Agencies release final report into California’s heat-related blackouts
The report confirms CAISO’s initial findings that a trio of factors were responsible for the blackouts: extreme weather conditions, resource adequacy and planning processes, and market practices. It also outlines steps that already have been taken to better ensure supply adequacy and reliability.
Invenergy completes construction financing for Texas solar giant
The 1.3 GW Samson Solar Energy Center will have five phases and supply power to some big-name buyers.
Sunrise brief: Work starts on 300 MW solar plus storage project
Also on the rise: Rural utilities add solar to support growth, the biggest deals of 2020 in solar finance, and CAMS acquires an O&M provider.
Minnesota Power targets 100% carbon-free energy by 2050
The utility plans to retire or convert its remaining coal-fired units and procure more wind and solar power.
Amazon to share 120 MW of solar with D.C. suburb
The company and the county agreed through a virtual power purchase agreement to offtake generation from Dominion Energy’s upcoming 120 MW solar facility in Virginia.
Sunrise brief: NREL ups its cybersecurity research capabilities
Also on the rise: Tenaska could add 300 MW of solar to Indiana, advocates appeal an unfavorable ruling in Alabama, and a novel approach to combining solar and wind at one site.
Clear clogged interconnection queues with transmission planning: report
Interconnection queues, in which solar, wind and storage make up 90% of the projects, are “excessively slow, creating a backlog of unbuilt projects.” The culprit is inadequate transmission planning, says a new report.
Renewables to dominate new U.S. capacity in 2021, with solar leading the way
The U.S. Energy Information Administration also expects utility-scale battery storage capacity to more than quadruple.
Sunrise brief: Kaua’i co-op project with AES combines solar and pumped hydro
Also on the rise: El Paso Electric offers a roadmap to EV adoption in New Mexico, campus solar enters service in Illinois, Consumers Energy commissions 10 MW of new solar in Michigan, and Southern issues a sustainable financing framework.
An innovative offtake contract makes its solar sector debut
First used with wind projects, a pgPPA manages weather-related risk by settling a facility’s energy transfer based on a proxy generation index, rather than on actual metered generation. Operational risk shifts from buyer to seller.
