Tag Archives: NextEra

US Wind Industry’s Response to Solar’s Rise: Embrace It

By Karl-Erik Stromsta, Greentech Media

Onshore wind is the largest and cheapest source of renewable power in the U.S. today, but solar is catching up quickly. No one is more aware of that urgent reality than the wind industry itself. Renewables markets long dominated by wind, including Texas, are set for a wave of solar projects over the next few years. Many of the country’s largest wind developers are amassing in-house solar teams. Amid these changes, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) trade group announced Tuesday that its flagship annual Windpower conference and exhibition will expand to include solar and storage, starting next year in Denver. Continue reading here.

Photo of a Texas Wind Farm from AWEA’s Free Use Image Gallery.

Wind wake research suggests taking a look at projects from a different angle

Written by Karen Uhlenhuth, Energy News Network

Wind farms could boost output and revenue by orienting turbines to minimize wind wake disturbance, according to a theory being tested by federal researchers at a wind farm on the Nebraska-Colorado border. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates “wind steering” could increase electricity production up to 2%. For a 300-megawatt wind farm, that could mean roughly $1 million more in annual revenue. Read more here.

Photo Credit: Dennis Schroeder / National Renewable Energy Lab

Also Published By Energy News Network


Kansas, Missouri among latest states to debate refinancing for aging coal plants, by Karen Uhlenhuth
After gaining traction in the West, proposals to help utilities finance early retirement for coal-fired power plants have moved into the Midwest.

 

 

Efficiency upgrade helps Minnesota museum further its educational mission, by Jay Walljasper
An advanced heat recovery system saves money, slices carbon emissions, and serves as a tool to teach others about the technology.



Columbus, Ohio, shares roadmap for cleaner transportation, by Kathiann M. Kowalski
Businesses get on board with government to bring more electric vehicles and public transport to a city poised to grow.

Highly compatible: pollinator-friendly solar projects and farming

By Katie Siegner, Scott Wentzell and Whitney Mann, Minnesota Post

Installed solar capacity in Minnesota crossed the 1-gigawatt threshold last fall, and is set to grow sixfold by 2030 to meet the state’s 10 percent solar energy goal. The management of the land below the panels — most commonly seeded with turf grass — offers an important opportunity to provide multiple environmental and agricultural benefits in addition to carbon free energy generation. Last fall, our team of graduate students at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies conducted a cost-benefit analysis of solar development on farmland in Minnesota, and the results were illuminating. By developing projects as pollinator-friendly — the practice of planting deep-rooted grasses and wildflowers throughout a project site — solar developers have the potential to provide habitat for threatened pollinator species, restore important prairie ecosystems, and boost the crop yields of nearby fields. Read more here.

Photo by SoCore Energy: Kearney Solar Farm

Previously posted article with information about Kearney’s Pollinator-Friendly Solar Farm and links to additional resources:
In bid to help bees, Xcel to require vegetation disclosure in solar RFPs

Note about OPPD’s Community-Scale Solar Farm now under construction by NextEra:
Courtney Kennedy, OPPD Alternative Energy Program Manager, announced at Nebraskans for Solar’s March 13th public forum on OPPD’s Solar Farm, located on an acreage in Fort Calhoun, that it will be pollinator-friendly, with native plants, as well.

WIND ENERGY AND CROPS

Iowa State University Research Finds Wind Farms Positively Impact Crops
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

OPPD Focused On Continued Investment In Our Communities

Omaha Public Power District News Release
February 14, 2019

Omaha Public Power District is committed to investing in the communities it serves. Furthering that effort, today, the OPPD Board of Directors approved a labor contract for streetlight
conversion work within its service territory to replace current technology with light emitting
diode (LED) technology.

This is part of the district’s five-year plan, officially beginning next month, to replace nearly 100,000 existing high-pressure sodium fixtures within its service territory. To date, OPPD has
converted approximately 400 burned out streetlights to LED. The district is utilizing a contractor alongside OPPD employees due to the volume and time frame of work taking place.
Continue reading here.

Additional Recommended Reading
NDEQ Co-hosting Nebraska Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Conference on March 25, NPPD News Release

NEWS FROM OTHER CITIES & STATES

The nuclear city goes 100% renewable, PV Magazine
Yesterday Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled the city’s
Resilient Chicago plan, which in action 38 is a commitment to
“transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy in buildings community-wide by 2035”. 

TRI-STATE NEWS

Madison County establishes regulations for solar farms

Written by Jerry Guenther, Norfolk Daily News

On Tuesday, the county board conducted a public hearing and approved a set of solar regulations that were first considered and approved by the Madison County Joint Planning Commission in recent months . . . Heather McWhorter, the planning and zoning administrator for Madison and Pierce counties, provided the county board with an update on how Madison County researched its regulations. Read more here.

Image Credit: World Atlas

Previously Posted

 

NextEra, Nebraska farmers aim to build largest solar farm in the Midwest, by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News

NextEra looking into potential solar farm in northeast Nebraska

By Matt Olberding, Lincoln Journal Star

NextEra has signed a lease for 2,500 acres in Pierce County with brothers Ryan and Aaron Zimmerman, who have a 345-kilovolt Nebraska Public Power District power line running through their land. The brothers told the Energy News Network website that they previously had an agreement with a smaller solar company a couple of years ago.  Read more here.

Photo Credit: American Public Power Association

NEWS FROM OTHER STATES

INTERVIEW

 

Local leadership: A conversation with Jodie Van Horn of Sierra Club’s Ready for 100, by Christian Roselund, Americas Editor, PV Magazine

 


SOLAR IN SPORTS

Move Over Tom Brady, Solar Is the Real Super Bowl MVP, Solar Energy Industries Association 

The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia “hosts over 4,000 solar panels that produce more than 1.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to power more home games than the Falcons play during the regular season! It is the first sports facility in U.S. history to receive a Platinum LEED certification, the highest “green” rating a building can achieve.”
Check out SEIA’s Solar in Sports report to see if your favorite teams are taking advantage of solar.

SOLAR AS A SERVICE NEWS


The Time For Home Solar Is Now, Sponsored Post, CleanTechnica
Sunrun’s solar as a service model allows households to access clean solar energy from as little as zero dollars down, with no debt and no maintenance worries.

Nine states campaign for 100% clean energy

Rob Sargent, Environment America News Release

In the wake of Environment California’s successful campaign to commit the Golden State to 100 percent clean electricity generation by 2045, Environment America is launching a multi-year campaign to convince governors and legislators in other states to set similar goals to transition to clean energy. Environment America, a national network of state environmental groups, announced it will push bills promoting 100 percent clean energy in at least nine states: Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico and Washington. Read more here.


Environment America’s 100% Renewable Energy Campaign

 

MORE RENEWABLE ENERGY JOBS

Renewable Energy Jobs in Nebraska, Indeed
Renewable Energy Jobs in Iowa, Indeed
Jobs in the Community Solar Industry, Coalition for Community Solar Access
Another strategy is to search local and national solar and wind
energy companies’ websites for renewable energy jobs postings, or major nonprofit organizations like Environment America if you are interested in renewable energy advocacy jobs.

ADDITIONAL 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS

The US Underwent a Quiet Clean Energy Revolution Last Year, World Resources Institute. The public perception of U.S. clean energy has undergone a major shift. In a recent survey, 70 percent of respondents said America should produce 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources; more than half thought renewables were a good idea even if they raise energy bills.

RENEWABLE ENERGY COSTS

NextEra: solar and wind plus batteries will be “massively disruptive” to conventional generation, PV Magazine. NextEra CEO Jim Robo’s exact math is that even after the federal tax credits expire, wind will be
2 – 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, large-scale solar will be 2.5 – 3 cents, and storage will add .5 – 1 cent. This would put these resources slightly below the current cost of natural gas-fired generation, without the
uncertainty around fuel prices that is inherent to gas.

Fremont’s Community Solar Farm in final approval stage

By Sam Pimper, Fremont Tribune

The farm itself will encompass approximately 5 of the 10-acre plot being developed. The Community Solar farm would consist of approximately 3,900 panels, and anybody who is a customer of the Fremont Department of Utilities would have the opportunity to purchase solar shares that would cover up to 80 percent of their used Kilowatt-hours. Currently, more than 40-percent of the farm has been sold, with nearly 50 percent of signups happening within two weeks. Read more here.

Photo: Dodge County Courthouse. Credit: Chris Bristol

ALSO IN TODAY’S NEWS