Puerto Rico citizens’ groups challenge utility plan for 500 MW of temporary generation
At least two renewable energy firms decided not to bid on the utility’s procurement, which calls for generation equipment with a 90% capacity factor. A former chairman of the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau also comments on the plan, and shares his vision of Puerto Rico reaching 100% renewables by 2030.
Hardware Brief: Solar mandate in real life, two types of weird new racking, 50/150 cell 500 watt module, more!
Module pricing is flat this week as the Chinese New Year approaches, Acme Express won $1 million to design new C&I racking, Unirac is testing a new connection technique, and Trina is deploying the largest and newest solar cell type. USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com gets your gear in here!
Southeast US adds 427 MW of distributed solar in 2019, as advocates press for more
Florida led the region for small-scale installations, while Maryland kept the lead on a per-capita basis. Solar advocates look to improve opportunities for distributed solar throughout the region in 2020.
Morning Brief: Virginia fills third-party pilot, S.C. House calls for Santee Cooper to go clean
Hello one and all and welcome to the first morning brief of your work week. Today we have BoxPower delivering microgrids to earthquake-affected communities in Puerto Rico, and Sullivan Power winning an award for its UC Irvine installation.
Morning Brief: EV expansion in New Jersey, Visa is 100% renewable
Hello readers and welcome to another Hump Day morning brief. Today we’ve got Pepsico going 100% renewable, Sonnedix closing $15 million financing in Puerto Rico, JLC Infrastructure buying out Greenskies and more!
Here’s how utilities use their resource plans to block solar power
At least seven utilities chose to bias their resource modeling against solar in 2019. The good news is that transparent utility modeling could fix the problem.
NYSERDA, Solar Foundation and PathStone launch solar recovery and resilience program in Puerto Rico
The three groups, along with the U.S. Economic Development Administration will be providing $4.5 million to aid in job creation, education and resiliency and recovery measures in the wake of the two major hurricanes that have rocked the island.
Montana utility wants gas units; Sierra Club suspects biased modeling
In developing its resource plan, NorthWestern Energy apparently used modeling assumptions that favor gas-fired generation, says the Sierra Club. The group has filed a legal motion requesting access to the modeling inputs, and to the model itself.
Sunrun proposes solar+storage virtual power plants across Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau has its hands full in ensuring the island’s utility gets the grid working well at a reasonable cost, while moving to 40% renewables by 2025. Sunrun and environmental groups point a way forward.
Energy access for Puerto Ricans two years after Hurricane Maria
In this op-ed for pv magazine, Roy Torbert and José Juan Terrasa-Soler, of Rocky Mountain Institute and Resilient Power Puerto Rico, respectively, analyze the cost of energy recover in Puerto Rico and the role that microgrids play in reconstruction and resiliency.
