Solar
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Press Releases
Schneider Electric and SolarEdge Partner to Accelerate Residential Solar Market with Smart Home Energy Solution
BOSTON, Mass., October 22, 2020 – Schneider Electric today announced a technological and commercial partnership with SolarEdge Technologies Inc. for North America that will accelerate the residential solar market and provide homeowners with seamless energy management for smart homes of the future. The partnership marries Schneider Electric’s expertise in energy distribution and automation solutions with […]
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Renewables
China Brings 2.2-GW Solar Park Online
A Chinese company announced it has brought the world’s second-largest solar farm into commercial operation. Sungrow, which supplies inverters for renewable energy projects, and the state-owned utility Huanghe Hydropower Development on Oct. 9 said a 2.2-GW capacity solar park in the northwest province of Qinghai is now online. The Qinghai project trails only the 2.3-GW […]
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Supply Chains
Mixed Reactions on Looming DOE NOPR for Bulk Power System Security
The Department of Energy (DOE) will issue a notice of proposed rule-making (NOPR) to implement President Trump’s broad bulk power system (BPS) security executive order (EO) “later this fall,” a DOE official confirmed to POWER on Oct. 5. Though the NOPR is delayed beyond the 150-day timeframe set by the EO, various BPS stakeholders are […]
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Distributed Energy
Gearing Up for Grid Integration
The growing adoption of distributed energy resources presents another challenge for utilities and grid operators as they design and plan for how electricity is produced and delivered. The past few years have
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News
Renewables Could Drive Recovery in Latin America
Countries in Latin America did not feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic until several weeks after Europe and the U.S., but the impacts of the coronavirus when it arrived were swift on the region’s
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News
POWER Digest [October 2020]
Enel Ready to Close Italian Coal Plants. Enel, Italy’s largest power generator, said it wants to close three coal-fired units in the coming months as part of the company’s complete exit from coal. Enel
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Renewables
The POWER Interview: Are DERs an Opportunity, or Threat?
Distributed energy resources (DERs) are physical and virtual assets that are deployed across the power distribution grid. They are typically close to load, and though they initially began as behind-the-meter assets, today may be as likely to be deployed in front of the meter. DERs include renewable energy, and are the key component in microgrids, […]
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Commentary
Key Challenges and Opportunities Facing Residential Clean Energy for the Rest of 2020
Asia now accounts for the most growth in renewable electricity generation, at a whopping 40% of the global production, while Europe and North America are each at 20%, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Particularly, solar power was at its peak at the start of 2020, with a record-breaking first quarter in the […]
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News
Vistra Shuttering More Coal, Adding Solar and Storage
Vistra has announced seven new renewable energy projects that will add about 1,000 MW of solar and energy storage to the company’s generation fleet. The company also said it would retire its coal-fired power plants in Illinois and Ohio as part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions as it established new long-term emissions reduction […]
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Commentary
Summer 2020 Brought ERCOT Market Challenges, But Nothing Like 2019
The Texas power market made headlines in August 2019 when wholesale prices for electricity repeatedly spiked close to and even hit the $9,000-per-megawatt-hour (MWh) cap. This August, average hourly prices peaked at “just” $1,700 per MWh, the afternoon of Aug. 15. There were many reasons for the reduced price volatility in Texas this year. First, […]
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Connected Plant
Extensible Energy Releases DemandEx for Microgrids
Berkeley, Calif. September 14, 2020 – Extensible Energy has released DemandEx for Microgrids™, an AI load flexibility software that integrates with a microgrid controller to manage and optimize energy usage when off-grid or on-grid. With DemandEx for Microgrids, businesses can move beyond the traditional critical loads panel and utilize dynamic, intelligent software to power more […]
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Press Releases
Nextracker Selected by Shanghai Electric to Elevate Energy Output for Middle East’s Largest Solar Park
SHANGHAI, September 17, 2020 – Nextracker, a Flex company, announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Shanghai Electric to supply over one gigawatt of its world-leading solar tracker technology, NX Horizon™ to boost energy production for phase five of Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Solar Park – the largest in the Middle East. Located 50 kilometers south […]
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News
Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ Report Highlights Greening of the Grid
The use of coal for North American power generation will continue to decline, natural gas will continue as the leading source of power, and the use of renewable resources to provide electricity will continue to grow, according to a report from Hitachi ABB Power Grids. The outlook, titled “North America Power Reference Case: Spring 2020” […]
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Commentary
California’s Cautionary Tale Against the Green New Deal
California needs more reliable electricity. The ongoing rolling blackouts in the Golden State will likely become more frequent unless its elected leaders change their foolish energy policies. More importantly, California’s energy posture reveals some harsh lessons for the rest of America, as it provides a glimpse into the future of power generation should the Democrats […]
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News
World’s Largest—For Now—Battery Storage Project Online in California
A battery energy storage project in California is set to be the world’s largest in terms of generation capacity when the facility is fully energized later in September. McCarthy Building Companies’ Renewable Energy & Storage group, based in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sept. 1 said the company had recently completed construction of LS Power’s 250-MW Gateway […]
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Press Releases
Nationwide and Sol Systems venture, Helios Infrastructure, purchases 47 MW Texas portfolio amid 2020 challenges
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 1, 2020) – Nationwide and Sol Systems today announced their joint venture, Helios Infrastructure (Helios), completed the purchase of four operating Texas solar projects totaling 47 megawatts (MW) from Cypress Creek Renewables. A few weeks ago, Nationwide, Sol Systems and Cypress Creek announced the final portfolio sale in a 148 MW master […]
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Top Plant
Turning a Brownfield into a Brightfield
A solar array in Indiana is a model project for renewable energy development, with the site providing clean energy at what was once a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. Areas of the U.S
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News
Delingha: A Leap for Molten Salt Tower CSP Technology
The 50-MW Delingha concentrated solar power tower plant located on the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau in China was developed, built, and continues to be refined by a company dedicated to solar tower technology
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Solar
Mitigating Emerging Utility-Scale Solar Project Risks
America’s energy systems are being led by renewables development, both now and in the foreseeable future. There should be no real argument about what the future of our energy economy looks like. Not just because renewables bolster needed decarbonization efforts, but because renewables are a better economic solution and embody core principles of American entrepreneurism. […]
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Fuel
Big Oil Makes Concerted Push into Power
BP made headlines in early August when it announced it wants to develop about 50 GW of net renewable generating capacity by 2030—a 20-fold increase from the 2.5 GW deployed in 2019—as part of a new
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Connected Plant
ABB and ORION unite to help Bangladesh deliver more power from renewable energy sources
ABB has signed a contract with ORION to implement automation and control solutions at Bangladesh’s 100MW Moidhara solar power plant in Mongla, supporting the country’s growing energy requirements and helping the government to achieve its goals of delivering cleaner power generation projects by 2020. Collaborating with Energon Renewables (BD) Ltd, a subsidiary of ORION, one […]
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News
California Blackouts Bring Calls for Investigation
California’s governor demanded an investigation into the cause of a series of power outages—the first since an energy crisis in 2001—that blacked out parts of the state in recent days. California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has struggled to ensure reliability since Friday, Aug. 14, when, amid triple-digit temperatures, it declared a statewide Stage 2 Emergency, […]
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Fuel
Coal-Fired Generation Down 30% in U.S., 8% Worldwide
Analysis from a global energy organization said power generation from coal-fired units fell 8.3% in the first half of 2020, with the world’s coal fleet running at less than half its capacity. The drop for U.S. coal generation was more steep, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting the output from the nation’s coal […]
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News
Clean Energy Adds Jobs, but Pace Is Slow
An analysis of federal labor data for the clean energy sector shows renewable energy and other industries are adding jobs after months of declines brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. But the gains in July were lower than those in June, signaling sectors such as solar, wind, energy storage, energy efficiency, and electric vehicles continue […]
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Press Releases
Denver Selects Partners for Equity Driven Community Solar Garden Project
DENVER (Aug. 5, 2020) – The City and County of Denver will host up to 15 MW of community solar gardens on municipal rooftops, over parking lots, and vacant land as part of a signed Master Services Agreement with McKinstry, GRID Alternatives, and Unico Solar Investors. The project is part of the Renewable Denver Initiative, which […]
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Press Releases
Murata Electronics and Yotta Energy Announce Collaboration to Enable Innovative and Safe Energy Storage Solution
Austin, Texas (August 6, 2020) – Murata Electronics today announced its collaboration with Yotta Energy to enable the development of a modular, solar energy storage solution that utilizes Murata’s FORTELION™ battery cells. The Murata Electronics and Yotta Energy collaboration brings Yotta’s panel-level energy storage one step closer to commercialization. Yotta’s PV-Coupled™ technology includes the SolarLEAF™, […]
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News
Pandemic Brings Pause, but Future Looks Bright
The solar power industry has been hammered by the global lockdowns due to the coronavirus, but technology advancements that continue to lower costs point to a rapid recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic has not been