Which solar inverter manufacturers are most financially stable?  Sinovoltaics, in its latest financial stability ranking of inverter manufacturers lists Hoymiles, Eaton and others at the top. 

Biden issues new proclamation on solar cell tariffs  Tariffs on solar cells remain, but volume increases from 5 GW to 12.5 GW.

What happens when solar is installed without homeowner’s permission A Connecticut couple and several companies including Sunrun have been sued by the state’s Attorney General for forging signatures, faking a voices, and unlawfully installing solar panels on a home without the owners’ consent.

Ebon Solar to invest nearly $1 billion in U.S. solar cell factory The solar cell manufacturing facility is to be located in New Mexico and expected to bring over 900 jobs to the area.

IRA 2-year anniversary: A look at its successes and failures David Burton, attorney with Norton Rose Fulbright and specialist in energy tax law, looks at tax credit transfer, domestic content, energy communities, prevailing wage and more.

SunPower goes bankrupt The company, one of the longest running solar companies in the U.S., spun off its manufacturing business in 2020 to focus more squarely on rooftop solar as demand surged. Since then, demand cooled considerably, and, under a high interest rate environment, the strategy proved fatal for the company.

Goldman Sachs invests $440 million in renewable independent power producer  The strategic investment in BrightNight will support the development of utility, commercial, and industrial solar and energy storage projects.

More money is going into solar than all other forms of generation combined, reaching $500 billion in 2024 The International Energy Agency projects that solar will attract more investment than all other electricity generation sources combined. Global energy spending is set to surpass $3 trillion for the first time this year.

Republicans request continuation of IRA post-January Eighteen Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to preserve the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) if their party takes control of the political reins in January.

Sunrun stock rises on strong cash generation in Q2 earnings The residential solar and energy storage provider increased its battery attachment rates and net subscriber value of its customers.

The evolving art and science of agrivoltaics At Bluewave, integrating solar technology with traditional farming practices isn’t just a concept, it’s the new standard. Jesse Robertson-DuBois, director of sustainable solar development, shares insights on the transformative journey of agrivoltaics within the industry.

Renewables “cheaper and faster” than methane, says nation’s largest utility NextEra’s Q2 2024 quarterly earnings report shows significant growth in the company’s renewable pipeline. However, the group, which is typically exacting, refused to put a hard number on their future demand growth expectations.

Battery fire shuts down California highway A utility-scale battery delivery overturned on a highway after the truck carrying the batteries collided with a car, overcorrected, tipped to the side and dumped its cargo, leading to a fire that lasted more than 24 hours.

Bill aims to cut 45X tax credits for Chinese solar makers While the lucrative tax credits has attracted clean energy manufacturers from around the world to build factories in the U.S., the fact that many of the new manufacturing facilities are from Chinese companies has created a controversy that this new bill aims to solve.

Massive 900 MW solar project designed to preserve agricultural land Brookfield Renewable Partners filed a notice of intent for a 900 MW solar project in Oregon that will be installed in ribbons along the edge of a field to allow for continued agricultural use of the land

Residential solar company SunPower stock crashes 70% The company’s share price fell below $1 as it announced it is halting some operations and ending its lease and power purchase agreement offerings, among other actions.

How long do residential solar panels last? Multiple factors affect the productive lifespan of a residential solar panel. In the first part of this series, we look at the solar panels themselves.

U.S. Senators introduce comprehensive energy permitting reform act Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) released the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, promising to accelerate the permitting processes for energy and mineral projects of all types in the U.S.

WoodMac says global solar tracker shipments grew by 28% in 2023 Global tracker shipments reached 92 GWdc last year, according to WoodMackenzies’ latest report. The US accounted for the majority of the global market, with three US-based manufacturers, Nextracker, Array Technologies and GameChange Solar, ranking as the three largest shippers in the world.

Interview: My experience as a battery energy storage homeowner What is it like being a residential solar and energy storage prosumer living in California? Ahmad Faruqui, economist-at-large, shares his perspective with pv magazine USA .

Elastocalorics could replace heat pumps, air conditioning systems Elastocalorics have the potential to replace current air conditioning and heating systems, offering significant energy savings when paired with technologies such as photovoltaics.

First Solar probes potential infringement of TOPCon patents First Solar says it is evaluating potential infringement of its patents for its TOPCon tech, secured through the acquisition of TetraSun in 2013. The U.S. thin-film solar module manufacturer has not named the companies involved or given a timeline for the investigation.

Global solar installations to nearly quadruple by 2033 Wood Mackenzie forecasts 4.7 TW of solar capacity to be built between 2024 and 2033, with China accounting for about 50% of the growth.

U.S. manufacturer Toledo Solar closes business The Ohio based thin-film solar module producer was sued last year by First Solar, which alleged that Toledo Solar sold Malaysian-made First Solar modules under the Toledo name. It has announced it will cease operations.

Solar tariffs could “unintentionally cede U.S. leadership in the solar industry”  A report from Clean Energy Associates (CEA) and the American Council on Renewable Energy shows how antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) tariffs create cost issues not just for imported solar panels, but for U.S.-made solar panels as well. 

Solar panel cleaning with electromagnetic waves Three companies, including Massachusetts startup Sol Clarity, are experimenting with electrodynamic screen systems to clean solar panels using minimal electricity and no water.

Solar supply chain, technology trends, and policy update A report from Clean Energy Associates (CEA) provides the latest on global and regional solar supply chains, technological trends, and market impacts from policy.

Tesla battery deployment jumped way up while Megapack is down Tesla revealed a significant increase in energy storage deployment, officially reporting revenue for 9.4 GWh of deployed storage products.

Experts consider speedy utility-scale interconnection in Texas going nationwide Some experts shared data to back up their praise for the “connect and manage” approach used by Texas grid operator ERCOT, while others speaking on an industry panel explained their reservations.

Public input sought for large-scale solar project in Arizona  According to the application submitted by developer EDF Renewables, the proposed Socorro project will sit on 3,066 acres on nearly 6,000-acres of public land and it would produce up to 350 MW of solar energy along with battery energy storage.

Yotta Energy launches ‘panel-level storage’ package for C&I solar U.S. storage and inverter specialist Yotta Energy says its new package has several advantages compared to conventional C&I solar storage solutions.

Lithium-ion battery fire safety starts with the manufacturer Fluence America’s president says stakeholder and first responder engagement is necessary to keep failures from becoming newsworthy events.

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.

U.S. scientists develop air-bridge thermophotovoltaic cells with 44% efficiency  U.S. scientists have developed a thermophotovoltaic cell that could be paired with inexpensive thermal storage to provide power on demand. The indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) thermophotovoltaic cell absorbs most of the in-band radiation to generate electricity, while serving as a nearly perfect mirror.

Guaranteed and transferable tax benefits will make the PV industry too big to fail  Trina Solar executive says policies in the Inflation Reduction Act will make or break the future of solar in the U.S.

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

21 states accept the grid modernization challenge 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.

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.

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

Wyoming ranked 50^th in installed solar in 2023, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) with only 124 MW installed. As of Q4 2023, SEIA expected it to pop up to 43^rd place with 685 MW expected to be installed over the next five years. However, the Cowboy Solar Project, at 771 MW and 268 MW of battery energy storage, will surpass that in one fell swoop.

The Cowboy project was just approved by Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Council, and developer Enbridge plans construction in two phases with both beginning in March 2025. Commercial operation of Phase 1, which will include 400 MW of solar and 136 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) is expected in January 2027. Commercial operation of Phase II with 371 MW solar and 133 MW BESS is expected to begin in August 2027. The company estimates that the onsite workforce will have average of 285 temporary workers monthly, with a peak workforce of approximately 375 workers in April 2025.

For more on the process of obtaining permits for large-scale renewable energy project in Wyoming, read Early engagement avoids perils of Wyoming industrial siting.

The combined 771 MW of solar is estimated to be enough to serve 771,000 homes, or more than three times the number of homes in Wyoming. Enbridge has not yet announced an offtake agreement for the electricity generated.

Enbridge, a Canadian multinational pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, intends to build the project about 4 miles south of Cheyenne on 3,845 acres of private land that it will lease.

While the company reports that it is currently responsible for moving about 30% of the crude oil produced in North America and 20% of the natural gas consumed in the United States, the company says it has committed to reducing emissions 35% by 2030 and being net-zero by 2050. It has a portfolio of over 5.2 GW of wind, offshore wind and solar projects in Canada, the U.S., France, Germany and England.

To keep the public informed about the massive Wyoming project, Enbridge held public meetings to notify neighbors within 1 km of the project in October 2023, which were advertised in the local newspaper, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. The company said it is planning further engagement with broader public notification and outreach to community stakeholders and Tribal communities as the project gets closer to the 2026 in-service date. Details of future outreach will be posted here.

(Read Opposition stymies solar—sometimes)

Approval by the Industrial Siting Council is just the first step in the process, as Enbridge must also obtain permits from Laramie County as well as necessary environmental and municipal permits required before constructing the project.

Once operational, the Cowboy solar project will be just the third utility-scale solar installation in the state. In April Southern Power, a wholesale energy provider and subsidiary of Southern Company, announced the operation of the 150 MW South Cheyenne Solar Facility, currently the largest in Wyoming. Southern Power acquired the project from Qcells USA, which had served as the project developer, module manufacturer and engineering procurement construction (EPC) provider of the site. Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power signed a 20-year power purchase agreement for the electricity generated, which will be used to provide renewable energy to a data center customer.

Prior to the South Cheyenne facility, the largest was the Sweetwater solar project, a 98 MW installation by SOLV Energy, developed by Clenera, an Enlight Renewable Energy company. Covering roughly 700 acres the project generates enough power to serve the equivalent of 12,000 homes each year.

Solar siting tool

With so much unspoiled land in Wyoming, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) developed the Brightfields Energy Siting Initiative (BESI) tool specifically for Wyoming. The intention is to guide new energy development to previously disturbed areas or “brownfields” so as to diversify the state’s energy mix without compromising the state’s iconic wildlife and natural areas.

The BESI tool identifies areas where new energy development is unlikely to encounter significant land use conflicts, permitting delays and cost overruns. It can locate sensitive places to avoid as well as provide information down to an individual project site. For example, it can determine if a potential site would risk conflict with a known mule deer migration route, a location with an abundance of cultural resources nearby or a golden eagle nesting area. It can look at habitat and can flag it as a site that would be better for restoration rather than the site of a new energy facility.

Access the BESI map tool here.

New Jersey warehouse operator provides community solar access to 700 residents  RPM Warehousing now generates 4.3 MW of solar energy from two of its warehouse facilities in Edison and Avenel, N.J., and the logistics business plans to install a third rooftop solar array of about 3.5 MW to 4 MW on a 480,000 square foot facility at a site within a few miles of its HQ.

Ascent boosts production with acquisition of 15 MW Swiss thin-film producer  With the closing of this deal, Ascent will triple its production capacity from its 5 MW of existing nameplate capacity production.

Most solar won’t qualify for Inflation Reduction Act hydrogen incentive, per IEA data  An analysis by the International Energy Agency puts solar’s lifetime emissions, manufacturing included, at a level that would earn only 25% to 33.4% of the IRA’s $3/kg hydrogen incentive.

FEMA’s $13 billion for Puerto Rico’s grid could shift to solar if lawsuit succeeds  Rooftop solar-plus-storage would become the focus of FEMA’s spending to rebuild Puerto Rico’s grid, if a federal court grants the plaintiffs’ requests in a lawsuit, said their lead attorney. Equipping every home in Puerto Rico with 2.7 kW of PV and 12.6 kWh of battery backup is one option recommended by an independent study.

Lowe’s to install solar at 54 California locations  The hardware giant signed a power purchase agreement for a 48 MW portfolio of rooftop solar with Greenskies Clean Focus.

50 states of solar incentives: Wyoming  Wyoming has enough solar installed to power over 22,000 homes and is set to more than double its solar capacity over the next five years.

BorgWarner announces two U.S. battery and EV charging factory expansions  The company invested $42 million in a 3 GWh South Carolina expansion and $20 million in a Michigan plant upgrade.

Through the end of 2022, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reports that Wyoming has installed a cumulative solar capacity of 146 MW. This is enough solar to power nearly 23,000 homes and represents about 0.5% of the state’s energy mix.

While solar does not yet have a strong presence in Wyoming, it is expected to grow. SEIA estimates that 232 MW will be added in the next five years, more than double the cumulative capacity to date.

Wyoming has invested an estimated $173 million in solar, and the industry currently employs about 150 people across 13 companies, 10 of which are installers.

Incentives 

From now through 2032, Wyoming residents who install solar panels are eligible for the 30% federal Investment Tax Credit. The credit now has a transferability option, meaning if the customer does not have tax liability, they can elect sell the tax credits to someone who does have tax liability to receive the 30% credit as a cash payment.

Wyoming also offers solar customers net metering, the process by which excess solar production that is exported to the grid is credited on the customer’s monthly utility bill.

Net metering is currently valued at a retail rate, meaning that customers are offered a one-to-one value for exported power, though that is coming under threat. Current legislation being evaluated may reduce the retail rate for net metering to an “avoided cost” rate, a fraction of the price paid for retail electricity. If this legislation passes, Wyoming residents will likely have to either size their system small to avoid value losses from overproduction or attach a battery to capture their solar generation.

Another piece of legislation, SF0092, may end net metering in Wyoming. The proposed legislation first renames “net metering” customers as “small generators.” This appears to be an attempt to reclassify behind-the-meter rooftop solar power owners as power plant owners, thus opening them up to a new raft of potential regulations and costs. The law specifically notes that these parties are not “public utilities.”

The law states that Wyoming will develop a new set of regulations to compensate these small generators by April 2024, and that they will be structured to “prevent rate subsidization of customer‑generators by other customers of an electric utility.”

Notable project 

About two-thirds of Wyoming’s total solar capacity comes from the Sweetwater solar project, a 98 MW installation by SOLV Energy, developed by Clenera, an Enlight Renewable Energy company. The installation consists of Trina and Longi panels, Sungrow inverters, and NEXTracker single-axis tracker mounts.

Covering roughly 700 acres, about the size of Central Park in New York, the project generates enough power to serve the equivalent of 12,000 homes each year. Most of the project is located on federal lands.

Development tool

In the interest of preserving those unspoiled lands, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has developed a Brightfields Energy Siting Initiative (BESI) tool specifically for Wyoming, with the intention of guiding new energy development to previously disturbed areas or “brownfields.” By siting solar and wind on land previously used for fossil fuel development, the goal of the initiative is for Wyoming to diversify its energy mix without compromising the state’s iconic wildlife and natural areas.

The BESI tool identifies areas where new energy development is unlikely to encounter significant land use conflicts, permitting delays and cost overruns. It can locate sensitive places to avoid as well as provide information down to an individual project site. For example, it can determine if a potential site would risk conflict with a known mule deer migration route, a location with an abundance of cultural resources nearby or a golden eagle nesting area. It can look at habitat and can flag it as a site that would be better for restoration rather than the site of a new energy facility.

Access the BESI map tool here.

Up next 

Last week, pv magazine USA toured the state of solar in Idaho, and next we will head to Nevada.

The Wyoming Industrial Development and Siting Act governs the permitting of large-scale projects, including renewable energy projects, data centers, refining, manufacturing, and carbon capture to name a few. Established over 40 years ago, the Act and subsequent regulations created a fairly predictable process:

• Project proponent meets with the Industrial Siting Division at Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality to determine whether the project must obtain a permit.
• Project proponent prepares a permit application consistent with the applicable statutes and associated regulations and submits that application for the Industrial Siting Division to review.
• Contested case hearing before the Industrial Siting Council who has final approval over permit applications. See id. at §§ 109, 110, 113.

Predictable now unpredictable

Seems simple, right? But the devil is in the details. Over time, the increasingly difficult and risky part of the process comes after application submittal and before Siting Council approval. During this time, the Siting Division reviews the completeness of the permit application. While similar to many permitting regimes, the Siting Division’s review differs because the Division does not conduct any substantive evaluation of the contents of an application.

The substantive review falls to what the Act calls reviewing agencies. The 19 reviewing agencies receive a copy of the permit application from the Siting Division and can then provide comments. These agencies include Wyoming Game & Fish, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, the Department of Health, the Office of State Lands and Investments, and the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. See id. at § 110(b).

Reviewing agencies have no actual jurisdiction over the permit process but in recent years have exerted great influence and created challenges for project proponents. Critically, the agencies can request the permit applicant take additional measures or provide more or different information. The Siting Division Administrator then determines whether to recommend to the Siting Council that any comments become special permit conditions. Under the Act, special permit conditions become enforceable terms of a permit once approved by the Siting Council and can even prevent construction if the project proponent does not fulfil those conditions.

Agency comments now mandates

By now, you likely wonder, “so what?” Simple. In recent years, the Siting Division has changed from evaluating reviewing agency comments as input to reviewing agency comments as mandatory permit conditions. But the reviewing agencies rarely write their comments in a way that easily translates into a specific condition a project can fulfill. And on several occasions reviewing agencies did not actually want their comments to become conditions. For instance, Wyoming Game & Fish often suggests that construction begin before or halt during certain nesting seasons. But the agency has to this point never wanted a construction halt mandated. Yet the Siting Division has attempted to impose such a halt.

Worse still, the comments converted into proposed conditions can affect critical aspects of a project, ranging from schedule to project cost. For example, the Division has attempted to impose a condition that would have delayed a project’s construction by two years to allow for preconstruction surveys and monitoring for certain wildlife. Had this condition received Siting Council approval, that particular project would have either suffered significant delay or not happened at all because of an inability to complete the project by the time required in the project’s power purchase agreement.

And these are not the only examples. Based on agency comments in recent years, the Siting Division has crafted conditions that imposed additional mitigation measures, more studies of both environmental and socio-economic aspects of a project, and changes to site design. Once approved by the Siting Council, the conditions create cost, time, and schedule burdens for those projects. One such example is a recent wind project that because of special conditions had to conduct additional studies and develop new mitigation plans that may very well delay construction.

Early, ongoing engagement is key

It’s not all doom and gloom. Several lessons have emerged from projects that have successfully and unsuccessfully battled difficult or onerous permit conditions arising from reviewing agency comments.

First, engage early with reviewing agencies. Early and ongoing discussions with agencies like Wyoming Game & Fish have highlighted mitigation measures or studies a project proponent can include in a permit application to preclude potential comments. This proactive engagement allows the agency and applicant to cooperatively craft language for potential permit conditions, which can be critical to overall permit success.

Second, have as much dialogue with the Siting Division as you can. The Siting Division has a small staff and increasing workload. Project proponents who are available to answer questions and talk through reviewing agency comments stand a better chance of heading off harmful permit conditions.

Third, if you have to fight a proposed permit condition, do so before you get to the contested case hearing with the Siting Council. The project applicant will typically have 3 to 4 weeks between the Siting Division Administrator announcing proposed conditions and the date of a contested case hearing. That window represents the last, best chance to eliminate or alter proposed permit conditions through engagement and negotiation with the Siting Division, reviewing agency, or both. The Siting Council disfavors permit applicants using a contested case hearing to argue against proposed permit conditions. The Siting Council has also been reticent to change or alter conditions at this stage. A battle before the Siting Council may need to happen. But it should be a last resort.

Lean into relationships

Finally, cultivating relationships and relying on people who have relationships with the Siting Division and reviewing agencies makes the first three lessons work. Wyoming is a small state where credibility and reputation matter, especially when trying to get access to state agencies. Drawing on a relationship can often open doors and facilitate dialogue that can head off damaging permit conditions at the right stage of the process.

As renewable energy projects, data centers, and carbon capture projects increase in Wyoming, the Industrial Siting Process will take center stage. It seems inevitable that additional scrutiny by reviewing agencies and greater political awareness of the process will follow. This means the challenges with proposed permit conditions are likely to get worse. But drawing on the lessons of past projects should help new project proponents navigate the pitfalls and emerge from the permitting process positioned for success.

Jeffrey Pope is a partner in Holland & Hart’s Cheyenne, Wyoming office. Jeff helps companies navigate the industrial siting process in Wyoming, securing permits for carbon capture projects, data centers, large commercial wind and solar facilities, and refining operations. As a litigator, he also represents mining, oil and gas, refining, pipeline, construction, and other businesses before state and federal courts. He also leads the Wyoming appellate practice.

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Retired coal sites to host multi-day iron-air batteries  Two renewable energy storing 10 MW / 1,000 MWh batteries will be installed by Form Energy on former Xcel Energy coal fired plants.

Wyoming 900 MW pumped storage project moves toward licensing  Developer rPlus Hydro submits application for a final license to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for Seminoe project, a milestone reached only a few pumped storage projects in the last 20 years.

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rPlus Hydro, LLP, a developer of large-scale pumped storage hydro projects, announced the submission of its application for Final License to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its 900 MW Seminoe Pumped Storage project located in Carbon County, Wyoming. According to rPlus, this milestone has been achieved by only six pumped storage projects in the United States since 2000.

The Seminoe Pumped Storage project is expected to provide 10 hours of full-output energy storage capacity and will help ensure reliability and dependability of the regional transmission grid, especially as additional wind and solar capacity comes online. With an estimated construction cost of approximately $2.5 billion, the project expects to create up to 500 skilled construction jobs in Carbon County over four to six years. Once operational, the project will provide an estimated 35 full-time skilled positions to the area and generate approximately $9 million in additional annual tax revenue for state and local governments.

Pumped storage hydroelectric storage works by pumping water from a lower to a higher reservoir during off-peak periods. This can be at night or when there is too much electricity being generated, such as by solar during the day. When power is needed, stored water flows downhill through a turbine, and that energy is harnessed to produce electricity.

“Seminoe Pumped Storage will be an ideal match for Wyoming’s excellent wind energy resource, and will support Wyoming’s role as an energy leader,” notes Matthew Shapiro, rPlus Hydro CEO. “It can also help ensure efficient utilization of new transmission lines that are, or will soon be, under construction, such as the Gateway lines and TransWest Express.”

In the project’s design, the lower reservoir will be the existing Seminoe Reservoir. The upper reservoir will be located in the Bennet Mountains approximately 1.7 miles east of the Seminoe Dam, and approximately 1,000 ft higher in elevation than the Seminoe Reservoir. The two reservoirs will be joined by tunnels underground. An underground powerhouse will contain equipment to generate electricity from the power of the water as it flows from the upper reservoir through the powerhouse and on to the lower reservoir. The same equipment would be used to pump water from the lower reservoir back to the upper reservoir, enabling the system to start the cycle again when needed.

Energy for pumping, and power generated by the project, will be delivered through a new, 30-mile transmission line connecting the project with PacifiCorp’s existing Aeolus Substation, near Medicine Bow, Wyoming.

Pumped storage has been in use for more than a century, and there are currently 43 such projects operating in the United States, according to rPlus. The submission of the Final License Application is the first of several major milestones for rPlus Hydro coming in 2023. rPlus Hydro anticipates Final License to be granted by March 2025, construction to begin in October 2026, and commercial operation of the first unit by June 2031, with full operation by September 2031.

rPlus Hydro’s submission of its Final License Application is the culmination of a multi-year study and approval process that includes in-depth engineering designs, environmental assessments, and community engagement. The filing of this application will launch an environmental review and licensing process with local, state, and federal agencies. The company expects to submit a Final License Application for its White Pine Pumped Storage project, a 1,000 MW project located in White Pine County, Nevada in the coming months.

The Final License application is available here.

Legislators in the State of Wyoming have introduced two laws against clean energy, with a stated purpose to protect the state’s fossil fuel based revenue.

The first law, SJ0004, lists reasons to avoid the “misadventure of electric vehicles”. For example, one passage notes that the “vast stretches of highway, coupled with a lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state.” The legislation also claims that EV batteries are not easily recycled, and would require the development of new waste management techniques. Additionally, the document states that the vehicles contained limited “critical minerals” (rare earths) that put the nation at risk.

Interestingly, coal deposits, which Wyoming has in abundance, are often rich in rare earth deposits. The state has known about its rare earth resources since the middle of the 1900s, but they remain undeveloped.

SJ0004 states a “goal” of phasing out the sale of new EVs by 2035 in Wyoming. The legislators continued nursing their grievances in the final words of the bill, adding a requirement for a copy of the bill to be sent to the Governor of California. (The governor recently announced that California will phase out gasoline-powered cars by 2035).

The second law, SF0092, has a stated purpose to kill off net metering. The proposed legislation first renames “net metering” customers as “small generators”. This appears to be an attempt to reclassify behind the meter rooftop solar power owners as power plant owners; thus opening them up to a new raft of potential regulations and costs. The law specifically notes that these parties are not “public utilities”.

The law states that Wyoming will develop a new set of regulations to compensate these small generators by April of 2024, and that they will be structured so as to “prevent rate subsidization of customer‑generators by other customers of an electric utility.”

The state has a history of introducing problematic laws in reaction to clean energy.

For instance, in 2021 the state enacted HB0207, which set aside $1.2 million of taxpayer funds “for litigation to challenge laws or other actions that impede the export of Wyoming coal or the continued operation of Wyoming’s coal-fired electric generation facilities, including early retirements of those facilities”.

A few months later, Wyoming was denied a chance by the Supreme Court of the United States to override the State of Washington’s permit denial for a coal export facility in 2017. Wyoming lawyers argued that Washington State was limiting the landlocked state’s ability to practice interstate commerce. 

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Siting renewables on brownfields in Wyoming  The Brightfields Energy Siting tool identifies areas in Wyoming where new energy development is unlikely to encounter land-use conflicts.

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Ranking tenth in size and 50^th in population, Wyoming is known for its wide open, unspoiled spaces. However, it is not known as a leader in renewable energy. With just 143 MW installed, it is currently ranked 42^nd in the United States for solar installation, receiving 0.46% of its electricity from solar, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

In the interest of preserving those unspoiled lands, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has developed a Brightfields Energy Siting Initiative (BESI) tool specifically for Wyoming, with the intention of guiding new energy development to previously disturbed areas or “brownfields”. By siting solar and wind on land once used for fossil fuel development, The goal of the initiative is for Wyoming to diversify its energy mix without compromising the state’s iconic wildlife and natural areas.

The BESI tool identifies areas where new energy development is unlikely to encounter significant land use conflicts, permitting delays and cost overruns. It can locate sensitive places to avoid as well as provide information down to an individual project site. For example, it can determine if a potential site would risk conflict with a known mule deer migration route, a location with an abundance of cultural resources nearby or a golden eagle nesting area. It can look at habitat and can flag it as a site that would be better for restoration rather than the site of a new energy facility.

“In addition to spots to avoid, the BESI tool searches for sites that are good places to build new facilities – specifically, land that has already been disturbed by industrial development. More than 500,000 acres of these types of sites are highlighted on the map,” said Justin Loyka, TNC in Wyoming energy programs manager. “That is an important added benefit especially for officials making land use decisions at the state and county level.”

While the growth projection for solar in Wyoming is only 105 MW over the next five years (for a rank of 50^th in the country), using the BESI tool to avoid siting renewables in sensitive areas could stimulate additional renewable development. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that more than 43 million acres of brownfields and former mine lands in the US could be suitable for energy siting, and that these lands could supply about three times the expected US energy demand in 2050.

Access the BESI map tool here.

PacifiCorp, the utility company that includes subsidiaries Pacific Power and Rocky Mountain Power, has announced plans to retire all of its remaining coal fired generation plants, just days before the company is set to deliver its finalized 2021 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to regulators. PacifiCorp service territory spans portions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Wyoming and Utah.

In an announcement made on August 27, the company stated that it would make no further investments in coal or natural gas in the future, and that it would be retiring 14 of its 22 active coal units by 2030. By 2040, that number is set to grow to 19, though it would retain two coal units at Wyoming’s Jim Bridger power plant, converting them to natural gas peaker plants in 2024.

The Jim Bridger conversion is still in-line with the company’s plan for no new gas investment, as those plans were known prior to Friday’s announcement.

In total, the company’s coal capacity is set to fall 4 GW by 2040, while its gas capacity will fall by 1.5 GW over the same time period. Replacing these assets, PacifiCorp intends to deploy more than 3.6 GW of new wind, more than 5.6 GW of new solar, and close to 6.7 GW of storage capacity, as well as significant investments in new transmission to support these resources.

The company also plans to bring on-line 2.7 GW of “advanced nuclear and non-emitting peaking resources” by 2040.

The new plan is slightly different than the one outlined in the company’s 2019 IRP, where the company planned to add just under 11 GW of wind and solar by 2038, complemented by 2.8 GW of battery storage. The new IRP includes slightly less solar and wind capacity, but more than doubles the amount of storage set to become active in the next two decades.

When the IRP gets submitted later this week, we’ll have a better idea of how much capacity of each resource is set to go on-line and when, as well as a breakdown of which states will be receiving capacity, and how much.

Legend Inc, a Wyoming-based developer of whom little is known, has submitted a proposal for what would be, by far, the largest solar installation in the state.

The proposal is for a 250 MW installation set to be constructed in Riverton, which is located on the Wind River Reservation in the central/western part of the state.

The project would cost $250 million, according to the proposal from Legend, which would include the wages for the 300 full-time construction, 25 technician, five full-time electrical engineer, and five security personnel jobs that the project would create. According to the developer, the positions are all intended to be filled by the local workforce.

Legend has begun working with the Department of Environmental Quality to secure the permits necessary to initiate the project and, if approved, project completion is scheduled to take two years.

Legend also shares that it is working on other solar projects in different areas of Wyoming, with a company representative telling local press that “The country is developing, and I think we need to develop with it and bring green power to the state.”

If bringing green power to the state is the goal, then this project is certainly a significant start, as its 250 MW of proposed capacity is nearly double the state’s entire installed solar capacity to date, which sits at just under 140 MW. SEIA projects the state to add just over 150 MW of capacity in the next five years, so the approval of this project would dramatically shift the outlook for the state’s solar deployment.

Edit 7/28/21: This article has been updated to correct the name of the project’s developer. We apologize for the error.

The 9H Research Foundation (9H) and the University of Wyoming are partnering to create a student research facility that includes a 3 MW solar installation, part of a larger goal to establish a clean energy engineering curriculum at UW.

The installation is intended to return $10 million in clean energy and support services to the university. First Solar is making a donation valued at $300,000 that includes more than 2,000 of First Solar’s Series 6 thin film modules, totaling nearly 1 MW of capacity. The remaining 2 MW of capacity will also use Series 6 modules.

The project will be constructed at the 9H Ranch near the university, on land owned by 9H co-founder and UW alumnus, Gene Humphrey.

9H is sponsoring a yearlong renewable energy design challenge for UW engineering seniors. With this latest project, 9H plans to hire additional student interns as well as funding $15,000 worth of projects for seven student groups to design and build solar and energy storage projects out of the new research facility.

Support for solar energy research and development at the state-funded university in Wyoming is especially significant, considering the state’s solar history.

To date, the state has installed roughly 140 MW of solar, good for 40th most in the nation, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). SEIA projects the state will add 178 MW of PV over the next five years, making it 47th in the nation over that span.

Utility PacifiCorp, in its 2019 Integrated Resource Plan, outlined plans to add 1,415 MW of new solar in Wyoming, paired with 354 MW of battery storage, to be phased in between 2024 and 2038. This capacity was planned to replace retiring coal-fired generating units, including Jim Bridger units 1 through 4; Naughton units 1, 2 and 3; and Dave Johnston units 1 through 4.

There is also the 240 MW Dinosolar project, developed by Enyo and planned for construction near Casper, Wyoming, in the west-central part of the state. Not much has come out about that project since the Natrona County Planning Commission issued the project a permit in May 2020; but, if completed, it would be the largest installation in the state, nearly doubling Wyoming’s entire installed capacity thus far by itself.

Once the 9H Ranch research project becomes operational, all of its energy proceeds will be donated back to the university.

Additional partners helping fund the 9H Research Foundation and student projects include Creative Energies Solar, Wyoming-NASA Space Grant Consortium, Alt E Wind and Solar, Black Bean Capital Partners, RiskThinking.AI, and Climate Risk Labs.

Wyoming lawmakers advanced a piece of legislation that, if passed, would repeal the state’s decades-old net metering system and direct the state’s utility regulators to create a new program.

Regulators would be better able than the legislature to craft a new system that benefits all ratepayers, according to lawmakers who sit on the Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions standing committee.

Published reports said that the bill, Senate File 16, would reform what supporters claim is an imbalanced system that subsidizes independent electricity generators at the expense of other ratepayers.

If passed, the legislation would no longer require utilities to pay customers for generating excess electricity. It also would grandfather in net metering customers who have installed wind or solar systems before July 1, 2022.

The state’s current net metering policy is capped at 25 kW, which is sufficient for most residential and commercial customers in the state. Past efforts to increase this limit were met with strong opposition. Any credit left at the end of the calendar year by a net metering customer is purchased at the utility company’s avoided cost, which is about 25% of retail cost.

Supporters of Senate File 16 argue that net metering customers receive a subsidy under the present system and shift costs on to other ratepayers.

“It’s the position of our company that a subsidy does exist,” Jon Cox, a spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power, the state’s largest utility, was quoted as saying. He said the company could buy more affordable utility-scale solar and wind energy in the open market, rather than from net metering customers.

The Office of Consumer Advocates and utilities like Rocky Mountain Power and Black Hills Energy reportedly expressed support for the legislation.

Opponents argued that the subsidy, when it does exist, is small, and that residents who invest in clean energy should be encouraged, not deterred, by the state.

Steff Kessler, a senior conservation advocate at the Wyoming Outdoor Council, was quoted as saying that the bill would “essentially kill” small-scale solar in Wyoming. She asked the committee to table the bill and research the issue more deeply.

There are parallel bills floating in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate which would open the state up to community solar projects for the first time. If passed, community solar will no longer be prohibited by utility law and developers can begin siting and development. Pennsylvania HB531 and SB705 would change utility law to permit Pennsylvania businesses and families to sign up for community solar projects, regardless of personal income or homeownership. Though the House and Senate bills were introduced at the beginning of the session in 2019, there has been a recent bipartisan push toward passage. Just because community solar projects are approved does not mean that their development will be easy, as siting and land use regulations are set at the county or municipal level. Source: National Law Review

Constellation has a 108 MW agreement is in place to help three major commercial customers, Kimberly-Clark, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Manheim, power their operations with clean renewable energy. Constellation has agreed to purchase power and project-specific renewable energy certificates (RECs) from the Rayos del Sol Solar Project, currently under development in Cameron County, Texas. 174 Power Global is building the solar farm, which is expected to achieve commercial operation in 2022. As part of this transaction, Constellation will purchase energy and RECs from Rayos del Sol and will then sell the power and project-specific RECs to the customers’ retail accounts. Source: Constellation

Mourning the loss of coal, Wyoming regulators say Pacificorp’s plan to transition from coal to renewables lacks proper analysis, transparency and modeling, and fails to consider other alternatives. (WyoFile)

A group of solar and renewable energy companies and trade organizations have launched an initiative, Renewables Forward, to take action and develop concrete steps to increase workforce diversity and inclusion throughout the industry. Leveraging the experiences of industry leaders, the initiative is based on four core principles: assess diversity and inclusion in the industry, develop and share corporate practices and policies, create a more diverse and inclusive pipeline of candidates in the renewable energy industry and invest in the under-resourced and minority communities in which the industry works.. The founding members of the initiative include Capital Dynamics, Cypress Creek Renewables, EDF Renewables, Generate Capital, Mosaic, Nautilus Solar Energy, New Columbia Solar, Nextracker, Sol Systems and Volt Energy, as well as SEIA and The Solar Foundation. Source: Renewables Forward

The House Rules Committee is formulating a rule on Democrats’ clean energy package, H.R. 4447 (116), setting up a floor vote on the measure — which leadership has touted as a response to fighting climate change — as soon as today. The package combines a spate of green energy bills. Proposed amendments include:

Texas solar round-up. Big solar projects in the U.S. are back in style and the Lone Star state is a hotbed of developer activity.  Source: pv magazine

Critics say a federal report promoting carbon capture technology to save Wyoming’s coal industry is misleading.  Over the past decade, Wyoming’s coal industry has taken a beating, but this year has proven particularly brutal. Layoffs have whipped through the state at a searing pace, outstripping previous busts and catapulting thousands of families into uncertainty. It’s difficult to transform coal-fired power plants into low-carbon facilities using carbon capture without increasing electricity costs. Right now, retrofitting coal plants with carbon capture requires significant capital investments and, for the most part, hasn’t performed at levels needed to make the venture cost-effective. Source: Casper Star-Tribune

Despite hitting a snag earlier in 2020, renewable project and acquisition financing seems to be healthy, with the tax equity market expected to grow by $3 billion over 2019 and capital markets “flush with liquidity,” according to investors and developers at the last week’s virtual REFF Wall Street. Bernardo Goarmon, CFO at EDP Renewables North America, speaking on one panel, said, “Back in March there was a perfect storm, certainly, so what we saw in the capital markets and what we saw in terms of the rush on liquidity was unprecedented.” Now, however, “capital doesn’t seem to be scarce.” Meghan Schultz, senior VP of finance and capital markets at Invenergy, said, “I think unlike the tax equity market where there are some constraints, the commercial debt market does not seem to be constrained,” said Schultz, calling it “flush with liquidity.” Source: S&P Global

An important step in the process of Sunrun acquiring Vivint Solar was completed: It was determined by the U.S. Department of Justice that there were no antitrust concerns associated with the acquisition. Next step will be a stockholder vote of approval on October 1 and an expected close date sometime in early October. Source: Sunrun

Meanwhile in Kansas, NextEra is in the early development process of the $450 million, 500-MW solar/500 MW battery West Gardner project: The project website tells landowners in or near the project area that “you may be able to host solar panels or equipment on your land and enhance your income, potentially for years to come.” In April, CEO Jim Robo said NextEra expects to invest more than $1 billion in storage in 2021, which he said would be the largest annual battery storage investment by a power company in history. Source: Kansas City Business Journal

When wildfires tinted Western skies a Martian hue this week, homeowners with their own rooftop solar systems were able to tell just how much useful sunlight reached them through the gloom: next to none. Mary Holstege of Cupertino, California, whose system normally puts out 40 kWh/day in the summer, barely dribbled out 1.65 — maybe enough to dry a load of laundry. Bentham Paulos, an energy policy consultant in Berkeley, said his PV system peaked at about 12 W, or enough to light one LED bulb. Over the last few years, homeowners began investing in rooftop systems and batteries to hedge against intentional power outages aimed at preventing wildfires. But now some blazes have become so large, they’re effectively shutting down the solar. Source: Bloomberg News

Late in 2019, Pacificorp released an integrated resource plan (IRP), where the utility outlined plans to add nearly 11 GW of wind and solar by 2038, complemented by 2.8 GW of battery storage. By 2023, the utility intends to add 1.8 GW of new solar resources, 595 MW of new battery energy storage and 1.9 GW of new wind resources.

In pursuit of that 2023 goal, Pacificorp has released the largest request for proposals (RFP) in the history of the company.

What’s more is that every single MW procured will come from projects purchased by the utility, as Pacificorp has shared that it will not be submitting any self-build resources for competing for capacity. No, this is a development battle royale for inclusion into one of the largest American renewable energy procurements ever.

All proposed projects must be able to achieve commercial operation by December 31, 2024, outside of certain long-lead time developments, like pumped-hydro storage. As for the actual procurement of energy, the company is accepting multiple bid structures, but specifically highlighted power purchase agreements and build-transfer agreements.

PacifiCorp currently owns just under 10.9 GW of generation capacity, meaning that this first RFP under the company’s planned expansions represents a nearly 40% increase in generation capacity in just three years.

While we know how much capacity is coming, we don’t yet know where that capacity will go. While Pacificorp shares that the company will limit the capacity in a given location to 150% of the capacity chosen by company’s 2019 IRP preferred portfolio, the preferred portfolio doesn’t outline exactly how much capacity that each state is anticipated to procure by 2023.

We do know, however, how much capacity each state is intended to add through the life of the RFP, which could at least hint to to which states will get the larger capacity shares in this IRP. Under the 2019 IRP:

• 3,000 MW of new solar will go to Utah, paired with 635 MW of battery storage, phased in between 2020 and 2037
• 1,415 MW of new solar in Wyoming, paired with 354 MW of battery storage, phased in between 2024 and 2038
• 1,075 MW of new solar in Oregon, paired with 244 MW of battery storage, phased in between 2020 and 2033
• 814 MW of new solar in Washington, paired with 204 MW of battery storage, phased in between 2024 and 2036

It would appear that Utah will get the lionshare of new capacity, with Wyoming exploding onto the scene, considering the state has installed just 110 MW thus far, according to SEIA. While the Washington figures may seem low, Washington is also one of the best-suited states in the country for hydroelectric generation and pumped-hydro storage. The addition of ‘just’ 814 MW of solar and 204 MW of battery storage may not tell the full story.

As always, for any interested developers, Pacificorp is hosting a workshop for interested stakeholders and bidders on July 9, from 9:30 a.m. to noon PT. From there, the notice of intent to bid is due on July 20. RFP bids are due August 10, bidders placed on the initial shortlist will be informed by October 14 and after conferring with this list, the list of winning bids will be announced on May 25, 2021. More info on the RFP is available here.

The 240 MW Dinosolar project northwest of Casper, Wyoming received a permit last week from the Natrona County Planning Commission, and still requires further approvals, as reported by The Casper Star-Tribune.

Project developer Enyo Renewable Energy said the completed project would yield $2.04 million in property taxes in the first year of full operation, and $46.7 million over the project’s 35-year lifespan.

Rocky Mountain Power, a multi-state subsidiary of PacifiCorp that provides 55% of Wyoming’s retail electricity, has developed a resource plan that projects 1,821 MW of new solar capacity by the end of 2023, along with early closure of Wyoming coal-burning units starting in 2023.

Wyoming has just 109 MW of solar capacity, while it has been the nation’s largest producer of coal since 1986, says the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Wyoming regulators last November opened an investigation into Rocky Mountain Power’s resource plan, focusing on planned coal plant retirements, as reported by Cooper McKim with Wyoming Public Media. The Wyoming Public Service Commission’s order states that closing coal plants “prior to the end of their established depreciable lives may adversely impact the cost and reliability of service … while producing significant negative economic impacts.”

Solar industry perspective

“Wyoming has always been a place where people have made a living from vast natural resources,” said Richard Mack, treasurer of the Wyoming Solar Energy Association, when asked what is needed to advance solar power in Wyoming. “Markets change and this has resulted in many boom and bust cycles across the board, not just in the energy sector,” he added. “Some changes take time, especially when we are speaking of changing conceptions and attitudes.”

As for small-scale solar—the business of most of the association’s members—Mack said that “Wyoming does have a net metering policy that, in my opinion, is fair although capped at 25 kW. Obviously this is sufficient for the vast majority of residential and most commercial customers throughout our state. Efforts have been made in the past to increase this limit but were met with strong opposition.” Any credit left at the end of the calendar year by a net metering customer “is purchased at the utility company’s avoided cost, which is about 25% of retail cost,” he said.

One of the association’s primary goals “will be to promote public education and understanding to help develop a spirit of cooperation across industries, parties, and departments,” he said.  “We are glad to see our utility companies and state offices, including the Wyoming Department of Fire Protection and Electrical Safety, making efforts to streamline system approvals and permitting.”

Tourism

As for the Dinosolar project, the project’s website looks ahead to successful project completion, showing “key observation points”—the red stars in the image above. That map of observation points, together with the project’s logo, at right, suggests the potential for the solar project to become a tourist attraction.

Replace NYC peakers with renewables+storage? Plant owners say they’re working on it: New York City ratepayers shelled out $4.5 billion in capacity payments in the last decade to keep 16 fossil fuel-based peaking plants available, according to analysis by environmental justice group PEAK Coalition. The group… recommend the facilities be replaced by distributed energy resources and energy storage that would not emit greenhouse gasses. Plant owners say much of that work is already being done. Source: Utility Dive

A solar boom fueled by oil is fizzling in Texas: The oil crash is yanking the rug out from under the hottest U.S. solar market. Developers including 8minute Solar Energy have scrapped plans to build at least 13 solar farms in Texas since crude prices began plummeting in March. Analysts warn more may follow. The canceled projects, which total 2.5 gigawatts, are an early indication that the solar building boom intended to meet burgeoning demand for electricity in Texas may be going bust as drilling slows. “Texas used to be very lucrative,” Tara Narayanan, a BloombergNEF solar analyst, said in an interview. “Now it’s collapsing.” Source: Bloomberg

A group of researchers representing Western EcoSystems Technology, based out of Cheyenne, Wyoming, have published a study looking at habitat loss and potential for collision mortality for birds in relation to solar projects. The study is based on aggregate data of results from fatality monitoring studies at 10 photovoltaic solar facilities across 13 site-years in California and Nevada. The authors found that the average annual fatality estimate for photovoltaic projects (high-end estimate of 2.49 birds per MW annually) is lower than that reported by another study (9.9 birds per MW annually). Source: PLOS

Maryland-based utility Delmarva Power has decided to partner with Sunverge on Delmarva’s Elk Neck Behind-the-Meter Virtual Power Plant (VPP) in Cecil County. The utility will use Sunverge’s DER control and aggregate technology to manage the 55 MW/2.2 MWh capacity VPP, which serves the purpose of providing backup power to homes located on a peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay. The proposal is currently under review by the Maryland Public Service Commission and it is expected to create $2 million in value over a 15-year period. Source: Delmarva Power

GoSun, a company that specializes in solar powered camping and survival gear, has launched the GoSun Flow, a portable, solar-powered water purification and sanitation system. According to the company, the GoSun Flow can filter 99.99% of pathogens from water and can function as a portable handwashing station, warm shower, and source of clean drinking water. The gadget is available for pre-order now. Source: GoSun

Across a region spanning Alaska to West Virginia, solar contractors added 407 MW of small-scale solar in the 12 months ending in November, 2019. Illinois topped the list with 111 MW, versus 26 MW in 2018.

Small-scale installations are defined as those smaller than one megawatt.

Oregon retains the lead in cumulative small-scale solar per capita, with Iowa closing in at second place and Missouri a close third. Idaho added the most small-scale solar per capita last year, followed by Illinois and Missouri. All three states were at or near the national average of 10 watts of small-scale solar added per capita for 2019.

Here are the results from the 19 states, as reported in the federal Energy Information Administration’s Form EIA-861M data:

EIA does not collect data on all distributed solar installations, which are defined as those not directly connected to the bulk transmission system, and which can range much larger than 1 MW.

Policy goals

Because state policies are a major driver of the success of distributed solar, we invited several groups to share their 2020 policy goals for distributed solar.

Illinois: The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) advocates for the Path to 100 Act, which would set a renewable portfolio standard of 40% by 2030, said Nakhia Morrissette, SEIA’s central region director and counsel. The act would support development of residential, commercial, and community solar through the existing Adjustable Block Program, she said.

Vote Solar advocates in Illinois for the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which calls for 100% renewable energy by 2050, said John Delurey, Midwest director. The act includes the Solar for All program, which is dedicated to low-income and environmental justice communities, he said.

Kentucky: KYSEIA, the state-level affiliate of SEIA, is lobbying for House Bill 323, which would extend net metering, said KYSEIA President Matt Partymiller. KYSEIA also opposes a solar setback bill, he said.

Michigan: Vote Solar advocates expanding the net-metering cap in Michigan, and establishing pathways for community solar development, said John Delurey, Midwest director.

Minnesota: Vote Solar will be working to “expand and improve Xcel’s Solar*Rewards program,” and to catalyze more community-owned and community-sited solar, said John Delurey, Midwest director.

Montana: The Montana Renewable Energy Association “recently celebrated a huge regulatory win to maintain retail rate net energy metering,” said Executive Director Andrew Valainis. The group aims to increase the allowable size for distributed energy resources, and “enable supporting policies like aggregate billing and shared solar for our investor-owned utilities,” he said.

Midwest and Northern Tier solar potential

The solar potential of the Midwest and Northern Tier is shown in the maps below, with the map at right representing the highest potential in the desert Southwest as pure red, and the lowest potential, in the two northern bands, as pinkish red—as it is still 70% of the highest potential. Data for both maps are provided in the data key in the map at left. Both maps show global horizontal solar irradiance.

With a green hydrogen project now being planned for Utah, the biggest question is how much it will cost. Supporters hope that green hydrogen, which is produced from water using solar or wind power, can provide cost-effective long-duration storage to complement renewable generation.

Solar developer 8minute, a founding supporter of the newly launched Green Hydrogen Coalition, takes a sunny view on the cost of producing green hydrogen. CEO Dr. Tom Buttgenbach, noting his firm’s ability to generate solar power at a cost below 2 cents/kWh, says “soon we will be able to utilize virtually free energy from nearby solar power plants that would have otherwise been curtailed, to make low-cost green hydrogen from solar power.”

Buttgenbach’s use of the word “nearby” apparently refers to the Intermountain Power Project in Utah, a coal-fired generator that will be converted first to gas turbines using 30% green hydrogen fuel by volume, and later to turbines using 100% green hydrogen. Buttgenbach made his comments in a press release about the Green Hydrogen Coalition, whose first initiative is supporting the Utah project. Solar developer Intersect Power is also a founding supporter of the coalition, as are SoCalGas and LADWP, the Los Angeles municipal utility.

Taking an alternate view of green hydrogen costs, Paul Schultz, Director of Power External Energy Resources for LADWP, which manages the conversion project, said of green hydrogen, “there’s a recognition that it’s expensive.” Yet he added in an interview, “we’re mandated to increase our renewable percentages, and we have a unique opportunity at this location for production and storage of hydrogen.”

Looking at the big picture on costs is Janice Lin, Green Hydrogen Coalition founder and president. “The cost competitiveness is dependent on many factors,” she said in an interview, which include the cost of the electrolyzers that split water into hydrogen and oxygen, the cost of renewable electricity to run that equipment, and alternative technologies for multi-day and seasonal energy storage.

The 840-MW Intermountain Power Project conversion will require three key technologies, first to make hydrogen from renewable power, then to store the hydrogen, and then to convert the hydrogen to electricity.

Making green hydrogen

Hydrogen can be produced by electrolyzers that split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

An image from an LADWP presentation illustrates the renewable resources available in the area to make hydrogen at the Delta, Utah site.

LADWP projects that starting in 2025, excess generation each spring and autumn from 538 MW of renewable capacity would be used to power the electrolyzers:

A project timeline anticipates that at least 500 MW of solar capacity will be interconnected at the project site in 2023, with 1,000 MW to 1,500 MW of wind power from Wyoming interconnected by 2030.

The water needed for electrolysis would come from Utah’s Sevier River, from which the existing coal-burning plant “has secured enough water rights for its [originally planned] four generating units,” says the LADWP presentation.

GE has published data on the water requirements and electrolysis power requirements,to make enough hydrogen to operate its turbines at 100% hydrogen.

Although LADWP’s presentation does not mention electrolyzer manufacturers being considered, these could include the Hydrogenics division of Cummins, Nel ASA, ITM Power, and Siemens.

Storing hydrogen

The project’s plan for storing hydrogen is shown in the images at the top of this story. LADWP says 100 caverns, each larger than New York’s Empire State Building, could fit in the salt dome. Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems has called this part of the plan “the world’s largest renewable storage project.”

Converting hydrogen to electricity

The initial conversion will enable use of a fuel mix of 30% hydrogen by volume, and 70% natural gas, to fuel gas turbines with a combined capacity of 840 MW. Because hydrogen has about one-third the heating value of natural gas by volume, the 30/70 mix will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 10% compared to using 100% natural gas.

By 2045, in a second conversion stage, turbines that can use 100% hydrogen fuel will be installed.

LADWP is considering turbines made by GE, Siemens, and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems.

Paul Schultz with LADWP said that the turbine vendors being considered “have told us [that] by 2025 to 2030, they will be testing the 100% [hydrogen] capability in these units, so that still gives us an additional 15 years for them to go through the process of testing and implementing the technology.”

One hundred percent hydrogen fuel could conceivably be used as soon as 2025, indicated LADWP General Manager Martin Adams at the LADWP commissioners meeting in December, as “some of the turbine vendors have told me they may be able to burn 100% hydrogen in 2025.” For that to happen, he said that turbines with that capability would “have to be there,” the issue of nitrogen oxide emissions would need to be resolved, and LADWP would need to work with owners of properties adjacent to the project on “how we would be able to work on [the hydrogen] fuel source with them.”

“We don’t believe that those things will materialize” by 2025, Adams said, “but it’s not that we won’t make every effort to try to get there.”

A November letter from climate advocacy groups to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called for pausing the plan for natural gas conversion of the Utah plant while clean energy alternatives “are given serious consideration,” and several citizens spoke out against the gas plant at LADWP’s November commissioners meeting, as reported by Sammy Roth in the Los Angeles Times.

In addition to 840 MW of gas turbines, the project may include a proposed 160-MW compressed air energy storage pilot project, that could “run 100% hydrogen through its generation expansion process,” said LADWP’s presentation.

An MHPS web page says that in the long term the project will include large-scale flow batteries and solid oxide fuel cells.

For future green hydrogen projects, fuel cells that can use hydrogen to generate electricity are a possibility, because at least one firm, Bloom Energy, is developing such fuel cells. And a team at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville aims to develop a reversible fuel cell, to improve the efficiency of the round-trip process of converting electricity to hydrogen and back again.

The Utah green hydrogen project is one of several approaches LADWP is pursuing to reach 100% clean energy by 2045. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is assisting the utility’s planning process.

“One of the greatest benefits” of converting the Utah plant to green hydrogen, said Janice Lin of the Green Hydrogen Coalition, “is that it gives us hope that a transition to a carbon-free, affordable, sustainable future in multiple sectors is indeed achievable, with green hydrogen.”

Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the power provider to 43 energy co-ops across the Mountain West, will add over 1 GW of solar and wind generation by 2024 — raising its overall renewable energy mix to over 50% of generation.

The cooperative will also pursue a 90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from Colorado-based generation by 2030, based on 2005 emission levels. All of these announcements are coming with Tri-State’s new Responsible Energy Plan.

Tri-State will also be closing the Escalante and Craig coal power plants and the Colowyo mine ahead of schedule and canceling the proposed Holcomb Station coal plant project in Kansas.

The announcements, unsurprisingly, have been met with support from solar proponents and climate activists.

“Tri-State’s plan signals a welcome and important shift toward a clean, lower-cost energy future,” said John Nielsen, director of Western Resource Advocates’ Clean Energy Program. “Tri-State’s coal plant retirements and increased investments in renewable energy will save its customers money and will significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions that drive climate change and other harmful air pollution.”

While the overall generation mix will be raised to 50% renewables, this number is just a bit misleading. That’s because Tri-State already achieves roughly 30% renewable generation from solar, wind and hydroelectric, with hydro representing the majority of that mix.

That said, the Responsible Energy Plan does represent an unprecedented commitment to solar by Tri-State. The six projects set to go on line by 2023 will combine for 715 MW capacity, nearly 10 times more solar than has been put on-line by the cooperative so far (85 MW).

The smallest of these planned projects, the 40 MW Spanish Peaks II Solar project will be larger than any solar project Tri-State has put on-line to date. Spanish Peaks II, along with its sibling, Spanish Peaks Solar, will be developed by juwi, which will also provide EPC and O&M services for the project. In fact, the only project of the new batch set to be developed by a company other than juwi is the 200 MW Escalante Solar project, set to be completed in 2023 in McKinley County, Colorado. That project will be developed by Turning Point Energy.

Once all is said and done, Tri-State will be able to boast 800 MW in solar capacity. The new generation will give Tri-State an established utility-scale solar presence in the South and Southwest, areas already home to lots of big solar.

“Tri-State is making big commitments to clean energy that finally have it catching up to other utilities in the Southwest and setting the bar for Generation and Transmission cooperatives across the country,” said Emily Gedeon, Conservation Director at the Colorado Sierra Club.

Is 50% enough?

This update to the Responsible Energy Plan comes just over a month after United Power and La Plata Electric Association asked Colorado regulators to establish a fair fee for them to exit from their wholesale power contracts with Tri-State. Both co-ops expressed an interest in increasing renewable generation while keeping customer costs down as reasons to exit.

Under their contracts with Tri-State, member co-ops must purchase at least 95% of their electricity from Tri-State, or at least 93% if they add community solar. Prior to the Responsible Energy Plan, La Plata established the goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 50% from 2018 levels by 2030.

Furthermore, a Rocky Mountain Institute study found that retiring 1.8 GW of coal and replacing it with 2.5 GW of solar and wind power would save the association and its members $600 million through 2030.

How much, if any, of Tri-State’s commitment to renewables is being enacted over fear of losing more members is unclear. One former Tri-State member, The Kit Carson co-op, will reach 38 MW of solar and 15 MW of storage by 2022, representing nearly 1/3 of the co-op’s annual electricity demand, while saving its members from $50 million to 70 million.

Accelerating wind and solar – Let’s start the brief off today with a little plug for former pv magazine USA editor Christian Roselund and his first article for the energy transition magazine. The article looks at the advancements made in installed solar in the last couple of decades and what needs to be done to ensure the best clean energy futute. Check it out here. Source: Rocky Mountain Institute

Arizona State University tops SETO awards – “Arizona State University has received five prestigious Department of Energy awards totaling $9.8 million in this year’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) awards to advance solar energy research and development. Overall SETO funding for fiscal year 2019 totaled $128 million for 75 projects designed to “lower solar electricity costs while working to boost solar manufacturing, reduce red tape, and make solar systems more resilient to cyberattacks,” according to the DOE. “This is the fourth consecutive year ASU has been a top recipient of SETO funding, and this year we are ranked among national research labs and private industry,” said Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools of Engineering. “Our faculty members have demonstrated time and again that ASU’s capacity for collaboration and innovation warrants the nation’s investment in our vision for solving the energy needs of the future.” Source: ASU

Solar Support launches inverter/plant restoration – Solar Support, an engineering services company, officially launches its integrated equipment and plant restoration and recovery solution. Working with some of the leading O&M providers in the country, Solar Support combines deep inverter expertise with construction management acumen to resolve complex issues for utility systems. The company delivers remote and on-site diagnostics and issue resolution to help asset owners and operators keep plants running at their peak. Source: Solar Support

Facebook buys 60 MW – “Apex Clean Energy announced today that Altavista Solar has executed a power purchase agreement with Facebook for a 61.6MW portion of the project. Altavista Solar will become the first solar energy project in Campbell County, Virginia, when it becomes operational in 2020. The deal, which will help support Facebook’s operations in Virginia, is Apex’s second major transaction with the tech company this year. In August, Facebook signed a 200 MW PPA with Aviator Wind East, which will be part of the largest single-phase, single-site wind project in the United States once it begins operations in Coke County, Texas, in 2020.At 80 MW, the overall Altavista Solar project will be Apex’s largest solar project to date and the company’s first renewable energy facility on the East Coast.” Source: Apex Clean Energy

Wyoming wins with net metering – The state of Wyoming has defeated two bills that would have severely hampered net metering. It could not have been closer either, as members of the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee rejected both bills by a 7-7 vote. Specifically, One of the bills would have completely repealed net metering, while the other aimed to reduce the cost burden for those who don’t have net metering systems by requiring those who do to pay utility companies retail rates for all renewable energy produced in a billing period. Well done Wyoming! Source: Wyoming News 

Northwestern Energy, which serves most Montana residents, has submitted a resource plan that would spend “nearly a billion dollars on gas plants,” says the Sierra Club in a press release.

Yet when NorthWestern ran the PowerSimm utility model to develop its plan, “it appears that NorthWestern may have used inputs and assumptions that favor fracked gas resources,” says the Sierra Club in a legal motion to the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC).

NorthWestern owns “subsidiary gas pipeline companies that could profit from its decision to choose gas plants over cleaner, more affordable options,” says the group’s press release, citing a utility filing listing the utility’s subsidiaries.

Moreover, NorthWestern Energy’s planned procurement process could fail to secure competitive clean energy bids, says the Sierra Club’s motion, “as clean energy companies will not put time and effort into drafting a bid…if they believe the model is stacked against them.”

Echoing Montana PSC’s own concern

While the Montana PSC has “some access to the PowerSimm modeling in this docket,” the Sierra Club said in its motion that:

Sierra Club and other interested stakeholders should also be granted access to the model, or at a minimum, the full set of modeling inputs and assumptions … that NorthWestern used for portfolio modeling for its 2019 plan.”

To help make its case, the Sierra Club’s motion quoted the PSC’s own order on NorthWestern’s 2017 resource plan, which stated: “a model that is systematically unavailable to anyone other than NorthWestern creates an information asymmetry that undercuts the legitimacy of NorthWestern’s resource-planning exercise.”  PSC rules also “require NorthWestern to give qualifying facilities access to PowerSimm in Montana’s PURPA dockets at no cost to the qualifying facilities,” says the motion.

Being like Idaho, Wyoming

Neighboring Idaho Power, and PacifiCorp in Wyoming, are “finding that wind, solar, and battery and pumped hydro storage are cheaper than gas plants,” the Sierra Club’s motion says.

In New Mexico, “intervenors have access to all PowerSimm inputs” in the PNM utility’s proceeding to replace the San Juan Generating Station, says the Sierra Club’s motion.  New Mexico’s regulators “approved PNM’s modeling proposal that requires PNM to either: (1) conduct two model runs in PowerSimm requested by each intervenor; or (2) allow intervenors to have access to PowerSimm (at PNM’s cost) to do alternative model runs.”

And in Oregon’s regulatory dockets for integrated resource plans, “all utility modeling files are available, and prior rate cases have included access to utility modeling online,” says the motion.

Other jurisdictions that require some version of transparent utility modeling include California, Minnesota and Puerto Rico, as pv magazine has reported.

The Montana PSC plans to hold public hearings on NorthWest Energy’s resource plan in Helena, Montana on December 9.  The Sierra Club has asked the PSC to extend the deadline for comments on the plan until January 25, 2020.  Nine citizens’ groups in Montana have signed a letter to the PSC, organized by the Montana Environmental Information Center, likewise requesting a 60-day extension in the comment period, and requesting additional public hearings at other locations encompassed by the plan.

Legal notice

Because Montana’s Public Service Commission “has not established this docket as a contested case proceeding,” says the Sierra Club’s motion, the Sierra Club is not empowered to request NorthWestern Energy’s modeling inputs and assumptions through the legal process of discovery.  The Sierra Club is not requesting a full contested case proceeding, but “requests an order from the Commission granting access to NorthWestern’s modeling.”

Earthjustice filed the Sierra Club’s motion with the Montana PSC.  The motion is available under docket number 2019.08.052 on the PSC’s website.

PacifiCorp has released the its draft 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), and if you’re a fan of solar energy, odds are you’re going to like it. If you’re not a fan of solar energy, why are you on this site exactly?

Under the utility’s “preferred portfolio” in the previously mentioned IRP, PacifiCorp plans to add 6.5 GW of renewables by 2025 and 600 MW of battery storage by 2025. The utility notes that this is the first time in its history that batteries are a part of its chosen, least-cost portfolio.

Of those 6.5 GW of renewables, 3.5 will come from wind generation, with the remaining 3 GW coming from solar. By 2038, those numbers increase to 4.6 GW of wind, 6.3 GW of solar and 2.8 GW of battery storage.

And, in an instance of true future-planning beauty, PacifiCorp has also outlined where all of this solar and storage will be developed, down to the last MW.

• 3,000 MW of new solar in Utah paired with 635 MW of battery storage, phased in between 2020 and 2037
• 1,415 MW of new solar in Wyoming paired with 354 MW of battery storage, phased in between 2024 and 2038
• 1,075 MW of new solar in Oregon paired with 244 MW of battery storage, phased in between 2020 and 2033
• 814 MW of new solar in Washington paired with 204 MW of battery storage, phased in between 2024 and 2036

We would now like to welcome you to another edition of the exponential capacity game. This week, our contestants are Utah, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington. First up, Utah, which has a current total installed capacity of 1,671 MW, most of any of our lovely contestants. This means that the additional 3,000 MW represent a nearly 180% increase in solar capacity. Next comes Wyoming, which currently has a total installed solar capacity of 108 MW, making the 1,415 MW on the way a 1,310% increase in capacity, which takes the cake for largest exponential capacity addition ever reported by pv magazine.

Our penultimate contestant, Oregon has a current installed capacity of 612 MW, making the expected 1,075 MW a 176% increase in capacity. Finally comes Washington, where the 814 MW laid out in the IRP represents a 413% increase in capacity over the state’s current mark of 197 MW.

Congratulations, Wyoming, you’re this week’s big winner. Honestly, with this much solar going around, all the states are winners.

And finally, with all these winners running around, somebody has to lose, right? Right, and that loser is coal, as PacifiCorp has made the decision to accelerate the retirement of five coal-fired power plants.

Of the 24 coal units currently serving PacifiCorp customers, the draft plan envisions retirement of 16 of the units by 2030 and 20 of the units by the end of the planning period in 2038. The unit retirements will reduce coal-fueled generation capacity by nearly 2,800 MW by 2030 and by nearly 4,500 MW by 2038.

The early retirees are:

• Jim Bridger 1 (Wyoming) in 2023 instead of 2037
• Naughton 1 and 2 (Wyoming) in 2025 instead of 2029
• Craig 2 (Colorado) in 2026 instead of 2034
• Colstrip 3 (Montana) and 4 in 2027 instead of 2046
• Jim Bridger 2 (Wyoming) in 2028 instead of 2037

Not accelerated but sill on the way out as of the company’s 2017 IRP are: Naughton 3 (Wyoming, 2019); Cholla 4 (Arizona, 2020); Dave Johnston 1-4 (Wyoming, 2027); Hayden 1-2 (Colorado, 2030); Huntington 1-2 (Utah, 2036) and Jim Bridger 3-4 (Wyoming, 2037).

State and local officials in the Midwest have long attempted to preserve the valuable agricultural land and rural character for which the heartland is known. At times, these efforts have created real or perceived choices between farming and alternative uses of the land, often with well-intentioned policy creating hurdles for farmers seeking the highest and best use of their land. In recent decades, conversations in multiple Midwestern states over using agricultural land for energy production demonstrates this issue; whether it be for transportation fuels or electricity generation projects. Recently many farmers who want to diversify their revenue streams in an era of depressed commodity prices by leasing land for solar development have been deterred by regulations restricting development of agricultural land and programs that incentivize continued agricultural use. Some Midwestern states have noted the potentially stifling effects of these regulations and programs and are proactively working to find workable solutions and flexibility for landowners to more directly determine the highest and best use of their land.

In Michigan, for example, the Farmland and Open Space Preservation Program provides tax incentives to farmers who agree to maintain agricultural practices on their land for at least 10 years. This program was created in 1974 to ensure that productive agricultural land would remain in production even in the face of pressure from urban and suburban development. With some question surrounding whether solar was an agricultural practice such that a farmer who had entered her land in the program could lease the land to a solar developer, in 2017 Governor Rick Snyder issued a policy that stated commercial solar development was not compatible with the program. Thus, the farmers interested in hosting solar projects were left with a choice: forgo the opportunity to diversify their income at a time when commodity prices were down by staying in the program or paying back the previous seven years of tax credits plus six percent interest in order to exit the program.

In June, Governor Gretchen Whitmer reversed the policy and gave farmers the option to pause their participation in the program and take advantage of hosting a solar project. Under Governor Whitmer’s policy, farmers can enter into an amended Farmland Development Rights Agreement that extends their existing agreement for a period of time equivalent to the amount of time the land will be used to generate solar power combined with the remaining term of the agreement, resulting in no net change in the length of the original Farmland Development Rights Agreement. Tax credits cannot be claimed by the farmer from the time construction begins until all panels and structures are removed, at which time the land must be returned to agricultural use. This compromise allows landowners to keep the acres in the program, avoids associated overpayments or penalties, and provides farmers much needed flexibility to pursue solar options. In total, Governor Whitmer’s policy affords the flexibility to host solar projects to the owners of the 3.4 million acres enrolled in the program.

Further west in North Dakota, the state’s energy generation siting statute and implementing regulations restricted the development of new energy infrastructure, including solar, on prime farmland. Prime farmland had been designated as an “exclusion area” along with national parks, historical sites, and habitat critical to threatened and endangered species such that energy development was generally precluded from development in such areas. Although the North Dakota Public Service Commission had some flexibility to approve a project that had a “negligible” impact on prime farmland, the inclusion of prime farmland in the list of exclusion areas still embodied a hurdle to the development of energy on agricultural land and to solar in particular.

Earlier this year, the Public Service Commission pursued a change to the statute and rule that would remove prime farmland from the list of areas designated as exclusion areas. North Dakota Public Service Commission Chairperson Brian Kroshus said that the testimony from the late 1970s when the statute was enacted showed that the impetus behind the law was a desire to protect farmers from the encroachment of unwanted pipelines and electrical transmission lines, not to ensure that agricultural land be farmed in perpetuity to the exclusion of all other uses. This change to the North Dakota siting law and implementing regulation became effective in July.

Like Michigan, Minnesota has agricultural land preservation programs that preclude enrolled farmers from hosting solar projects, including the Metropolitan Agricultural Preserves Program, the Minnesota Agricultural Land Preservation Program, and the Green Acres Program. Farmers enrolled in the Metropolitan and Minnesota programs can terminate their participation in the programs, but such termination does not take place until eight years after a notice of termination is given. To exit the Green Acres Program, a farmer must pay back the deferred property tax assessment received during her time in the program and three years’ back taxes. As is clear by the extended timeline for terminating participation and financial penalty associated with doing so, Minnesota’s land preservation programs heavily restrict a farmer’s ability to take advantage of the need for land for solar development.

And like North Dakota, Minnesota state regulators have wrestled with restrictions on siting energy infrastructure on prime farmland that were not likely written with solar in mind. Minnesota’s state siting laws provide that no large electric generating plant be permitted in the state where the developed portion of the plant would include more than half an acre of prime farmland per megawatt of net generating capacity, unless there is no feasible and prudent alternative. For solar, which generally requires the use of several acres of land per megawatt, this metric is relatively unworkable in areas of the state where prime farmland is prevalent. While some developers have attempted to site their projects in areas with very low or no prime farmland, so doing would be very difficult in large swaths of the state like the southeast where prime farmland soils are relatively ubiquitous. This tension may be tested further as Xcel Energy, Minnesota’s largest electric utility, seeks to add several thousand megawatts of new solar by 2030.

It is not yet clear whether Minnesota or other Midwestern states will follow the lead of states like Michigan and North Dakota and take proactive steps to formally adapt agricultural and soil preservation rules and regulations to reasonably allow for solar development. Meanwhile, landowners will surely continue looking for useful ways to diversify their revenue streams and utilities, corporations, and residential electrical users will surely continue looking for the most efficient ways to add solar to the generation mix in the Midwest.

Sara Bergan is an energy law attorney at Stoel Rives LLP where she works with renewable energy and cleantech clients on project development, project finance and energy and environmental regulatory matters.

Thomas Braun is an environmental and energy attorney at Stoel Rives LLP whose practice includes advising clients in the energy, real estate development, and agribusiness industries on matters related to contaminated site remediation and redevelopment, land use and permitting, and environmental due diligence.

With a tri-pronged promise of cutting costs and emissions while improving the reliability of its generation fleet, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has announced it is creating an aggressive “Responsible Energy Plan.”

Tri-state includes wind, solar and hydro under those qualifiers, but not nukes. However, what is important here isn’t only what’s coming on-line, but rather what’s going off.

Within the announcement of the new energy plan came the news that Tri-State will be retiring its 100 MW coal-fired power plant, the Nucla Station in Western Colorado at the beginning of 2020, a full two years earlier than previous expectations.

A factor that may well have played into the early shutdown decision is the fact that Tri-State’s generation mix currently sits at 50% coal. While it’s also supported by 30% renewables, that coal figure is one that member utilities haven’t been so excited with and have expressed desire to change.

And change it will, as earlier in the year Tri-State announced that it would be adding 204 MW of wind and solar to its fleet, bringing the grand total of renewables to 679 MW; currently the power company has five wind and four solar projects. Of those 204 MW 100 will come from solar, with the remaining 104 coming from wind. This will represent a 45% increase its wind and solar capacity, bringing renewables up to 43.5% of the total generation mix.

Aside from increasing renewables in the association’s generation mix, the shutting down of the Nucla Station will, as Tri-State and member utilities are hoping, provide some financial relief as well. You may remember that around a year ago Tri-State was the subject of a Rocky Mountain Institute study that found that retiring 1.8 GW of coal and replacing it with 2.5GW of solar and wind power would save the association and its members $600 million through 2030.

So, if nothing else, the Nucla retirement represents the first step towards that $600 million goal. Just 1.7 GW left to retire and 2.5GW of solar and wind power left to purchase or develop.

Outside of the large announcements, there is still wok that needs to be done on developing the “Responsible Energy Plan” as a whole. Recognizing this, Tri-State also shared that it will be building the plan through a collaborative stakeholder process with former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (D) and the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University.

It will be interesting to see how quickly the rest of the fossil fuel dominoes fall for Tri-State, and how quickly they’re replaced. One last thing to keep an eye on is the composition of the renewable mix that Tri-State brings on-line. While the plan outlines wind, solar and hydro, their current generation map seems to only show the two former. (The blue dots are wind and the yellow are solar.)

Correction: This article was corrected at 1:40 PM EST on July 19. The original version stated that Tri-State would be developing this plan in collaboration with “former” Colorado Governor Jared Polis. This was incorrect on two counts: 1) Jared Polis is the current governor and 2) This plan is being developed in collaboration with former Governor Bill Ritter. We have made that correction and we regret the error.

Wyoming’s first solar trade organization forms – More and more emerging state markets in the U.S. are taking the renewable transition seriously. Now, Wyoming has stepped up to bat with the formation of the state’s first solar trade organization, the aptly named Wyoming Solar Energy Association. WYSE’s mission is stated as “Community engagement through educational outreach, advocacy and business services.” You can check out WYSE here Source: Gillette News Record

American Solar Grazing Association – As there is now a voice for solar in Wyoming, there is also a voice for the partnerships of solar and sheep farms. Well, in New York there is, as the American Solar Grazing Association has formed. The association is a nonprofit serving shepherds who want to partner with solar farmers, vice versa or individuals who are both. Source: American Solar Grazing Association

Turf war: EVGo to install EV chargers at California gas stations – “EVgo is working with Chevron to bring EV fast charging to select Chevron company-owned and operated gas stations in California. Today, more than a dozen EVgo fast chargers – ranging from 50 kW to 100 kW capacity – are already operational or under construction at five Chevron stations to offer convenient charging to EV drivers. These stations are located in Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area communities in California, including Aliso Viejo, Manhattan Beach, Menlo Park, and Venice.” Source: EVGo

Maine bipartisan solar bill – A bill has been introduced in the Maine Senate which would lead to the development of more than 400 MW of community solar power. LD 1711 would establish the development of community solar in Maine, targeted at delivering renewable energy to low-to-moderate income customers. Our take: This is really accelerated development in a state that just a year ago had no net metering and seemingly no solar future. Good on you, Maine! If you’d like to read the bill, you can do so here. Source: Natural Resources Council of Maine

Vote Solar pushes for inclusion of 6 GW solar goal in Governor Cuomo’s plans, will drive ‘thousands of jobs’ – It seems a daunting ask, but Vote Solar has released a report outlining why it is important for New York to add 4.575 GW of solar across the residential, commercial and community solar sectors by 2025, the amount that will be needed to reach Governor Cuomo’s goal of 6 deployed GW. And, once again, you can read the report in full here. Source: Vote Solar

Insight Solar partners with CertainTeed – “Solar energy provider Insight Solar announced today it has partnered with manufacturer CertainTeed to provide a wide range of photovoltaic solar panel solutions for Massachusetts residents. The partnership will provide a 25-year warranty option for Massachusetts homeowners considering making the switch from traditional, fossil fuel-based power to clean, environmentally friendly solar power. Insight provides solar energy consultation, education and installation…. Insight helps homeowners determine whether solar is right for their home, educates them on the benefits of net metering and provides contractors with expertise in solar panel placement and installation for maximum savings.” Source: Insight Solar

Solar Cup winners – The 17th Solar Cup is over and the winners have been announced! The top prizes were awarded to Cypress-based Oxford Academy and Oaks Christian of Westlake Village, California. Oxford Academy took their crown in the veteran’s division, while the newcomer Oaks Christian took the rookie division by storm, racing past the competition. In other recognition The Veteran Division’s “Hottest Looking Boat” went to Calabasas High School, and the Rookies’ hottest came from San Jacinto Valley Academy. The sportsmanship award was given to Compton High School and the teamwork award was won by Anaheim High School. Congrats to all the participants, you guys are truly inspiring! Source: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

NSG Group to work on development of transparent solar window – “NSG Group has announced a joint development agreement between its subsidiary and Ubiquitous Energy. The ongoing joint development work targets the development, manufacture, and integration of Ubiquitous Energy’s ClearView Power technology into architectural window glass that has the potential to produce solar electricity for buildings. NSG’s participation includes ongoing research and development (R&D) and technical support. Ubiquitous Energy’s transparent solar coating, ClearView Power, selectively absorbs and converts non-visible light (ultraviolet and infrared) to electricity while transmitting visible light.” Source: Ubiquitous Energy

And finally, one more Democratic presidential candidate has joined the ranks of those who say they are willing to participate in a debate on what policies are needed to address climate change.

During selfie lines, people often press notes into my hands to explain why they’re in this fight. Last week in VA, I got a note asking if I support a climate debate. Yes! We need to do everything we can to save our planet. Thanks @usclimatestrike and @MoveOn for leading this. pic.twitter.com/SUykWTptTP

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 20, 2019

Generac acquires PIKA Energy – Generac Holdings has acquired battery storage manufacturer Pika energy, marking the company’s first soiree into the energy storage industry. The acquisition closed on the 26th of April and details of the acquisition have not yet been made available. Source: Generac Holdings Inc.    

Renewable Envoy launches solar art installation – “Renewable Envoy partnered with Clark County Parks and Recreation and created a unique solar art sculpture at the Desert Diamonds Baseball Complex adjacent to Mountain’s Edge Regional Park. The sculpture dedication and reception will be held on May 1 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and is open to the public.” Source: Renewable Envoy

Massachusetts bill would bring net metering to community solar in “environmental justice” areas – Legislation has been introduced in Massachusetts which would restore the price community solar projects receive for the energy they send into the grid back to pre-2016 levels in certain neighborhoods. In 2016, the state passed a law which scaled back credits to 60% of excess power for most new projects, with exceptions for municipal and residential customers. The legislation would restore net metering in “environmental justice neighborhoods,” meaning those with substantial populations of households that are low-income, minority or lacking proficiency in English. Source: Energy News

Retirement of four Wyoming coal units would save customers an estimated $248 million – PacifiCorp has released a new economic analysis which shows that if the company decided to shut down four of its Wyoming coal plants by 2022, it would save customers $248 million over 20 years. Furthermore, any lost generation could and likely would be made up for by renewable resources, according to a PacifiCorp spokesperson. Source: OPB

Yaskawa Solectria Solar achieves rapid shutdown – “Tigo Energy, Inc. today announced the new Underwriter Laboratories (UL) certification of its Photovoltaic Rapid Shutdown Systems (PVRSS) based on the company’s TS4 Platform and PV inverters from Yaskawa Solectria Solar, the leading U.S. commercial PV inverter manufacturer. The Yaskawa Solectria Solar inverters listed below are now listed with Tigo’s TS4-F (Fire Safety), TS4-O (Optimization), and TS4-L (Long Strings) as PVRSS solutions… This UL certification is part of Tigo’s multi-vendor initiative providing customers with the advantages of reliable, safe, and cost-effective solutions. The use of Tigo smart modules and high-efficiency inverters allows design flexibility for installers to comply with National Electric Code (NEC) 2017 690.12 PVRSS regulations.” Source: Tigo Energy

NextEra aims to bring the largest solar project in the Midwest to Nebraska – While still awaiting an interconnection agreement, NextEra is in the early stages of developing a 423 MW solar plant just outside of Norfolk, Nebraska. NextEra has already signed a lease with the farmers that own the 2,500 acres of land the project is targeting. Source: Energy News Network.

Sunworks names Former CFO as Interim CFO – Sunworks has announced that Phil Radmilovic, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer will resign “to pursue other career opportunities”. “Mr. Radmilovic will continue in his role until February 22, 2019 to ensure an orderly transition of his responsibilities. Sunworks has appointed Paul McDonnel, its Treasurer and CFO from September 2016 – June 2018, to serve as interim CFO until a successor is identified.” Source – Sunwork

Proposed solar project in Wyoming would increase state’s installed capacity 31x – Wyoming has 2.1 MW of solar capacity, according to SEIA, which makes the 63 MW project proposed by Fossil Solar an astronomical potential development – especially when combined with an 80 MW project underway near Rock Springs. The Fossil Solar project would be nearby to the Naughton coal plant, which just Wednesday shuttered one of its three coal-burning units. Source: The Casper Star-Tribune

GAF Energy adds industry vet to lead R&D – “GAF Energy, a Standard Industries company today announced that Gabriela Bunea has joined the company as Head of Research and Development… Dr. Bunea brings 20 years of extensive technical experience and leadership in the solar and microelectronics industries to GAF Energy, most recently as Vice President of Research, Development and Deployment at SunPower Corporation.” Source: GAF Energy

Solar Decathlon participants announced – The Department of Energy has announced the schools that will be participating in the 2019 Solar Decathlon, a 10-part collegiate competition for teams to design and build buildings powered by solar energy. The participating schools are:

• Hogeschool Utrecht University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
• Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas
• Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri
• Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
• University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
• University of Denver, Denver, Colorado
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
• University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
• University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario
• Weber State University, Ogden, Utah

Source: Solar Decathlon

Western EIM geneerates over $550 million in 4 years – “The California Independent System Operator has released its Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) fourth quarter 2018 benefits report showing the market generated $564.88 million in benefits since its launch in November 2014… The Western EIM continued in the fourth quarter to help displace less clean energy supplies by using 23,425 megawatt-hours of surplus renewable energy that otherwise would have been curtailed.” Source: California ISO

South Carolina grid modernization study calls for more distributed solar – A report issued by GridLab has identified distributed solar energy’s economic feasibility as a key element of grid modernization. The report continually reiterates the economic and environmental benefits of a modern grid supported by widespread distributed solar. Source: GridLab

PowerOptions and Solect Energy renew partnership for Small Systems Solar program – Solect Energy and PowerOptions have announced that Solect will continue to lead PowerOption’s Small Systems Solar program, thanks to the agreement of a new multi-year partnership. “The Small Systems Solar program provides competitively priced and pre-negotiated contract terms for solar systems less than 300 kW.” The program serves communities, state owned buildings, and non-profit organizations, all of which receive savings and price increase protection for the duration of a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The program has already saved an estimated $20 million for PowerOptions members.

1 MW flipped on in Warwick – Southern Sky Renewable Energy has completed and put online the 1 MW project it developed for the city of Warwick, Rhode Island. The project is located on West Shore Road and joins a 6.3 MW solar array on Kilvert Street that came on-line in October. Source: Southern Sky Renewable Energy RI

And just in case anyone is reeling at the end of football season on this Super Bowl Monday, well, we have some action for you. Check out this panel take a hit without flinching: 

The 1200J test verifies the resistance of our #crystalline PV glass after a bag of 50 Kgs is thrown from 2.4 m #test #solarPVglass pic.twitter.com/H8Dw8IC1rq

— Onyx Solar (@onyxsolar) January 25, 2019

Continuing from yesterday’s part 1, here are the rest of the top 10 trends that we saw this year.

6) The 100% renewable energy movement gains steam

The Trump Administration’s moves to prop up coal and abandon the Paris Agreement have lit a fire under conscious citizens and leaders across the United States, and nowhere has this been more obvious than the dramatic growth of the 100% renewable energy movement.

The action by Sunrise Movement and Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-New York) to launch the call for a Green New Deal including 100% renewable electricity by 2030 was the big national headline. However, the path forward for this to actually become federal policy got a new roadblock with the appointment of Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) as the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Action at the state level was much more promising. California was again in the lead, becoming the second state to mandate a pathway to 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2045 (following Hawaii’s 100% renewable energy mandate), but several other states took the first steps in that direction.

This was particularly notable in the aftermath of the November 6 election, which saw five governor-elects pledging to move their states to 100% renewable energy. In terms of incumbents, both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) and Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) have put 100% zero-carbon electricity on their list of 2019 legislative priorities, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) has issued an executive order calling for 40% greenhouse gas reductions by 2025, which if acted on could result in up to 25 GW of new solar.

At the city level this movement is also strong, with Cincinnati becoming the 100th city to set a 100% renewable energy target. This is not to mention the growth of community choice aggregation, which is allowing California cities and counties to move to 100% renewable energy faster than the state’s mandate.

But perhaps the biggest action this year was by a utility, with Xcel Energy setting a target to move to 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2050, and reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2030.

And just this week, the Washington DC City Council passed a bill to put the district on a path to 100% renewable electricity by 2032, including a requirement for up to 20% of this power to come from local solar, as well as setting requirements for decarbonization of fleet vehicles – a package more aggressive than any state renewable or clean energy mandate to date.

7) Technology advances

While more politicians are finally starting to get serious about decarbonizing electricity, solar power is getting smarter. It’s a learning curve thing. The market gets broader, more engineers get involved, there are more experiments with ideas, and often just enough customers to let an idea live.

First off, mono PERC solar modules have pushed efficiency up, while still dropping in price – and soon enough they’ll dominate the global market, as their high efficiency is lowering the cost of solar projects.

The broader maturation of Sonnen into its Eco line and communities in the United States, along with players like STEM should really scare every single centralized energy management firm on the planet, as these intelligent inverters have the chops to run the whole show.

Module level electronics are making their position stronger with SolarEdge & Enphase taking over residential, while SolarEdge is now making major progress in the commercial and utility space. And proving that SolarEdge’s utility fascination isn’t a solo foray, electric utilities are also looking at module level electronics to maximize management in high penetration situations.

There were also wisps of Tesla’s Solar Roof in the wild, and Powerhouse 3 flirting with us.

Finally, there was also a LOT of research being conducted – with some suggesting oversizing solar was cheaper than seasonal storage and gas plants, other showing that we could reach an 80% powered grid with 12 hours of energy storage, and still others showing that we could make more money with solar in today’s power grid by strategically shutting down solar. And this is before we consider the craziness of 90% efficiency, 40% of electricity coming from our windows, perovskite-silicon at 28% and endless research coming from scientists around the globe.

8) Solar power as a code requirement

California has once again rocked the solar power industry by mandating that starting in 2020 all new homes built in the state will have to include solar power – either via community solar or integrated at time of construction. This will also lead to a redesign and a reassessment of what residential solar power costs, with pv magazine USA suggesting prices will approach $1/W installed with a lifetime 2.5¢/kWh levelized cost of electricity.

There are at least two other places outside of California with a requirement of solar at time of construction – South Miami on residential, and Watertown, MA setting a requirement that all commercial greater than 10,000 sq feet build solar. And with ⅔ of Americans suggesting they’d support some sort of home solar power mandate, it seems this is a trend that could have some legs.

9) Solar: Not just for California anymore

One of the biggest trends of 2018 was not new, but rather the continuation of something that has been happening for years: a geographic shift in U.S. solar markets.

In the past, markets in the Northeast and Southwest, such as New Jersey, Arizona and Massachusetts were the largest regional players outside of California, to be joined by North Carolina around five years ago. But starting last year Florida’s utility-scale solar market started to take off, and now Texas is threatening to emerge as a major destination for solar, with not only nearly 1 GW already installed in the first three quarters, but another 32 GW of projects in the interconnection queue of its grid operator.

Texas and Florida are the #2 and #3 largest U.S. states by population and as such this indicates that solar markets are starting to align with population distribution. Both states are driven by large-scale solar, not DG. And while the logic of summer peaks and high mid-day power prices are the same in both, in Florida this is being driven by voluntary utility procurement whereas in Texas’ more transparent market the numbers are obvious for everyone to see.

And it is not only Texas and Florida. This year saw progress on large solar (20 MW+) projects in many states that did not previously have significant markets, in the West, Midwest, South and even New England:

West

• Idaho
• Oregon
• Washington
• Wyoming

Midwest

• Illinois
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Michigan
• Ohio
• Wisconsin

South

• Mississippi
• Louisiana
• Tennessee and Alabama

Northeast

• Maine
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island

And while it was the 10th-largest market in 2017, Virginia super-sized its solar ambitions by approving the 500 MW Pleinmont solar project, the largest East of the Mississippi river. In fact, there are few states known to pv magazine USA that do not have at least one solar project 20 MW or larger either built or in some stage of development.

10) The price of solar keeps falling

Solar power electricity generation pricing is the cheapest electricity you can get every single day at 12 noon in many places across the United States – and right now 8minutenergy is in a 25-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy has set the bar at 2.376¢/kWh for the output of a 300 MW solar power plant. Rough math suggests that the price, when accounting for inflation, would be equivalent to 1.795¢/kWh in 2043 – following nearby that price is an Arizona PPA at 2.49¢/kWh and one just signed in Texas “below 2.5¢/kWh” – proving that 8mintuenergy’s deal is no fluke.

This is leading toward solar+wind+storage taking over coal and gas in utility plans – happened in Colorado, Indiana, and Oregon as these utilities are legally obligated to pursue the “lowest cost” option.

A recent Wood Mackenzie Renewables & Power reported that despite tariffs on modules, inverters, aluminum and steel installation costs in all sectors were at their respective all time lows: $2.85/Wdc, $1.47/Wdc, $0.93/Wdc and $1.04/Wdc, residential, commercial, fixed utility, and single axis tracker, respectively.

NREL says much of that price drop is driven by more efficiency solar modules, cheaper and smarter inverters, as well increased levels of productivity.

We at pv magazine USA think that this is just the beginning. Not only are we expecting a boom in deployment next year, but as previously predicted by Ray Kurzweil, get ready for solar to massively scale and replace most other forms of power generation in the 2020s.

The best is yet to come. We’ll be providing more data to back this up at the start of 2019.

Southeastern Wyoming is a tough place. In Green River, the seat of Sweetwater County, the temperatures have risen to as high as 105 F in the summer and -42 in the winter – although it typically only gets to the 80s in the summer, and single digits in the winter.

But the high, dry plains also offer excellent sunlight, and it is here that the project development subsidiary of Hanwha Q Cells is building the state’s first large-scale solar plant. As further evidence of the plant’s progress, yesterday Sungrow formally announced that it is supplying a turnkey power conversion solution featuring its 2.75 MW SG2500U-MV inverters for the 80 MW-AC Sweetwater project, as well as transformers.

The company notes that these inverters are able to perform will full power from -30 C (-22 F) to 60 C (140 F), a range that should accommodate most of the harsh shifts that the Sweetwater Solar plant is likely to see over its lifetime.

The timeline of the project is also unclear. A January 2017 presentation seen by pv magazine indicated that the project would be substantially complete by October, but given the timing of inverter supply that is highly unlikely. The Sweetwater Solar project will sell the electricity it generates to Rocky Mountain Power under a 20-year contract.

Early retirement of 11 of the 24 coal units in which PacifiCorp has an ownership interest could save money, according to a valuation study that compared the costs per megawatt-hour (MWh) of new solar to the going-forward costs of each coal unit (i.e., the fuel and other operating costs, and the future capital needs at each unit).  Those coal units, primarily in Utah and Wyoming, have a combined capacity of 2.73 gigawatts.

The study, commissioned by the Sierra Club, found that 11 of PacifiCorp’s coal units have a going-forward cost per MWh higher than the modeled solar cost of $38.55 per MWh, as shown at the right side of Figure 6. 

“The solar resource cost used in this analysis,” notes the study, “is considered a conservative cost estimate relative to what is currently available in the market.” 

Yet the graph permits anyone to draw a horizontal line at whatever solar cost seems most appropriate, and count the number of coal units whose early retirement could save money.

For example, the study notes that Xcel’s subsidiary in neighboring Colorado recently reported solar PV costs in a range of $23 – $27 per MWh.  Xcel has also reported a solar-plus-storage cost of $36 per MWh.

The study considered the savings possible from replacing each coal unit’s projected generation over the period from 2023 to the coal unit’s planned retirement date.  Intended as an indicative analysis, it did not consider the timing of electricity generation by solar power plants, compared to the timing of customer demand, nor balancing options such as integration of solar power with wind power or storage, or the use of variable pricing.  (For more detail, see the technical note below.)

The analysis also calculated the savings possible from replacing PacifiCorp’s coal unit generation with market purchases, or with wind power.

“This report clarifies what so many of us already know,” said Sierra Club spokesperson Cesia Kearns.  “The rise of clean energy is making PacifiCorp’s coal plants increasingly uneconomic.” 

The study briefly discusses possible costs not included in the analysis, such as “transmission-related expenses, operational impacts, coal contract costs or damages, and the cost of replacement capacity if required.” 

Noting these factors, PacifiCorp spokesperson Bob Gravely said, “Those are all critical elements of resource planning for any utility.  Generally, these types of studies are of limited use to inform our real-world resource planning because they do not adequately consider system reliability and the actual cost of providing electric service to customers.” 

The study, conducted by Energy Strategies LLC in Utah, states that “to the extent that this study demonstrates that costs savings are achieved, it is not beyond reason to assume these savings could be used to mitigate capacity replacement costs, if necessary.”  The study adds that the findings “are indicative of relative economic merit and are meant to engage a meaningful discussion on the future of PacifiCorp’s coal fleet.” 

PacifiCorp primarily serves customers in Utah and Wyoming, and has additional customers in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. 

Technical note: To estimate the going-forward costs of coal generation, the analysis used PacifiCorp projections for the fuel costs and other operating and maintenance costs for each of its coal units, for each year from 2023 until the unit’s projected retirement date.  For the cost of annual capital additions for existing coal plants over 30 years old, the study used an estimate developed by the Energy Information Administration. 

To generate conservative results for the all-in costs of solar, the study used PacifiCorp’s projected costs of solar for 2021, from the utility’s 2017 integrated resource plan (IRP) update.  Because the analysis modeled solar installations coming online in 2023, it escalated the projected 2021 cost for inflation, yielding a levelized cost of solar electricity in 2023 of $38.55 per MWh.

The study used a discount rate of 6.91 percent to discount future costs to a present value, equal to PacifiCorp’s 6.91 percent weighted average cost of capital from its 2017 IRP update.

The arid lands across the Western United States offer excellent natural conditions for generating electricity from the sun. However, for many years large-scale solar development was largely confined to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, with limited activity in other states.

That is changing. In 2015 Utah put online its first utility-scale solar projects, and the Oregon and Idaho markets began booming in 2016. And this year Washington will get its first solar project larger than 1 MW.

Large-scale solar is coming to Wyoming as well. On Tuesday the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) gave the final environmental approval for Wyoming’s first utility-scale solar project located on roughly 700 acres of land in Sweetwater County, most of which is public land managed by the BLM.

The Sweetwater Solar plant is a project of 174 Power Global, the project development subsidiary of Hanwha Q Cells. The developer holds a 20-year power contract with Rocky Mountain Power, a subsidiary of Pacificorp, for the output of a 102 MW-DC/80 MW-AC project to be built on the site.

The project is only 2.5 miles to a 220 kV substation, and 174 Power has noted the good site access due to a highway running through the site.

The schedule for the project to be built is unclear. The BLM site features a January 2017 presentation from 174 Power, which offers a timeline that would have the project substantially completed in October. However, the company was not able to begin construction on that timeline without BLM approval.

Other details are also not clear. It is assumed that 174 Power will build the plant using Hanwha Q Cells modules, however project documents mention two different possible configurations, with single-axis tracking for the main option and fixed-tilt racking and/or tracking for an alternative site configuration with smaller-wattage modules.

Additionally, Sungrow has mentioned that it is supplying the largest solar project in Wyoming. We have concluded that this means the Sweetwater, as the U.S. Department of Energy’s project databases do not show any other solar projects larger than 1 MW in the state. These are likely to be central inverters, as project documents mention inverter pads.

As one of the largest inverter makers supplying utility-scale projects in the United States, Sungrow is in a unique position to comment on current market dynamics. This week we talked with Steven Chan, the CEO of Sungrow USA about what the latest moves by the Chinese government mean for this market, as well as the ongoing competition between central and string inverters in this market segment.

pv magazine: What is your perspective as an inverter maker on how the changes to Chinese subsidies are likely to affect the U.S. and global markets?

Steven Chan: We’ve faced similar situations before in the solar industry and it is a dynamic where companies that are financial strong, fiscally strong and have a low-cost long-term roadmap, are the ones that get competitively stronger relative to their peers who don’t have those characteristics. Sungrow is an example of a company in a strong position.

Of course, this news is negative for the entire industry in general, but Sungrow is positioned to get stronger compared to our competitors, especially in Western markets.

I strongly believe Sungrow has the competitive advantage of having a very mature supply chain, and we have a large volume of installed capacity and installed sales. We have a diversified business model in China, and outside of China we are on the cusp of a breakout. This sort of situation helps us, because it is going to reduce the cost of the total system to be installed, and people are looking for a strong inverter supplier. Over the long term, we feel like we are that company partners developers and EPCs are looking for.

pv magazine: Do you expect pressure on prices to be translated to the United States?

Chan: I was on a call with a customer today. He said that the module prices, which late last week were pretty significant quotes of 45 cents per watt, had broken under 40 per watt. With that kind of dynamic, we felt like the pressure (to drop prices) on the inverter companies is less in comparison.

pv magazine: As you mentioned earlier, you expect a global fall in system prices. Do you think that will spur activity in the U.S. market?

Chan: Absolutely. For example, we have utility-scale customers who said that they have negotiated in their contracts an ability to have a notice to proceed that could vary by a year or more, based on things like module price fluctuations because there is so much uncertainty.

I think they weren’t thinking so much the China market uncertainty but tariff uncertainty. Now that something that has caused the module prices to fall more quickly than they expected, they can pull in those projects – they can do them faster than they thought they were going to. And so I feel like it could be an interesting catalyst to make the U.S. market bigger.

You might not see that impact tomorrow, but certainly over the next three, six, nine months.

pv magazine: You mentioned that don’t see as great of price pressure on inverters. Do you expect inverters to also be in a global oversupply situation?

Chan: Sure. There will definitely be over-capacity, but I do feel like people are becoming more discerning as to who they purchase from. Every time these sorts of things happen, people look to see who is Tier 1 and bankable with good technology with a low cost roadmap and good service, and who is maybe Tier 1, or Tier 2, or Tier 1 1/2 that may lack some of those characteristics.

You could always include these characteristics. We are bankable, we do have good technology, we do have a low-cost roadmap, and we are building up our service function. It’s much better than it has ever been. So even if there is that pressure, we will have more volume relative to peer companies.

pv magazine: In terms of the effect on the U.S. market, do you expect to see more action in states with previously underdeveloped markets, or do you expect mostly expansion in the established markets?

Chan: It is hard for me to predict down to the state level. But I would say that we are seeing interesting projects pop up in states that we were either dormant in, or where there is not a lot of activity.

For example, we won the largest project in Washington State. We won the largest project in Rhode Island. We are about to supply the largest project in Wyoming. We are energized by the fact that new states are embracing solar, and that we are on the leading edge of that.

pv magazine: My understanding is that Sungrow has recently supplied a large volume of 1500v string inverters to utility-scale projects. Can you comment on the market dynamics you are seeing around string versus central inverters in this segment?

Chan: I think that we are uniquely positioned to basically be at a good vantage point for this opportunity considering we offer both central and string utility-scale solutions. Where we go head to head against a central inverter competitor, it’s not the same company that we go head-to-head against for a utility string inverter opportunity.

A lot of people come to us, and they ask what do you think about these projects, whether they should use central or string, and why. We go through that analysis and people appreciate that.

From a high level, most people generally for big projects over 20 MW still like central. For the utility-scale projects that we are supplying with string inverters, they are 10 MW and creeping up, to 20 MW opportunities.

What has made that decision easier for people is that we’ve gotten string inverter pricing somewhat comparable to central inverter pricing. That has been a huge change in the market place. Previously string inverters were always much more expensive.

pv magazine: What are the specific technical advantages that string inverters bring to these projects?

Chan: With a central inverter, you want to have a uniform block. So these big project locations usually have that: flat land that is pretty uniform. They can run a bunch of rectangle-shaped blocks.

One of the reasons that we developed the string inverter is that the U.S. is running out of those optimal giant project locations. So the developers were having to look at sites that have conditions with rolling hills, or unevenly shaped sites. What we did is trying to design a string inverter that captures the best of both worlds. String inverter flexibility for site conditions, but also central inverter efficiency of design.

We designed a string inverter with a single MPPT, so a solar designer could customize the block size. I think we could go from 125 kW to 5 MW block. So with a wedge-shaped piece of land up on a hill, you might have a 1.25 MW block. In another site that is pretty wide open you might be able to do a 2.5 MW block. The idea is to optimally utilize project sites that are more challenging than typical wide-open, flat project sizes.

The other thing is that people talk about is central inverter downtime if there is a service disruption. If there is a string inverter that went down, a lot less of the site is negatively impacted, and also it could be easily replaced by a lower-level condition. We would offer on-site replacement, so people can just swap them out when they go down. When they are down, it is a lot less of the site that is negatively impacted.

So From an O&M point of view, people realize that string inverters enable them to run an O&M model that less factors in downtime associated with service and repair, because of string inverters.

pv magazine: Anything we haven’t talked about that you think is important for our readers to know about Sungrow and the U.S. market?

Chan: I would say that we are trying to offer the right solution for people in the distributed generation and utility space, whether it is a string inverter, or a utility application, or a string inverter for distributed generation projects, or a central inverter for utility-scale, or even an energy storage inverter, whether a string or central inverter.

Currently there are few to no companies that can offer that suite of options. It is important to note that we have established a service center in Phoenix, that can support our activities on the ground. So that service center offers training, and we’ve staffed it with service engineers.

We have a repair center, and that is combining the core competencies of the team in our headquarters with the manufacturing of product, and the on-the-ground service center.

In an 87-page filing with the Wyoming Public Service Commission (PSC), Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) laid out an extensive case about why the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) should be kneecapped in the state by eviscerating reimbursement rates under the law by more than 38%.

PURPA was passed at the height of the 1978-1979 oil crisis that saw the nations of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raise oil prices significantly, causing Western nations like the United States to try reducing their dependence on fossil fuels by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy. It effectively broke the utilities’ monopoly on owning electric-generating plants and created a market for independent power producers (IPPs) which according to the Union of Concerned Scientists accounts for 7% of the country’s power.

It has been the driving force behind solar growth in several states. Most notably, North Carolina’s solar industry, whose installed solar capacity is second in the country behind only California, plays host to the most PURPA-related projects in the country, according to Duke Energy.

But RMP argues in the filing that plummeting prices for solar and natural gas make the current prices they are required to pay IPPs – in Wyoming, those costs are currently $52/MWh – are far too high. The rates were set by the PSC in August 2015. RMP’s petition this year is to comply with the PSC rule that “requires system data from which avoided costs may be derived to be filed not less often than every two years.” The petition asks the PSC to reduce the rate to nearly $32/MWh.

“The lower avoided cost reflected in this Application is primarily due to 4 the March 31, 2017 Official Forward Price Curve that includes lower wholesale power and natural gas market prices,” RMP says in the application. “In addition to the updated Official Forward Price Curve, the Company used the wind and solar integration costs, the capacity contributions for both wind and solar resources, and the resource sufficiency and deficiency periods that relate to capacity contribution costs consistent with the 2017 Integrated Resource Plan that was submitted on April 4, 2017.”

If the rates are not reduced, RMP argues, it will have grave consequences for non-solar customers, who will have to pay higher rates as the utility raises rates to cover the lost revenues.

RMP is owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway who, through his utility portfolio, is waging a covert war to undermine PURPA in other states, with little success – so far. Last year, RMP picked a fight in Utah over the length of PURPA contract, asking the Utah Public Services Commission to cut the contracts with qualifying facilities (QFs) to 15 years from 20. It lost that battle.

Duke Energy is also currently asking North Carolina’s PUC to change PURPA requirements so severely as to potentially cripple PURPA in the state.

An ill-wind is blowing in the halls Wyoming legislature that could crush hopes for building utility-scale renewable energy projects in the state, including solar.

Nine representatives, primarily from coal-producing counties in the state and includes several prominent state-level Climate Change deniers, have introduced SF 71 on the first day of the 2017 legislative session last week, which is designed to discourage the state’s utilities from investing in solar and other renewable-energy projects.

The bill redefines “eligible generating resources” – what sources utilities can use to produce electricity – to include only six options: coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, net-metered systems (including solar), nuclear and oil. By the end of 2018, the bill requires utilities to produce or purchase 95% of the electricity it produces from one of those six sources. In 2019, the percentage grows to 100% If utilities chose to build their own wind and solar farms, the legislation instructs the public-service commission to fine the utilities $10/MWh of electricity not produced by one of the “eligible” resources.

One activist told InsideClimate News:

“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” said Shannon Anderson, director of the local organizing group Powder River Basin Resource Council. “This is essentially a reverse renewable energy standard.”

Dan Whitten, vice president of communications, said the Wyoming legislation defies logic and could hurt the state’s energy independence in the long run.”S

“Suffice it to say that energy in Wyoming, or anywhere else for that matter, is not an either or proposition,” Whitten said. “The renewable energy industries are driving massive investment in Wyoming, with the prospect of much more to come, which benefits virtually every resident in the state through tax revenues, jobs and clean, affordable  energy.”

Although solar doesn’t make up an enormous percentage of Wyoming’s current energy mix, investment ticked up in 2015 (the last year for which statistics are available). SF 71 would effectively kill it by penalizing utilities that want to build their own solar farms or purchase electricity from out-of-state solar projects.

Most Wyoming political insiders believe the bill will struggle to find enough support to pass, but the fact the legislation has been introduced so early in the session worries them about the future of renewable energy in the state.

Last year, Wyoming Republican Gov. Matt Mead announced his plans to “double down” on using coal as the state’s primary energy source, saying renewable energy – especially wind – holds great promise for the future. But he doesn’t believe the technology is ready to displace fossil fuels in the near future.

Wyoming is the United States’ largest coal-producing state.

Update: This article was updated at 12:38 pm EST on 1/16/17to include SEIA’s response from Dan Whitten, SEIA’s vice president of communications.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced two transmission lines last week that will carry up to 4.5 GW of renewable power throughout the Western United States.

One transmission line — the 416-mile Energy Gateway South line‚ will cross 228 miles of public land administered by Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. It will carry up to 1.5 GW of electricity at its peak. A second, 728-mile line called TransWest Express, will traverse 442 miles of BLM public land from south-central Wyoming to southern Nevada and will carry up to 3 GW — enough energy to power up to 1.8 million homes.

BLM sited the projects in consultation with the states involved to avoid as much unnecessary disruption of wildlife habitats through specific design features and compensatory mitigation.

To reduce ground disturbances and unsightly visual effects, both TransWest and Energy Gateway are being built alongside existing transmission lines and roads. The two lines will create approximately 2,3000 construction jobs in the affected states.

For the past eight years, the Interior Department has worked with state and local leaders to tap the West’s wealth of renewable energy resources, including the approval of 60 utility-scale projects, including 36 solar projects.

All together, the projects represent $40 billion in potential private capital investments that could generate more than 15.5 GW of electricity – enough to power approximately five million homes across the West.

But without transmission lines to get the electricity to people who need it, the investment in renewable energy would remain largely moot. The Interior Department has approved 54 such projects, spanning 4,200 miles, to help unlock renewable resources currently unavailable because of a lack of sufficient infrastructure investments.

According to its website, the BLM manages more than 19 million acres of public lands with solar energy potential in six states: California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.

Route maps are available:

TransWest Express

Energy Gateway South