The project has obtained one county approval, as Rocky Mountain Power’s plan to increase its solar capacity and retire coal plants early has prompted an investigation by state regulators.

The global energy firm Wartsila found a least-cost renewables mix for the U.S. that involves overbuilding renewable capacity, but requires no seasonal storage, and needs only four to ten days of multi-day storage capacity. The analysis modeled meeting current uses of electricity, based on projected technology costs for 2030.

Adding enough distributed storage to reduce peak demand by 20% could defer up to one-fifth of the transmission and distribution expenditures in Texas for about 10 years, a study found. Other states may find the study’s analytical insights to be useful.

About 9.3 GW of solar projects have come online thanks to the law known as PURPA. The national solar association argues that federal rules implementing PURPA “should be strengthened rather than weakened,” to ensure that solar facilities up to 80 MW may compete in every region of the country.

Additional solar could help the ERCOT grid region in Texas meet its summer peak, after it faced “tight grid conditions” last summer. New task forces aim to improve ERCOT’s markets for ancillary services and battery storage.

The transit agency expects to save “several hundred thousand dollars a year, on average” through its fixed-price contract for solar power. The agency’s sustainability program “is a platform not just for environmental improvements, but for financial improvements,” said an executive.

With an all-source procurement, a utility solicits bids to identify the costs of solar, wind and storage, which can be “significantly less expensive than new gas,” as an Indiana utility found. A clean energy group calls for state regulators to require all-source procurements, for the vertically integrated utilities that serve half the country.

The partnership would pursue cost-effective solar projects that benefit ratepayers and provide “environmental justice and economic equity to the Navajo Nation,” after the city received power from the coal-burning Navajo Generating Station for decades—and paid less than fair value for coal, land leasing, and water, say advocates.

While an Arizona utility solicits bids for a 200 MW solar project within the Navajo Nation, the near-term potential is 10 GW, says Navajo Power CEO Brett Isaac.

Henderson, Kentucky’s municipal utility selected 50 MW of solar, which will provide 15% of its annual electricity. “In western Kentucky we do have a pretty good solar resource,” says the utility’s general manager.