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Smart inverter adoption is generally slow nationwide, says Sunrun executive

William Driscoll — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 16:26:19 +0000

To greatly increase hosting capacity for distributed solar and storage, Sunrun executive Steven Rymsha calls for faster adoption of smart inverters using default settings, along with related consumer protections, and ultimately a plug-and-play experience for customers buying rooftop solar.

The pace at which states and utilities are requiring smart inverters for new distributed solar and storage installations “generally continues to be slow,” said Steven Rymsha, Sunrun’s director of grid solutions, public policy.

That matters because work in Hawaii, he said, has shown that hosting capacity for distributed solar and storage can increase by as much as 500% on a distribution circuit where smart inverters use default settings that regulate voltage. Hawaii’s main utility has greatly expanded its hosting capacity by requiring smart inverters that meet a global standard known as IEEE 1547-2018. Rymsha made his comments in an interview.

By regulating voltage, smart inverters enable more distributed solar and storage on a distribution circuit without the need for costly utility voltage regulation hardware. That’s true not just for a primary distribution circuit, Rymsha said, but also on a customer’s secondary circuit, or service connection from the customer’s service transformer—a circuit that may serve up to 10 or more customers.

In Hawaii, California and Illinois, the earliest adopters of smart inverter capabilities, Rymsha said “the research and the real-world experience” show that the IEEE default settings for the smart inverter functions known as volt-var and volt-watt “make a lot of sense.” Even before that, in the IEEE standards development process, he said the default settings were “well vetted by utilities and other stakeholders.”

Rymsha said that while the smart inverter settings being selected by states “should go through stakeholder processes,” enabling smart inverter voltage regulation functions quickly “is going to make interconnection easier for customers today and long into the future.”

Not-smart inverters

Eight states, along with certain utilities in 13 states, now require that distributed solar and storage installations use smart inverters that meet the IEEE 1547-2018 standard, according to a tracker maintained by the nonprofit group IREC.

Yet IREC’s tracker shows that some of the states and utilities that have adopted smart inverters specify that the inverters must use a volt-var setting that does not help control voltage on a distribution circuit. Without controlling voltage, the setting, which IREC’s tracker refers to as “unity power factor,” does not improve the circuit’s hosting capacity for solar and storage.

Rymsha noted that smart inverters also have functionalities that can support the transmission grid, and that settings enabling those functionalities are now required for newly installed smart inverters in the New England grid region ISO-NE. Yet the volt-var and volt-watt settings that regulate voltage on a distribution circuit “are still not being used across that entire region,” he said.

Other states, he said, are in a similar circumstance, as they are requiring the latest inverters, but without the voltage management settings enabled. “The pace of function activation should be accelerated,” Rymsha said.

Asked whether it would be feasible for a state to call for updating the settings in smart inverters used in rooftop solar systems after the systems are installed, Rymsha said that for inverters that have an internet connection, “I am aware of new grid codes being pushed to inverters, but the process in Hawaii to do this was complicated as it required customer consent in some form.”

Consumer protection

In Puerto Rico, where the distribution utility is expected to require smart inverters starting July 1, Rymsha said Sunrun is advocating for consumer protections as it participates in stakeholder discussions about smart inverters.

Rymsha anticipates the utility will require smart inverters to use the IEEE’s default volt-var and volt-watt settings, and if so, there should be “a consumer protection package, similar to what Hawaii has rolled out,” he said. California and Maryland have also set consumer protection packages when they required that both functions be activated, he added.

Hawaii, working in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, used a custom setting similar to the IEEE default setting for the volt-var function, and activated volt-watt for all customers, Rymsha said, “which really revolutionized the interconnection process for everyone.” Hawaii’s main utility uses advanced metering infrastructure data to monitor voltages, he said, plus the volt-watt function which enables curtailment to maintain voltage within the proper range when needed. But “if there is excessive curtailment, the utilities are responsible to upgrade the infrastructure within a predetermined amount of time.”

“We think something like that’s needed for Puerto Rico as well,” he said.

Plug and play

Beyond seeing “a lot of opportunity” to use smart inverter settings to enable greater adoption of distributed solar and storage, Rymsha sees an opportunity to “make it like buying any other product you like,” where a customer buys the product, “and very quickly it’s being delivered to your house and operating.”

“For a lot of customers today,” he said, their expectations start out “very high, and then when they get involved in the utility processes, delays can occur without any visibility from the development community—just big, big bottlenecks.”

“As we look to electrify society, we need to look at how we can radically change utility processes on the interconnection side, to really make distributed energy resources an attractive, consumer-friendly solution. And as these get built out at scale, there’s a lot of opportunities to provide grid services; ideally, that’s all packaged up front.”

Wendy’s enrolls in community solar to power 130 locations

Anne Fischer — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 14:00:40 +0000

Through a partnership with Ampion, Wendy’s restaurants will access renewable energy certificates to offset carbon emissions.

Community solar provider Ampion Renewable Energy is partnering with The Wendy’s Company to help the restaurant chain source renewable energy. By signing onto community solar projects, companies like Wendy’s support the generation of renewable electricity for local grids.

Nearly 100 company-operated Wendy’s restaurants and nearly 40 franchise restaurants in New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts are now enrolled in Ampion+, a product that enables organizations t secure renewable energy certificates (RECs). RECs are a green power procurement strategy that electricity consumers, such as Wendy’s, use to substantiate renewable electricity use claims.

The result of the agreement, according to Ampion, is that the enrolled restaurants will source between 30% and 100% of their energy from solar without the need to install solar panels onsite. Wendy’s plans to increase the number of restaurants enrolled in Ampion’s community solar program as additional solar generation capacity comes online and more franchise restaurants enroll in the program.

“We are excited about the opportunity this partnership provides our Company and franchise restaurant operators by making it easier and more accessible to source clean energy while ultimately realizing cost savings,” said Steven Derwoed, vice president, global design & construction at Wendy’s. “We are advancing progress toward our emissions reduction goals through community solar participation and RECs. It’s a win-win for the Company and our franchisees.”

Last year, Wendy’s set near-term science-based targets to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 47%, and Scope 3 emissions from franchisees by 47% per restaurant by 2030, from a 2019 baseline.

Through Ampion, Wendy’s locations have enrolled approximately 27.5 million kWh in community solar or the equivalent electricity needed for 2,200 homes for one year. Each kilowatt hour will be accounted for, tracked, and assigned ownership to a specific restaurant location via RECs through the Ampion+ product.

“As the need for reducing carbon emissions grows, community solar combined with RECs provides a solution for environmental sustainability in the corporate sector that is both achievable and affordable, while enabling companies to quantify and disclose their progress in a standardized manner,” said Nate Owen, CEO and founder of Ampion. “We’re seeing more large companies actively seeking sustainable solutions through community solar. This partnership with Wendy’s demonstrates that Ampion is able to support these organizations in reducing emissions and putting more renewable energy on the grid for local communities.”

Community solar is expanding rapidly in the U.S. with 22 states, including Washington D.C. that have policies supporting third-party shared or community solar. According to the Coalition for Community Solar Access, 6.6 GW of community solar generation capacity has been installed to date, and Wood Mackenzie’s most recent U.S. community solar market outlook predicts that there will be 14 GW power installed across the country by the end of 2028.

Earlier this year, Ampion surpassed 1 GW of community solar generation under management. Currently active in nine states and counting, Ampion acquires and manages subscribers of all types, from housing authorities, municipalities, and enterprises such as Wendy’s, to small businesses and residential subscribers. Ampion reports that it acquired thousands of low-to-moderate income subscribers in 2023, expanding access to those who need savings the most.

Cultural considerations for international solar expansion

Ryan Kennedy — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 14:14:32 +0000

Each region has a different way of doing things, whether it’s selecting sites, managing employees, or implementing manufacturing standards. Companies looking to expand into foreign markets need to be prepared to deal with these cultural differences, says Clean Energy Associates (CEA) Vice President Mark Hagedorn.

From pv magazine 6/24

Tariff and trade tensions, tempered by favorable industrial policies courtesy of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), have prompted multiple solar and storage manufacturers to announce plans to set up facilities in the United States, some for the first time.

To date, most firms eyeing US ventures are in China, reflecting the global dominance of Chinese PV and storage companies. Companies based in India are in the mix, too, followed by European producers and a roster of businesses from across Southeast Asia and South Korea.

With all this interest comes the realization that many business practices that are considered normal in the United States, differ – sometimes in big ways – from other parts of the world. Take employee parking, for example. Companies based in parts of the world where private vehicle ownership is not the norm may look at the acres of car park space at US manufacturing sites and see wasted potential.

On the other hand, some non-US employers are surprised when they hear worker dormitories are not standard at manufacturing sites. Or that the open labor market, not a government ministry, is the primary source for workers. Some find it a foreign concept that most Americans are willing to commute a significant distance to a job they secured on their own.

Other cultural differences include the layers of decision-makers who need to sign off on manufacturing plants, the subtle differences between product and equipment standards, and the emergence in some parts of the United States of opposition to any investments by Chinese companies.

Location and equipment

Site selection provides another challenge. Many available buildings were originally built for warehouse or distribution purposes. Such operations typically use little energy, at least when compared with solar and battery production lines. Electrical service upgrades often become necessary, with upgrades sometimes required all the way to the substation. In other cases, new substations need to be built from scratch.

That means the prospective manufacturer must work with local utilities to secure upgrades. Sometimes this can be done relatively quickly, with the utility able to locate transformers within a year.

However, equipment acquisition often proves more difficult. In the case of transformers and related substation equipment, wait times of several years are becoming more common. That means a non-US manufacturer needs to be something of a utility expert, able to understand and work not only across multiple business types (investor-owned, cooperative, municipal, and so on), but also with regulated or unregulated regimes which vary by state.

Even when it comes to commonplace equipment such as a facility’s air conditioner, lead times of two to three years are increasingly reported for 40-ton units and larger. Fewer than a dozen suppliers exist that manufacture equipment of this size for the US market and each typically produces only a handful of units each week, to meet global demand.

Matter of standards

Even for European companies, different quality, certification, and manufacturing standards need to be addressed. That’s because companies working in the European Union typically are more familiar with the bloc’s CE mark for health, safety, and environmental protection. Products that have received the CE mark are not automatically UL (Underwriters Laboratories)-listed for sale in the United States. In part, this is because some product types with the CE mark do not have to be third-party certified and are not necessarily compliant with US standards.

Rarely does a one-to-one equivalency exist so qualification testing often needs to be performed for European products and equipment to be used in the United States.

A further layer of complexity often exists here. The certification must satisfy not a federal or state official but, in many cases, an official as local as a fire marshal. These local code administrators are instrumental in deciding whether every aspect of a facility complies with a host of safety standards. Only after a fire marshal signs off can a manufacturing plant be occupied and begin production.

Multiple logistical issues can also surprise non-US firms. For example, an industrial site in the middle of the country might look like an ideal solution and then be rejected because it is too far from a deepwater port, which adds to transportation expenses and delays. Or an industrial site close to a deepwater port on one of the coasts may have an unacceptably large risk of suffering natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods. A site in the fast-growing and sunbaked Southwest of the United States may lack access to long-term, reliable water supplies.

Managing differences

Any company looking to base itself in the United States should develop a set of qualifying categories that rank the importance of a range of inputs, from available real estate to utility service upgrades to workforce availability, as they pertain to specific projects.

One outcome of such an exercise is that it’s rare for two seemingly similar businesses to favor the same site, let alone the same state. While many factory projects look the same from the outside, their specific needs can be quite different. One emerging factor is the policy – written and unwritten – in some states that discourages Chinese-owned factories. There are still states that welcome Chinese ownership, however.

At the federal level, there is the No Official Giveaways of Taxpayers’ Income to Oppressive Nations (NO GOTION) Act. This is a bill in the House of Representatives that would prohibit companies affiliated with certain regimes around the world from benefiting from IRA tax credits. It is likely that companies that have begun manufacturing prior to the bill’s passage will be affected differently.

Renewed interest in, and support of, domestic US solar manufacturing is opening attractive opportunities for foreign-based companies to set up production lines. Cultural differences exist, however, and need to be proactively addressed to help ensure a project’s profitability.

About the author: Mark Hagedorn is the vice president of manufacturing services for Clean Energy Associates.

Top solar panel brands in reliability, quality, and performance

Ryan Kennedy — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 20:15:16 +0000

Solar modules are evaluated in the Renewable Energy Test Center annual PV Module Index.

The Renewable Energy Test Center (RETC) released its 2024 PV Module Index report, evaluating the reliability, quality, and performance of solar panels.

Solar modules are put through a variety of accelerated stress tests to evaluate these parameters. Through comparative test results, project stakeholders can select products best suited for a particular environment, location, or portfolio.

To identify the best of the best, RETC reviewed and ranked the overall data distributions across three disciplines: quality, performance, and reliability. Find the overall top performers at the end of this report.

Reliability

Backsheet ultraviolet durability

Top performers: JA Solar, Longi Solar, SolarSpace

Backsheet ultraviolet durability (BUDT) incorporates a durability testing sequence to probe glass-on-backsheet PV module designs for vulnerabilities to UV exposure and prevent backsheet-related failures. This BUDT sequence starts with 1,000 hours of damp heat exposure to weaken polymeric bonds.

Highlighted top performers experience no backsheet cracking in the test.

Damp heat test

Top performers: Astronergy, ES Foundry, Longi Solar, Runergy, and Trina Solar

The RETC thresher test includes a damp heat test that exposes modules for 2,000 hours, double the amount required for product certification. The test evaluates a module’s ability to withstand prolonged exposure to humid, high-temperature environments. Taking place inside an environmental chamber, the test exposes modules to a controlled temperature of 85 C (185 F) and a relative humidity of 85% for a set amount of time.

RETC highlighted performers that experienced less than 2% degradation after this exposure.

Hail durability

Top performers: JA Solar, Longi Solar

RETC’s hail durability test takes UL and IEC standards testing a step further, exposing solar modules to higher kinetic impact to reflect the risk posed by hail over a 25 or 30-year operating life. In addition to ballistic impact testing, RETC runs thermal cycle and hot-spot tests to reveal potential long-term module degradation.

The top performers in this category withstood an effective kinetic energy of 20 Joules or more. These modules effectively demonstrated resistance to a 45 mm (1.8 in.) iceball traveling at a terminal velocity of 30.7 m/s (68.7 mph).

Potential induced degradation (PID)

Top performers: Astronergy, ES Foundry, GEP VN, Gstar, JA Solar, Longi Solar, Qcells, REC Solar, Runergy, SEG Solar, Silfab Solar, SolarSpace, Talesun, Trina Solar, VSUN Solar, and Yingli Solar

Potential induced degradation (PID) resistance tests rack-mounted modules in an environmental chamber, which controls temperature and humidity and exposes them to a voltage bias of several hundred volts with respect to the mounting structure for 192 hours (PID192 exposure). PID testing characterizes a module’s ability to withstand degradation due to voltage and current leakage resulting from ion mobility between the semiconductor and other elements in module packaging.

RETC required that PV module models withstand PID192 exposure with less than 2% degradation in maximum power. At the other end of the spectrum, it considered maximum power degradation greater than or equal to 5% a red-flag result.

Static and dynamic mechanical load test

Top performers: Aptos Solar, Astronergy, ES Foundry, Gstar, JA Solar, Longi Solar, Runergy, Silfab Solar, SolarSpace, Trina Solar, and Yingli Solar

This test exposes modules to 1,000 cycles of +1,000 pascal and –1,000 pascal loads at a frequency of three to seven cycles per minute. Measurements were taken after this stress test rate electrical performance.

This year, RETC required that PV module models withstand SDML exposure with less than 2.5% degradation in maximum power. It considered maximum power degradation greater than or equal to 5% to be a red-flag result. In this testing category, it notes that 68% of samples qualified as high achievers whereas 7% returned red-flag results.

Thermal cycling

Top performers: Aptos Solar, Astronergy, ES Foundry, Gstar, JA Solar, Longi Solar, Qcells, Runergy, SolarSpace, Trina Solar, and Yingli Solar

The thermal cycle test calls for cycling modules in an environmental chamber between two temperature extremes—85 C (185 F) on the high end and –40 C (–40F) on the low end. The RETC test runs 600 cycles, three times as much as the 200 required for certification.

About 67% of modules in this test achieved high performer status of less than 2% power loss, while 9% of tested brands had power losses of 5% or more.

Ultraviolet induced degradation (UVID)

Top performers: Trina Solar and VSUN Solar

UVID tests characterize a PV module’s ability to withstand ultraviolet induced degradation. This optional testing sequence exposes test samples to 220 kWh/m2 of UV exposure (UV220), nearly 15 times the UV exposure required for product certification.

Top performers withstand UV220 exposure with less than 2% degradation in maximum power. Red flag modules that degraded more than 5% represented 40% of brands tested.

“Alarmingly, we observed double-digit power loss in some mass-produced, commercially available PV modules, indicating that these products could degrade 10%–16% in the first three years of in-field operation,” said RETC.

Performance

Module efficiency

Top performers: Astronergy, Mission Solar, Qcells, REC Solar, and Silfab Solar

Module conversion efficiency is determined by dividing a product’s nameplate maximum power rating under standard test conditions by its total aperture area.

RETC has recognized manufacturers of PV module models with conversion efficiencies greater than 21% as test category high achievers. About 56% of tested modules were listed as high performers.

Incidence angle modifier

Top performers: Dehui Solar, ES Foundry, JA Solar, JinkoSolar, Longi Solar, Meyer Burger, Qcells, Runergy, Silfab Solar, and SolarSpace

Incidence angle modifier (IAM) is a performance characteristic that accounts for changes in PV module output based on changing sun angles relative to the plane of the array. To characterize IAM, RETC conducts electrical characterization tests at different incidence angles, ranging from 0° to 90°.

Manufacturers of PV module models with an IAM greater than 88% at a 70° angle of incidence were listed as test category high achievers.

LeTID resistance

Top performers: Astronergy, Gstar, JinkoSolar, Longi Solar, Runergy, SEG Solar, Silfab Solar, SolarSpace, Talesun, Trina Solar, VSUN Solar, Waaree, Yingli Solar

Relatively new cell technologies may experience long-term degradation associated with light exposure and elevated temperatures. This phenomenon, called light- and elevated temperature-induced degradation (LeTID), is tested with a protocol of light soaking, followed by 75 C (167 F) temperature exposure for two 162-hour cycles to identify significant degradation (>5%). Subsequently, test samples are subject to 500 hours of 75 C temperature exposure followed by two additional 162-hour cycles.

Highlighted top performers demonstrated products that had less than 0.5% power loss after 486 hours of exposure.

LID resistance

Top performers: Astronergy, GEP VN, Gstar, JA Solar, JinkoSolar, Longi Solar, Meyer Burger, Qcells, Runergy, SEG Solar, Silfab Solar, SolarSpace, Talesun, Trina Solar, VSUN Solar, Waaree, and Yingli Solar

Light-induced degradation (LID), or power losses from sunlight exposure, affects some PV cell types but not others. PV modules exposed to LID losses rapidly lose performance over the first few hours or days of operation before stabilizing. RETC notes LID resistance is highly correlated with cell type.

RETC required that PV module models withstand the LID sequence with less than or equal to 0.5% degradation in maximum power.

Module efficiency

Top performers: Auxin Solar, JA Solar, Longi Solar, Meyer Burger, Mission Solar, Qcells, REC Solar, Silfab Solar, Trina Solar, Yingli Solar

Module efficiency, or the percentage of incident solar energy converted to electrical energy, is a well-known and key metric for solar performance. It is highly correlated with cell technology and module design.

The top 14 highest scoring modules scored efficiencies of 20% or more. An n-type TOPCon cell scored the highest at 25.8% efficiency, followed by a monocrystalline silicon module with heterojunction technology, recording a 22.4% efficiency.

PAN file

Top performers: Astronergy, Gstar, JinkoSolar, Longi Solar, Qcells, Runergy, SolarSpace, Trina Solar, VSUN Solar, and Yingli Solar

PAN files are text-only software files that characterize PV module performance parameters in accordance with IEC 61853-1. RETC uses state-of-the-art equipment under controlled conditions to generate its third-party PAN files, which provide an independent and bankable characterization of PV module performance.

“These small files do a lot of heavy lifting in the context of the PV performance modeling used to inform project bankability assessments,” said RETC. “Once imported into industry-standard software, such as PVsyst, these independently verified module-specific performance parameters allow for accurate and bankable energy production estimates.”

The assuming filed test conditions of a 10 MW utility-scale solar plant in Midland, Texas with fixed tilt ground mounts and 500 kVA central inverters. Top performers in the PAN test achieved a performance ratio in PVsyst of 85% or greater.

Temperature coefficient

Top performers: Astronergy, JinkoSolar, Meyer Burger, Qcells, REC Solar, Runergy, and Silfab Solar

This performance characteristic accounts for changes in PV module maximum power, current, and voltage based on changing cell temperature conditions. Specifically, the temperature coefficient describes the percentage change in power for each degree Celsius (%/°C) relative to standard test conditions (25°C).

Modules with temperature coefficient values less than 0.3%/°C (absolute) were listed as test category high achievers.

Overall highest achievers

“Analyzing our annual PV module test results, 8% of models tested met RETC’s rigorous standard for our top accolade—namely, recognition as an ‘Overall Highest Achiever’—whereas 14% of models tested showed some sort of red flag,” said RETC.

Top performers (alphabetical order): Astronergy, ES Foundry, Gstar, JA Solar, Longi Solar, Runergy, SolarSpace, Trina Solar, and Yingli Solar

Siting solar projects for best environmental results

Michael Puttré — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 19:46:17 +0000

A new white paper from Clearloop identifies key U.S. regions for best carbon displacement impact of new clean energy projects.

A recent report by Tennessee-based carbon solutions platform Clearloop noted that private companies have contracted for 71 GW of new renewable energy capacity in the U.S. since 2014, which is enough electricity to power nearly 15 million homes. However, the distribution of solar and wind projects tends to cluster regionally, and not only because of the availability of wind and solar resources. State and utility renewable energy policies play a huge role in where new projects are sited.

Clearloop, which is a subsidiary of solar power producer Silicon Ranch, partnered with non-profit emissions data analysis firm WattTime to study how renewable energy projects – and solar in particular – could be sited to produce better environmental and even social outcomes. The resulting white paper, Curing Carbon Blindness, reinforces the important role of private sector action in growing renewable energy in the U.S. while at the same time saying such action can be better focused to achieve decarbonization goals.

By incorporating the principle of “emmissionality,” the report suggests, companies looking to purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) or offset to their carbon footprints should seek to contract with solar and wind projects in regions with the highest percentage of fossil fuel generation.

Under the current structure, all RECs are essentially created equal, meaning an offtaker in one part of the country can buy RECs from a project anywhere else. There are differences in regional markets, such as ERCOT, but this is generally how it works. Laura Zapata, co-founder and CEO of Clearloop and one of the authors of the carbon blindness report, said not all MWh of clean energy are created equal in terms of their environmental impact.

“We still get over 60% of our electricity in this country from fossil fuels,” Zapata told pv magazine USA. “And so, our goal is how do we build more solar projects in the most carbon intense communities, which also happen to be often the most underserved and disadvantaged communities.”

Unlike most countries, the U.S. does not have a single national energy grid. It is more like a continent with many regional grids of widely varying emissions characteristics. Some regions, such as California, have grids with high percentages of renewables, while others, such as in the southern Appalachians, have fossil-fuel-heavy generation.

There are great disparities in the percentage of fossil-fuel generation (top) and renewable-energy generation (bottom) across the United States. New solar projects in carbon intensive areas have more beneficial environmental effects.

According to the Clearloop report, turning on a light switch in eastern Kentucky will result in 54% more carbon emissions than turning on a corresponding light in Los Angeles. This same data show that a new solar plant located in eastern Kentucky will reduce emissions by 62% more than the same plant would in Los Angeles.

By combining historical irradiance data with WattTime’s marginal emissions data, Clearloop says it is able to model not only how much electricity a solar project is expected to supply the grid, but also the marginal carbon intensity of the power generation sources it is displacing in that region at specific times.

Zapata argues that the marginal difference in emissions that results when solar generation displaces fossil fuel generation should be a key factor in citing projects. Using WattTime’s emissions analysis methodology, Clearloop had identified the regions of the U.S. where new solar, the report’s main focus, would have the greatest decarbonization impact by reducing a like amount of fossil fuel generation sources.

The analysis also extends to voluntary carbon offset markets that rely on private carbon credit registries, such as Verra or Gold Standard. This enables a company to use the methodology for contracting with solar projects to offset its carbon footprint from activities other than electricity consumption, such as air travel.

“Our clients are not interested in the electricity,” Zapata said. “What they want is credit for the environmental impact of those electrons flowing into the grid. So, whether they count them as RECs or offsets, we’re sort of agnostic.”

More solar installations coming to U.S. military bases

Anne Fischer — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 19:02:53 +0000

In a partnership with Duke Energy valued at an estimated $248 million, the U.S. Department of Defense will be the exclusive purchaser of all output generated by two new solar facilities, which will serve five military bases.

With more than 300,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles, the U.S. Government is the nation’s largest energy consumer. As a part of the Federal Sustainability Plan that directs the Government to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the Government is quickly ramping up use of solar energy at military bases, five of which will soon be drawing electricity from two solar installations in South Carolina.

In a partnership with Duke Energy valued at an estimated $248 million, the Department of Defense (DOD) will be the exclusive purchaser of all output generated by two new solar facilities. The five military installations across North Carolina and South Carolina to benefit from the clean energy include Fort Liberty, USMC-Camp Lejeune, USMC-Cherry Point, USAF Seymour Johnson and USAF Shaw.

“DoD is leading by example on climate change in ways that will spur new clean electricity production, create good-paying jobs, increase our resilience to climate change, and enhance our national security,” said Andrew Mayock, Federal Chief Sustainability Officer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Duke Energy estimates that it will provide 135 MW and approximately 4.8 million MW-hours of renewable energy in both states over a 15-year delivery period. According to the DoD, these installations will achieve 75% of their 2030 carbon-free energy requirement. Fort Liberty, for example, will reduce its emissions from electricity by 27% compared to 2022, with cost savings possible by 2040. The two solar facilities, which are expected to become operational in 2026, will be developed, owned and operated by energyRe, according to Duke.

“This project is a great opportunity to assist our military departments and our warfighters in their decarbonization goals and is paramount to reaching our initial goals of Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability. DLA Energy is committed to supporting the administration’s clean energy initiatives and helping the military services and whole-of-government partners achieve their climate change goals,” said United States Air Force Col. Jennifer Neris, director of carbon pollution-free electricity for the Defense Logistics Agency.

Duke Energy reports that it currently owns, operates and purchases more than 5,100 MW of solar power on its energy grid in the Carolinas or enough to power nearly 1 million homes annually. North Carolina currently ranks No. 5 in the nation for overall solar power. With a portfolio of nuclear, hydro and renewable energy, the utility says more than half of its energy mix in North Carolina is carbon-free.

The DoD said in a statement that it will continue to seek partnership opportunities that enable the agency and other Federal partners to achieve President Biden’s carbon-free energy goals and build a robust, clean, and domestically based electricity supply chain by 2030.

“Our partnerships with utility companies are essential to delivering energy resilience for the Army,” said Rachel Jacobson, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment. “These partnerships are helping us put microgrids with carbon-free energy generation and storage on our installations. And our continuing collaboration with Duke Energy allows the Army to contribute to a more reliable commercial grid that strengthens the resilience of the defense communities where our soldiers, military families, and civilians live. I am proud of these partnerships and look forward to expanding them so that our installations always have access to the electricity we need to defend the nation.”

Utility-scale solar development: Good planning makes good neighbors

Anne Fischer — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 15:06:28 +0000

A recent study by Berkeley Lab, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University found that sharing plans for large-scale solar projects with local residents improves the perception of such sites.

From pv magazine 6/24

The United States has set a goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2035. To do so, a vast amount of land needs to be used for solar energy production. The US National Renewable Energy Lab estimates that if the United States were to meet all of its electricity needs with solar alone, around 10 million acres, or 0.4% of the area of the country, would be needed.

Solar siting can run into local opposition, so public perceptions need to be addressed. That was the subject of “Perceptions of Large-Scale Solar Project Neighbors: Results from a National Survey,” a report conducted by the Energy Markets and Policy (EMP) department at the Berkeley National Laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

The impetus for the study is the tremendous buildout of large-scale solar (LSS) plants (greater than 1 MW) across the United States. According to the US Solar Photovoltaic Database, as of November 2023 there were 3,676 solar projects with capacities of more than 1 MW, for a total generation capacity of 54.9 GW. As of 2022, there were more than 10 million US homes within 4.8 km of LSS plants.

Understanding the perceptions and attitudes of people who live near these installations can help with future deployment, according to Joseph Rand, lead author of the study and an energy policy researcher in the EMP department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

As no study had previously been done asking LSS site neighbors for input, the Berkeley group teamed up with the University of Michigan and Michigan State researchers to conduct a survey of residents who live within three miles of 380 unique LSS projects ranging in size from 1 MW to 252 MW in 39 states.

Rand noted that it is early in the analysis of survey results but the key takeaways at this point are that residents had more negative reactions to installations greater than 100 MW in scale. He said the planning process also plays an important role in perception, because if residents “thought the planning process went well, they were more positive overall.”

Part of the planning process is communication about a project. Rand said the biggest surprise in the survey results was that less than one-fifth of respondents actually knew about projects before construction.

A team from the University of Michigan sent out the questionnaire along with a map showing solar power plants in close proximity to survey recipients.

The survey asked several questions aimed at determining how LSS development impacted local tax revenue, supported local workers, or contributed to the local economy overall. On employment, only 18% of respondents thought an LSS project impacted local job opportunities, with 13% of respondents saying it increased employment opportunities and 5% that it decreased them. Almost half the respondents said there would be “no effect” on employment opportunities. Most respondents did not notice any short- or long-term economic impact, although the researchers found that these perceptions were tied to attitudes about projects overall. Likewise, most respondents did not believe that projects affected local inequities.

Researchers were interested in how LSS site neighbors can play a larger role in local development and the responses showed developers can do a better job of informing the public about plans so they can play a role in LSS projects. Questions asked whether respondents were aware of projects, whether developers offered opportunities for neighbors to participate in public meetings during the planning process, and to what extent they had participated.

While respondents did not prefer increased state-level decision-making in future LSS siting decisions, they did want more opportunities to participate in decision-making and liked the idea of having third-party advocates inform neighbors of the planning process and to intervene on their behalf.

In asking how LSS site developers might locate projects that were considerate of local land-use plans, as well as community needs and values, 42% of respondents said they would support additional LSS sites in their community – compared to 18% that would oppose it – but they preferred that projects be sited on disturbed locations such as landfills and former industrial sites, rather than in forests or on productive farmland.

Savvy developers and local officials can gain much from the in-depth report, Rand said. While attitudes in general were found to be more positive than negative, the survey found a significant amount of negativity around very large projects. This is a signal that, if building very large solar sites, “developers really want to listen to the public and do a thorough planning process so people are aware of the project,” Rand said. “If I were a developer, to help the public understand a project, it’s important that that information is provided from trusted sources.” Such sources are not energy developers or state policymakers, but university faculty and staff, or non-profit organizations.

NREL guide for anyone seeking more solar and storage in utility resource plans

William Driscoll — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 13:30:54 +0000

A guide to utility resource plans aims to help state regulators and others engage effectively with utilities in reviewing the plans, which have often been challenged for limiting solar and storage in projections of new generating capacity needed.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has published a guide to understanding the integrated resource plans (IRPs) that utilities prepare to project the generating capacity they will need in the future. Most states require utilities to develop IRPs, as shown in the map below reflecting requirements as of March 2022.

Screenshot

NREL’s guide was requested by the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), the National Association of Regulated Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the U.S. Department of Energy.

To develop an IRP, a utility uses a power system model together with data inputs and assumptions. A utility’s data, assumptions and modeling approach are often challenged by state regulators, solar trade groups, and nonprofit groups that make a case for including more solar and storage in the plan to achieve a least-cost, reliable system.

NREL says the guide “can help planners and stakeholders understand power system model results and ask the right questions of utilities” when reviewing utility resource plans. The guide is divided into beginner and advanced levels.

NASEO requested the guide to support state and territory energy offices in their work with the private sector “to accelerate energy-related economic development and support meeting state energy goals,” said Kirsten Verclas, NASEO senior managing director for electricity and energy security. To conduct that work, staff “need to have a profound understanding of energy modeling” and how utilities use models to plan for the “grid of the future,” she said.

Verclas said NASEO hopes the guide will enable energy offices “to ensure that utilities’ modeling approaches include state energy goals.”

Maggie Shober, research director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said that integrated resource plans “are notoriously difficult to understand, let alone engage in.” The NREL guides will help SACE make resource planning “more accessible to everyone,” she said. That could help regulators be more responsive to what members of the public are interested in, she said, such as deployment of solar and storage resources “at an accelerated pace and in an equitable manner.”

Wesley Cole, an energy analyst with NREL and point person for the guidebook project, said “more people are engaging in the utility planning process than ever before, and many are new to planning the grid with resources such as wind and solar.” He said the guide, beyond helping people “get up to speed,” can also “help everybody because it should lead to better decisions in the end.”

Three states have taken a step further on resource planning, as Arizona, New Mexico and Michigan now require utilities to make their resource modeling transparent. Those policies follow a proposal put forth by Anna Sommer, a principal of the consulting firm Energy Futures Group, for states to require transparent modeling to save consumers money. Under her proposal, each utility preparing a resource plan would provide to the state and selected intervening parties the data sets it used, a license to use the same model that it used, and a manual for that model.

The two-part NREL guide to resource plans is titled “Understanding Power System Model Results for Long-Term Resource Plans.”

The nonprofit Regulatory Assistance Project previously published a guide to integrated resource plans.

Sunrise brief: New York invests $5 million in agrivoltaics

pv magazine — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 12:00:15 +0000

Also on the rise: Solar module prices increase for first time in years. Texas gas station saves with solar. And more.

People on the move: 3E, Pure Power Engineering, Crux, CMBlu, and more Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

New York invests $5 million in agrivoltaics The Empire State seeks “active farming,” such as cattle grazing, cannabis, corn, foraging, or specialty crops, on solar power sites. Offers up to $750,000 per site for demonstration projects that share data publicly.

Texas gas station to save on costs with solar installation A Shell gas station is expected to save over $150,000 from a solar array installed on the roof of its pumping station.

Assessing solar asset operational risks A report from kWh Analytics shares new data on mitigating solar asset operational losses.

Solar module prices increase for first time in years, Anza reports Using its own database of price quotes, the Anza Q2 Pricing Insights Report highlights the first price increase in years as a result of AD/CVD petition and the reinstatement of bifacial import duties.

New York invests $5 million in agrivoltaics

John Fitzgerald Weaver — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:00:26 +0000

The Empire State seeks “active farming,” such as cattle grazing, cannabis, corn, foraging, or specialty crops, on solar power sites. Offers up to $750,000 per site for demonstration projects that share data publicly.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced that $5 million is now available for demonstration projects that co-locate solar and agriculture within the state. Each project can receive up to $750,000. The state aims to expand the body of knowledge on the technical and financial viability of solar agrivoltaic facilities.

Participants in the program must agree to share data on the projects, including costs, benefits, lessons learned, and to host educational events open to the public.

Applications can be submitted through the NYSERDA website September 12, 2024, at 3 p.m.

Agrivoltaic facilities that are part of a larger solar facility should submit their application accounting only for the solar power area that is part of the agrivoltaic experiment. For instance, a 5 MW solar facility that integrates corn cultivation within 1 MW of solar panels should apply as a 1 MW agrivoltaic facility.

Agrivoltaic projects must be a minimum of 100 kW and are limited to 5 MWac.

According to NYSERDA summary documentation, eligible crops, livestock, and livestock products include, but are not limited to:

Field crops, including corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, hay, potatoes and dry beans.
Fruits, such as apples, peaches, grapes, cherries and berries.
Vegetables, such as tomatoes, snap beans, cabbage, carrots, beets and onions.
Horticultural specialties, including nursery stock, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, and flowers.
Livestock and livestock products, including cattle, sheep, hogs, goats, horses, poultry, ratites (such as ostriches, emus, rheas and kiwis), farmed deer, farmed buffalo, fur bearing animals, wool bearing animals (such as alpacas and llamas), milk, eggs, and furs.
Maple sap.
Christmas trees derived from a managed Christmas tree operation whether dug for transplanting or cut from the stump.
Aquaculture products, including fish, fish products, water plants and shellfish.
Woody biomass, which means short rotation woody crops raised for bioenergy, and does not include farm woodland.
Apiary products, including honey, beeswax, royal jelly, bee pollen, propolis, package bees, nucs and queens. “Nucs” are defined as small honeybee colonies created from larger colonies, including the nuc box – a smaller version of a beehive, designed to hold up to five frames from an existing colony.
Actively managed log-grown woodland mushrooms.
Industrial hemp as defined in Section 505.

Projects that solely include pollinator-friendly ground cover, apiary installation and maintenance, sheep grazing, or crops for biofuel generation are not eligible.

The project application package includes a “General Eligibility Checklist.” A negative response to any of the questions on this form may disqualify the proposal from further consideration.

Source: NYSERDA

A variety of eligible groups, including solar developers, farmers, landowners, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and local governments, can submit projects. Individuals and business owners may also apply independently. Teams looking to enhance existing or under-development distributed solar projects must apply through the NY SUN portal and be certified as NY SUN contractors. Additionally, projects associated with the NYSERDA Large Scale Renewable program are eligible.

The total potential prize of $750,000 is split into two parts; it allocates up to $500,000 for funding incremental solar hardware to ensure the facility’s viability. The remaining $250,000 is designated to support the agricultural aspects of the project. Funding will cover no more than $0.50 per watt for the incremental costs of the solar power plant.

Sunrise brief: Utility-scale solar far less costly than the cheapest fossil fuel source

pv magazine — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 12:00:59 +0000

Also on the rise: Five Puerto Rico reservoirs could host 596 MW of floating solar. Weather-related damage to solar assets exceed modeling expectations by 300%. And more.

Flexible interconnection with curtailed output can benefit everyone, analyst says Allowing flexible interconnection for large solar projects can reduce costs and speed deployment, benefiting developers, ratepayers and utility staff, said a presenter at a North Carolina conference of utility regulators.

Startup launches online platform for residential PV system purchase Two-year old Monalee developed an online platform for homeowners looking to buy solar PV and storage systems. Its software enables the process from quotes to financing, installation and after-sales support.

Concentrator photovoltaic module based on surface mount technology A research group in Canada has optimized the performance of concentrator photovoltaics by using the so-called surface-mount technology for thermal management. The CPV module prototype utilizes four non-interconnected III-V germanium cells, a Fresnel lens, and a transparent glass printed-circuit board.

Five Puerto Rico reservoirs could host 596 MW of floating solar Potential sites for solar in Puerto Rico include reservoirs, brownfields, closed landfills, fossil generating plants after closure, and transmission rights of way, determined analysis by the National Renewable Energy Lab.

Cheapest source of fossil fuel generation is double the cost of utility-scale solar Solar levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) has fallen to $29 to $92 per MWh, said a report from Lazard.

List of top solar module manufacturers led by JA Solar, Trina Solar, Jinko Solar Wood Mackenzie says that JA Solar has taken first place on its list of solar panel manufacturers. Nine of the first 12 positions are held by Chinese manufacturers, seven of them could surpass 100 GW of capacity by 2027, and eight are self-sufficient in cell capacity, according to the research firm.

Largest ground-mount solar project in downtown Washington D.C. now operational The community solar installation at The Catholic University of America was built through a collaborative effort between the university and 1,200 local residents.

Largest ground-mount solar project in downtown Washington D.C. now operational

Anne Fischer — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 19:53:15 +0000

The community solar installation at The Catholic University of America was built through a collaborative effort between the university and 1,200 local residents.

The Catholic University of America, located in Washington D.C. was one of the first universities to sign on to the Laudato Si Action Platform, a global initiative to increase the Catholic church’s ecological practices. Not only has the University installed solar so that it can generate its own clean energy, but it has made sustainability part of its curriculum as well as part of its five-year plan.

The 7.5 MW solar project uses ZNshine solar modules, Chint Power Systems inverters and Solar FlexRack racking. The ground-mount installation is located on a 40-acre parcel, previously planned to be a parking lot, on the west campus of the University.

“This West Campus solar farm project is not just a renewable energy venture; it’s a testament to The Catholic University of America’s dedication to creating a sustainable future for our nation and world,” said President Peter Kilpatrick, Catholic University. “As we illuminate our campus with clean energy, we also enlighten minds through education and invite the community to join us on this transformative journey toward a greener and more sustainable world.”

Trees that once stood on the parcel were salvaged by the District of Columbia’s Urban Forestry Division and milled into lumber or made into benches to be donated to school and non-profits. Once the land was cleared for the solar area, the area was planted with pollinators and beekeepers will tend hives at the site.

All of this makes for an outdoor classroom for the Introduction to Energy and Energy Systems course as well as other sustainability courses taught at the University.

The solar array was developed in collaboration with Standard Solar, who will own, operate and maintain the system. The array will save an estimated 7.115 metric tons of carbon emissions annually and contribute to the city’s goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2032 and carbon neutrality by 2050.

The array will also provide clean energy savings to over 1,200 subscribers within the community, benefiting District residents. The 20-year projected savings to district subscribers is estimated at $3.5 million.

“Undertaking a project of this magnitude in an urban setting presents its challenges, but the potential rewards for the region are immense,” said Scott Wiater, president and CEO, Standard Solar. “The West Campus Solar Array will power the university sustainably and benefit the local community. It’s a true win-win scenario for all involved.”

Cheapest source of fossil fuel generation is double the cost of utility-scale solar

Ryan Kennedy — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 19:04:03 +0000

Solar levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) has fallen to $29 to $92 per MWh, said a report from Lazard.

Lazard released its annual report analyzing levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), a critical measure of cost-efficiency of generation sources across technology types. The report found that onshore wind and utility-scale solar have the lowest LCOE by a large margin.

LCOE measures lifetime costs divided by energy production and calculates the present value of the total cost of building and operating a power plant over an assumed lifetime.

“Despite high end LCOE declines for selected renewable energy technologies, the low ends of our LCOE have increased for the first time ever, driven by the persistence of certain cost pressures (e.g., high interest rates, etc.),” said Lazard. “These two phenomena result in tighter LCOE ranges (offsetting the significant range expansion observed last year) and relatively stable LCOE averages year-over-year.”

Onshore wind ranked as the lowest source of new-build electricity generation, ranging from $27 to $73 per MWh. Utility-scale solar was a close second, ranging $29 to $92 per MWh.

Utility-scale solar has had the most aggressive cost reduction curve of all technologies, falling about 83% since 2009, when new build solar generation had an LCOE of over $350 per MWh.

Image: Lazard

Solar at the utility-scale is far lower in cost than the LCOE of coal, the least-expensive source of fossil fuel generation. Coal LCOE ranges $69 to $169 per MWh, making it nearly double the average LCOE of utility-scale solar assets.

Meanwhile, natural gas peaker plants are highly inefficient in LCOE, ranging from $110 to $228 per MWh. Nuclear energy had the highest utility-scale LCOE with an average of $182 per MWh.

Image: Lazard

LCOE is a powerful measure to compare technology cost efficacy, but it does not tell the whole story. For instance, research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that wind and solar generation provided $249 billion dollars of climate and air quality health benefits from 2019 through 2022, or over $62 billion annually.

While utility-scale solar had the lowest LCOE, costs for smaller-scale distributed solar projects have fallen as well. Community, commercial, and industrial scale projects ranged $54 to $191 per MWh. Residential solar ranged $122 to $284 per MWh, making it a more expensive source of generation.

However, LCOE does not consider cost benefits like the lessened need for long-distance transmission buildout that occurs from distributed rooftop solar buildout. Environment America released a report assessing the co-benefits of rooftop solar, which can be found here.

Lazard also analyzed the cost impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes both generation-based Production Tax Credits, and project-based Investment Tax credits for renewable energy assets. The chart below models the cost impact on these technologies, as seen below.

Image: LCOE

Energy storage saw cost improvements from the IRA as well. Levelized cost of storage (LCOS) for a utility-scale, 100 MW, 4-hour storage system ranged $170 to $296 per MWh pre-IRA. Post-IRA, the low-end of the LCOS range landed at $124 per MWh.

Find the full ninth annual report from Lazard here.

Five Puerto Rico reservoirs could host 596 MW of floating solar

William Driscoll — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:58:19 +0000

Potential sites for solar in Puerto Rico include reservoirs, brownfields, closed landfills, fossil generating plants after closure, and transmission rights of way, determined analysis by the National Renewable Energy Lab.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has estimated that five reservoirs in Puerto Rico could host 596 MW of floating solar, although the costs would be about 25% higher than for ground-mounted solar. NREL published its analysis in a report and a technical annex.

The analysis grew out of a concern, NREL said, that “Puerto Rico’s commitment to achieving 100% clean energy by 2050 will require identification of suitable sites for new generation projects.”

An additional 190 MW of “economically viable” solar projects are possible across seven sites designated as “Superfund” sites by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the study found. For six of the sites, analysts assessed “how much grant money is needed” to meet economic targets for solar projects under municipality-owned and third-party owned models.

Image: Dennis Schroeder, NREL

In comparison to those estimates, both in the hundreds of megawatts, Puerto Rico has the potential for tens of gigawatts of both rooftop and large-scale ground-mounted solar, according to NREL’s “PR 100” summary report published early this year.

Across all residential buildings, Puerto Rico has the “technical potential” for 20.4 GW-dc of rooftop solar, that report estimated. A technical potential analysis does not consider the financial viability of projects. The U.S. territory reached 680 MW of rooftop solar last October.

Puerto Rico’s technical potential for utility-scale solar ranges from 14.2 GW under a “less land” scenario to 44.7 GW under a “more land” scenario, the PR 100 summary report said.

In both scenarios, modeled development of utility-scale solar was “restricted from” roadways, water bodies, protected habitats, flood risk areas, slopes greater than 10%, and agricultural reserves. But in the “less land” scenario, solar was also restricted from areas identified for agricultural use in the Puerto Rico Planning Board’s 2015 Land Use Plan.

NREL’s new analysis also estimated technical potential for 1–2.5 GW of solar across 160 contaminated sites, a total of 636 MW of floating solar on 55 water bodies, 213 MW of solar on 41 closed landfills, 78 MW of solar at two fossil generating plants once they are closed, and 21–50 MW of solar on transmission line rights-of-way.

The new NREL analysis adapted a methodology from an EPA decision tree tool titled “RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative.”

Startup launches online platform for residential PV system purchase

Valerie Thompson — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 14:24:23 +0000

Two-year old Monalee developed an online platform for homeowners looking to buy solar PV and storage systems. Its software enables the process from quotes to financing, installation and after-sales support.

From pv magazine Global

Monalee, a U.S.-based software company has developed a web-based platform to enable investing in residential rooftop PV and related home energy systems. The company serves consumer solar PV markets in the states shown on the map.

The software provides estimates, quotes, financing, permitting, installation, and interconnection services after the homeowner enters their address, current bill, and choice of PV or battery, or both. It also calculates savings, a subsidy or credit calculator, and after-sales support via an app.

“Ordering and completing solar purchases must move online because that is what consumers want. They are used to it, even for major purchases such as buying a car,” Monalee CEO and co-founder Walid Halty, told pv magazine, adding that the challenge with solar is the need for site visits to be able to develop the project.

Monalee solved the site visit challenge by tapping into geographical information system (GIS) data and imagery from Google Maps via an application programming interface (API), known as Solar API.

“But the Solar API covered only half of the U.S.,” said Halty, describing how the company partnered with earth imaging specialists that provided photogrammetry LIDAR and drone imagery data for wider coverage.

Deep learning techniques were applied to enable the software to detect roof edges, for example, or to identify building features, such as a chimney or air conditioning units.

Monalee is a licensed general contractor and master electrician in 24 U.S. states. It works with small to midsize installers as sub-contractors, as well as other partners, such as equipment suppliers and finance providers to supply the services sold via its platform, according to Halty, who said that the company has served 1,900 homeowners since its founding in 2022. He attributes it to the service being “less time-consuming” and “more economical” compared to conventional methods.

Monalee reports that it uses Mitrex 405 solar panels and Tesla inverters. It is also a Certified Tesla dealer and uses the Tesla Powerwall for residents who opt for energy storage.

Offering lower prices has led to some unexpected results. “We were surprised to see demand in parts of the country, like Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky, that are not typically big solar markets due to lower electricity prices. The largest market by volume are Florida and California, as expected,” said Halty.

Monalee has raised a total of $10 million in venture capital, with the most recent round closing in March 2024. The company has plans to expand to 35 states this year.

In case you missed it: Five big solar stories in the news this week

pv magazine — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 22:30:50 +0000

pv magazine USA spotlights news of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

Utility-scale solar is half the cost of cheapest form of fossil fuel-based energy Solar levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) has fallen to $29 to $92 per MWh, said a report from Lazard.

Eight states now require smart inverters, enabling more distributed solar Pennsylvania and Minnesota have joined six other states in requiring smart inverters for distributed solar and storage. Certain utilities in 13 states and Puerto Rico also require smart inverters, while six states are considering the requirement. Smart inverters enable more solar on distribution circuits.

RECOM & Solar Optimum Car Port Installation at Six Flags Magic Mountain

What solar modules are the best? 2024 PV Module Reliability Scorecard from ndependent test lab Kiwa PVEL names 53 manufacturers and 388 models–a record number of Top Performers in the ten-year history of the Scorecard.

World’s largest solar plant tops out at 3.5 GW China Green Development Group switched on the massive Midong solar project in Urumqi, China’s Xinjiang region. The project required an investment of CNY 15.45 billion ($2.13 billion).

Fronius unveils residential string inverter for rooftop solar The Fronius Gen24 inverter comes to North America after success in Europe.

IEA urges countries to accelerate renewables deployment

Patrick Jowett — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 19:30:02 +0000

A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggests that the world could miss out on a target of 11,000 GW of global renewables capacity by the end of the decade, as agreed at COP28. It also predicts that solar will become the world’s largest source of installed renewable capacity, surpassing hydropower.

From pv magazine global

The IEA‘s latest report outlines countries’ ambitions and implementation plans for renewable energy and notes that they are not aligned with the deployment goals set at COP28.

The COP28 Tripling Renewable Capacity Pledge: Tracking countries’ ambitions and identifying policies to bridge the gap, says only 14 of the 194 National Determined Contributions (NDCs) explicitly lay out 2030 targets for renewables capacity. The commitments equate to 1,300 GW of renewables by 2030 – 12% of the 11,000 GW required to meet the global tripling objective set at COP28 in Dubai. China accounts for almost 90% of this NDC total, having explicitly set a goal of 1,200 GW of wind and solar by the end of the decade.

The IEA reported that governments’ domestic ambitions for renewables surpass NDCs. An analysis of policies, plans, and estimates of almost 150 countries revealed an intention to install nearly 8,000 GW of renewables worldwide by 2030, representing 70% of the required amount to achieve the tripling goal by 2030.

To reach the 11 GW, the IEA said the pace of deployment “needs to accelerate” in most regions and most countries, including the European Union, the United States and India. The report noted the need for more deployment in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. It identified China’s renewables expansion as crucial to meeting the 11 GW target, with the country now on track to exceed its 2030 targets by 2.5 times.

“This report makes clear that the tripling target is ambitious but achievable – though only if governments quickly turn promises into plans of action,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “By delivering on the goals agreed at COP28 – including tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030 – countries worldwide have a major opportunity to accelerate progress towards a more secure, affordable and sustainable energy system.”

The report said that annual renewable capacity additions have tripled since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. The IEA attributed this to policy support, economies of scale and technological progress.

Solar accounts for half of the future capacity explicitly identified by governments across the world, the IEA said. It predicted that if countries meet their ambitions for 2030, installed solar capacity would surpass hydropower as the world’s largest source of installed renewable capacity.

The report identified the main challenges for renewables deployment, including lengthy permit wait times, insufficient investment in grid infrastructure, the need for quick and cost-efficient integration of variable renewables, and high financing costs, particularly in emerging and developing economies. It called for lower financing costs to improve the bankability of renewable projects and support projects in the pre-development phase.

In April, the IEA called for a sixfold increase in global energy storage capacity to enable the world to meet its 2030 targets.

Freight costs edge toward pandemic levels, hitting solar module costs

Patrick Jowett — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 15:23:46 +0000

Freight costs, which represent around 4% of a solar module’s total costs, are increasing on trade lines between the Far East and the US West Coast, Northern Europe, and Mediterranean region.

From pv magazine Global

Freight container shipping spot rates have increased to their highest level since 2022, according to data from Xeneta, a Norwegian ocean and freight rate benchmarking platform.

At the end of May, Xeneta said market average spot rates from the Far East to the US West Coast would reach $5,170 per forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) on June 1. The figure is 57% higher than in May and the highest that spot rates have been for 640 days, surpassing the peak seen during the Red Sea crisis earlier this year. Spot rates are expected to peak at $6,250/FEU on the Far East to US West Coast line in June, just shy of the Red Sea crisis peak ($6,260).

On the Far East to North Europe trade line, spot rates are set to exceed the Red Sea crisis peak, reaching $5,280/FEU, compared to $4,839/FEU on Jan. 16. This will be the highest rate on this line for 596 days and an increase of 63% since 29 April.

Xeneta noted a similar story on the Far East to Mediterranean trade line, where spot rates are expected to edge past the Red Sea crisis peak of $5,985/FEU to reach $6,175/FEU. This would be an increase of 46% on May and the highest rates on the trade for 610 days.

With freight costs representing around 4% of a solar panel’s total costs, the spot rate increase is likely to have a knock-on effect on PV module prices.

Xeneta said the market has been hit by the ongoing conflict in the Red Sea, port congestion, and shippers deciding to frontload imports ahead of the third quarter, which is the traditional peak season. Despite the latest spot rate increases, Xeneta’s chief analyst, Peter Sand, said the growth is not as rapid as during May, “which may hint toward a slight easing in the situation.”

“This cannot come soon enough for shippers who are already having their cargo rolled, even for containers being moved on long term contracts signed only a matter of weeks ago,” Sand said. “Carriers will prioritize shippers paying the highest rates. That means cargo belonging to shippers paying lower rates on long term contracts is at risk of being left at the port. It happened during the Covid-19 pandemic and it is happening again now.”

Sand said that freight forwarders are facing additional surcharges and are being pushed to opt for premium services to secure space on ships.

“In such cases they have no other option than to pass these costs on directly to their shipper customers,” he said. “Carriers will continue to push for higher and higher freight rates so the situation may get worse for shippers before it gets better.”

Sunrise brief: A new federal transmission rule won’t help renewables projects anytime soon

pv magazine — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 12:00:20 +0000

Also on the rise: The IRA effect on domestic supply chain. Solar carport to provide 100% electricity needs for Los Angeles Six Flags. And more.

Has the Inflation Reduction Act bolstered the U.S. solar supply chain? Wood Mackenzie is tracking the capacity that manufacturers have announced will come online in the U.S.; however, three challenges remain including a balance of materials, pricing and tariffs.

RFP alert: CAISO and TID seek renewable energy and storage projects Using the Ascend Analytics Energy Exchange, Turlock Irrigation District announces a request for proposals to meet its California Renewable Portfolio Standards and reliability goals.

A new federal transmission rule won’t help renewables projects anytime soon Although promptly deploying grid-enhancing technologies and advanced conductors could speed interconnection in the short term, a new federal transmission rule will improve interconnection only once new transmission is built, said panelists on a webinar.

ABB launches smart panel for home energy management In partnership with Lumin, the company released an electric panel with software for controlling solar, batteries, EV chargers, and more.

Researchers build 24.4%-efficient perovskite solar cells with room temperature process Researchers from the U.S. and South Korea have developed a method to make high-quality perovskite films at room temperature. The film was tested in a conventional perovskite solar cell architecture and the result was a power conversion efficiency of exceeding 24%.

Startup uses agricultural waste to produce low-cost, safe batteries U.S.-based start-up SorbiForce uses no toxic products or metals in production of its batteries. It claims its systems are cheaper and safer than lithium-ion batteries and have near zero end-of-life waste.

Solar carport to provide 100% electricity needs for Los Angeles Six Flags Recom Technologies was selected as the solar panel provider for the 12 MW solar carport.

Has the Inflation Reduction Act bolstered the U.S. solar supply chain?

Anne Fischer — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 13:48:22 +0000

Wood Mackenzie is tracking the capacity that manufacturers have announced will come online in the U.S.; however, three challenges remain including a balance of materials, pricing and tariffs.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 sets forth both demand and supply-side incentives to encourage solar manufacturing within the U.S., both in the form of production tax credits for manufacturers and investment tax credits for project developers using domestic content. While these incentives have driven a rush of investments on U.S. lands in from major global solar component providers, Wood Mackenzie takes a look at whether the IRA is paying off in terms of growing a supply chain that includes solar components such as wafers, cells, modules and more.

According to Michelle Davis, head of global solar at Wood Mackenzie, the IRA has successfully promoted domestic solar manufacturing investment. Wood Mac is looking at 144 GW of announced module manufacturing capacity, 71 GW of cell manufacturing capacity and 61 GW of wafer manufacturing capacity by 2027. Compare this to the 26 GW of module capacity we have today, along with no wafer or cell production.

But announced versus expected are two different things, and several challenges put the buildout at risk. Wood Mac predicts only about 45% of module capacity, 25% of cell capacity, and 5% of wafer capacity will come to fruition.

According to Davis, “Some investments will fall through and less experienced companies won’t have the expertise and wherewithal to execute on their plans”.

The first challenge, she notes, is seen in the discrepancy between the capacity of modules being produced in the U.S. compared to cells and wafer. As a result, the domestic industry will continue to rely on imports for these upstream materials.

While announced capacity of 71 GW of cell manufacturing and 61 GW of wafer manufacturing could come online by 2027, cell and wafer facilities are much more expensive and complex plants to build. Davis said that because the likelihood of success is lower than with module manufacturing plants, the U.S. solar industry will continue to rely on imported cells and wafers.

The second challenge, according to Davis, is that very few of the “other” solar components are made in the U.S. and this includes glass, backsheets, frames, junction boxes and more. As demand increases, capacity will grow—but it will take time.

One example is U.S. dependence on aluminum module frames, which are mostly imported from East and Southeast Asia, and the report notes that they are all made from carbon-intensive aluminum. A report produced by Wood Mackenzie and Origami Solar, a manufacturer of steel frames, says that if the U.S. solar industry switched from aluminum to recycled steel frames, it would no longer be dependent on foreign imports because “the massive, well-established U.S. steel industry is positioned to easily meet the demand of domestic manufacturers with a more reliable, durable, less carbon-intensive, and readily available product”.

A third challenge is price. With overseas manufacturers expanding stockpiles, oversupply is causing steep price competition, according to Davis, and U.S. manufacturers are selling modules at a loss to compete.

[Also read Solar wafer prices continue to soften, complex international trade situation sparks concerns.]

In response to the price competition, the Department of Commerce initiated its investigation for alleged antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) infractions in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia. Historically, tariffs have ranged as high as 50% to 250% of the cost of shipped goods. The International Trade Commission (ITC) must make a preliminary determination by June 10, 2024, on whether the domestic industry has suffered injury from import of dumped goods.

These issues and challenges will be discussed in the upcoming Wood Mackenzie’s Solar and Energy Storage Summit June 12 to 13 in San Francisco.

Sunrise brief: Fronius unveils residential string inverter for rooftop solar.

pv magazine — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:11:26 +0000

Also on the rise: Vermont becomes first state with Climate Superfund Act. Solar project developers face opposition from Joshua Tree conservationists. And more.

PVRadar offers solar project risk assessments factoring in historical climate data PVRadar Labs has expanded its software platform to include PV project risk assessment functionality, reportedly enabling more realistic performance estimates based on historical climate data.

JinkoSolar claims 33.24% efficiency for perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells JinkoSolar says it has achieved a 33.24% efficiency rating for its perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, confirmed by the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Vermont becomes first state with Climate Superfund Act The Vermont legislation intends to hold fossil fuel corporations responsible for climate change.

Fronius unveils residential string inverter for rooftop solar The Fronius Gen24 hybrid inverter comes to North America after success in Europe.

Solar project developers face opposition from Joshua Tree conservationists The site of the Aratina Solar Center in Kern County, California, is home to western Joshua trees, and therefore the developer has to comply with the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act that was enacted in July 2023. Incidental Take Permits authorize renewable energy developers to remove trees with an option to pay a standard mitigation fee rather than complete mitigation actions.

Texas to host 300 MW of geomechanical energy storage projects Quidnet Energy, a provider of geomechanical energy storage (GES) technology, has joined hands with distributed energy resources developer Hunt Energy Network to deliver 300 MW of storage projects in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid operating region.

In case you missed it: Five big solar stories in the news this week

pv magazine — Fri, 31 May 2024 22:00:02 +0000

pv magazine USA spotlights news of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

Texas is uniquely suited to adopt virtual power plant technology A panel of experts at the RE+ Texas conference in Houston, spoke on VPP progress in the state, which already has 16 MW of energy resources and 7 MW of non-spin flexible demand enrolled in VPP programs.

California Public Utilities Commission ‘misguided’ vote may derail state’s community solar potential Coalition for Community Solar Access says the 3-1 vote ignored the will of the California Legislature and the broad coalition of ratepayer, equity, environmental, labor, agricultural, and business groups who have demanded a functional community solar program for more than a decade.

REC introduces 640 W commercial solar panel The new product contains heterojunction cell technology (HJT) with up to 22.5% efficiency.

Cowboy Solar, largest solar project in Wyoming moves forward The $1.2 billion project will be built by Enbridge, with 771 MW expected to be fully operational by 2027.

Battery energy storage tariffs tripled; domestic content rules updated Breaking down U.S. market impacts on energy storage from recent policy changes with insights from Clean Energy Associates.

Sunrise brief: Sharp unveils new TOPCon solar modules.

pv magazine — Fri, 31 May 2024 11:37:53 +0000

Also on the rise: Producing hydrogen fuel from solar power and agricultural waste. Research shows that solar is good for your health. And more.

People on the move: Catalyze, SaskPower, Pineapple Energy, and more Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

Sharp unveils new TOPCon solar modules The Japanese electronics manufacturer has launched the NU-JC440 and NU-JC430B panels with efficiencies of 22.53% and 22.02%, respectively. Both products are IEC/EN61215 and IEC/EN61730-certified and rely on M10 wafers.

Apricus Generation buys stake in Nexus Renewables U.S.-headquartered Apricus Generation says it has acquired a controlling stake in Toronto-based Nexus Renewables – its first strategic acquisition.

Producing hydrogen fuel from solar power and agricultural waste Using 600% less voltage to produce hydrogen, a research team at the University of Illinois Chicago has developed a new method for splitting water.

Research shows wind and solar produce tens of billions in U.S. health benefits per year Lawrence Berkeley National Lab says benefits from lowered emissions are larger than most prior estimates.

PVFarm launches online tool for early stage PV project planning U.S.-based PVFarm has released a web-based application for large-scale solar PV project planning at the early stage. It includes real-time energy models and building information model (BIM) features, reportedly supporting PV plant electrical, mechanical, civil, energy, and procurement aspects.

Sunrise brief: California community solar in peril

pv magazine — Thu, 30 May 2024 12:00:46 +0000

Also on the rise: Technology-neutral proposed tax credit called ‘game-changing policy’. Less than 3% of farmland could power the Midwest. And more.

Strategies to address thermomechanical instability of perovskite solar modules A U.S. research team has investigated the thermomechanical reliability of metal halide perovskite (MHP) modules and cells in an effort to identify the best strategies to improve their stability under thermomechanical stressors. The scientists discussed, in particular, film stresses, adhesion of charge transport layers, and instability under light and heat.

Shedding light on tandem perovskite solar cell progress Perovskite tandem devices are at the front of the queue for commercialization but their characterization presents technical challenges.

Grid analysts challenge Bonneville Power’s pace in adopting advanced conductors As the White House encourages utilities to use advanced conductors to help interconnect new renewable generation, the federally-owned utility Bonneville Power is moving slowly to use the high-capacity conductors, analysts said.

Less than 3% of farmland could power the Midwest An analysis by the Center for Rural Affairs illustrates how using a small fraction of Midwest farmland for solar energy could meet significant renewable energy goals by 2050, dramatically enhancing the financial stability of farms, and challenging traditional views on land use.

Technology-neutral proposed tax credit called ‘game-changing policy’ The U.S. Treasury Department has issued further proposed guidance on the IRA, detailing a path to support a broad array of technologies–including solar– with tax credits, and clarifying many additional tax-related items in its latest guidance.

CPUC’s revised proposed decision could decimate California’s community solar market Just as an increasing number of states are implementing pro-active community solar policies, the California Public Utilities Commission is set to vote on a revised proposed decision that fails to seize on the opportunity to create a vibrant market, according to the Coalition for Community Solar Access.

DOE funding available for distributed energy resource operations software The Department of Energy announced $31 million in funding for research to improve distribution level grid operations of solar, wind, energy storage, and other inverter-based resources.

REC introduces 640 W commercial solar panel The new product contains heterojunction cell technology (HJT) with up to 22.5% efficiency.

DOE funding available for distributed energy resource operations software

Ryan Kennedy — Wed, 29 May 2024 18:07:01 +0000

The Department of Energy announced $31 million in funding for research to improve distribution level grid operations of solar, wind, energy storage, and other inverter-based resources.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) announced a new $31 million funding opportunity called the Solar Technologies’ Rapid Integration and Validation for Energy Systems (STRIVES) program.

The program is intended to fund research, development and demonstration of projects that simulate distribution-level power system operations and demonstrate new business models for coordinating inverter-based resources like solar generation, wind generation and battery energy storage, and other resources like buildings and electric vehicles.

“The large-scale deployment of clean energy technologies is driving a transition to a digitally controlled, decentralized, and distributed electric grid that will require coordination of large numbers of diverse and geographically dispersed assets,” said DOE.

The funds come as part of a collaborative effort with the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which has earmarked more than $100 million for field demonstration projects supporting improved planning and operations of the grid.

Topic areas for the $31 million STRIVES program include:

Robust Experimentation and Advanced Learning for Distribution System Operators

8-10 projects, $2.5-3 million each

Projects in this topic area will design and perform field demonstrations of distribution system operator models that consider technology development and the roles of non-traditional stakeholders in potential distribution electricity services and markets.

Improved Simulation Tools for Large-Scale IBR Transient and Dynamic Studies

4-5 projects, $1-2.5 million each

Projects in this topic area will develop and demonstrate software tools and methodologies to improve the ability of power systems engineers to accurately and efficiently model the dynamics of power systems with large amounts of geographically dispersed inverter-based resources.

DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office will hold a webinar June 10, 1:00 p.m. EST to address questions about the funding opportunities. Webinar registration link here.

Submissions for concept papers are due July 25, 2024, while full applications are due October 17, 2024. Awards would be negotiated between March and June of 2025. More information on how to get started can be found here.

Less than 3% of farmland could power the Midwest

John Fitzgerald Weaver — Wed, 29 May 2024 14:47:11 +0000

An analysis by the Center for Rural Affairs illustrates how using a small fraction of Midwest farmland for solar energy could meet significant renewable energy goals by 2050, dramatically enhancing the financial stability of farms, and challenging traditional views on land use.

The Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA) has released an analysis, Sifting through Solar: Land-Use Concerns on Prime Farmland, which discusses the potential expansion of solar power by 2050 on Midwest farmland.

The report highlights that solar projects have generated 147,000 rural jobs and delivered substantial land lease payments to farm owners, with farm owners in Iowa receiving $73.4 million in 2022 alone.

According to the CFRA, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Futures study estimates that by 2050, 1,600 GW of solar power will be needed to fulfill 40-45% of electricity demand, with 210 to 420 GW anticipated to be installed in the Midwest. The analysis further notes that if all the projected solar capacity for the Midwest were installed solely on farmland, totaling 114.8 million acres, “it would only occupy 1.45% to 2.90%” of farmland.

Moreover, a significant portion of land is neither considered prime farmland nor currently used for agriculture at all.

Challenges

The CRFA highlights Iowa, notable not only for its extensive ethanol production but also for significant resistance to solar development. Repurposing these ethanol-producing lands for solar could theoretically power the entire U.S., including all electric vehicles and heating systems.

The analysis identifies two technical land designations, “prime farmland” and “corn suitability rating” (CSR), as potential barriers to placing solar installations. These designations could be overly restrictive under current policies.

In Minnesota, advocates contend that the classification of prime farmland, established in the 1980s to curb the spread of coal and nuclear facilities, is outdated. Unlike these facilities, solar installations do not permanently alter the land and can be decommissioned, allowing the land to return to its original farming use after lying fallow, potentially improving its condition for future agricultural use.

In Iowa, proposed legislation aimed to limit solar installations to land with a CSR value of 65 or less failed to pass. Had it passed, placing solar installations on 65% of the state’s farmland would have been illegal, and a large portion of the remaining 35% was considered less than viable for solar due to various land characteristics.

CFRA’s efforts to address land use concerns could be deployed as part of an effective comprehensive educational strategy. Stakeholders must understand the significant income potential from solar installations alongside the threats posed by local anti-solar legislation to the financial security of family farms.

Financial comparisons and community impact

Considering the attractive solar lease rates, dedicating even a small percentage of farmland to solar energy can substantially enhance a farm’s financial stability. For example, in 2023, the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that non-irrigated cropland cash rent averaged $269 per acre in Iowa and $259 in Illinois. High-quality farmland can command rents over $400 per acre, while the least profitable farmlands fetch as low as $58 per acre.

Contrast these figures with the typical solar lease in these states, ranging from $750 per acre for up to hundreds of acres to as much as $3,000 per acre for up to 20 acres.

Community solar programs, which tend to lease fewer acres, offer higher rates ranging from $1,200 to over $5,000 per acre depending on the state. For example, a farmer with 400 acres who converts their least productive 15 acres – representing 3.75% of their land – for a 2 MWac community solar farm could see annual earnings surge to $45,000. This amount is approximately 11.5 times the previous earnings of $3885 from these acres, based on the average cash rent of $259 per acre in Illinois.

Even at the lower end, solar leasing would at least double the cash rent of the most lucrative farmland and could provide a dramatic increase for less profitable lands. For instance, in Johnson County, Illinois, land renting at $58 per acre could see income increase 13-fold with a $750 per acre solar lease rate.

To achieve 1,600 GW of solar capacity in the U.S., just over 10 million acres would be required, of which 1.2 million to 2.5 million acres would be utilized from the Midwest’s almost 700 million acres of total land area.

With 10,300,000 acres available nationally for solar installations, projected land lease revenues available to owners would range from $7.725 billion annually to an impressive $30.9 billion, with billions in lease revenues available in the Midwest.

To further harmonize solar development with agricultural land use, several strategies can be implemented:

Enhancing biodiversity: Planting native or perennial vegetation under panels can improve soil health and provide pollinators and wildlife. Sites managed with native vegetation have been shown to have a restorative effect on the environment.
Integrating agrivoltaic practices: Agrivoltaic practices such as livestock grazing, crop growing, and beekeeping allow land to remain in agricultural use while simultaneously producing energy.
Ensuring land restoration: Solar projects have a minimal impact on land quality, and the land can be restored to its original farmland state at the end of the project’s life cycle, estimated to be between 30 to 35 years.
Implementing decommissioning plans: Once solar arrays reach the end of their life cycles, county decommissioning plans should mandate the restoration of the pre-construction environment.
Combating disinformation Campaigns: Washington-based, fossil fuel-associated, groups such as Susan Ralston’s “Citizens for Responsible Solar’‘ focus on inciting controversy and disseminating misinformation. These groups actively work to influence local governments to impose bans and legislative limitations on solar projects.

Grid analysts challenge Bonneville Power’s pace in adopting advanced conductors

William Driscoll — Wed, 29 May 2024 14:28:46 +0000

As the White House encourages utilities to use advanced conductors to help interconnect new renewable generation, the federally-owned utility Bonneville Power is moving slowly to use the high-capacity conductors, analysts said.

Grid analysts have said that the Bonneville Power Administration, a generation and transmission utility owned by the U.S. Government that serves northwestern states, is moving too slowly to adopt advanced conductors.

Advanced conductors are high-capacity conductors that can replace existing conductors on existing transmission towers.

BPA has “begun the process” to analyze and qualify advanced conductors to increase the capacity of its grid, the utility said in January, adding that the process “can take months or years of physical testing and analyses.”

Analysts at Energy Innovation and GridLab challenged BPA’s approach and that of many other transmission providers, saying that “studying the technology itself rather than relying on real-world deployments or other peer organizations’ testing to approve the technology appears to be the status quo among transmission organizations. This ‘bottom-up’ adoption strategy considerably slows integration of many emerging technologies, not just advanced conductors.” They said BPA’s approach is commonly used at other utilities as well.

The analysts presented their views in a companion report to a technical analysis that found reconductoring could enable 764 GW of transmission-connected solar by 2035.

The U.S. Department of Energy last month flagged reconductoring as having substantial potential to increase transmission capacity, in a “liftoff” report calling for a national collaboration to deploy such technologies.

The White House this week announced a federal-state initiative involving 21 states to modernize the grid, in alignment with its effort to mobilize public and private sector leaders to upgrade 100,000 miles of transmission lines over the next five years. Substantial federal funding for reconductoring is available through three programs made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

One indicator of reconductoring’s potential within BPA’s service area is that from 2000 to 2023, the utility completed six high-voltage projects that enabled interconnection of 7 GW of wind power and 525 MW of solar.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s recent Order 1920, which requires utilities to develop and periodically update a long-term transmission plan, requires each utility to “consider” advanced conductors when developing their plan.

Texas is the proving ground for a new way of electric grid operation

Ryan Kennedy — Tue, 28 May 2024 21:07:44 +0000

Texas is uniquely suited to adopt virtual power plant technology due to its competitive, deregulated market. Its success highlights the "perverse incentive" of vertically integrated utilities in other states to make capital expenditures without discretion to raise profits.

Texas has a unique electric grid. Its grid operation organization, ERCOT, is independent of other states and deregulated, making the state open for business for a market-based approach toward energy generation and transmission.

Texas has been a favorite among utility-scale solar PV developers for a long time, thanks to its business-friendly environment and its lack of substantial local permitting regimes. The state is also operating as a proving ground for the buildout of a more nascent industry: virtual power plants (VPP).

VPPs are defined by their distributed and connected nature. Rather than transmitting power over long distances from a centralized power plant, VPPs use smart software to control a variety of connected energy assets like rooftop residential solar, battery energy storage, smart heating and cooling, and appliances. Homeowners with eligible VPP assets are compensated for exporting power or reducing use at electricity demand events throughout the year.

A panel of experts at the RE+ Texas conference in Houston, spoke on VPP progress in the state. The discussion opened with Stuart Page, senior consultant, Department of Energy (DOE) Loans Program Office asking the audience whether they were currently enrolled in a VPP program. Only two people in a room of hundreds raised their hands. Page then asked how many in the audience had heard of VPP, and most conference attendees raised their hands.

“I bet every single one of you has an energy resource or utilization than can be controlled by an app,” said Page. “Yet none of you are enrolled, despite the fact that there are discounts with your electric bill associated with it.”

Page said that part of the issue with VPP participation is the complexity of programs. Often, they require an opt-in, where the customer must choose to join the VPP program. Page said that VPP providers should instead choose an opt-out model, where customers are automatically enrolled in the program when they buy a smart device like a thermostat or a home battery. He cited a DOE experiment where an automatic enrollment model with an opt-out option increased participation by 400%.

So why are virtual power plants important? VPPs enable intelligent, local distribution of power, sending what is needed when it is needed. VPPs typically support reducing electricity use during times of peak demand, providing a critical service that may be one of the most important low-hanging fruits to pick in the nation’s progress towards decarbonizing energy and lowering energy costs.

VPP technology has shown immediate promise in replacing natural gas “peaker plants” on grids, replacing or preventing the buildout of new resources that are among the dirtiest, most expensive, and least efficient on the grid today.

The virtual power plant commercial liftoff report released by the Department of Energy said that between 2023 and 2030, coincident peak demand on the grid will rise by about 60 GW, from roughly 740 GW to 800 GW of demand.

“At the same time, fossil assets are retiring,” said the report. “Roughly 200 GW of peak-coincident demand must be served with new resources coming online by 2030. Tripling the current scale of VPPs could address 10-20% of this peak demand. This could avoid about $10 billion in annual grid costs, and much of the money that is spent on VPPs would flow back to participating consumers.”

Texas proving ground

Even in a room full of energy industry members and experts, almost nobody attending the RE+ Texas panel session admitted to being enrolled in a VPP. The biggest barrier to adoption has been the creation and implementation of a standardized VPP program, which many states lack.

To automatically enroll customers at the point of purchase as Page suggested, a program needs to be in place to enable it. Sterling Clifford, director of government affairs, Sunnova Energy, a VPP provider shared that many state utility regulators have said VPP technology is a “long way off.”

“But it doesn’t have to be,” said Clifford. “The beginning of the process to the launch of the product was 12 months (in Texas).”

Texas already has 16 MW of energy resources and 7 MW of non-spin flexible demand enrolled in VPP programs.

Part of what enabled such a quick launch of the program was necessity. Ryan King, manager, market design, for the ERCOT said the catastrophic Winter Storm Uri in early 2021 forced the grid operator to look for new sources of reliable, dispatchable supply at the distribution level, while reducing transmission and distribution costs and increasing grid resiliency. ERCOT landed on VPPs as a solution.

Another aspect of Texas’ readiness to adopt VPP programs are its electricity-savvy customers. Texas homeowners and renters are already used to making energy decisions at home, as frequently have to shop for new electricity contracts via a Retail Electricity Provider (REP). Contracts typically last a year or two, similar to how a VPP program enables short-term enrollment.

Texas was also already uniquely well-suited to integrate a VPP program, said King, as ERCOT is already able to value an avoided kWh of electricity, or a dispatched one. This type of valuation is enabled by Texas’ deregulated market, which allow various resources to participate in the market more freely than utilities in other major markets.

Texas has only just begun its VPP enrollment and already has a combined 23 MW of flexible capacity online. King said that VPP compensation for homeowners is “the closest thing to a free lunch,” and that once further program requirements are ironed out, growth will be “exponential.”

As for other states, it may prove more difficult to roll out VPPs. While ERCOT has a transparent market where avoided costs of demand reduction and the value of distributed electricity can be directly understood, other states, like California, have a highly vertical electricity market, where cost allocation reporting is murky.

“A vertically integrated utility – we should just call it a monopoly because that is what they are – don’t always tell the truth about what the exact costs are,” said Clifford.

For Texas, a highly competitive free market have opened the door for adoption of new technologies like VPP. In vertical markets like California, “perverse incentives” may close that door.

DOE’s Stuart Page explained how VPPs lower costs both for grid operators and for ratepayers, but that investor-owned utilities have a disincentive to properly manage their spending habits.

“We have a rate-based system, which means, instead of shaving the peak of my load, we can just build out new stuff,” said Page. “If I can spend $10 billion on that, I get a rate-based profit margin on it. So, I want to spend tons of money. If I use a VPP approach or any other ‘smart’ approach, I don’t get an increase in my profits. So, there’s a perverse incentive for utilities to participate, and we have to change that.”

21 states accept the grid modernization challenge

Anne Fischer — Tue, 28 May 2024 19:05:52 +0000

The Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment initiative aims to shore up the U.S. energy grid to prepare for both challenges and opportunities in the power sector.

The Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative received commitments from 21 states. The program aims to bring together states, federal entities and power sector stakeholders to help modernize the U.S. power grid in order to meet an onslaught of both challenges and opportunities the sector will face in coming years.

The 21 states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

These states have committed to prioritizing efforts to adopt modern grid solutions to expand grid capacity and build modern grid capabilities on both new and existing transmission and distribution lines.

“American economic competitiveness globally relies on access to low-cost, reliable power. The Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative announced earlier today and already supported by 21 states, is meaningful progress toward the upgraded and better-connected transmission system that lies at the heart of the vision of ACORE’s Macro Grid Initiative,” said Ray Long, President and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). “This announcement builds on the commendable commitment to upgrade 100,0000 miles of existing transmission lines by utilizing public-private partnerships to deploy readily available technologies, such as grid enhancing technologies and high-performance conductors.

U.S. power grid used today was built in the 1960s and 70s. The aging grid struggles to handle the extreme weather events caused by climate change, let alone the renewable energy needed to meet energy goals. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 70% of transmission lines are over 25 years old and approaching the end of their typical lifecycle.

In the past, expanding the capacity of the U.S. power grid had relied on building new transmission lines with technologies that have not changed since the mid-twentieth century. However, with today’s new modern grid technologies such as high-performance conductors and grid-enhancing technologies enable double or more the amount of power than is handled on today’s transmission lines, the grid can be upgraded quickly and in a cost effective manner compared to constructing new transmission lines.

States can receive technical and analytical assistance from the U.S. Climate Alliance. In conjunction the Department of Energy(DOE) has many technical assistance programs that aim to support analysis for utilities, policy makers, regulators, state energy offices, and other stakeholders.

Funding to help states deploy advanced grid technologies is made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). For example, the DOE’s Grid Deployment Office is administering $10.5 billion in competitive grant funding through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program.

The DOE Loan Programs Office has $250 billion of loan guarantee authority to provide low-interest financing to projects that upgrade existing energy infrastructure, with program guidance that highlights reconductoring as a qualifying project example. The Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program provides $9.7 billion in low interest loans or grants and represents the largest investment in rural electrification since 1936, with eligibility for transmission system upgrades.

Funding is also available through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) program, which recently closed applications for up to $2.7 billion in DOE grant funding under a second round. The intention of the program is to fund projects that will upgrade and modernize the transmission and distribution system to increase reliability and resilience to prepare the grid for extreme weather as well as to ensure delivery of affordable, clean electricity to all communities across the nation.

Grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) were cited by an RMI study as potentially capable of saving project developers collectively hundreds of millions of dollars in interconnection costs compared to default network upgrades, while the project-level savings “could be the difference” that allows a developer to build a project instead of dropping out of the queue. The study notes that GETs can also be installed more quickly than other network upgrades.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued a final rule on Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation, Order 1920, which adopts requirements for how transmission providers must conduct long-term planning for regional transmission facilities, consider the use of advanced conductors and Grid Enhancing Technologies.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has been involved with this rulemaking proceeding over the past two years, advocating for reforms to the transmission planning process to account for all the benefits that clean energy offers.

“We’re pleased FERC took several steps to improve America’s outdated transmission system, including following SEIA’s recommendations requiring transmission providers to engage in long-term regional planning,” said Melissa Alfano, senior director of energy markets and counsel for SEIA.

[Also read: 50 states of grid modernization]

Guaranteed and transferable tax benefits will make the PV industry too big to fail

Michael Puttré — Tue, 28 May 2024 16:37:04 +0000

Trina Solar executive says policies in the Inflation Reduction Act will make or break the future of solar in the U.S.

Robert Gibbons, Strategic Development Manager at Trina Solar US, entered the world of photovoltaics about three years ago, coming from the oil and gas industry. Fossil fuel projects were becoming less common and a new universe seemed to be opening for renewable energy with the pending Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Despite its rather misleading name, the IRA is a massive federal support mechanism for renewable energy.

“One of the biggest benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act has been raising the visibility of tax policy on prospective solar projects,” Gibbons told pv magazine USA. “When’s the last time you’ve had a 10 -year time frame where you feel pretty good that these tax credits are going to be there, right?”

The federal solar tax credit of the 2010s, which along with inexpensive China-source PV panels, energized the solar industry in the U.S. With that tax credit set to expire, Congress increased it from 26% to 30% and extended it through 2032.

Gibbons added that the IRA has come along at a time when just putting projects together has become that much more difficult because of a combination of rising interest rates and what he calls the structural constraints of longer interconnection queues. He said his 30 years in financing, mainly of infrastructure projects, a lot of which were for the oil and gas industry, has given him a good understanding of what is needed to move projects forward, especially during difficult economic times.

While critics point to the money being set aside under the IRA as being itself inflationary, Gibbons is more sanguine on the law’s positive effects, which he said helps enable effective and profitable solar projects to get the green light. He pointed out that an important element of the IRA is its provision for the transferability of tax credits.

In the proposal stage, solar projects may seem like a house of cards. A successful project needs a developer to oversee the design, engineering, land acquisition, legal issues and financing. Financers, in particular, want to know there are going to be guaranteed off-takers for the electricity generated. In addition, there has to be a dependable supply chain to equipment manufacturers and possibly resellers. Today, the availability of tax credits can make the difference in whether a proposed solar project is viable or not.

“We do not advise clients on how to manage a project to get the various tax credit adders,” Gibbons said, emphasizing that this was not Trina’s role. “However, with the transferability of tax credits under the IRA, we and our partners can buy these and provide clients with confidence in a project’s economics.”

Recent guidance from the Internal Revenue Service outlines the domestic content credit a clean energy project may receive for incorporating equipment manufactured in the United States. Because of the surge in interest in U.S. manufactured solar modules, Trina Solar US is building a 5 GW capacity solar module manufacturing facility in Wilmer, Texas. Gibbons said Trina moved quickly on the opportunity to develop the facility, which will produce PV components as well as assemble modules from components produced in China.

“We had a lot of interest on behalf of our clients in using modules from that facility,” Gibbons said. “Not only because of domestic content benefits, but wanting to also support the development of solar manufacturing in the U.S.”

As much as Gibbons appreciates the tangible benefits of the IRA and IRS rules to the U.S. solar industry, he is also cognizant that politics cannot be counted on forever to support PV and other renewable energy projects. The recent laws and rules have been key, he asserts, but at some point the industry will have to stand on its own. Yet at the same time, it may be too big to fail.

“The IRA starts to phase out and it’s gone by 2032,” Gibbons said. “At that point, we should have a large, sustainable solar generation and manufacturing industry, right? And if it needs more help after that, what politician is going to want to get in front of that and put an end to it?”

Solar industry panel cautions about 2025 Texas Legislature

Eckhart Gouras — Fri, 24 May 2024 16:44:01 +0000

According to BloombergNEF’s just released 1H 2024 US Clean Energy Market Outlook, Texas promises to top the charts in terms of solar, wind and battery storage deployments in the period from 2024 to 2035. But it’s position as the number one U.S. state for renewable energy is not a given, as panelists made clear at last week’s RE+ Texas conference in Houston, Texas.

Earlier this week BloombergNEF released its 1H 2024 US Clean Energy Market Outlook, which forecasts almost 1 TW of new solar and wind capacity in the U.S. between this year and 2035. A staggering 221 GW of grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) are also forecast for this period. Texas tops the list in terms of overall build with California taking the lead in terms of BESS deployments. These will come close to matching the solar PV deployments in the Golden State.

Texas has been a favorite among utility-scale solar PV developers for a long time, thanks to its business-friendly environment and its lack of substantial local permitting regimes.

In the RE+ Texas session entitled “Don’t Mess with Texas: Opportunities and Challenges in Local Policy”, leading utility-scale solar developers were well represented with Barb Jacobs of Lightsource bp and Susan Williams Sloan of Orsted. Rounding out the panel were Mundo de la Fuente, partner at the law firm K&L Gates, and Luke Metzger from the non-profit Environment Texas. The session was moderated by Michael Lewis of the law firm Jewell & Associates, PLLC.

While the pro-business environment and regulatory regime have attracted many renewable energy developers to Texas, the industry almost fell off a cliff in 2023, the last time the Texas legislature convened. (The Texas legislature meets only every other year for a period of 140 days. Accordingly, its next session will be in 2025.)

As the “Don’t Mess with Texas” session in Houston made clear, a number of proposals were launched in 2023 to undercut the further development of renewables in Texas. This despite the fact that Texas has historically been very friendly to oil and gas development and commercial property development. So the initiatives in the Texas legislature caught many in the solar industry off guard. There is a good chance that this will happen again in 2025.

The most problematic initiative was Senate Bill 624. Susan Sloan, Head of Government Affairs & Marketing Strategy at Orsted North America, described this proposal as follows:

“This would have the effect of putting all of the operating [renewable energy] projects on notice and to have to go through a process of getting a permit from the PUC that doesn’t even regulate renewable energy development right now. So we would be not in compliance right off the bat if the law had been passed. We would not be able to operate until we get a permit. The permitting process was not yet established and if you’re in a session where reliability is the number one issue that the legislature wants to talk about and the PUC, ERCOT are all wrestling with right now, this would be a colossal unreliability creator.”

In 2023 the Texas legislature, Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and the Texas grid operator ERCOT were still reeling from the aftermath of a devastating freeze that had blanketed Texas in February 2021. The historic freeze exposed the frailty of the ERCOT system and other energy infrastructure in the state.

Barb Jacobs of Lightsource bp, a joint venture between Lightsource Renewable Energy and the energy giant BP, called SB 624 “by far the worst siting bill I have ever seen in any state.” And at Lightsource bp Jacobs used to oversee 24 states, so she had a rather comprehensive overview of what was happening on the regulatory and permitting front across the U.S.

Jacobs cautioned the audience that the political situation in Texas has not improved since 2023. In fact, it has probably worsened. According to Jacobs, “There’s been such a dramatic shift in the political winds here for renewables. It is very alarming.”

Sloan urged the solar industry to be more proactive and communicative about what the industry is already doing: “There’s a lot of good that our companies are doing, but is not understood and not recognized. And we need to explain those things. I think that squashes a good chunk of the specific issues that the opposition has brought up.”

Measures that solar developers are already taking include measures to avoid soil erosion, to protect wildlife and the landscape, or to do specialized studies, for example if wetlands are involved. As Sloan pointed out as well, buyers of renewable energy increasingly want to know that “you have good standards of development, construction and operations.”

Clearly, there is also more the industry can do. Mundo de la Fuente called for a greater engagement with landowners. He cited a celebratory dinner involving a new utility-scale solar project in Texas, where the developer invited dozens of landowners owning thousands of acres of land. De la Fuente is an experienced renewable energy attorney, but this kind of engagement was a novelty for him. As he pointed out, these landowners are “getting substantially more from their land than they would, for example, from grazing.” For de la Fuente, these are the “true stakeholders” of a ground-mounted renewable energy project and they need to be brought into the conversation.

Luke Metzger of the environmental organization Environment Texas also called on the industry to take the Solar Uncommon Dialogue seriously and adopt the recommendations that will come out of SUD. SUD is a cooperation between SEIA and various environmental groups to develop best practices to, in the words of Metzger, “facilitate the rapid growth of renewables while minimizing the impact on the environment.” Metzger also pointed to The Nature Conservancy, one of the groups supporting SUD, and their “Site Renewables Right” map of the U.S. The SRR map identifies the most ecologically sensitive parts of the country, so these areas should not be targeted by renewable energy developers.

Metzger also noted a University of Texas study that compared the land used for oil and gas developments in Texas to the land used for solar. Back in 2014, so before the most recent oil and gas boom in Texas, oil and gas took up 514,000 acres in the state. ERCOT forecasts that solar PV will hit 27 GW of installed capacity in Texas this year, which will take up only 162,000 acres. And the environmental impact of the latter can hardly be compared to the impact these fossil fuel projects are having.

As the 2025 Texas legislature begins its work, it will be interesting to see what proposals emerge and whether 2025 will bring the same nasty surprises as the most recent legislative session in 2023. The “Don’t Mess with Texas” session certainly provided some useful recommendations on how to better position the industry ahead of this 2025 session.

SunPower now offers Tesla Powerwall 3 to residential solar customers

Anne Fischer — Thu, 23 May 2024 18:46:45 +0000

SunPower Financial reported it has expanded its suite of solar financing options to include loan and lease financing through Mosaic for Tesla battery installations.

SunPower announced it will now be offering Tesla Powerwall 3 as part of its portfolio of residential solar and storage products.

“Homeowners are increasingly turning to battery storage to protect themselves against ongoing utility rate hikes and grid outages. We witnessed record-breaking battery storage sales in 2024 and see a future where almost all solar systems are paired with storage,” said Shawn Fitzgerald, SVP corporate development and product strategy at SunPower.

Tesla launched the Powerwall 3 in 2024 after it was unveiled at the RE+ trade e show in September 2023. It has the same storage capacity as the Powerwall 2 (13.5 kWh) but a key differentiator is that it can provide at least 50% more power at 11.5 kW of continuous power. It is a hybrid battery with the solar and battery inverter fully integrated, and is designed for new solar installations as opposed to retrofits. Some of the innovations over the Powerwall 2 are that it is reportedly easier to install, and it is smaller and lighter, while slightly deeper.

“Pairing Tesla Powerwall 3 with our industry-leading SunPower Equinox solar system was a natural progression in offering homeowners the best products on the market.” Fitzgerald said.

According to a report by Wood Mackenzie, one in every four American homeowners who install rooftop solar this year will also add battery storage. Reasons include resiliency as well as changes in net metering policy such as California’s NEM 3.0, which cut payments for exported solar energy by about 75%.

Powerwall was the choice in over half of home battery installations last year, according to Wood Mackenzie.

“Expanding access to Tesla Powerwall 3 allows us to offer homeowners a comprehensive energy solution under one roof including sales, financing and installation,” said Joe Holstein, owner of SunPower by Quality Home Services, a SunPower Master Dealer.

SunPower Financial reported it has expanded its suite of solar financing options to include loan and lease financing through Mosaic for Tesla battery installations. SunPower reports that qualified customers can finance a Powerwall 3 with no down payment.

SunPower specializes in residential solar installations, a market that has been hard hit by rising interest rates and policy changes such as NEM 3.0 In April SunPower announced it planned to close business segments as it restructures to lower costs. At the time the company’s stock was trading 96% lower than all-time highs and was down 86% over the past year.

SunPower’s revenues reported last December reflected a 28% year-over-year decline, while operating expenses increased, and net income resulted in a loss of $123.9 million. The company said that after a short transition period, all project pipeline operations from pre-installation through system activation would be conducted by Blue Raven Solar and other installation partners and SunPower certified dealers.

Colorado modernizes community solar program

Anne Fischer — Thu, 23 May 2024 15:00:22 +0000

Governor Polis signed into law bipartisan legislation that launches a new dispatchable distributed generation program and leverages Solar for All funding to upgrade its grid, lower energy bills for all and promote energy equity.

With his signature on SB24-207, Governor Polis signed into law legislation intended to modernize the state’s community solar program, start a new dispatchable distributed generation program, upgrade the power grid, and promote energy equity.

Colorado was awarded a $156 million grant from the EPA’s Solar for All program to provide loans and incentives for community solar development, including directly funding community solar projects in the state, helping to deliver lower utility bills, create jobs, and expand the benefits of solar to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

One of the major benefits of community solar is it opens access to customers that may not have a suitable roof or financial situation for rooftop solar. It allows residents, businesses, organizations, and municipalities to subscribe to a portion of a solar asset’s electricity generation to receive credit on their electricity bills for the power it generates.

The Solar for All program is one of three grant programs under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created by the Inflation Reduction Act. EPA intends to design the grants competition to “maximize impact toward” that fund’s objectives, namely reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants, delivering program benefits “particularly” to low-income and disadvantaged communities, and mobilizing financing and private capital.

The DOE estimates that the average low-income household benefiting from this program will save around $400 a year on their electric bills; collectively that’s over $350 million in annual household savings from all 60 selected applicants, totaling over $8 billion in cumulative savings for over a standard solar project 25-year asset life.

“All Coloradans, regardless of income level or homeownership status, should be able to participate in the transition to renewable energy,” said Senate President Steve Fenberg, sponsor of SB24-207. “With the signing of this bill, we have taken a major step to remove barriers to accessing solar energy — like homeownership or credit score requirements — to ensure renters, non-profits, and small businesses can take part without breaking the bank.”

Colorado was the first in the nation when, in 2010, it passed pass legislation “truly enabling” a third-part community solar model, according to Kevin Cray, Mountain West

“It was time for an upgrade. Today’s action by Gov. Polis will reinvigorate Colorado community solar, positioning the state to regain its leadership position in providing equitable clean energy options for customers,” said Cray.

The new law is expected to deliver the following benefits:

Deliver meaningful bill savings of 25-55% to thousands of additional income-qualified Colorado households;
Reserve at least 51% of each community solar project for income-qualified residential subscribers;
Enhance subscriber experiences with best-in-class enrollment methods, consumer protections, and consolidated billing;
Prioritize projects sited on preferred locations, like rooftops and brownfields, and drive dual-use practices, such as agrivoltaics; and
Improve the methods that third-party stakeholders use to develop community solar projects with investor-owned utilities.

“This law is a reflection of the state’s ongoing commitment to ensure an equitable clean energy transition and to leverage local energy resources to create a cost-effective and resilient grid,” said John Bernhardt, Vice President of Policy for Pivot Energy. “As a Colorado-based company, we are proud of our state’s leadership and stand ready to help realize the goals of SB 24-207.”

Organizations and advocates including Vote Solar, Nature Conservancy, Grid Alternatives, Colorado Solar and Storage Association, among others, are optimistic about the opportunities presented by this legislation.

Renewables must triple by 2030 to hit net-zero by 2050, says BloombergNEF

Patrick Jowett — Wed, 22 May 2024 14:00:09 +0000

BloombergNEF says in a new report that solar and wind must drive most emissions cuts before 2030 to stay on track for net-zero by 2050. Its net-zero scenario targets a combined solar and wind capacity of 31 TW by 2050.

From pv magazine global

A new report from BloombergNEF says achieving net-zero by 2050 hinges on renewables capacity tripling between now and the end of the decade.

Its latest New Energy Outlook presents a pathway to net-zero by 2050 called the “Net-Zero Scenario” (NZS). It says the window to reach the target is “rapidly closing,” but adds there is still time “if decisive action is taken now.” BloombergNEF warns it will not be possible without accelerated spending, with a fully decarbonized global energy system by 2050 estimated to have a $215 trillion price tag. To reach net zero by 2050, it says progress in the next 10 years is “critical.”

“The period 2024-30 is dominated by rapid power-sector decarbonization, energy efficiency gains and rapid acceleration of carbon capture and storage deployment,” the report says. “Wind and solar alone are responsible for half of emissions abatement during this seven-year period.”

It explains that with renewables driving the bulk of emissions cuts this side of 2030, there will be more time to tackle “hard-to-abate” areas such as steelmaking and aviation, where cost-competitive low-carbon solutions have yet to scale.

BloombergNEF’s NZS says that while the deployment of renewables will continue into the 2030s, the focus will switch to electrification, with electrifying end uses in industry, transport and buildings accounting for 35% of the emissions avoided during this period. It then predicts that the 2040s will rely on a mix of different technologies aimed at hard-to-abate sectors, where hydrogen will account for 11% of emissions reductions.

The report lists nine technology pillars for a net-zero world, which would work to address different elements of the carbonization challenge. BloombergNEF says four of the nine pillars – renewables, energy storage, power grids and electric vehicles – are already “mature, commercially scalable technologies with proven business models.” These are described as technologies which require a significant acceleration to get on track for net zero, but there is little to no technology risk, economic premiums are small or non-existent, and financing models are already at scale.

S will require 2.9 million square km of land for solar and onshore wind projects by 2050, almost 15 times more than was being used by the two technologies in 2023.

It warns that land constraints in some countries – namely, South Korea, Vietnam and Japan – may mean the total land area suitable for solar construction could face saturation, indicating a greater share of less land intensive technologies will be needed in the future. The report says one solution may be using land for solar that can also be used for crops.

“The way in which these segments compete for, and co-exist on, the same land will shape future permitting and zoning rules, particularly if the rollout of low-carbon technologies is seen to threaten food security,” the report predicts.

BloombergNEF also says regardless of whether the world heads for net-zero or it ultimately proves a stretch too far, “the era of fossil fuels’ dominance is coming to an end.” The report predicts that even if the net-zero transition is propelled by economics alone, with no further policy drivers to help, renewables could still cross a 50% share of electricity generation by the end of this decade.

What are states doing to make virtual power plants a reality?

Anne Fischer — Tue, 21 May 2024 14:00:16 +0000

With policymakers, utilities, and private enterprise working collaboratively to find solutions that work for a given state’s unique circumstances, we will surely see continued growth of virtual power plants.

Virtual power plants (VPPs) are attracting a lot of attention at the moment. Our upcoming 50 States of Grid Modernization Q1 2024 report documents numerous policy and program actions taken by several states, and our very own Autumn Proudlove moderated a session on VPPs at the 2024 North Carolina State Energy Conference. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Energy published an extensive report on VPPs last year, and even mainstream media is publishing articles on their potential. But what exactly are VPPs, and what are states doing to enable their development?

VPPs can incorporate a variety of technologies with different characteristics, leading to the challenge of adequately defining them. However, all VPPs share the common elements of quantity and controllability. At their heart, VPPs involve the aggregation of a large number of distributed energy resources (DERs), which can be collectively controlled to benefit the grid and potentially obviate a utility’s need to activate a traditional peaking power plant.

The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) groups VPPs into three general categories: Supply VPPs, Demand VPPs, and Mixed Asset VPPs. Supply VPPs involve electricity-generating DERs, such as solar-plus-storage systems, which can be aggregated and controlled as a single resource when needed. Demand VPPs build off traditional demand response programs by aggregating curtailable load at a scale that can have a meaningful impact on the grid. Mixed Asset VPPs include a mix of both supply and demand resources.

While the benefits of VPPs are clear, the pathway to greater deployment is not. However, state policymakers are currently testing a variety of methods to encourage their development. Common approaches include a mix of mandates for utilities to procure energy from VPPs, incentives for utility customers to deploy DERs and participate in utility programs, and market access reforms to allow third-party aggregators to participate. Different varieties of these approaches have been considered by several states and utilities over the past year.

California

The California Energy Commission (CEC) approved a new incentive program for VPPs in July 2023. The Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) program compensates eligible customers for upfront capacity commitments and per-unit reductions in net energy load during extreme events achieved through reduced usage, backup generation, or both. Third-party battery providers, publicly-owned utilities, and Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) are eligible to serve as VPP aggregators. At a minimum, each individual customer site participating in the program must have an operational stationary battery system capable of discharging at least 1 kW for at least 2 hours. Incentive payments will be made to VPP aggregators based on the demonstrated battery capacity of an aggregated VPP. VPP aggregators will then allocate incentive payments between the VPP aggregator and its participants based on their own contractual agreement.

California lawmakers are also currently considering legislation to stimulate the market for VPPs. S.B. 1305 requires the California Public Utilities Commission to estimate the resource potential of VPPs in the state, and to develop procurement targets for each utility to be achieved by December 31, 2028 and December 31, 2033.

Colorado

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission opened a new proceeding in September 2023 to explore third-party implementation of virtual power plant pilots in Xcel Energy’s service area. The Commission issued a decision in April 2024 requiring Xcel to issue an RFP for a distributed energy management system (DERMS), which would then be used to manage a VPP. The Commission stopped short of directing Xcel to file a VPP tariff, but speaks of their merit and suggests that Xcel should propose separate “prosumer tariffs” for residential and non-residential customers, including different aggregation capacities.

Georgia

A stipulation agreed to by the Public Interest Advocacy Staff and Georgia Power in its 2023 Integrated Resource Plan Update proceeding commits the utility to developing a residential and small commercial solar and battery storage pilot program that will provide grid reliability and capacity benefits. Georgia Power will work with interested stakeholders to develop the program and will file it for approval with its 2025 Integrated Resource Plan.

Hawaii

In December 2023, the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission approved a new VPP program for the Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO). The Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) will replace HECO’s Battery Bonus Program and will provide varying levels of incentives based on the value of the grid services provided. The program will only allow energy storage systems at first, but may be expanded in the future to include other DERs.

Maryland

The Maryland General Assembly enacted a bill in April 2024, which opens the door to VPPs in the state. H.B. 1256 requires investor-owned utilities in the state to develop pilot programs to compensate owners and aggregators of DERs for distribution system support services. The programs must be filed for approval with the Public Service Commission by July 1, 2025.

Michigan

Michigan lawmakers introduced legislation in 2024 related to VPPs. S.B. 773 requires the Public Service Commission to develop requirements for programs that would allow behind-the-meter generation and energy storage owners to be compensated for services they provide to the distribution system, including through aggregators of DERs. Utilities would then need to file applications for these programs during their rate cases.

Massachusetts

In January 2024, the state’s three investor-owned utilities filed their Electric Sector Modernization Plans (ESMPs) with the Commission for approval. The three ESMPs include plans to invest in DERMS and customer programs to advance VPPs.

For more states, click here.

Brian Lips is a senior energy policy project manager for the NC Clean Energy Technology Center. He manages the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE).

Trends in residential solar finance, equipment and maintenance

Ryan Kennedy — Mon, 20 May 2024 19:47:18 +0000

An installer survey shared typical loan terms, top equipment brands and what to expect from system maintenance services.

Solar informational site SolarReviews released its annual survey, sharing results gathered from a group mostly represented by residential solar installers, as well as commercial installers, equipment providers, and utility-scale installers. SolarReviews operates a Solar Calculator that enables prospective customers to have a snapshot of the benefits of adding solar to their roof based on customized data for their area.

Finance

With higher financing costs industry-wide, 54% of U.S. installers said customers were less likely to take a solar loan over the past year, while cash deals are up. About 49% of sales reported were cash deals, while 41% were loans. HELOC, PACE loans, power purchase agreements, and leases combined for 10% of reported solar sales.

The top financing providers used were Credithuman (15%), Mosaic (14%), Sunlight Financial (9%),Dividend (8%), and Clean Energy Credit Union (8%).

Typical loans for loaned systems varied widely depending on whether dealer fees were assigned. Average terms are seen below.

Image: SolarReviews

Heightened cost of finance has pressed the residential solar industry. About half (49%) of installers said demand went down in 2023 versus 2022.

In California, where rates paid for exporting solar production to the grid were slashed by about 80%, about 69% of installers reported lower sales in California in 2023 versus 2022. However, 68% of installers reported including battery energy storage with their solar installation, about double the national average. Installers report a median payback period of eight years for solar systems with a battery, while standalone solar systems have a longer median payback period of about 10 years.

California was not the only state to cut rates for solar exports, a process known as net metering. Georgia, Arizona, Kansas, Arkansas, and Wisconsin all noted an increase in installed systems not tied to a net metering agreement.

Top products

As for the top equipment brands in residential solar, SolarReviews surveyed installers based on five criteria of performance and quality, brand name reputation, product warranty, pricing, and product availability from distributors. Based on the five criteria, SolarReviews listed Qcells as the top performing panel brand.

Installers said the top five most-used panels were Qcells (53%), REC (41%), Canadian Solar (35%), Mission Solar (29%), and JinkoSolar (20%). About 19% of solar installers offer one panel brand, while the majority provide alternative options to meet the needs of their customers.

For inverters, the top five most-used were Enphase (62%), SolarEdge (43%), SMA (23%), Sol-Ark (21%), and Tesla (21%). Tesla made a notable leap up into the top five, gaining a larger market share than Fronius and Generac.

Enphase was also listed as the most commonly used battery energy storage provider, offered by 46% of installers. This was followed by Tesla (42%), SolarEdge (35%), FranklinWH (29%), and Fortress Power (18%). A sizeable market share was also held by SunPower, Generac, LG Energy Solution, and HomeGrid.

Image: SolarReviews

Maintenance

Given that solar is often a 25-year investment, post-installation services are a critical feature in a solar agreement. About 96% of installers have access to system monitoring, while 63% said they proactively check their customers’ installations at least once per quarter to ensure they are working.

The most common reasons for service, in order, were inverter hardware failures and replacement, inverter software and setup issues, battery software updates, communications and monitoring fixes, roof leaks, battery hardware failure or replacement, wiring issues, and broken or underperforming panels.

“Fortunately, when issues do occur, they are often covered by some type of warranty, leaving only 15% of cases where the customer is responsible for repair costs,” said SolarReviews.

Image: SolarReviews

Outlook

The residential solar industry looks to recover from a rocky 2023, where growth was slowed by high finance costs and unfavorable policy changes like the reduction of net metering rates.

“Some solar businesses are still reeling from the events of 2023. 22% of solar businesses say they have concerns that make them unsure whether they can stay in business in the coming six months,” said SolarReviews.

Despite this uncertainty, residential solar installers appear to have a good outlook for 2024. About 54% of surveyed installers said they expect to sell more solar in 2024, and an additional 23% said they think they will be able to maintain the same level of business next year.

Notably, surveyed installers listed pv magazine as the top trusted media platform for solar news and analysis, with 52% responding we are the preferred source. The marks the second year in a row as the most-trusted media source. We thank you for your continued readership.

Sunrise brief: U.S. solar exceeds five million installations

pv magazine — Mon, 20 May 2024 12:00:11 +0000

Also on the rise: Push back on net billing. The U.S. multi-pronged approach to onshoring solar manufacturing. And more.

Plug Power’s $1.6 billion loan guarantee for clean hydrogen facilities The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office announced a conditional commitment for loan guarantee to help finance construction of up to six facilities across several U.S. states to produce clean hydrogen using Plug Power’s own electrolyzer technology.

U.S. solar exceeds five million installations Over half of all U.S. solar installations have come online since the start of 2020 and over 25% have come online since the Inflation Reduction Act became law.

No ceiling on U.S. glass opportunity With PV module capacity ramping up, glass suppliers have been investing in new solar glass production capacity. As in India and China, new facilities are popping up in North America, with unique twists to ensure competitiveness, such as using recycled material.

‘We must push back on net billing’ With California’s NEM 3.0 legislation having gutted panel sales and Arizona heading a bevy of other US states preparing to reduce solar-export payments, it’s time the United States solar industry stepped up, for ourselves as well as our customers.

Faulty installations often to blame for battery fires The Electric Power Research Institute, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and German battery analysis specialist Twaice have jointly evaluated 26 battery fires between 2018 and 2023. They say that the diversity of components plays a critical role in igniting fires.

U.S. solar industry week in review pv magazine USA spotlights news stories of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

The U.S. multi-pronged approach to onshoring solar manufacturing The U.S. aims for a domestic solar supply chain, but the industry’s capacity to serve the early stages in solar manufacturing are minimal. Will its recent industrial policy efforts make a difference?

U.S. solar industry week in review

pv magazine — Fri, 17 May 2024 21:00:48 +0000

pv magazine USA spotlights news stories of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

Bifacial solar module tariffs reinstated Bifacial solar panels, predominantly used in commercial, industrial, and utility-scale solar power projects, were previously exempt from tariffs. With the removal of this exemption, the cost of imported bifacial solar panels, typically ranging from $0.10-0.25 per watt, is expected to increase by $0.015 to $0.0375 per watt.

U.S. government doubles tariff rates on PV cell imports from China to 50% The Biden Administration raised tariff rates on PV cell imports from China from 25% to 50%. It also increased the tariff rates for semiconductors, electric vehicles, and EV batteries from China, among other goods.

President Joe Biden

Image: Wikimedia Commons

More bark than bite: U.S. solar tariffs and the shadow of larger trade measures Intensified trade measures against China via increasing tariffs on imported solar and battery cells represents a significant policy step, however, the impact is clouded by global manufacturing shifts, price decreases and looming Commerce Department trade complaints.

FERC transmission rule to shore up the nation’s power grid Praised by industry groups, the ruling, is the first time in more than a decade that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has addressed regional transmission policy as well as the need for long-term transmission planning.

Opposition stymies solar – sometimes Strong growth in U.S. solar installations might suggest that solar has strong support but developers cite public opposition as a major challenge.

No ceiling on U.S. glass opportunity

Valerie Thompson — Fri, 17 May 2024 15:00:26 +0000

With PV module capacity ramping up, glass suppliers have been investing in new solar glass production capacity. As in India and China, new facilities are popping up in North America, with unique twists to ensure competitiveness, such as using recycled material.

From pv magazine

In mid-March 2024, Canada’s Silfab Solar, a high-efficiency module manufacturer with plans to expand into South Carolina, said it would source glass from U.S.-based PV panel recycler Solarcycle, which is planning a $344 million solar glass fab in the U.S. state of Georgia, supplied by recycled panel materials.

“We’re excited about the potential for domestic solar manufacturing growth to provide jobs and R&D development in the US,” Solarcycle Chief Operating Officer (COO) Rob Vinje told pv magazine.

Global growth

Andries Wantenaar, from market intelligence company Rethink Technology Research, said that “demand for solar glass is looking robust. It is a growing market with relatively stable prices.” He noted a 66% increase in every part of China’s solar manufacturing industry in 2023, and even more rapid growth outside China, where output doubled from 65 GW in 2022, to around 130 GW in 2023.

“If you make solar glass, you have a very large and very rapidly growing market outside of China to sell to,” said Wantenaar. “You won’t be stuck in the situation of Western polysilicon makers, whose customers are the wafer makers in China who are now buying from Chinese polysilicon makers exclusively at prices well below the Western marginal cost of production.”

Glass material prices are relatively stable. “The price of solar-grade glass has been stubborn for at least a decade now because it’s a totally figured-out product,” said Wantenaar. The caveat is that glass is an energy-intensive product, which is a strong cost factor, and one reason why China dominates its production. Wantenaar estimated that China holds “around 90%” of the solar glass market, higher than its 80% PV module share.

Two sides

Wantenaar believes glass will represent a bigger share of module costs in the future, as other elements become more cost-efficient and the bifacial module trend, typically featuring glass on both sides rather than a glass front combined with a polymer backsheet, intensifies.

“Bifacial recently passed 50% market share, looking at Chinese manufacturing outputs, and will continue to grow, to perhaps 75% in 2030,” said the analyst.

Bifacial glass modules typically use two 2 mm glass panes, sometimes 1.6 mm, as opposed to conventional panels, that feature 3.2 mm glass. The use of thinner glass might require different heat-strengthening processes and that may impact quality.

The trend toward glass-glass is something researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are looking into, regarding module durability.

“The really thin glass is optimized for shipping and logistics, not necessarily for durability performance in the field,” said Teresa Barnes, who manages the PV reliability and system performance group at NREL, and serves as head of the DOE-funded Durable Module Materials (Duramat) research consortium.

“Historically, silicon PV modules have been made with rolled and textured cover glass while thin film has used antimony-free float glass with a thickness of 2 mm or 3 mm,” said Barnes. “Thinner is possible but it’s trickier due to the heat-tempering process.”

It could be that glass material made for the North American market will have different mechanical requirements than for other regions.

“Extreme weather, such as hail, could mean that US modules would need the thicker-tempered glass,” said Barnes.

There are also similar signals coming from Europe.

“The trend here is to find niches,” said Martin Zugg, managing director of German glass manufacturer Interfloat, which is owned by India’s Borosil. “It is hard to find a niche but we see manufacturers developing more and more new niche markets, which includes hail-resistant panels that require thicker glass, roof-integrated modules, and building-integrated PV applications.”

Interfloat produces enough low-iron, high-transmission textured solar glass for 2 GW of modules per year. It makes glass with thicknesses ranging from 2 mm to 6 mm, in conventional as well as custom and special-request dimensions.

The use of thicker glass could give local glass manufacturers a market opportunity and lower transport-related costs.

“Glass is an expensive material to ship,” said the NREL’s Barnes. “Logistics costs, shipping, and storage are all paid by the PV module manufacturer.”

First Solar effect

U.S.-based thin-film PV giant First Solar is expanding capacity with 13 GW of operational output as of September 2023, and plans for 25 GW of global annual nameplate capacity in 2026, with 14 GW in the United States.

That expansion trajectory is triggering glass industry investment to supply it with the float glass it needs for its thin-film modules. In the United States, manufacturers NSG Group and Vitro Architectural Glass have announced contracts and plans for dedicated lines to serve First Solar.

In India, where First Solar recently inaugurated its 3.3 GW Series 7 module plant, French materials company Saint Gobain is reportedly bringing production online at a plant in the state of Tamil Nadu in order to supply the American manufacturer.

In November 2023, NSG said it would add transparent conductive oxide (TCO)-coated glass capacity in Ohio to supply First Solar, planning the move in early 2025. NSG has produced TCO-coated glass for thin-film PV for more than 25 years.

“Every year the solar market is bigger and bigger; more capital, more resources,” said Stephen Weidner, who heads NSG’s North American architectural glass and solar products groups. “We see this on a global basis.”

Glass for solar is becoming more significant. “It has gone from virtually nothing 10 years ago, to 10% to 15% of the total supply of the flat glass market in North America,” said Weidner. “Our goal is to grow with the market. That means that by end of [2024] we will have three float lines in North America dedicated to the solar segment, a further two lines in Vietnam, also one in Malaysia, which we converted to TCO from architectural glass earlier.”

Vitro Architectural Glass is also adding U.S. capacity to supply First Solar. In October 2023, it announced an expansion of its contract with First Solar and a plan to invest in a plant in Pennsylvania, as well as in adapting existing PV glass facilities. The company said in a statement that it expected “significant growth” in solar glass business due to the “nearshoring” effect in the United States.

IRA impact

Besides influencing First Solar and its growing glass supply chain, policies such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), are also spurring crystalline silicon manufacturing investment, triggering Canadian Premium Sand (CPS), a new entrant from Canada, to announce a solar panel glass project. CPS plans to build a factory in Selkirk, Manitoba, to produce 1.8 mm to 4 mm glass module covers in enough volume for 6 GW of solar panels per year.

“We are estimating demand in the North America region for solar pattern glass to reach nearly 100 GW by 2030, driven by the reshoring of the solar panel manufacturing supply chain in the US,” said Anshul Vishal, who heads up corporate development at CPS.

The business announced offtake agreements with the likes of Swiss module manufacturer Meyer Burger, Canada-based Heliene, and Qcells, owned by South Korea’s Hanwha. Further offtake discussions with other potential patterned solar glass customers are under way, according to Vishal, with plans to reach 100% contracted status prior to construction.

The CPS integrated glass project needs a CAD 880 million ($639 million) investment to set up the plant and to develop a silica sand site. The plan includes multiple lines of tempered and patterned solar glass, including anti-reflective and anti-soiling coating lines, to be online in 2026.

“It is a project endorsed by both provincial and federal government agencies and the environmental permits are in place,” said Vishal. “We just had the sand material tested in Europe, which confirmed that we will be able to use simple, low-cost, and environmentally responsible processes to refine it to patterned solar glass-grade specifications.”

CPS will be able to tap the Manitoba energy mix for low-CO₂-emission hydroelectricity and wind power. Being in the North American Free Trade Agreement zone at a site that is three to four days overland from customers – supporting simpler shipping and less potential disruption – are other location-related advantages, according to Vishal.

A consortium is contracted to build the CPS plant. It includes Henry F. Teichmann, an international glass plant contractor based in the United States; France-based industrial engineering firm Fives Group; Italian glassmaking equipment supplier Bottero; and two Canadian firms, Elrus Aggregate Systems, a mineral processing equipment provider; and PCL Constructors, a civil engineering firm.

Recycled glass

Like CPS, the plant planned for two-year old Solarcycle has an annual capacity with the module equivalent of 5 GW to 6 GW of generation capacity – but using recycled glass. Using recycled materials recovered from end-of-life crystalline silicon panels means the recovered glass has the right chemical composition. It is already a low-iron material, as Solarcycle’s Vinje sees it, and that will reduce energy demand and embodied carbon.

“It is the first low iron rolled glass plant to be built in the US market,” said the COO. “We are currently receiving offers from international glass processing equipment suppliers while the contracts for engineering, construction, and multiple subsystems are being negotiated with U.S.-based suppliers.”

In the works is an 800-meter-long patterned glass production line with both hot and cold processing segments. It includes a specially designed cross-fired regenerative furnace construction that reuses exhaust gases to reduce fuel consumption; hot rolled processing equipment; and the cutting, grinding, glass tempering, and other cold end process steps needed to make glass for dual-and single-glass modules.

Solarcycle is not the only glass supplier looking to benefit from using recycled material. Canada’s CPS also said it plans to use recycled glass cullet from external sources in its products while the likes of Japan’s AGC and Saint Gobain have also announced projects.

U.S. solar exceeds five million installations

Anne Fischer — Fri, 17 May 2024 14:15:42 +0000

Over half of all U.S. solar installations have come online since the start of 2020 and over 25% have come online since the Inflation Reduction Act became law.

According to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, the U.S. has officially exceeded five million solar installations, marking a milestone that comes just eight years after the U.S. reached one million installations in 2016.

To put the rapid growth of the U.S. solar industry in perspective, the first solar installation was connected to the grid in 1973, and in just 41 years there are now more than five million grid-connected installs.

The rise in U.S. solar has not always been as meteoric as it is today, as over half of all U.S. solar installations have come online in just the past four years and over 25% have come online since the Inflation Reduction Act became law in 2022.

“Solar is scaling by the millions because it consistently delivers on its promise to lower electricity costs, boost community resilience, and create economic opportunities,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “Today 7% of homes in America have solar, and this number will grow to over 15% of U.S. homes by 2030. Solar is quickly becoming the dominant source of electricity on the grid, allowing communities to breathe cleaner air and lead healthier lives.”

SEIA forecasts that solar installations in the U.S. will double to 10 million by 2030 and triple to 15 million by 2034.

The residential sector accounts for 97% of all solar installations in the U.S., with a total of 36 GW installed by the end of 2023. While just 7% of homes in the U.S. currently have solar, that number is expected to grow to more than double to over 15% by 2030.

State policy making a difference

California leads the nation with 2 million solar installations, but the state’s residential market was harmed when the California Public Utilities Commission’ NEM 3.0 policy change cut payments for exported solar energy by about 75%.

Several other states are seeing rapid growth. Illinois was an emerging market with only 2,500 solar installations in 2017, and today it is a shining example of where solar policy promotes clean energy growth. Illinois is home to more than 87,000 solar installations or about 27 GW and 65 GW more is expected to come online in the next five years according to the SEIA.

Strong policies, such as the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS), are behind the growth in Illinois. Its RPS requires 25% of energy comes from renewable sources by 2025. The state also has the Illinois Shines program with incentives that makes solar more affordable for all. And Illinois has targets to have 40% of its energy come from renewable sources by 2030 and is aiming for 100% by 2050.

Florida is another market experiencing substantial growth, increasing from 22,000 installations in 2017 to 235,000 installations today. In a surprising move that buoyed rooftop solar in the state, the governor vetoed a bill that would have dropped net metering credits to near zero. The bill was founded on the same cost shift rhetoric used in California’s move to NEM 3.0, which has not fared well for rooftop solar.

“Florida is one of the fastest-growing solar markets in the country with new businesses popping up all across the state,” said Hopper. This veto signals that Florida’s energy economy is open for business, and that the rights of state residents should be placed ahead of monopoly utility interests.”

While the number of installations throughout the U.S. is impressive, the difference solar is making in the nation’s capacity is testament to the fact that solar is making a difference. For the first time, solar accounted for over half of new electricity generation capacity added 2023 and, by 2050, solar is expected to be the largest source of generating capacity on the U.S. grid.

The 5 million solar installations are making a serious cut to carbon emissions. SEIA estimates that the installations displace 198 million metric tons of CO2 every year. This reduction is the equivalent to 22 billion gallons of gas, or enough gas to travel to the sun and back nearly 3,000 times in a traditional ICE vehicle. Overall, SEIA calculates that the current solar capacity in the U.S. offsets the emissions of 12 million Americans, which is greater than the population of New York City and Los Angeles combined.

Startup debuts wall-mountable, tabletop residential heat pump

Emiliano Bellini — Thu, 16 May 2024 13:45:38 +0000

Quilt unveiled a residential heat pump with a coefficient of performance (COP) of up to 4 and noise levels of 27 dBA to 47 dBA. The startup recently raised $35.9 million from a group of investors.

From pv magazine Global

Quilt has launched its first product – a wall-mountable (or tabletop) heat pump for cooling and heating in residential applications.

“The Quilt system is anchored by our outdoor unit, which is sized to power up to two indoor units,” the US-based startup said in a statement. “This 2:1 ratio means our outdoor units are quieter, more compact, and more efficient than larger units, saving you more energy and money than higher ratio systems.”

The system measures 711 mm x 965 mm x 406 mm and uses R32 as a refrigerant. Its cooling capacity at 46.4 F (8 C) ranges from 2,500 BTU/hour to 20,500 BTU/hour, while its cooling capacity at 95 F (35 C) spans from 2,500 BTU/hour to 20,500 BTU/hour.

The heat pump features a COP of 4 for heating at 46.4 F and 2 at 5 F (-15 C). The COP for cooling is 4 at 95 F.

The new product has an input power of 208/230V and noise levels of 27 dBA to 47 dBA, which the manufacturer describes as “quieter than rainfall.” It is available in a real white oak veneer or a white option that is paintable or ready for wallpaper.

“Quilt is a full generation ahead of the best systems in the market today and priced competitively at $6,499 per room before point-of-sale rebates,” the manufacturer said. “This includes everything from the intuitive indoor unit, Dial for room-by-room control, design-forward outdoor unit, modern app, professional installation by Quilt, permitting support from a Quilt Advisor, and ongoing support.”

In mid-April, Quilt raised $33 million through a funding round co-led by Energy Impact Partners and Galvanize Climate Solutions, with participation from Lowercarbon Capital, Gradient Ventures, MCJ Collective, Garage Capital, Incite Ventures, and Drew Scott.

“Quilt will first launch in the Bay Area, followed by Los Angeles, and then expand to new markets in the U.S. to meet rising demand for a smart, intuitive, design-forward heat pump option,” the company said at the time.

Two approaches to save net metering in Puerto Rico

William Driscoll — Tue, 14 May 2024 16:21:37 +0000

A solar trade group wants the White House to appoint new pro-solar members to the federal oversight board that has challenged Puerto Rico’s net metering law, while the former president of the Puerto Rico Senate advises considering amending the law.

To protect Puerto Rico’s solar net metering law, the Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico has called on the White House to replace six members on a federal oversight board that has challenged the law, including five whose terms have expired, said SESA-PR President PJ Wilson on a webinar.

Counseling another approach, former president of the Puerto Rico Senate Eduardo Bhatia said on the webinar that the federal oversight board, in its April letter to the Puerto Rico government challenging net metering, included one sentence saying that “we could amend the law.” Bhatia said “we have to sit down with the oversight board” to “see what could be amended in the law.” He expressed hope that “we can all work together.”

Bhatia noted that the board—formally the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) for Puerto Rico—has the authority to challenge a Puerto Rico law in court and request that the law be repealed.

Wilson said “we are calling upon President Biden” to appoint six new members to the seven-member FOMB “who are supportive of Puerto Rico, supportive of solar power and supportive of dissolving the board as soon as possible.”

Wilson said that five FOMB members continue to serve after their terms expired last December, as shown below, while one seat is vacant and one member just began serving in January.

Benefits

Wilson recapped points he made in an April webinar on the value of net metering in Puerto Rico, noting an independent report projecting that Puerto Rico’s distributed generation would increase 18% per year with continued net metering, and a study finding that the value of net metering to Puerto Rico’s grid exceeds the retail rate paid for net metered energy of $0.24/kWh.

Wilson added that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s “PR 100” study shows that rooftop solar adoption would not start to drive rates up until after 2030, and said that under Puerto Rico’s net metering law, net metering may be “revisited” in 2030.

Bhatia said the FOMB “indeed has a responsibility to look at the finances of Puerto Rico.” But he said net metering is saving money for the people of Puerto Rico, and that the 800 MW of solar installed due to net metering is reducing the number of blackouts in Puerto Rico. As Puerto Rico’s coal units “constantly” break down, he added, rooftop solar is allowing for repairs to take place. “And finally, there is the dramatic reduction in the purchase of fossil fuels” for generation.

Missing 450 MW

Wilson said that the current FOMB “is not supportive of solar.” He said that in 2021, the FOMB “issued a letter very similar” to its letter last month, “announcing the cancellation of 450 MW of utility-scale solar,” after “years of negotiation” among multiple utility-scale developers, the Puerto Rico utility, and the territory’s energy regulator. The projects had received approval from the energy regulator “but the oversight board stepped in to squash it,” Wilson said. “We still don’t know why; there’s still no published analysis. They just said ‘that’s too expensive.’”

Had the FOMB not “killed” those solar projects, Wilson said “we probably would have that 450 MW of solar built today, and instead of being at 12% renewables we’d be at 17%.” Puerto Rico has a legislated goal of 40% renewables by 2025.

As a result of that FOMB action, Wilson said, “all those developers—some were local Puerto Rico developers, some were international developers—all of them deemed Puerto Rico to be a very high-risk market, and a lot of them left the market.”

Deadlines and responses

Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi has asked the FOMB for more time to respond to both FOMB’s April 10 letter and a second letter that FOMB sent on May 2 calling for repeal of the net metering law, Wilson said. Both letters set deadlines for government action.

The Puerto Rico Energy Bureau has also responded to the FOMB’s April 10 letter, which said that the energy bureau had not yet determined whether to make changes to the net metering law, as required by the FOMB-certified fiscal plan for the Puerto Rico legacy utility PREPA. Wilson said the energy bureau responded that it is continuing to conduct that study, and that, in Wilson’s words, the energy bureau’s understanding was that Puerto Rico’s net metering law “doesn’t prevent them from doing the study, but only prevents them from having any consequences as a result of doing the study until 2030.”

Solar powered electric truck stop opens in California

John Fitzgerald Weaver — Tue, 14 May 2024 13:40:50 +0000

WattEV’s 5.7 MW solar-powered truck stop, with demand charge management driven by solar-;plus-storage, has begun operations in Bakersfield, California.

WattEV has officially opened the world’s largest solar-powered truck charging station in Bakersfield, California. The facility is equipped with a 5.7 MW solar array, featuring a pre-wired racking system from Australian solar manufacturer 5B, designed for rapid deployment and minimal installation costs. Additionally, a 2.7 MWh energy storage system is integrated into the plant to mitigate peak demand charges from the numerous truck chargers.

The depot boasts extensive technical capabilities, including:

5.7 MW solar array
2.7 MWh of battery storage
16 dual-cord 360 kW grid-connected chargers
15 single-cord 240 kW CCS chargers
3 MCS 1,200 kW rapid chargers

To better understand how the solar-plus-storage systems are integrated into the facility, pv magazine USA consulted Umar Javed, the president of WattEV. Umar detailed the specific power management across the chargers:

The 15 CCS chargers of 240 kW are powered by solar and battery storage only. Each group of 5 of these chargers is powered by a 1.2 MW power cabinet. That same power cabinet is connected to a 1.2 MW MCS charger. The power cabinet contains internal DC power allocation. All the power can go to one MCS or to 5 CCS and other power sharing profiles in between. This design allows for transition from the current CCS standard to MCS.

WattEV’s press release detailed how the integration of the 240 kW CCS and 1,200 kW MCS chargers with the onsite solar facility is managed by software designed to optimize solar generation with scheduled truck charging needs, specifically to minimize demand charges. This system ensures operational continuity even during grid outages.

The solar power portion of the facility is currently 5.7 MW, with plans for future expansion to 25 MW alongside increased charging capabilities.

WattEV opted for 5B’s Maverick solar deployment system, which consists of 90 modules per package, with four packages fitting into a shipping container. According to the company’s website, each module within the packages uses solar panels rated between 550 and 580 watts. Each package of 90 modules totals about 50 kW of solar. The company states that a crew of three to four can install a megawatt of modules in a week.

The project was awarded a $5 million grant from the State of California in 2021.

Strategically located on State Highway 99, a key freight corridor, the Bakersfield site is ideally situated to serve major agricultural and industrial regions in California. This location leverages high traffic volumes and serves as an essential node in WattEV’s broader network plans.

WattEV intends to replicate this model at other key freight corridors, planning to augment both solar capacity and charger availability. This expansion, integral to their broader Truck-as-a-Service (TaaS) strategy, aims to enhance long-haul electric trucking across California.

Sunrise brief: Opposition stymies solar – sometimes

pv magazine — Tue, 14 May 2024 12:00:24 +0000

Also on the rise: Solar and wind powered boat’s final voyage across the sea. Active Surfaces raises $5.6 million to develop ‘solar 2.0’. And more.

Solar and wind powered boat’s final voyage across the sea The Energy Observer has one more stop in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, a French territory just south of Newfoundland, before powering across the North Atlantic to retire.

Renew Home launches with virtual power plant solution Through the partnership of Google Nest Renew and OhmConnect, Renew Home, has a goal of expanding from 3 GW of electrical energy use to 50 GW by 2030.

Opposition stymies solar – sometimes Strong growth in U.S. solar installations might suggest that solar has strong support but developers cite public opposition as a major challenge.

Active Surfaces raises $5.6 million to develop ‘solar 2.0’ This MIT spinout is developing lightweight, flexible solar panels that can be integrated into virtually any surface and manufactured using a printed, roll-to-roll process.

Opposition stymies solar – sometimes

Anne Fischer — Mon, 13 May 2024 16:15:45 +0000

Strong growth in U.S. solar installations might suggest that solar has strong support but developers cite public opposition as a major challenge.

From pv magazine, April 2024

Large-scale solar is booming in the United States, with 22.5 GW of utility scale capacity installed in 2023, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). That represents 77% growth over 2022, due to strong policies and the country’s decarbonization goals. Such figures might suggest that solar has strong support but developers cite public opposition as a major challenge.

Local opposition to solar energy comes in many forms, from neighbors who live near proposed large scale installations, to organized groups and municipal boards who pass legislation banning utility scale projects.

Perhaps the best-known story of solar opposition almost derailing a huge PV project in the United States began in 2019, in Spotsylvania, Virginia. The group noted for directing the most vitriol against a proposed 500 MW solar project was the “Concerned Citizens of Spotsylvania County,” a gathering thought by many to be funded by fossil-fuel interests. Other opponents included neighbors who didn’t want to see such a large site in their “backyard.” Development was delayed but was eventually approved, albeit with changes to the original plan made to appease those opposed to the project. Supervisors voted to cap the project at 500 MW, quelling local fears that then-developer sPower would later look to expand the site further.

Having been a thorn in the side of its developers for a few years, the Spotsylvania projects are now shining examples of clean energy that serve the nation’s needs. In 2020, software giant Microsoft signed a power purchase agreement covering the electricity generated by 315 MW of the project’s capacity, bringing the computing giant closer to powering all of its operations with renewable energy by 2025. In addition, the local economy benefited when more than 700 jobs were created during construction of the projects, and 35 of those became permanent.

Big gamble

In 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) came under fire when developers applied to build what would have been the largest solar installation in the country. The 850 MW Battle Born Solar Project would have been built by Arevia Power and Solar Partners VII on a hilltop in Moapa Valley, Nevada, which is administered by the BLM. A group of residents argued that the solar array would be an eyesore and could hurt recreational activity in the area. Developers then withdrew the application.

While the Battle Born project was lost, other sites on federal land are moving forward. In July 2022, the BLM issued the final approval for the construction of the Oberon solar project on about 2,700 acres of BLM-managed land near Desert Center, in Riverside County, California.

That project falls under the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, a policy that offers something for both proponents and opponents of siting utility scale renewables on 22.5 million acres across seven Californian counties. Goals include streamlining development of utility scale renewable energy generation and transmission in the deserts of southern California. This is consistent with federal and state renewables targets while providing for the long-term conservation and management of special-status species and desert vegetation communities, as well as other physical, cultural, scenic, and social resources within the designated area.

Over in Ohio

In March 2024, the Ohio Power Siting Board approved the Savion’s Oak Run solar project, an 800 MW utility scale PV facility with 300 MW of co-located energy storage. The project was approved despite some public opposition, which included concerns that agricultural land would be lost. A real-options analysis illustrated the land-use dollar value of solar purchasing far exceeded the value for agricultural use in Madison County.

In addition, local tax revenues estimated at between $242 million and $504 million to be accrued over the 30- to 35-year lifetime of the solar facility will flow to the county. Building the project is expected to result in the creation of more than 3,000 construction jobs. As much as $300 million in funding will be generated for local public schools as a result of the project.

Quelling opposition

A recent study from California’s Berkeley Lab, Michigan State University, and the University of Michigan sought to address an information gap that fosters local opposition to large scale solar. Neighbors of such facilities often cite blocked views, noise, and environmental concerns as reasons to scrap solar projects. The researchers from Michigan advise more direct engagement between developers and the operators of projects, local officials, and community members, including inviting people from neighboring communities where large scale solar is located to share their stories – good and bad – so that their voices are heard.

With PV expected to triple in the United States by 2028, to reach an estimated 380 GW of solar capacity, according to the SEIA and analysts at Wood Mackenzie, sharing facts early and often is imperative.

Machine learning

A tech startup in the United States is trying to tackle opposition to solar by using artificial intelligence. Learnewable is a new company offering project developers what it calls a stakeholder agreement platform. Using AI, the tool provides developers and their partners with risk assessments based on insights into local opposition. It also recommends strategies and messaging for stakeholders to support community outreach efforts.

U.S. solar industry week in review

pv magazine — Fri, 10 May 2024 21:00:51 +0000

pv magazine USA spotlights news stories of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

Sunrise brief: California did what?

pv magazine — Fri, 10 May 2024 11:45:34 +0000

Also on the rise: Longi announces 27.30% efficiency for heterojunction back contact solar cell. Heliene inks supply agreement with UGE for U.S.-made solar modules. And more.

Sunrun to aid California in its electricity imbalance with home solar and battery VPP

Ryan Kennedy — Thu, 09 May 2024 16:17:07 +0000

Over 16,000 Sunrun customers will supply the grid during peak electricity demand events.

Energy transition needs batteries… and more batteries

Michael Puttré — Thu, 09 May 2024 14:05:46 +0000

A recent IEA report says China holds all the cards in chemistry and production.

Heliene inks supply agreement with UGE for U.S.-made solar modules

Anne Fischer — Thu, 09 May 2024 12:46:41 +0000

With the Heliene supply agreement in place, UGE is projected to begin qualifying for the domestic content adder on projects that start construction as early as this summer.