Tag Archives: renewables + storage

Commentary: Transmission investment can create thousands of jobs. The time is now

Contributed by Brian Gemmell, Energy News Network

As the nation strives to bring about an economic recovery following the recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, a targeted investment in our electricity transmission system presents an opportunity to advance our nation’s fight against climate change, and concurrently create hundreds of thousands of green jobs.

In an announcement in April, President Joe Biden established an ambitious goal to reduce emissions from the country’s electricity supply by 2035. To achieve that goal, there must be investments to update and optimize the power grid. Continue reading here.

Brian Gemmell is chief clean energy development officer at National Grid. He is a member of the WIRES Board of Directors.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING & VIEWING

Biden’s infrastructure plan would benefit from a healthy domestic battery supply chain, GreenBiz article contributed by Madeline Tyson, RMI Senior Associate
Berkeley Lab study asks whether standalone batteries or renewables-plus-storage offer best value, Energy Storage News
CBS News Video: Renewable Energy: New Frontier For Coal Country: Former Kentucky coal miner launches solar energy business to revitalize struggling economy, by CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardell
Inside Clean Energy: Solar Industry Wins Big in Kentucky Ruling, by Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News

COOL CONGREGATIONS – A NATIONAL IP&L PROGRAM

Across the country, people of faith are making changes in their homes and places of worship to prevent global warming through Interfaith Power & Light’s Cool Congregations program. The stewardship program helps congregations reduce the carbon footprint of their facilities and engages their members in reducing their carbon footprint at home. Click here to learn more about the program.

Photo: St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Dover, Massachusetts: Gold Certified Cool Congregation, 50% carbon reduction

NEW FARM JOURNAL FOUNDATION REPORT

Incentives Are Needed to Help Farmers Address Climate Issues, Report Says, Climate Ag
Farmers are among the most-qualified people to help address greenhouse gases (GHGs) and related climate issues, according to a new report commissioned by the Farm Journal Foundation. “The science tells us we have to rapidly scale up regenerative agriculture and climate-smart practices, like cover crops,” said Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow on Thursday, during a webinar announcing the findings. “(But) in order to engage farmers and ranchers in meaningful ways, we need proposals that pair sustainability with profitability.”

TREEHUGGER RESOURCES

What Happens if You Have Solar and the Power Goes Out?, by Russell McLendon, Treehugger’s Sustainability for Series

In This Article

See more Treehugger resources at the end of the article.

WRISE Opens New Doors for Women in Solar and Wind

Kristen Graf, Executive Director of WRISE, says more women in the field is key. Published in the November/December edition of Sierra Magazine.

Growing up, I was a math and science nerd who loved being outdoors. I had great teachers who encouraged me to explore engineering as a path for doing environmental work, and I got excited about renewable energy as a technological solution to climate change. So I went to Cornell to get an engineering degree.

Once there, I was stunned by how few women were in the engineering program. In high school, there were tons of women in my calculus and science classes, and I just assumed that would continue through college. I got involved with the Society of Women Engineers, and promoting women in science and technology became a side passion of mine.

Click here to read more and to watch a brief video, Faces of Clean Energy.
Website: Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE)

ALSO OF POTENTIAL INTEREST

Opportunity, Or What Happens When Utilities and Regulators Get Serious about Decarbonization, Renewable Energy News
Vivint Solar Celebrates 1 Gigawatt of Rooftop Solar Installations, PR Newswire. Milestone cements Vivint Solar’s leadership in residential solar industry and underscores unique position for sustained, smart growth across the United States.
Navajo Nation Eyes Utility-Scale Solar with Growing Interest, Renewable Energy News
Pilot Renewable Energy Program in Five Parishes Good for Environment, Finances, Catholic New York Newspaper
Washburn University to eventually provide most electricity from wind, Associated Press

CORPORATE NEWS

TVA Partners With First Solar & NextEra To Build 377 Megawatts Of Solar For Facebook, CleanTechnica. Formed in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States, providing electricity for businesses and local power companies which serve nearly 10 million people across seven states in the southeast of the United States.
Inside Home Depot’s Sustainability and Energy Strategy, Greentech Media
4 factors to energize a corporate renewable energy program, GreenBiz

SOLAR SUNROOFS

Hyundai & Kia To Begin Offering Solar Sunroofs After 2019, CleanTechnica. Many people have dreamt of combining solar power with electric cars. German startup company Sono is actually doing it with its Sion solar-powered car, but few other companies have gone down that road. Now Hyundai and Kia say they will make solar sunroofs available on some models after 2019.

NEW SONNEN COMMUNITY

Sonnen targets utility contract for Arizona aggregated storage project, Utility Dive. The company aims to equip 2,900 homes with solar panels and a battery to provide peak demand during evenings.

MORE ENERGY STORAGE NEWS

SRP, NREL to study residential battery storage use, American Public Power Association

Storage installations will likely grow to about 3,900 MW a year in 2023, up from close to 400 MW this year, according to the Energy Storage Association and Wood Mackenzie forecast.

Electricity prices plunge with more renewables, study says

By David Ferris, E&E News, Wyoming Business Report

The study released by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory modeled how high penetration of solar and wind power — from 40 to 50 percent — would affect system operators in New York, the Great Plains, California and Texas . . . The study looked at four system operators: the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the California Independent System Operator and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), all of which neatly cover their home states. It also modeled the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which encompasses part or all of five wind-rich states: Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Click here to read more.

ALSO OF POTENTIAL INTEREST

What’s in store for the future of energy markets, day to day?, GreenBiz
Our research team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory decided to look at what effect a higher share of wind and solar will have on these questions. In our latest study, we found that high shares of these energy resources lead to several profound changes in electric power.
320 GW Of Non-Traditional, Untapped Rooftop Solar Potential In USA, CleanTechnica
Does 112% growth in 2017 mean community solar has finally solved its complexity problem?, Utility Dive. Solar developers and utilities are moving into the sector fast, writing new rules as they go.
Farm bill energy programs have earned bipartisan support, The Hill
Congress would be hard-pressed to find a more cost-effective way to build the rural economy. The energy title programs represent less than 1 percent of the federal government’s spending on agriculture and nutrition programs, but they generate a strong return on investment.
Indigenous communities moving away from government utilities, Phys.Org
Renewables boom is a bust for gas equipment suppliers like GE, Utility Dive
13 projects from the leading edge of the utility transformation, Utility Dive
Sonnen secures €60 million investment from Shell Ventures, PV Magazine
Germany-based PV-storage provider sonnen has closed a new funding round from a group of investors led by Shell Ventures. Sonnen has already begun to draw on the funds as it continues to expand market shares in the U.S. and in Australia.
Here’s how to move LEED forward on climate change, GreenBiz

NEWS FROM OTHER STATES

Minnesota overhauls interconnection standards to streamline clean energy, Utility Dive
What is the future of Michigan’s energy infrastructure?, Michigan Radio
University of Texas develops new solar system integrating energy generation and storage, PV Magazine. Researchers at the University of Texas have been awarded $3 million by the Texan Department of Energy in a bid to accelerate research in battery storage technology to overcome the “Achilles heel” of solar power.
Governor Phil Murphy Signs Historic Measure to Revive Renewable Energy in New Jersey, Solar Energy Industries Association News Release
New Jersey joins the 50% by 2030 renewable energy club, PV Magazine
More than 2,400 solar projects completed through New York Sun’s Solarize Initiative, Solar Power World
Dedication held for Twin Buttes II wind farm in Prowers County, Lamar Ledger Editor
“The project is 75 megawatts,” commented Lee Boughey with Tri-State Generation. “What Tri-State does is we’ll purchase the power from this project over a 25 year power purchase agreement and that power will be put on our transmission network supplied to our 43 member systems across Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and New Mexico.”

MORE REPORTS

New Moody’s report: Wind power boosts local tax revenue across rural America, Into the Wind, AWEA Blog
AWEA’s Free Report: Corporate Buyers’ Guide to Wind Energy
Corporate sourcing of renewables growing, in 75 countries to date, Windpower Engineering & Development
Corporate demand for renewables put at 465 TWh in 2017, Renewables Now

MORE CORPORATE NEWS

Intel’s Latest Corporate Responsibility Report Details Commitment To Renewables & Water Conservation, CleanTechnica
Businesses are locking in huge savings with renewable PPAs, The Fifth Estate
Globally, companies are finding economic relief and price stability in wind and solar power purchase agreements (PPAs), which are driving corporate engagement on renewables in Australia, the US, Mexico, India and parts of Europe. As of Q1 2018, nearly 20 gigawatts of PPAs have been executed by corporations globally since 2008.

EV NEWS

CSU researchers working on an electric car that recharges itself on roads, Denver Business Journal
New Fast-charging EV Infrastructure Will Lessen Grid Strain with Batteries, Renewable Energy World

Eight Solar And Storage Trends To Keep An Eye On

By Betsy Lillian, Solar Energy Magazine

With the global solar industry expected to reach 100 GW this year, following nearly 20% year-over-year growth in annual installations in 2017, IHS Markit has identified eight solar and energy storage market trends to watch. “Solar Energy and Storage Trends,” a new white paper from IHS Markit, identifies the following significant trends with the most impact on the global solar market: Click here to continue.

The IHS Markit white paper can be downloaded here.

Pixels Photo

MORE CLEAN ENERGY NEWS & REPORTS

RE100 signatories to spur $94 billion investment opportunity, Windpower Engineering
The companies currently committed to the RE100 campaign will need to procure an estimated 172 TWh of additional clean energy generation by 2030 to meet their renewable energy targets. If corporations were to meet this demand through PPAs, it could catalyze 87 GW of new solar and wind build, representing a potential $94 billion investment opportunity
2018 RE100 Progress and Insights Report: Approaching a Tipping Point: How Corporate Users Are Redefining Global Electricity Markets
New Sources of Utility Growth: Electrification Opportunities and Challenges, The Brattle Group
Utilities pressure Congress to lift EV tax credit manufacturing cap, Utility Dive

NEWS FROM CAMPUSES

This College Could Become the First 100% Renewable Campus in U.S., Eco Watch. The campus’ solar-plus-storage project—consisting of 2.8 megawatts of solar PV and 13.2 megawatt-hours of battery distributed energy storage—is scheduled to become fully operational by 2019.
University of Wisconsin-Madison students to install solar panels in Puerto Rico, CBS Affiliate WDJT Milwaukee
A new way to teach climate change: virtual reality, Yale Climate Connections
Linda Cheung is founder of the nonprofit Before It’s Too Late. Last semester, she helped students at Miami’s Cushman High School produce 360 degree films about local climate issues.

RENEWABLES & RESILIENCE – NEW & ARCHIVED RESOURCES

New Publication & Webinar: Powering and Empowering Communities with Resilient Solar, Institute for Sustainable Communities
Valuing the Resilience Provided by Solar and Battery Energy Storage Systems, Clean Energy Group
Archived Webinar: Valuing Resilience: Exploring the Role of Solar+Storage in Grid Outages, Clean Energy Group

FEATURED ORGANIZATION
American Conservation Coalition (ACC)

One of ACC’s ten Principles of Conservative Environmentalism: “A conservatism that does not practice restraint, humility, and good stewardship—especially of the natural world—is not fundamentally conservative.” Initiatives include the development of an environmental scorecard of Republicans in Congress.
ACC Press Release: College Republican Clean Energy Coalition Expands to 30 states

Nebraskans for Solar

Solar: the energy of life