Morning Brief: Six Midwest utilities to spend $15B to deploy 4 GW of solar, 3.6 GW of wind and 1 GW of battery storage
Also in the brief: A rural Virginia county grapples with the pros and cons of a proposed $200 million, 149 MW solar farm, Utah’s solar advocates plan to fight decision by state regulators.
Utah PSC decides to lower export rate, impacting a recovering rooftop solar industry
In a long-fought battle, Utah’s PSC just decided to lower the rooftop solar export credit rate from 9.2¢/kWh to about 5.8¢/kWh. Both solar advocates and the utility are expected to be unhappy with the decision.
Utah utility Rocky Mountain Power and solar advocates aren’t even close on the value of rooftop PV sent to the grid
Solar from customer roofs in Utah is worth somewhere between 1.5 cents/kWh and 22.6 cents/kWh, depending on your calculations and who you ask — a ridiculously wide range.
Morning Brief: Net metering still under attack by utilities and institutional corruption
Also in the brief: Solar in schools
Facebook doubles down on renewable commitment in Utah with 235 MW in solar contracts
Facebook now has contracts for 694 MW of solar power in Utah (63% of the state’s solar generation capacity) in its pursuit of becoming entirely renewably-powered by the end of this year.
Morning Brief: Avoiding coal-fired carbon capture projects and the costs of small modular nuclear reactors
Also in the brief: San José Clean Energy and Peninsula Clean Energy have launched a joint request for offers for the purchase of 1 million MWh annually of new, long-term renewable energy.
Pacificorp looks to add 4.3 GW of renewables and storage by 2023
The utility giant is making this procurement in accordance with its 2019 integrated resource plan, under which Pacificorp intends to add 11 GW of wind and solar by 2038, with an additional 2.8 GW of battery storage.
Solar opportunities ‘ignored’ across 100 million acres in the Southwest
The Bureau of Land Management “has ignored most possibilities” for utility-scale solar “on its vast land holdings across the solar-rich Southwest,” says a paper. Renewable energy development accounts for less than 1% of economic activity on BLM lands, while oil and gas account for 70%, according to BLM data.
Los Angeles to explore solar partnership with the Navajo Nation
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.
Navajo Power CEO sees 10 GW renewable potential across the Navajo Nation
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.
