them paralyzed within the agency. Source: Grist, in collaboration with InvestigateWest

Solar FlexRack, a division of Northern States Metals and an innovator in PV mounting and solar trackers, has expanded into the Northeast of the U.S. According to Wood Mackenzie, 2020 will be the first year the global tracker market’s value will surpass the value of the fixed-tilt market. Roughly 70% of new utility-scale solar projects in the US now come with a tracker. “A significant percentage of our solar tracker sales came out of the Southeastern region in 2019. This year, for the first time, we’re seeing our business expand in the Northeast. We’re supplying projects in various stages of construction in Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, and New York,” said Steve Daniel, executive VP of Solar FlexRack.

Namasté Solar and financial partner, Solaris Energy, were awarded up to 10 MW of solar installations by Colorado State University (CSU): This project likely doubles the campus’s solar energy production. Namasté Solar, an employee-owned cooperative based in Colorado, will develop, design, and construct solar arrays at up to 30 sites across CSU’s campus and provide long-term O&M. Source: Namasté Solar

Aggreko delivers grid stability to Texas with first battery storage system for PEC, nation’s largest cooperative utility: Aggreko, the a provider of mobile and modular power solutions, completed the installation and commissioning of Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s (PEC) first-ever battery energy storage system: a 2.25 MW/4.5 MWh project in Johnson City, Texas. The battery system provides market-based regulation services to Texas grid operator ERCOT. This is Aggreko’s sixth battery project in the state of Texas. Source: Aggreko

GlidePath Power Solutions, an independent developer and operator of utility-scale energy storage and renewable energy projects, has partnered with Renewance to advance battery recycling and repurposing efforts for the energy storage industry. Renewance is an industrial battery life cycle management company and a winner of the DOE Battery Recycling Prize. Renewance provides battery decommissioning, collection, re-use, and recycling services to the rapidly growing energy storage industry. Source: Glidepath, Battery Stewardship

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