Written by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News

An Iowa clean energy advocate is trying to convince the state’s largest electric utility to rethink the way it manages peak demand. Kerri Johannsen, energy program director for the Iowa Environmental Council, thinks MidAmerican Energy could deliver better value for ratepayers by investing in solar instead of its expensive demand response programs . . . Johannsen calculated the cost to MidAmerican’s ratepayers at about $60,347 per megawatt hour. About $48,000 of that was for capacity, or the guarantee of access to power when needed. Continue reading here,

iStock Photo

MORE IOWA NEWS

• Iowa, already a leader on wind, looks to take the next steps on storage, by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News
• 200 MW wind farm planned for Cherokee County: 88 turbines north of Marcus to be online by December 2019, Chronicle Times. EDF RE is a leading developer among corporate buyers of renewables which demonstrates the trust that environmentally-conscious companies place in EDF RE to deliver value. The Company’s growing North America portfolio of corporate purchasers includes Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Walmart and Yahoo. Glaciers Edge will bring the EDF RE’s portfolio of wind project development in Iowa to 1.1 GW.

How Much Power is 1 Gigawatt?, U.S. Department of Energy

NEWS FROM OTHER STATES

• Michigan rules on five solar programs: three move forward, PV Magazine
  State regulators have authorized two Consumers Energy green pricing programs, while telling a third – by DTS Energy – to do a bit more cost calculations. Additionally, Consumers’ Solar Gardens program was approved.
• SEIA: Michigan Ruling Creates Some Much-Needed Certainty for the State’s Solar Market
  With 118 megawatts (MW) installed, enough solar energy to power 18,500 homes, Michigan ranks 33rd in the country for installed solar capacity. [Friday’s] decision paves the way for a dramatic increase in installed solar capacity in Michigan. Michigan’s solar market is forecast to add 605 MW of solar over the next five years, a 347 percent growth rate, the 5th largest percentage growth of any state. These forecasts could grow substantially, depending on the MPSC’s ruling on Consumers Energy’s IRP.
• Indiana school district says solar farm will save it $2.2M, The Republic
• Report sees economic potential for Nevada energy storage, American Public Power Association
• Nevada, US primed for up to a gigawatt of energy storage, PV Magazine
  A report by the Brattle Group for Nevada regulators suggests that by 2030 – depending on pricing – 700 to 1,000 MW / 2.8 to 4 GWh worth of energy storage could be cost-effectively deployed statewide.
• Stage Set for Solar Comeback in Massachusetts, SEIA News Release
  Massachusetts is living proof of something we are seeing across the United States: the public’s demand for solar is far outpacing the policies that support more power from the sun. An overwhelming majority of Massachusetts voters — 84 percent — say there should be more solar in the Commonwealth, according to a September WBUR/MassINC poll. Those results mirror a new national poll SEIA commissioned that shows solar is the public’s preferred source of energy.
• Six Flags Great Adventure goes solar, PV Magazine
  KDC Solar is building a 23.5 MW solar project to serve the theme park, which will be the largest net-metered solar plant in New Jersey.

NEBRASKA’S SOLAR ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

SEIA: Nebraska Solar – Data Current Through Q2 2018
Solar Installers: Complete this survey to add your business to SEIA’s database. If you have questions or concerns about SEIA’s Nebraska stats or would like to request that additional solar projects or other information be added to our state’s data, contact SEIA research staff at data@seia.org or 202-469-3735.
SEE ALSO: Solar Energy Generation in Nebraska, Nebraska Energy Office. Updated September 28, 2018

100% RENEWABLES NEWS

RE100: Why a successful energy strategy calls for a board-level commitment, PV Magazine Contributor, Anesco
One key topic to grab the headlines during Climate Week NYC was the news that RE100 companies – a group of organizations who have all made a public commitment to go ‘100% renewable’ – are outperforming their peers.

NEW REPORT

Renewables 2018: Market analysis and forecast from 2018 to 2023, International Energy Agency
Solar PV capacity is forecast to expand by almost 600 GW – more than all other renewable power technologies combined, or as much as twice Japan’s total capacity, reaching 1 terawatt (TW) by the end of the forecast period. Despite recent policy changes, China remains the absolute solar PV leader by far, holding almost 40% of global installed PV capacity in 2023. The United States remains the second-largest growth market for solar PV, followed by India, whose capacity quadruples.

AWEA FACT CHECK

No, wind turbines do not cause global warming,
Into the Wind, AWEA Blog

Two researchers, David Keith and Lee Miller, released a new paper [Thursday] and their findings are problematic for several reasons. Furthermore, certain media outlets are misreporting what the paper actually says.