Southern Environmental Law Center calls for new TVA board to pause TVA’s gas plans
With six new TVA board members appointed by President Biden, the board should pause TVA’s plans to add gas generation, the group says, and direct the utility to evaluate cleaner and lower-cost alternatives.
500 MW compressed air energy storage project in California secures offtaker
Under a 25-year agreement valued at nearly $1 billion, a California community choice aggregator will purchase 200 MW of 8-hour energy storage from Hydrostor’s planned 500 MW facility.
NREL study shows how Mexico could reach its goal of 35% clean electricity by 2024
A study funded by the U.S. State Department models doubling solar capacity in Mexico by 2024.
Center for Biological Diversity sues FEMA to disclose funding for renewables versus fossils
With billions of dollars of federal disaster relief funding having been allocated to restore energy infrastructure, the Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit to obtain federal records on how that money has been spent.
North Carolina carbon plan favors gas over solar-plus-storage
The carbon plan includes substantially less solar and storage than the amounts called for by a North Carolina trade group and a citizens’ group, and similar amounts proposed by technology firms.
U.S. Senate confirms six Biden appointees to TVA board
With the new appointments, Biden appointees constitute the majority of the TVA board of directors. Key decisions on TVA’s generating mix are in the works.
Reducing interconnection time to one year is a draft long-term goal of DOE’s i2X initiative
For the near term, the initiative has a draft goal of reducing interconnection schedules and costs for large-scale renewable and storage projects by 50% within five years.
Let California farmers opt in to dynamic pricing of electricity, says trade group
A pilot project that enables farmers to shift irrigation pumping to hours with low-cost electricity has saved them money, and in theory has reduced renewables curtailment. The pilot should be expanded to reach farmers statewide, said CalCCA.
A year of solar industry proposals to clear interconnection queue logjams
Industry participants proposed many solutions this year to speed interconnection studies. Although federal regulators included key solutions in a proposed rule, for now the logjams and cost allocation problems continue.
To make room for more distributed solar and storage, New Mexico to require smart inverters
Requiring smart inverters will enable more customers to install rooftop solar and storage without paying for grid upgrades. New Mexico also enabled interconnection of more storage by following guidance in the Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s BATRIES report.
