Tag Archive for: california

“NREL being a leader in clean energy technology gives instructors at the colleges a crucial resource,” McCall said.

For more than 100 years, Kern County, California, has relied on energy (oil and gas) and agricultural production to stimulate the economy. People in Kern County have a fierce sense of pride and a strong sense of identity as an energy producing community, and they are expanding that vision.

“Typically, people who were born and raised in Kern County choose to raise their families there and stay for the long term,” said James McCall, energy and environmental analyst for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). “Bakersfield is a big city that has a small-town feel. A small town of more than 400,000 people, but that’s small for California. The joke there was it was two hours from everything: Los Angeles, the beach, and the national parks are all two hours away.”

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Source: Clean Technica

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Solar workers traveled to the state capital on Wednesday to rally in support of solar energy, calling on lawmakers to keep CA a solar state.

Solar workers traveled to the state capital on Wednesday to rally in support of solar energy, calling on lawmakers to keep California a solar state.

The solar industry is experiencing business closures and significant job losses in every part of the state after the decision of the California Public Utilities Commission, or CPUC, to slash overnight by 70 to 80 percent the value of solar energy contributed back to the grid.

Since then, the solar industry has lost more than 17,000 jobs, representing 22 percent of all solar jobs in the state. A steep 87 percent decline in solar installations is also pushing California off its path to meeting renewable energy goals that are critical to the fight against climate change.

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Source: ewg

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Arevon Energy has secured $1.1 billion in aggregate financing commitments for its Eland 2 Solar + Storage Project in Kern County, California.

Renewable energy project developer Arevon Energy has secured $1.1 billion in aggregate financing commitments for its Eland 2 Solar + Storage Project in Kern County, California. The 374-MWDC solar project coupled with 150 MW/600 MWh of energy storage is under early-stage construction and is anticipated to come online in Q1 2025.

Wells Fargo provided a $431 million tax equity commitment. Arevon obtained $654 million of debt financing including a construction-to-term loan, a tax equity bridge loan and letter of credit facilities. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) served as the Administrative Agent, Coordinating Lead Arranger, Green Loan Coordinator, and Bookrunner. Other Coordinating Lead Arrangers included BNP Paribas, CoBank, Commerzbank AG, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and National Bank of Canada. J.P. Morgan served as Joint Lead Arranger, Collateral and Depositary Agent. Amis, Patel & Brewer, LLP represented Arevon as Sponsor Counsel; Milbank LLP served as Lender Counsel; and Sheppard Mullin served as Tax Equity Counsel.

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Source: Solar Power World

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California must add nearly 60 GW of new renewable energy and energy storage resources by 2035 to slash power sector greenhouse gas emissions.

California must add nearly 60 GW of new renewable energy and energy storage resources by 2035 to slash power sector greenhouse gas emissions under a sweeping plan approved Feb. 15 by state energy regulators.

“This is a critical component of California’s climate change strategy,” California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Reynolds said ahead of a 3-0 decision to approve the “preferred system plan and portfolio,” which is designed to reduce emissions in the power sector to 25 million metric tons by 2035.

More than 40 individual integrated resource plans filed by investor-owned utilities, community choice aggregators and other load-serving entities helped to shape the statewide preferred plan. Under the portfolio, the use of natural gas-fired power plants connected to the California ISO transmission system “would decrease by roughly 70% by 2035” compared with 2024, Reynolds said.

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Source: S&P Global

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San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has brought online a portfolio of four ‘advanced’ microgrids equipped with 180MWh of battery storage.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of California’s main investor-owned utilities (IOUs), has brought online a portfolio of four ‘advanced’ microgrids equipped with 180MWh of battery storage.

The self-contained energy systems are aimed at giving greater resilience to disruptions in electricity supply for four communities in the San Diego area of the US West Coast state, as well as enabling them to make greater use of local solar PV generation.

At 39MW output to their combined 180MWh energy capacity, the batteries’ average duration at the sites is around 4.6-hour, with each deployed at a different utility substation serving communities in Clairemont, Tierra Santa, Paradise, and Boulevard.

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Source: Energy Storage

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VNEM incentivises builders to adopt rooftop solar and share the benefits – both financial and environmental – back to renters.

Most large cities in the US are facing a tri-fold crisis of housing, energy, and affordability including cities in New York State, California, Colorado, and others. Many residents in these cities face a lack of available housing combined with income inequality, which is exacerbated by the rising cost of basic expenses, particularly detrimental for renters. Plus, it’s no secret that Americans across the nation bear the brunt of an aging energy infrastructure, experiencing more frequent power outages and high energy bills due to rising and volatile energy prices.

The good news is that there’s a single existing programme that can help tackle all three of these issues: Virtual Net Energy Metering (VNEM).

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Source: PV Tech

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Energy Toolbase has completed commissioning on Ventura Energy’s five-site at critical water facilities throughout Ventura County, California.

Energy Toolbase has completed commissioning on Ventura Energy’s five-site, 3.7-MWh energy storage portfolio at critical water facilities throughout Ventura County, California. The systems of standalone energy storage are comprised of Tesla Powerpacks and Megapacks controlled by Acumen EMS software and enable the end-users to have a reliable water source in the case of an emergency. A majority of Ventura County is served by wells, and some residents and farmers are left without a water supply when the area experiences a power outage. This portfolio of systems, spanning from Santa Paula to Thousand Oaks, will now provide backup power to water pumps at their locations.

The portfolio of sites is enrolled in California’s Demand Response Auction Mechanism program (DRAM), a pay-as-bid solicitation created to strengthen grid stability and synchronize the reliability demand response of utilities with CAISO, California’s grid operator. Acumen EMS provided these grid services through Leap, an energy market access provider for distributed energy resources. Through the Ventura Energy portfolio, Energy Toolbase created a partnership with Leap, which will allow projects to participate in demand response and grid services programs, augment revenue and aid the state’s grid through a unique revenue-share model.

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Source: Solar Power World

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The CEC’s latest report takes a closer look at the role that long-duration energy storage can play in the CAISO system.

The CEC’s latest report takes a closer look at the role that long-duration energy storage can play in the CAISO system. It found that with a “business-as-usual” scenario under California’s clean energy policies, which would allow for 12 million metric tons of annual emissions from the electricity sector and retain gas resources, it would be cost-effective to add up to 5 GW of long-duration energy storage to the system by 2045. But to decarbonize the grid even further — such as by retiring in-state gas resources — it could make sense to add up to 37 GW of long-duration resources.

California’s Senate Bill 100, passed in 2018, set a goal for the state to derive all retail electricity sales from renewable and zero-carbon resources by 2045.

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Source: Utility Dive

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As CA’s utility regulator completes its community solar program guidelines, hopes are high that a widely supported tariff proposal will finally allow community solar & battery storage to help power the state.

As California’s utility regulator moves to complete its community solar program guidelines, hopes are high that a widely-supported tariff proposal will finally allow community solar and battery storage to help power the state.

“With the exception of community solar, California has often led the nation in state-level legislation and deployment of clean energy infrastructure,” stated Boston-based solar developer Perch Energy in December. This gap is set to be filled in July—the deadline for the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) to develop and deliver its community solar program, as mandated by the state’s landmark 2023 Community Renewable Energy Act (AB2316).

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Source: The Energy Mix

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Around the world, people are watching California try to decarbonize electricity completely by 2045 while growing its $4-trillion economy.

Around the world, people are watching California try to decarbonize electricity completely by 2045 while growing its $4-trillion economy and making sure low-income communities share in the benefits of clean energy and avoid any unfair burdens. Some people are looking to learn what to do where they live. Others want to see California fall on its face.

“Many folks are actually really rooting for our California clean energy experiment to fail, but in fact it’s succeeding,” David Hochschild, chair of the California Energy Commission, said Jan. 29 in opening a two-day conference at Stanford University. The CEC is responsible for the planning the state’s energy system. It co-sponsored the first day of the conference, which was hosted by Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. The day focused on how researchers can help California achieve its climate goals.

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Source: Stanford University

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