Lắp đặt điện mặt trời | Khải Minh Tech: tháng 7 2019

Thứ Tư, 31 tháng 7, 2019

ReVision Energy installs Quest Renewables solar carport on parking deck

ReVision Energy completed the installation of its first solar carport in New Hampshire. The downtown Manchester solar canopy is located on the top floor of a new six-story parking garage, across the street from the Hilton Garden Inn and Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, home of Minor League Baseball’s New Hampshire Fisher Cats. The 44.8-kW carport…

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Trimble’s Contractor WorkZone productivity app now has more features for a lower cost

In today’s ever-growing construction industry, business owners are faced with tough decisions like how to pay for the most skilled labor and where to cut back on costs. With tight budgets and increasing construction costs, it can be hard to justify spending money on a project management app.

For Trimble’s Contractor WorkZone, the goal is for construction contractors to increase their productivity all while putting more money back in their pocket faster. What makes that happen? Simply put, an affordable, yet valuable app that costs less than a cup of coffee, but helps you do what you do best.

To make this possible, Contractor WorkZone has recently released a new pricing structure that makes its construction management app more accessible and affordable to small contractors around the globe.

Why the price change?

Contractor WorkZone’s price change was inspired by a genuine interest and investment in the success of the construction industry.

“As a team, we realize how important it is for construction companies across the globe to cut back on costs while increasing productivity, and we want to make that possible for small contractors,” the company stated. “Reality is, construction budgets are tight — but if an app doesn’t break the bank, everyone can benefit from it.”

How has the pricing changed?

Users now have access to more features at a lower cost. With this new pricing structure, Contractor WorkZone offers a Solo Subscription Level which is available for free. This includes unlimited projects for an unlimited amount of time — no trial needed.

In addition to the free subscription level, there are also paid subscriptions available, which allow companies to add more users with more features like Web Access, Accounting, Cloud Syncing and more. At these paid subscription levels, users can trial the app for two weeks prior to purchasing the full subscription, or they can downgrade to the Solo level.

If you’re a small construction contractor looking to increase productivity, download Contractor WorkZone for free in the iTunes App Store or Google Play Store.

-- Solar Builder magazine

National program to drive virtual power plant participation in Australia

The scheme will test the potential of distributed energy resources such as rooftop systems, battery storage and controllable load devices aggregated into VPPs to provide scalable energy and network services traditionally performed by large scale, conventional electricity generators. With registration open, the Australian Energy Market Operator wants VPPs to register to accelerate shared learning.

From pv magazine Australia.

As the energy sector undergoes momentous change, moving towards a decentralized generation model, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is looking to harness the potential of distributed energy resources. In its latest move, AEMO has opened registrations for participation in its virtual power plant (VPP) demonstration program.

The program will test the potential of small scale systems aggregated into VPPs to deliver frequency control ancillary services and energy and network support services to the grid. The initiative, which will include pilot VPPs across Australia and jointly operate their distributed generation portfolios aims to benefit all energy users by enabling a more efficient and affordable power system.

“Australia’s energy landscape is rapidly transforming – faster than most developed economies – creating power-system operation and design challenges as well as presenting opportunities to create a future, world-class power system,” said AEMO emerging markets and services executive general manager Violette Mouchaileh. “As the independent energy system and market operator, we believe DER [distributed energy resource] growth can empower consumers to contribute scalable value to our future energy system by joining virtual power plants that actively participate in Australia’s electricity markets.”

Under the program, AEMO is establishing a framework to allow VPPs to demonstrate their capability to deliver contingency frequency control ancillary services and assist energy markets. The VPP demonstrations will see such aggregators trial a new specification to deliver contingency frequency control ancillary services and AEMO will observe how VPPs respond to energy market price signals, as non-scheduled resources.

The goal is to make VPPs visible to the market operator and use the data collected to inform changes to regulations and operational processes and to pave the way to smooth integration of VPPs before they reach commercial scale. Over 12 to 18 months the program will also aim to provide insights into how to improve consumer experience of VPPs and to understand which cyber security measures VPPs have and whether such capabilities should be augmented.

A growing pipeline of VPPs

Australia hosts some of the most advanced VPP projects in the world – particularly for rooftop PV and battery storage – on and off the grid. Though most are relatively small – at around 5-10 MW of generation or storage capacity – AEMO anticipates up to 700 MW of VPP capacity by 2022.

Prominent grid-connected examples include the 36 MW Next Generation Energy Storage Program launched in Canberra in 2016 with more than 5,000 household batteries as a pilot round under the Australian Capital Territory’s battery subsidy scheme. The South Australian public housing tenants’ project, which could become one of the world’s largest VPPs, is another such system. The South Australia state government also announced last week the Tesla VPP is nearing a potential third phase which could see 50,000 homes connected to become the equivalent of a 250 MW/650 MWh network of decentralized power generating units.

In addition to projects initiated by state governments, Australian generator-retailers have also been building distributed generation networks, including AGL, with a 5 MW virtual power plant in Adelaide; Simply Energy (8 MW in Adelaide); and Origin Energy (with a 5 MW plant in Victoria).

Funding

As a vital step towards increasing the participation of VPPs in the National Electricity Market, the AEMO virtual power plant demonstration scheme was underpinned by $2.46 million (US$1.69 million) from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The agency also played a role in funding South Australia’s VPP trials with AGL and Simply Energy and supported Greensync’s deX platform, a digital marketplace for grid services provided by residential and commercial rooftop solar arrays, batteries and electric vehicles.

“VPPs will play an important role in maintaining grid stability and managing peaks in demand by harnessing consumer-owned energy assets like rooftop solar and batteries,” said ARENA chief executive Darren Miller. “More than two million Australian households have already taken up rooftop solar and tens of thousands are adding home batteries so it is going to be increasingly important to have the ability to coordinate and control these distributed assets – as well as other distributed assets such as smart appliances, solar hot water systems, pool pumps and electric vehicles. This trial is a crucial first step towards that.”

Panasonic to offer full 25-year warranty for AC module including microinverters with labor for its Authorized and Premium installers

Warranties are often seen as the most important / valuable piece of a solar system sale and install. Panasonic Life Solutions Company of America is staking its claim on an industry-leading 25-year warranty that will not only cover its solar panels but also extend to cover comprehensive performance and labor on all Panasonic AC modules, in addition to the 25-year microinverter warranty provided by Enphase.

In a move that streamlines the warranty claims process, Panasonic aims to create a one-stop shop that offers peace of mind for homeowners by simplifying their points of contact. With this offering, homeowners no longer need to decide whether to contact Panasonic or Enphase if a situation requires a claim on the module or microinverter; Panasonic will now handle claims and fulfillment for all components. Of note, labor is also covered for qualified installers.

This new benefit is available exclusively to authorized and premium Panasonic installers.

“Panasonic is committed to providing the absolute best customer service for homeowners, and a key facet of this offering is a simple and easy warranty claims experience. It both makes our customers’ lives easier, as well as our valued installers’ jobs more efficient,” said Mukesh Sethi, General Manager Solar & Storage Division, Panasonic Solar Group. “We stand proudly behind our top-of-the-line residential solar panels that are covered by an industry-leading 25-year warranty, and are excited about extending this offering to microconverters to ensure homeowners have the most seamless claims experience possible.”

Warranty details

Panasonic’s 25-year warranty offers a product guarantee more than twice the length of many of its industry peers, as well as guarantees 91 percent of rated power over the term of the warranty, a figure that is significantly better than any other solar module on the market today. Backed by more than 40 years of R&D, testing against rigorous quality standards and two decades of mass production, Panasonic has created a well-earned reputation for extreme reliability and exceptional performance.

-- Solar Builder magazine

Panasonic now handling full warranty services for branded AC modules

Panasonic Life Solutions Company of America announced that its 25-year warranty on solar panels will now extend to cover comprehensive performance and labor on all Panasonic AC modules, in addition to the 25-year microinverter warranty provided by Enphase. In a move that streamlines the warranty claims process, Panasonic aims to create a one-stop-shop that offers…

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UK developer confirms no new large scale projects any time soon

Foresight Solar and Infrastructure has celebrated encouraging returns from nine months of activity but that is down to acquiring existing solar assets with the nation’s ground mount sector in the doldrums since public subsidies were halted in April 2017.

The latest figures published by London-based solar developer Foresight Solar and Infrastructure VCT have confirmed the PV status quo in a nation still awaiting the outcome of the Brexit impasse.

The cancellation of the ROC (Renewable Obligation Certificate) incentive scheme in April 2017 sounded the death knell for new large scale solar in the U.K. with Foresight stating it does not expect any new ground mount installations outside Northern Ireland in the “forseeable future”.

Instead, investment activity will continue to focus on the acquisition of existing projects, as Foresight has done by adding five new U.K. sites and three Italian assets during the nine-month period covered by the update – a window determined by Foresight changing its fiscal reporting year to align with the U.K. tax year.

A solar portfolio that stood at 49.3 MW at the end of June last year expanded to 78 MW by the end of March. The 5 MW Basin Bridge and 2 MW Stables Solar projects in Leicestershire were acquired in August along with the 4.5 MW Dove View and 4.3 MW Beech Farm assets in Staffordshire. The U.K. portfolio was rounded off by the addition of the 10 MW Hurcott Solar facility in Somerset last August, with all the projects bought from funds managed by Foresight.

Brexit

A 400 kW presence in Italy was expanded – via Foresight’s joint venture with EI Capital – with the addition of three new projects with a total generation capacity of 2.9 MW in Apulia and Sicily, although the decision was made to sell the smaller rooftop Telecomponenti project after the reporting period.

With a sunny nine months behind it, Foresight was able to trumpet higher-than-expected energy output from its assets and could even afford to be relaxed about the Brexit uncertainty engendered by the extension of the deadline for the U.K. to leave the EU to the end of October. “The energy market in the U.K. is closely aligned with European markets and this is not expected to change over the long term,” blithely stated the update produced by a company that felt able to issue a 3p dividend to investors during the nine-month period in question.

The only potential fly in the ointment is the balance sheet of an investor with £2.3 million ($2.8 million) in the bank and a £15 million loan due for settlement. However, when that loan has been provided by a wholly-owned subsidiary – Youtan – which has reportedly not agreed to call it in within 12 months, there is less need for panic.

No new project development

Foresight’s update added it expects to refinance the loans on its portfolio with the current lender to secure more favorable arrangements by the third quarter and it will continue to sweat its assets, albeit with the caveat some may be prepped for sale depending on market conditions.

New project development is off the table however, as the rules governing the type of investments open to venture capital trusts such as Foresight have forbid supporting energy infrastructure of any kind for some years.

There could even be an additional bonus for shareholders at some point, with the company having secured an arbitration decision that it should receive £2-2.5 million compensation after the Spanish government retroactively reduced subsidy payments for its former Spanish assets. Settlement of the claim, of course, rests in the hands of the current Spanish administration.

Palomar Solar giving away 7th rooftop solar system to a military family

Palomar Solar and Roofing, with the support of its partners Enphase Energy and LG Solar, will again give away one home rooftop solar system, no strings attached. At the 2019 Miramar Airshow, one San Diego County military family will receive a solar system designed to their needs. Palomar Solar and Roofing wants to continue to…

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Power Energy Corporation acquires developer Nautilus Solar

Nautilus Solar Energy, a United States solar developer and asset manager, announced its acquisition by Power Energy Corporation (PEC), a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada, a management and holding company. The 100% acquisition from management and Virgo Investment Group brings together PEC’s financial strength and commitment to long-term asset ownership. The current management team…

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Germany provides low cost loan to Bangladesh for renewables

The cash injection will itself help provide affordable financing for solar and other renewables projects in the power hungry south Asian nation. The national railways operator is doing its bit for solar too.

Germany has provided a €156 million low-interest loan to Bangladesh to help drive renewable energy and energy efficiency investment.

Monowar Ahmed, secretary of Bangladesh’s Economic Relations Division (ERD) and German ambassador to Dhaka Peter Fahrenholtz signed off the deal in Dhaka yesterday.

A senior ERD official told pv magazine the money will be used to provide low-cost financing for renewable power generation projects including solar plants.

The funding has been provided for a 36-year term at 0.75% interest and is part of more than €3 billion worth of financial and technical support supplied to Bangladesh by Germany since 1972. Fahrenholtz said nature conservation, climate change adaptation, water management and mangrove management in the Sundarbans are other issues being addressed by Germany’s continued development assistance to the south Asian nation.

The Bangladeshi government is also tapping other sources to provide low-cost finance to help the deployment of renewable capacity in a nation which already generates 601 MW of clean energy and wants 10% of its electricity to come from clean sources by next year.

Railway rooftop solar

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Railway will set up solar plants at stations, office buildings, junctions, workshops and staff quarters nationwide. Officials expect the installations to supply 100 MW of solar rooftop generation capacity.

Private sector developers are set to install the arrays on around 10 million square feet of Bangladesh Railway rooftops, using low-cost funding provided by the government through the Infrastructure Development Company Limited.

Officials from the Power Division have said German state-owned development bank KfW has expressed interest in extending technical and financial support for a feasibility study on the railway rooftop project.

Italian developer Limes moves into Chilean market

With a 300 MW pipeline in the country that could potentially double in the near future, the Milanese business says Chile’s carbon-neutral ambition will maintain a strong market for solar.

Italian renewables developer Limes has announced the opening of a Chilean base as it works to potentially double the size of its development pipeline in the nation.

The Milan-based developer, which says it last year secured enough funding to develop 500 MWp of subsidy-free solar generation capacity in its homeland, announced the establishment of its third business ‘hub’ yesterday, in Santiago.

A press release issued to publicize the development stated Limes has a 300 MW, three-project pipeline in Chile and is evaluating a further 300 MWp of project capacity in a nation that was in the vanguard of merchant solar.

In the front line

The Italian developer pointed out Chile had the world’s three largest merchant solar projects – which trade free of fixed price deals on a market basis – and the world’s highest number of such solar facilities, until last year.

With the South American country aiming for a carbon neutral economy by 2050, Limes said the 20 GW of new renewable energy generation capacity required to hit that target would ensure a healthy solar sector.

“The Chilean market provided all the main features that Limes targets when identifying a potential market,” said Martin Libra, head of Limes Latin America, “stable regulatory framework, substantial fundamentals of the energy sector, large market size to be tackled.”

The Santiago office is the company’s third, after Italy and Vietnam.

Portuguese auction attracts world record bid of €14.8/MWh for solar

The stunning low tariff is a third world record in five weeks. Solar prices continue to tumble and with a Saudi auction concluding tomorrow, the Iberian benchmark could be short-lived. The official result of the Portuguese tender will be announced August 10.

It’s official, almost. Portugal attracted the lowest ever solar power electricity price bid in its latest generation capacity procurement auction – €14.8/MWh (€0.0148/$0.016 per kilowatt-hour).

After a three-day auction which saw 1.4 GW of solar generation capacity allocated in Portugal concluded on Monday, the country’s minister for environment and energy, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, appeared in front of the cameras of public broadcaster RTP to announce the achievement.

Portuguese newspaper Expresso had on Friday reported bids as low as €20/MWh had been received for significant parts of the capacity on offer. Government officials declined to comment at that point, as the auction was still under way.

With the tender concluded, however, a proud minister was happy to share the preliminary results with a smile. And well he might, as a few weeks earlier Fernandes was criticized in some quarters for setting a bid price ceiling of €45/MWh which some analysts believed was too low. The minister said the 1.4 GW auction had attracted 10 GW of project applications and he felt the high level of competition would severely undercut his price ceiling.

Winning bids must commission solar projects within 36 months. While €14.8/MWh is likely to prove a speculative price the developer in question hopes to be able to achieve within three years, it is indicative of the energy price trajectory for solar. Reports of €20/MWh bids in the Portuguese tender confirm such low prices appear to be the new normal.

Keep ’em comin’

At the start of the month, Brazil’s most recent A-4 renewables auction saw 211 MW of PV capacity secured at a record-breaking $0.0175/kWh. That project took the crown from a 200 MW facility in Los Angeles which undercut the two-cent mark when it was contracted for $0.01997/kWh just a week before the project in Brazil, although the latter’s claim to the world title is somewhat controversial. Tomorrow the PV world could see another record, as Saudi Arabia carries out part of a wider 1.4 GW tender.

The 211 MW of Brazilian capacity comprises five projects with 30 MW of output each plus a 61 MW facility. The smaller projects in the protfolio prompted one bid of BRL64.99/MWh ($16.88/MWh) and the average price came in at BRL67.48/MWh ($17.52/MWh) breaking the magic two-cent per kilowatt-hour sound barrier.

Skeptics noted the two record-setting projects concerned will sell at least half the power they generate to the Brazilian Free Electricity Market – the Mercado Livre de Energia Eléctrica – where electricity is traded among generators and off-takers free of the contracted rates set at the auction. The world record price applies only to the proportion of energy generated by each project which is supplied to the Regulated Electricity Market – the Mercado Regulado de Energia Eléctrica.

Has Portugal moved the goalposts too?

Something similar may be happening in Portugal. Developers in the tender could present two kinds of offer: one with a fixed price below €45/MWh and another with a variable tariff which includes a requirement to pay compensation to the electricity system depending on spot market power prices. When a project price is higher than the market price, the Portuguese government will pay the project the difference. When the market price is higher, the project owner makes up the gap. The second option offers developers the chance to get a little more speculative as they have the floor price insurance offered by the government.

According to Expresso, at least one 200 MW slice of the Portuguese capacity has been allocated under the variable tariff scheme at a price of €23/MWh and several other allocations reportedly received bids for the fixed tariff scheme of around €20/MWh.

The results will be formally published by August 10, by the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology.

This is your SolarWakeup for July 31st, 2019

Debate Night 1. Climate change, with specific mention of solar, made major appearances in the debate part deux. It comes up when the candidates talk about national security, economic growth and corporate misalignment with the american people. The debate also had job retraining from fossil to solar and wind which goes to the core of the argument we’ve been making for some time.

Jay Inslee Impresses. I made this comment on Twitter yesterday as I keep seeing Jay Inslee and David Roberts do a back and forth on climate policy. I am sure that Roberts would be happy to cover other candidate’s climate plans but until the others roll out plan after plan, Inslee will continue to hold the gavel on the issue for many.

So Does Enphase. A few years ago Enphase was basically out for the count, string inverters were too cheap and Enphase couldn’t get the traction it needed. I even had folks pitching me hard for MLPEs in the C&I market to no avail. That lack of traction is no more and ENPH has rebounded to $25 per share with positive earnings per share and $200million of cash in the bank. The biggest headwind for the company is making enough product as wall street analysts try to figure out the highest potential value based on how much the company can build not what it can sell.

Demand For Community Solar. I haven’t seen a community solar press release that says that lack of consumer demand means that a solar farm isn’t going to get built. My hypothetical question to community solar developers is, how many GW of solar gardens would create an oversupply and gardens go unsubscribed?

Residential Podcast Series. A big announcement to all the loyal followers of what is becoming the most influential podcast in solar. I will be doing a deep dive into residential solar in a series that will go out this fall. The conversations will be with the CEOs of installers across the Country, large and small, to figure out what drives the homeowners desire to go solar and how to grow and make these companies profitable. In the meantime, check out the current pods and leave a rating so that we go up in the rankings.

Opinion

Utility Dive: Wholesale electricity market design for rapid decarbonization – Adding new long-term markets to today’s spot markets

Have a great day!

Yann

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Solar’s 20 most overlooked benefits for global sustainability

As renewable energy development is ramped up to address the climate crisis, negative side-effects should be avoided, especially when technology and resources could maximize the benefits. ‘Techno-ecological’ crossovers could ensure win-win outcomes for solar development and ecosystem and biodiversity conservation.

With clean energy access and conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity high up the global sustainability agenda, understanding better – and quantifying – the benefits of solar could unlock an array of positive outcomes.

A study by the Center for Biological Diversity at the University of California, Davis and 11 other organizations has listed the advantages of solar and offers a new framework for analyzing PV projects to better understand their benefits.

The study, published in Nature Sustainability, identified 20 overlooked advantages of solar energy, ranging from carbon sequestration to improvements to pollinator habitats.

The researchers found, when ‘techno-ecological synergies’ (TESs) were studied it was possible to quantify resources taken from an environment – for example water withdrawal and habitat loss – and materials released into it, such as CO₂ emissions and nutrient runoff. Jordan Macknick, a researcher at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said: “Solar projects, when done using the principles of TESs have the potential to improve air, water and soil resources in addition to producing clean energy.”

Solar-sustainability win-win

The researchers described examples of 16 solar energy technological-ecological synergies and 20 of their potential outcomes to demonstrate such crossovers were achievable in many environments and were capable of producing beneficial technological outcomes – such as raised PV module efficiency and grid reliability – as well as ecological ones.

The scientists argue PV projects developed with such crossover benefits in mind can mitigate, or even avoid, environmental degradation. Solar project development carried out without such benefits in mind proceeds without full consideration of the supply and demand of ecosystem goods and services, resulting in industrial waste or environmental degradation.

Trade-offs commonly emerge for decision makers concerning the use of land for solar energy development. Techno-ecological benefits can help guide development towards optimum landscape sustainability, the study stated. Optimizing land resources by installing solar energy infrastructure on degraded land or co-locating solar with other renewables infrastructure can maximize energy production and land use. For instance, researchers identified ‘superfund’ sites in the U.S. which could be used to generate more than 1.6 million GWh of solar energy annually.

Co-locating food or energy crop production and solar is another win-win crossover. ‘Agrovoltaic’ systems can ensure land is used to the full. For example, shade-tolerant crops can thrive in the shadows of solar panels, reducing evaporation and improving water usage. ‘Rangevoltaic’ systems – solar co-located with livestock and its associated infrastructure, notably on grazing areas – can provide numerous techno-ecological benefits. Solar in animal-intensive environments such as dairy farms could offer similar positive outcomes in areas including food security and animal welfare.

Floating solar

In regions where land is scarce, floating solar can be an appealing option. The technology can reduce water evaporation and algae growth and can be integrated on hydroelectric reservoirs. For example, the 1 MW canal solar project in Gujarat, India prevents the evaporation of 34 million gallons of water per year.

Solar arrays in the built environment require no additional land. As has long been known, solar rooftops have insulating effects that can confer energy savings and improve health and comfort.

There are also four solar techno-ecological crosssovers which can be integrated into a variety of environments. Solar-plus-storage; electromobility – including air and seaborne transport; solar greenhouses; and PV rainwater collection all offer multiple benefits.

PV-wildlife symbiosis

“Solar energy has way more benefits than most people imagine,” said Greer Ryan, a renewable energy and research specialist at UC Davis and co-author of the paper. “We’re hoping utilities, regulators and legislators will now have a better sense of the importance of solar energy. That will lead to the expansion of rooftop solar, more community solar development and lower prices for everyone.”

The study marks the launch of a partnership between the Center for Biological Diversity and its university to advance a “wild energy” future which emphasizes the potential of solar to benefit not only humans but the entire planet.

“The first step in creating a wild energy future is understanding the true value of solar,” said Rebecca R. Hernandez, assistant professor at UC Davis’ John Muir Institute of the Environment, and the paper’s lead author. “By valuing all the benefits of renewable energy we can start to build an energy system that’s beneficial for people, wildlife and wild places.”

Horizon Power Selects SwitchDin For Onslow Microgrid Tech

Western Australia’s Horizon Power has tapped SwitchDin to provide special controllers to accommodate high levels of small-scale solar and batteries in the Onslow region. Situated approximately 1,400 kilometres north of Perth, Onslow is a coastal town with a growing demand for electricity and the site of a microgrid project incorporating solar + storage. Stage 1 […]

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Groups Push For Stronger Clean Energy Rules In Arizona As APS Seeks More Solar, Wind

As clean energy stakeholders urge Arizona regulators to adopt stronger renewable energy standards, Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) has announced plans to add new solar and wind resources, helping expand the company’s renewable energy portfolio to about 2.5 GW by 2021, which would be enough to power more than half a million Arizona homes.

The company plans to issue two requests for proposals (RFPs) by Sept. 15. The first RFP will seek competitive proposals for up to 150 MW of APS-owned solar resources to be in service by 2021. This solar generation will be designed with the flexibility to add energy storage as a future option. A second RFP will pursue up to 250 MW of wind resources to be in service as soon as possible, but no later than 2022.

Phoenix-based APS serves about 2.7 million people in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties.

Today, more than two dozen groups representing consumer, faith, business, environmental, public health and tribal community interests submitted a joint proposal for a “strong clean energy plan” to utility regulators at the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC). The commission will hold an energy rules stakeholder meeting in Phoenix on Wednesday.

The groups are urging the ACC to increase the amount of renewable energy powering the state to 50% by 2030 and expand consumer options such as energy efficiency and solar measures, according to a press release from Vote Solar.

The joint comments were submitted as part of an omnibus rulemaking currently underway at the ACC to address a range of electric industry issues. Specifically, the joint comments call for the following measures:

Setting binding standards that require utilities to provide 50% of their power from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% from clean, zero-emission sources by 2045;
Ensuring that by 2030, 10% of electricity comes from local distributed resources, including rooftop solar, community solar and other customer-driven energy options, with a simpler compliance metric to track progress;
Ensuring cumulative energy efficiency savings of at least 35% by 2030; and
Establishing a more comprehensive and transparent energy planning process, to provide more effective opportunities for public and stakeholder engagement and greater accountability when the ACC reviews utilities’ integrated resource plans.

“Sunny Arizona has some of the strongest solar resource of anywhere in the country, and we believe that every family, business and community in this state should be able to go solar if they so choose,” comments Art Terrazas, Interior West director with Vote Solar. “We are urging the ACC to support competitive clean energy options, business innovation and consumer savings with a strong plan for Arizona to harness more of that plentiful sunshine for power.”

“The Navajo Nation is blessed with world-class wind and solar resources,” says Carol Davis, director of Diné CARE, a nonprofit that works with Navajo communities affected by energy and environmental issues. “Renewable energy will play a central role in helping build a new, sustainable tribal economy that is in line with Diné fundamental laws and that provides benefits to local communities like coal never did. These clean energy rules will help facilitate this transition, giving the people of the Navajo Nation – and all residents of Arizona – an opportunity to reap the environmental and economic benefits of true energy independence.”

“Our state’s current solar energy goals are a missed opportunity for all Arizonans in a state that gets, on average, 300 sunny days a year,” adds Bret Fanshaw, Arizona program director of Solar United Neighbors. “We’re calling on the ACC today to significantly raise the renewable energy standard and ensure that every homeowner in Arizona who wants to claim energy independence can do so by going solar.”

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Renewables Top Coal For Second Month In A Row

Renewable energy sources – biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar and wind – accounted for more than a fifth (20.3%) of net domestic electrical generation during the first five months of 2019, according to a SUN DAY Campaign analysis of recently released data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The latest issue of EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” (with data through May 31) reveals that solar and wind both showed continued growth.

Solar, including small-scale solar photovoltaic systems, increased by 10.9% compared to the first five months of 2018 and accounted for 2.6% of the nation’s total net generation. Small-scale solar (e.g., distributed rooftop systems) – which increased by 20.2% – provided a third (33.3%) of total solar electrical generation.

U.S. wind-generated electricity topped that provided by hydropower by 2.7%. Wind’s share was 8.0% of total electrical output versus 7.8% from hydropower.

Combined wind and solar accounted for 10.6% of U.S. electrical generation through the end of May. In addition, biomass provided 1.5%, and geothermal contributed a bit more than 0.4%.

Moreover, for the five-month period, electricity from renewable energy sources surpassed that from nuclear power. In May alone, renewable-generated electricity exceeded nuclear’s output by almost 10%. Also in May, for the second month in a row, renewable-generated electricity exceeded that from coal.

Thus, in May 2019, renewables, for the first time, moved into second place among the major generating sources, providing more electricity than either coal, nuclear or oil, and exceeded only by natural gas, according to SUN DAY’s analysis.

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This California city is trying a community microgrid to improve resiliency against wildfires, PG&E shutoffs

The City of Calistoga, Calif., is in Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) territory, and therefore subject to PG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) during times of high fire danger. The city experienced two PSPS warnings last fall, and a 48-hour shutoff disrupted the city and led to lost revenue for local businesses. With a severe fire season predicted for California this year, PSPS are likely to increase in frequency and duration.

As a result, Calistoga is exploring new ways of designing its grid. The city entered into an agreement with the Clean Coalition this week, a California nonprofit organization, to conduct a feasibility assessment for a community microgrid as one possible new approach. The microgrid would be connected to the larger power grid, but during a power outage a renewables-driven community microgrid can “island” from the grid and keep critical facilities online indefinitely.

The Clean Coalition has a long history of designing and staging community microgrids, most recently for the wildfire-ravaged California areas of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, as well as the North Bay. Increasingly, municipalities that have not yet experienced disasters are considering this modern energy system to provide their communities an unparalleled trifecta of economic, environmental, and resilience benefits.

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PG&E is currently investigating the potential for enabling temporary diesel generation to supply power to part of the city during a PSPS through a new preinstalled interconnection hub (PIH). The city and PG&E hope to complete construction of the PIH by mid-September. While the PIH will support some of the city’s businesses and residents during PSPS, it will not power the whole city. As currently envisioned, areas west of the river and those in proximity to severe high-fire-threat zones will remain unpowered during a PSPS. In addition, diesel generators are heavy polluters and are expensive to maintain. They do not provide the real energy resilience that community microgrids will bring to the area.

“The Clean Coalition is excited about the opportunity to design a truly resilient power system for Calistoga,” said Dr. Frank Wasko, Managing Director of the Clean Coalition. “With their vote to proceed with the Community Microgrid project, the forward-thinking Calistoga City Council has shown they understand what it takes for their community to thrive in California’s new normal.”

The project will start with a few microgrids at discrete locations, with the ultimate goal to develop a Community Microgrid that serves the full Calistoga substation grid area.

As part of the site assessment, the Clean Coalition will conduct a Solar Siting Survey to identify the commercial-scale solar siting potential in Calistoga. The Clean Coalition’s Solar Siting Survey methodology has successfully identified ample solar siting opportunities in urban and suburban environments; predominantly on buildings, parking lots, and parking structures.

The Clean Coalition will follow the site assessment with functional designs for five target microgrid sites and a broader Community Microgrid that serves the entire City of Calistoga. In addition, the Clean Coalition will engage key stakeholders in preparation for the next project phases: permit-ready, finance-ready microgrid designs and construction thereof.

-- Solar Builder magazine

SoCal Utility Pursues Cleaner Options

Glendale Water & Power (GWP), a utility serving the City of Glendale in Los Angeles County, has received approval from its city council to move forward with a plan to repower the aging Grayson Power Plant with a combination of renewable energy resources, energy storage and thermal generation.

The plan includes a 75 MW, 300 MWh battery energy storage system; as much as 50 MW of distributed energy resources, including solar photovoltaic systems, energy efficiency and demand response programs; and 93 MW of thermal generation from up to five internal combustion engines.

The city council also directed the staff to continue to seek alternatives that would enhance the sustainability of the utility and continue to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.

This decision came after GWP was directed by the Glendale City Council in April 2018 to re-evaluate the evolving energy sector and determine if there were any viable clean alternatives to its original proposal, which consisted primarily of thermal generation with battery storage.

During the evaluation process, the public had the opportunity to provide input on and participate in information sessions regarding the city’s integrated resource plan (IRP), a planning document meant to create a road map for meeting California’s clean energy mandates. Repowering the Grayson Power Plant was an integral component of the plan and unquestionably became the focal point in the discussions regarding the IRP.

“Our residents have been active and engaged in GWP’s plans to pursue a cleaner alternative to the Grayson Repowering Project. This greener portfolio will allow GWP to provide its customers with reliable and environmentally sustainable power and will enable us to transition to a 100 percent clean energy future,” says Steve Zurn, general manager of GWP.

“We want to express appreciation to our residents, community groups and environmental advocacy proponents for working collaboratively in finding a solution that will meet Glendale’s energy needs,” says Ara Najarian, mayor of Glendale. “In order to further reduce Glendale’s carbon footprint and provide the City of Glendale with clean, safe and renewable power for decades to come, we will continue to direct GWP to seek additional resources while proceeding with the development details of this plan.”

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C2 Energy Capital to scale up its sheep grazing vegetation maintenance program

C2 Energy Capital LLC, a rapidly growing investor in renewable energy and storage assets, is scaling up its solar sheep program for vegetation maintenance after a highly successful pilot program launched at a Jacksonville, Fla., solar power generation site.

The 7-MW solar project is one of the power suppliers for JEA’s SolarMax program aimed at offering more clean energy options to its commercial customers. C2 Energy Capital expects to reduce its vegetation maintenance costs across its land-based solar power plants through the new program. Additional benefits of C2 Energy Capital’s solar sheep program include providing new economic opportunities for regional sheep farmers and further lowering the company’s carbon footprint. The company expects to rollout the new program across ten solar projects totaling over 79 megawatts.

“JEA appreciates the ongoing pursuit of supporting local economies while lowering our collective carbon footprint and overall costs, so C2 Energy Capital’s solar sheep program fits well with our principals and goals,” said Steve McInall, JEA, VP of Energy and Water Planning.

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In early 2018, C2 Energy Capital began the test program with a regional sheep farmer to control ground vegetation on the site. Between 80 and 100 sheep graze the solar farm daily. The committed sheep crew work, eat and sleep on the site 24 hours a day. Due to its more rural location, the sheep are protected by a Great Pyrenees guardian dog who lives among the flock.

“In the next phase, we’ll scale up our solar sheep program to projects covering over 300 acres in three states and drive down ground maintenance costs. It’s a win-win situation that makes good business sense for everyone involved,“ said Michael Howell, Director of Asset Management for C2 Energy Capital.

C2 Energy Capital is also currently in a test program with site vegetation management through the use of wildflower plantings to limit mowing while providing excellent pollinating habitat for insects – particularly bees whose population decline is widely reported in the media.

-- Solar Builder magazine

Thứ Ba, 30 tháng 7, 2019

Glendale fossil fuel plant to be replaced by solar, storage and other renewables

On July 23, 2019, Glendale Water & Power (GWP) received approval from the Glendale City Council to move forward with a plan to repower the aging Grayson Power Plant with a combination of renewable energy resources, energy storage and a limited amount of thermal generation. The plan includes a 75-MW, 300-MWh Battery Energy Storage System…

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Soltage acquires 14-MW North Carolina solar portfolio from ReNew Petra

Soltage, an independent power producer, has closed an acquisition of 14 MW of solar projects in a portfolio that is expected to total 35 MW after a second close slated for Q3 2019. The portfolio was acquired from ReNew Petra, a North Carolina-based vertically-integrated solar developer, EPC and operations and maintenance company. The company secured…

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C2 Energy Capital Expanding Solar Sheep Program

C2 Energy Capital LLC, an investor of renewable energy and storage assets, is scaling up its solar sheep program for vegetation maintenance after a successful pilot at a solar project in Jacksonville, Fla.

The 7 MW solar project is one of the power suppliers for Florida utility JEA’s SolarMax program, aimed at offering more clean energy options for JEA’s commercial customers.

Now, C2 Energy Capital expects to roll out the solar sheep program across 10 solar projects totaling over 79 MW. The company expects to reduce vegetation maintenance costs, provide new economic opportunities for regional sheep farmers and further lower its carbon footprint.

“JEA appreciates the ongoing pursuit of supporting local economies while lowering our collective carbon footprint and overall costs, so C2 Energy Capital’s solar sheep program fits well with our principals and goals,” says Steve McInall, JEA’s vice president of energy and water planning.

In early 2018, C2 Energy Capital began the pilot program with a regional sheep farmer to control ground vegetation on-site. Between 80 and 100 sheep graze the solar farm daily. The animals work, eat and sleep on the site 24 hours a day, protected by a Great Pyrenees dog who lives among the flock.

“In the next phase, we’ll scale up our solar sheep program to projects covering over 300 acres in three states and drive down ground maintenance costs. It’s a win-win situation that makes good business sense for everyone involved,“ says Michael Howell, director of asset management for C2 Energy Capital.

C2 Energy Capital is also currently in a test program with site vegetation management through the use of wildflower plantings to limit mowing while providing a pollinating habitat for insects.

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ENGIE Storage providing operating software for 19-MW solar+storage portfolio

ENGIE Storage will supply and operate a 19-MW/38-MWh portfolio of six energy storage sites that will contribute to the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program and participate in ISO-New England wholesale markets. The combined solar-plus-storage portfolio, developed and operated by Syncarpha Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, is the first utility-scale solar-plus-storage projects offering…

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Australia’s green bank to sharpen focus on storage following record investment in renewables

After it deployed a record $1.3 billion into the clean energy sector in a 12-month period, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation said it will sharpen its focus on energy storage and other technologies to support the stability of the national grid.

From pv magazine Australia.

Australian green bank the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is looking to increase focus on grid stability and large scale storage on the back of record investment commitments in the last 12 months. The federal government lender’s key priorities for 2019-20 and beyond will aim to take advantage of Australia’s robust renewable energy resources and support the transition to a distributed energy model.

The CEFC invested almost $1.5 billion (US$1.03 billion) across 30 projects with a total value of $6.3 billion in the last fiscal year. Of that, $1.3 billion was invested in clean energy, an unprecedented amount since the bank began operations in 2012. In addition, a record $320 million of CEFC finance was repaid during the year for reinvestment in new projects.

New commitments in 2018-19 included $940 million for renewable energy and $524 million across a range of energy efficiency and low emission projects. Each dollar of the taxpayer-funded body’s finance committed in the last year was matched by more than $3 from the private sector.

“Following strong progress in the development of the large scale solar and wind sectors, our investments will also increasingly target new technologies where there is less appetite from mainstream investors – including pumped storage and large scale batteries, behind-the-meter generation and grid solutions,” said CEFC chief executive Ian Learmonth in a statement.

Another 2018-19 record came from investments for smaller scale projects in co-finance partnerships, with $400 million allocated for 5,800 projects with values from $10,000 to $5 million. Through the Clean Energy Innovation Fund the CEFC also strengthened its position as Australia’s largest investor in the early stage cleantech sector, with investment commitments of $69 million at the end of June.

Overall commitments and new frontiers

As expected, the scale of new investment commitments in 2018-19 was lower than the record $2.3 billion achieved in the previous year, with 39 direct clean energy investments across renewable energy ($1.1 billion), energy efficiency ($939 million), transport ($100 million) and waste-related projects ($127 million).

“This reflects broader market conditions including the build out of the Renewable Energy Target,” Learmonth said. “Grid and transmission constraints also contributed to a lower rate of new investments in large scale renewables.”

With Australia expected to have one of the most decentralized electricity systems in the world by 2050, the CEFC has a big task in backing new technologies and industries so they can benefit from the green bank’s finance as they gain commercial traction with private investors.

“We see a critical need for coordinated investment in generation, storage and transmission infrastructure as part of a stable and reliable grid,” Learmonth said. “In particular, pumped hydro and other forms of dispatchable renewable energy are under consideration and, from our perspective, can play a vital role in Australia’s sustainable transition to net zero emissions.”

Maturity

According to the CEFC, large scale solar and wind projects are increasingly standing on their own feet and showing maturity with an ability to tap a strong market for equity and debt. However, the market segment could still use support beyond the national Renewable Energy Target scheme for large scale renewables generation, which is due to expire next year.

“The investor appetite for merchant risk remains constrained, placing a potential brake on continued market growth in the face of an ageing, constrained transmission network,” Learmonth added. “Early progress in large scale storage investments is welcome but this market is also still evolving, with fully commercial models yet to develop. We also see an important role for CEFC finance in this exciting market.”

Since inception, the CEFC has played a role in driving $24 billion in commitments to new investments in clean energy projects and has supported significant growth in large scale renewables in particular.

ET Solar: Switching directions with new manufacturing strategy

The cell and module manufacturer is transferring its production emphasis from China to Southeast Asia

Chinese manufacturer ET Solar now has its eyes set on Southeast Asia. The firm has just established ET Solar Technology (Vietnam) Co., LTD, and says it will start production at its new facility in the country by the end of this year. It also plans to bring another new plant online in Cambodia later this year. The company says that the new manufacturing strategy will support the strong market projections of North America, India and Europe in the coming years.

“The new facility in Vietnam will be manufacturing mono PERC, bifacial cells,” Alex Chen, head of sales and marketing at ET Solar, Inc., told pv magazine. The company is planning for 500 MW of cell production at the new location by the end of this year. “Our longer-term plan includes four stages and our total cell production capacity will eventually reach 2 GW per year by Q1 2021.”

The company says that an additional 300 MW of cell capacity will be produced at a new plant in Cambodia, where it will also assemble modules. “The module line will produce mono, poly, half-cell and dual glass bifacial,” says Chen. The production of PV modules is also planned for 300 MW of capacity, according to the company.

When asked about the significance of the U.S. marketplace surrounding its new Southeast Asia production, Chen said, “Starting in 2020, we will be delivering significantly more manufacturing capacity to the U.S. market.” Following a restructuring and change of management, the manufacturer’s U.S. business received new investment this February.

“This capital will not only support U.S. operations, but also be invested in R&D to improve the stability and reliability of our product – this includes mono, poly, bifacial and half-cut modules,“ says Chen.

The company says that it has signed new supply deals to support the market. “We estimate that, in total, these deals will add 600 to 800 MW of new capacity to serve the U.S. market next year,” adds Chen. “Since the bifacial module has been exempted from the 201 tariff, we can provide this product to developers, with improved energy production at a reduced cost.”

In addition to the U.S., the manufacturer highlights Europe, India, Japan as key markets, and says that it is targeting different products to given areas and sectors. “We have our own internal system for BOM procurement, logistics and risk management, which ensures the best service to customers across the globe,” says Chen.

The company entered the African solar market this year, and based out of Kenya, says it is offering products for both on-grid and off-grid solar applications.

C2 Energy Capital scales up solar sheep O&M program

C2 Energy Capital is scaling up its solar sheep program for vegetation maintenance after a successful pilot program launched at a Jacksonville, Florida, solar power generation site. The 7-MW solar project is one of the power suppliers for JEA’s SolarMax program aimed at offering more clean energy options to its commercial customers. C2 Energy Capital…

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Portugal solar auction reportedly attracts €20/MWh bids

When the minister of environment and energy announced a ceiling tariff of €45/MWh, analysts speculated the price would be too low as it undercut average bidding prices in the region. Preliminary, unconfirmed results of the exercise show, however, companies are happy to bid for two-cent solar in Europe.

Portugal’s solar auction is attracting record low bids for the Iberian peninsula, let alone Europe.

Portuguese newspaper Expresso claimed on Friday to have obtained information from companies involved in the tendering exercise that indicated significant chunks of the 1.4 GW of generation capacity on offer have been allocated for around €20/MWh (€0.02/kWh).

Earlier this month, Portugal’s minister of the environment and energy transition, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, announced a ceiling price for the tender of €45/MWh. In an interview with domestic financial newspaper Sapo, the minister said he was aware average prices for solar in the region were around €55/MWh.

In a southern European context, Greece recently allocated 143 MW of new solar generation capacity for €62/MWh. The Iberian peninsula, however, has attracted subsidy free solar projects in recent months at power prices as low as €27/MWh.

Two types of offer

Developers in the Portuguese tender could present two kinds of offer: one with a fixed price below €45/MWh and another with a variable tariff which includes a requirement to pay compensation to the electricity system, depending on spot market power prices. When a project price is higher than the market price, the Portuguese government will pay the project the difference. When the market price is higher, the project owner makes up the gap.

According to Expresso, at least one 200 MW slice of capacity has been allocated under the variable tariff scheme at a price of €23/MWh and several other capacity allocations received bids for the fixed tariff scheme of around €20/MWh.

The minister’s judgement in undercutting what was the average solar price will be proved right if the newspaper report is accurate.

The solar auction was held on Thursday, Friday and yesterday. The final results are subject to jury approval, with an option for companies to hold a hearing if they wish to contest a bid. The results will be formally published by August 10, by the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology.

Apex Clean Energy chooses Power Factors software for solar O&M

Apex Clean Energy has selected Power Factors to provide the technical asset management platform for its solar and wind projects totaling more than 1,250 MW across 13 facilities in North America. Miller Bros. Solar also recently chose Power Factors to manage its solar projects. “We are thrilled to welcome Apex Clean Energy to the Power…

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Indian Railways to become world’s first 100% green operator, says government minister

The plan, announced in parliament, is an extension to the bid by the national rail operator to install 1 GW of solar generation capacity during the current fiscal year and hit 5 GW in 2025. The emphasis will be on trackside and static rooftop installations rather than solar train roofs, said India’s minister for railways.

From pv magazine India.

Indian Railways – the nation’s largest electricity consumer, with 2.4% of total consumption, and the third largest high-speed diesel user, with 2.6 billion liters consumed annually – plans to become the world’s first 100% ‘green’ railway network in 10 years’ time.

The ambitious plan is an extension of Indian Railways’ bid to develop 1 GW of solar energy generation capacity this fiscal year – and meet 10% of its energy demand from renewables – and to hit the 5 GW capacity mark by 2025.

Announcing the 100% clean energy ambition in the Rajya Sabha upper house of the Indian parliament, minister for railways Piyush Goyal said Indian Railways plans to install 1 GW of solar and 200 MW of wind power plants across its national estate. The rail operator has already installed 88 MW of solar capacity and 103 MW of wind facilities.

“Indian Railways have already provided solar panels on [the] rooftop of 19 narrow gauge coaches and 40 broad gauge, non-air conditioned coaches which are presently in service,” said Goyal in a written reply to parliament. “Also, rooftop solar panels have been provided on 50 goods guard brake vans to supply electricity for [a] fan, light and a charging point for the guards.”

Carriage limitations

The minister, however, highlighted constraints on installing panels on top of train coaches. “The weight of solar panels on coach rooftops is an additional constraint,” said Goyal. “Hence, the provision of solar panels on [the] rooftop of train coaches is presently under [an] experimental stage and hence not considered for installation on all train coaches.”

Power output from panels on moving trains is affected by frequent changes in direction and shadows cast by trees and trackside buildings, he added.

Indian Railways plans to develop 30 GW of solar generation capacity on some of its 51,000 hectares of vacant land.

In its Decarbonizing Indian Railways report in 2017, Delhi-based non profit the Council on Energy, Environment & Water stated Indian Railways could install up to 5 GW of generation capacity by 2025, with about 1.1 GW from rooftop projects and 3.9 GW from utility scale assets. That would provide a quarter of the rail operator’s electricity from renewables.

Hitting that target would create thousands of clean energy jobs, generate $4 billion in private investment and contribute 5% of the national solar target of installing 100 GW of solar generation capacity, according to the rail operator’s Powering Indian Railways: 5 GW by 2025 study.