Virginia passes 100% clean power mandate
Gov. Ralph Northam has signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which requires the state’s utilities to switch to 100% clean energy by 2050, while also adding 16 GW of solar and onshore wind, 3 GW of energy storage and the closing of all the state’s coal power plants by 2024.
Massachusetts struggles to incentivize behind-the-meter storage
While praised for the level of large-scale energy storage the state’s Clean Peak Standard is anticipated to bring, opponents have called the policy “a waste of ratepayer funds for behind-the-meter energy storage.”
Morning Brief: EIA on net metering, Li-Cycle’s first shipment of commercially recycled battery material
Also in the brief: the chance that Covid-19 gives to reform our energy system, Engie has signed tax equity financing for a 2 GW portfolio, Panasonic names inaugural class of Elite Residential Installers and more.
What can solar learn from the 2008 financial crisis in the age of Covid-19?
Even as global PV forecasts fall, tax equity dries up and unemployment rises, Jim Spano, co-founder of RadiantREIT, believes that the right type of government stimulus could not only help the solar industry recover — but drive it to new heights.
States expand rooftop solar potential with smart inverter rollout
Maryland is the fourth state to require that rooftop solar use smart inverters, to allow more solar on the grid. States aiming for high renewables should do likewise, says a consultancy. A looming question: will smart distributed resources be compensated for providing grid services?
Indiana’s second-largest utility has its first solar installations
Northern Indiana Public Service Company, in collaboration with Inovateus Solar has installed 420 kilowatts across three “zero-waste” projects at NIPSCO office locations — the first step towards the 2.3 gigawatts the utility has planned by 2023.
6 takeaways from EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook
Even EIA expects that U.S. coal generation will fall by 20% in 2020. The agency forecasts the electric power market will add 19.4 gigawatts of new wind capacity and 12.6 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity this year.
Morning Brief: Invesco Solar has outperformed the broader market, New Jersey ends SREC program
Also in the brief: the challenges facing islands and other isolated systems with high levels of renewables, AIP finances 604 MWdc of solar, SolarReviews preaches caution with Tesla solar rental program and more.
World now has 583.5 GW of operational solar, plus more uplifting renewable energy stats
Global grid-connected solar capacity reached 580.1 GW at the end of 2019, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Total installed renewables capacity hit a remarkable 2,563.8 GW, with hydropower remaining the dominant source at 1,310.9 GW, followed by wind at 622.7 GW.
690 MW Gemini solar project on hold over permit delay
The project, expected to be the largest in the country upon completion, has been delayed after the Bureau of Land Management missed the date to decide the project’s historical impact assessment.
