Biden Administration outlines energy permit reform priorities
The administration recommended acceleration of critical electric transmission, acceleration of permitting on federal lands, and cutting duplicative and burdensome analysis and reviews.
Puerto Rico moves into seventh place for residential solar per capita
Luma Energy supports more than 54,000 customer connections in its 21 months as grid operator.
Sunrise brief: Inflation reduction act brings 20,000 new jobs and 46 U.S. manufacturing facilities
Also on the rise: Best practices in installing power optimizer MLPE systems. Growatt generator for portable, off-grid use. And more.
Interconnection delays threaten more companies each year, says GridStor VP
A GridStor VP challenged recent interconnection proposals by three grid operators, and the slow pace of federal regulators, while suggesting a $1 billion gift to grid operators to hire staff, and a digital twin of the nation’s grid to speed interconnection studies.
Sunrise brief: Qcells builds out U.S. supply chain with solar encapsulant facility in Georgia
Also on the rise: Meta picks utilities based on solar potential at data centers. Sunnova files for $3.3 billion Department of Energy loan. And more.
New York grid operator advances 3 GW of solar, storage projects
After 3 GW of solar and storage projects have advanced, about 27 GW of solar and storage projects remain in New York’s interconnection queue. The grid operator also advanced 3 GW of wind projects and a 1.25 GW transmission line.
Sunrise brief: Comparing customer value of solar-plus-storage under net energy metering versus net energy billing
Also on the rise: Is 2022 the year that launched the U.S. solar industrial revolution? California utility to deploy 20 MWh storage and 10 MW rooftop solar VPP system. And more.
Reducing interconnection time to one year is a draft long-term goal of DOE’s i2X initiative
For the near term, the initiative has a draft goal of reducing interconnection schedules and costs for large-scale renewable and storage projects by 50% within five years.
A year of solar industry proposals to clear interconnection queue logjams
Industry participants proposed many solutions this year to speed interconnection studies. Although federal regulators included key solutions in a proposed rule, for now the logjams and cost allocation problems continue.
To make room for more distributed solar and storage, New Mexico to require smart inverters
Requiring smart inverters will enable more customers to install rooftop solar and storage without paying for grid upgrades. New Mexico also enabled interconnection of more storage by following guidance in the Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s BATRIES report.
