Tag Archive for: californiasolar

California must take all necessary steps to expedite that access by adopting strong community solar plus storage program design.

California needs more community solar. A lot more.

OPINION – Leading the way is nothing new to Californians. Not only does California lead the country in clean energy, we’re also the fifth-largest economy in the world and a hub of global technological innovation. But we now face the same increasingly strong headwinds as other parts of the country – addressing housing, climate, and affordability crises all at the same time.

Our state’s ambitious residential building efficiency standards solve one half of the equation, by requiring renewable energy to power them. Yet, these new requirements cannot be fulfilled unless all forms of solar are accessible and expanded. The state’s utility regulator has an opportunity to tackle housing costs and energy affordability challenges all while enhancing the state’s leading efforts at addressing climate change. California must take all necessary steps to expedite that access by adopting strong community solar plus storage program design.

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Source: Capitol Weekly

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Community solar+storage projects can provide millions of dollars more in value to California utility customers when systems are built on commercial and industrial rooftops in cities rather than on open land in rural areas.

California’s urban roofs provide more value for community solar+storage than rural areas

Community solar installations give community residents access to solar power regardless of whether they rent their home or live in a shady area. Customers buy or rent a share of an off-site solar installation that supplies their electricity and typically earn credits on their electricity bills for the electricity the installation provides.

Despite being a national leader in utility-scale solar power, California “doesn’t have workable community solar programs yet,” Churchill said, echoing sentiments solar developers have expressed for years in the Golden State. Community solar programs thus far have been very limited in size, she said, and customers often pay more for energy than they did before they enrolled, which she says indicates “the pricing structure is undervaluing the benefits of the clean energy.”

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Source: Smart Cities Dive

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The 10 MW system will provide energy cost savings directly to qualifying low-income residents under PG&E’s DAC-GT Program.
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California’s largest solar project for low-income communities starts construction

Construction has begun on the Fresno Disadvantaged Community (DAC) Solar Farm, the largest shared solar project for disadvantaged communities in California and the first utility-scale solar farm within Fresno. The 10 MW system will provide energy cost savings directly to qualifying low-income residents under PG&E’s Disadvantaged Communities Green Tariff (DAC-GT) Program. The project was made possible by close collaboration between White Pine Renewables and the City of Fresno.

Located in Council District 3, “The Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm is the perfect case study of ensuring equity in the new green economy through public-private partnerships that benefit all Fresno residents. In short, it’s the type of solar development where everyone wins,” commented Council Member Miguel Arias.

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Source: Solar Builder

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California needs to think creatively and find ways to put more solar energy in already built-out places, including rooftops and parking lots.

Editorial: California needs a lot more solar. Why not put panels along highways and parking lots?

California is racing to build enough solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage to meet its carbon-cutting mandates and prepare its electrical grid for worsening heat waves and growing energy demand.

But increasing renewable energy by covering far-off, undeveloped areas with solar and wind farms raises its own environmental concerns. That’s why California needs to think creatively and find ways to put more solar energy in already built-out places, including rooftops and parking lots, canals and agricultural fields, so we can slow the climate crisis without harming sensitive land, like the habitat of threatened Joshua trees or Mojave Desert tortoises.

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Source: Los Angeles Times

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Imerys is partnering with TotalEnergies to install a 15-MW solar system paired with a 7.5-MWh energy storage system at Imerys’s Lompoc facility in Santa Barbara County, CA.

California mining site to install solar + storage system

Imerys is partnering with TotalEnergies to install a 15-MW solar system paired with a 7.5-MWh energy storage system at Imerys’s Lompoc facility in Santa Barbara County, California. TotalEnergies will install, maintain and operate the system under a 25-year power purchase and storage services agreement (PPSSA).

This collaboration is part of Imerys’ decarbonization roadmap in line with its commitment to align with the 1.5°C trajectory. Imerys targets to reduce its CO2 emissions by 42% in absolute terms by 2030.

The Lompoc industrial site began its diatomite mining and processing operations in the 1890s. The new renewable power installation will cover 50% of the current electrical energy demand of the site.

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Source: Solar Power World

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Miller Milling Co., a part of Japan-based Nisshin Seifun Group, plans to expand its solar power capabilities at its flour mill in Fresno, CA.
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California flour mill to add more solar power

Miller Milling Co., a part of Japan-based Nisshin Seifun Group, plans to expand its solar power capabilities at its flour mill in Fresno, Calif.

Company officials said the expansion will add 1.01 megawatts of DC electricity that will be transformed and used at the mill. This amount plus the existing 1.01 megawatts of electricity being produced through solar will satisfy roughly 33% of the total electrical demand of the facility, the company said.

Miller Milling Co.’s solar power system became operational toward the end of 2017, Damon Sidles, plant manager, said in a 2018 article in World Grain, a sister publication of Milling & Baking News. The project involved the installation of 2,340 solar panels required for the project on 5 acres located adjacent to the mill, he said.

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Source: Food Business News

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US Senator Padilla announced $7 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 5 CA solar projects.

Padilla announces $7M to enhance solar manufacturing, recycling & the grid in CA

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, announced $7 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for five projects across California to strengthen domestic solar supply chain. These research, development, and demonstration projects will help to enhance domestic solar manufacturing, support the recycling of solar panels, and develop new American-made solar technologies.

“As we continue to grapple with the impacts of climate change, it is critical that we invest in domestic clean energy projects that improve our energy grid resilience and strengthen our energy independence,” said Senator Alex Padilla.“The funding for these California projects will help create the smart and accessible solutions we need to grow our clean energy production in order to help us meet President Biden’s goal of a 100 percent clean electricity grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

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Source: Padilla Senate

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The attachment rates of storage systems to distributed solar in CA are projected to increase from around 11% today to over 80% by 2027

Interest in energy storage booms after implementation of NEM 3.0

California’s recent transition to a new framework to compensate customers who generate their own energy and export a portion of it back to the grid is leading to a flurry of interest in battery storage and is expected to significantly increase the number of batteries that are attached to solar systems over the next few years, industry experts say.

Companies like Sunrun and sonnen are introducing products and offerings that include energy storage, intended to derive the most value out of the new framework. Sunrun, for instance, recently launched an offering called Sunrun Shift, that enables customers to store excess rooftop solar energy for use when electricity prices are the highest.

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Source: Utility Dive

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Erthos wants to reinvent solar farms with ground-mounted panels that it says can reduce utility solar costs by 20 percent.

A firsthand look at a California solar farm with ​‘earth-mounted’ panels

What happens if you install solar panels directly on the ground and then subject them to a wild and wet California winter replete with 12 atmospheric rivers, two bomb cyclones and 80-mile-per-hour wind gusts? I visited a Central California solar farm built by the startup Erthos to find out.

Since the company unstealthed in June 2021, Erthos has deployed 3 megawatts of large-scale solar generation using a unique system that places photovoltaic panels on the ground instead of using elevated steel racking or trackers.

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Source: Canary Media

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SB 49 authored by Senator Becker encourages solar canopies over parking lots and direct California to plan for solar power along its highway.

New California bill aims for more solar over parking lots and along highways

On March 15, Environment California submitted a letter of support signed by 64 environmental, consumer and other community groups to Senator Josh Becker declaring support for Senate Bill 49. SB 49, authored by Senator Becker and sponsored by Environment California, would encourage solar canopies over parking lots and direct California to plan for solar power along its highway rights-of-way.

The organizations applauded Senator Becker’s leadership in addressing the climate crisis with a common sense clean energy solution: encouraging more solar power and battery storage that will power communities throughout the state.

Existing developed areas like parking lots and highways should be used to their fullest extent to capture large amounts of solar energy. These groups agree that it’s time to use the state’s plentiful parking lots and highway rights-of-way to produce more clean energy now and help California reach its 100% clean energy goals.

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Source: Solar Power World

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