Microgrid

California utility Pacific Gas & Electric’s bankruptcy points to a crisis not only at the company, but in the business model for utilities in the United States. And it is far from clear what will come next.

Happy Hump Day and welcome to your Wednesday edition of the pv magazine USA morning brief. Today we’ll check out a GreenPeace co-founder comparing the Green New Deal to the End Times, ASU dominating the Solar Energy Technology Office awards, GRID Alternatives’ “Solar Spring Break” program and everything else interesting in the industry today.

Commissioner Sandra Kennedy of the ACC is calling for 50% renewable generation by 2028 and, in a first for the ACC, is calling on distributed solar to lead the way.

PREPA’s draft IRP calls for rapid deployment of solar and batteries, including the installation of as much battery storage as is currently online in the entire United States over the next four years, in a system broken up into “minigrids”. However, it stops short of utilizing behind-the-meter PV and storage.

Hey, hey it’s Thursday and you’re reading the pv magazine morning brief. Today we’re taking a look at corporate renewable procurement reaching 22% of deals in 2018, utility leaders worldwide predicting a movement off-grid, Energy Toolbase choosing AMS for energy storage platform implementation and everything else that matters today. Let’s roll!

In today’s pv magazine USA morning brief we take a look at Con Edison choosing Sunverge’s platform for its Smart Home Rate project, California ISO’s reliability coordination services gaining 32 new utility members and other quick hitters.

Duke Energy has presented a plan to the City of Orlando for a 1 to 3 MWac solar plant plus a 5 to 10 MW energy storage facility at a local sewage plant. The project is the first of potentially 14 solar+storage sites at strategic city locations.

Today’s pv magazine USA morning brief also features the EIA projecting 4.3 GWac of utility scale solar in 2019, SunPower tapping a new executive to lead its technology business unit, President Trump nominating former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to stay on as the head of the EPA, and more!

SolarEdge has recently purchased an Italian EV system manufacturer, a South Korean battery maker, an Israeli UPS producer, internally developed a virtual power plant grid service, and now they’re working with Google to integrate energy management tools into Google Assistant.

One of the best tools that would allow utilities to meet their central stated mission of providing a stable electricity supply is one they are fighting the hardest.