As the world responds to the challenges of climate change, energy systems are evolving, and evolving fast. The past 10 years have seen the rise (and dramatic cost reduction) of renewable energy such as wind and solar, to the extent that they are no longer considered alternative energy. They have become mainstream energy sources. Now, what will be the “next big thing” as the world shifts to a low carbon future? [...]

Brazil is the second-largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world, after only China, and hydropower accounted for more than 70% of the country’s electricity generation in 2018. Brazil’s latest 10-year energy plan seeks to maintain this level of hydro generation while increasing the share of nonhydro renewables, particularly solar. [...]

Jeff Carpoff had a lot to celebrate as friends and business associates gathered at his company’s Christmas party last year. [...]

Responsibilities: Participates as an integral member of the Project Development team;Identifies land parcels meeting the Company’s solar development requirements;Secures land positions for the Company;Supports in-house title in gathering, organizing and analyzing title documents and performing internal title updates;Works with in-house GIS resources to guide land screening activities;Engages landowners in land acquisition discussions about project site opportunities;Supports drafting of LOI [...]

In their push to upend the economics of rooftop solar, Iowa’s major electric utilities are up against an opponent as politically potent as they are: the state’s pork producers. [...]

Bank asset management is known to be an opaque subject. Thankfully, Diana Weis and Sarah Disch, each co-heads of the Solar Asset Management groups at their organizations, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Bank respectively, shared their expertise with me at SAMNA 2019. They each have over a decade of experience in solar finance. Here are three key takeaways bank asset management experts Weis and Disch shared: [...]

Incredibly, 1.1 billion people – 14% of the world’s population – still live without access to electricity. In rural, remote communities, many people simply have no light after sunset. That makes being productive at night—such as working and learning--extremely difficult. Limiting useful hours of the day by access to daylight holds back personal and economic development and wastes human potential. [...]

Renewables firm Pangea Energy and vanadium battery producer CellCube have signed on to build a 50MW storage system alongside a solar farm in South Australia. [...]

This week, Xcel Energy announced plans to retire its last two coal plants in the Upper Midwest a decade earlier than scheduled. The acceleration of the coal closures is part of the company’s clean energy transition that includes expanding wind and solar, using natural gas and operating its Monticello nuclear plant until at least 2040. [...]

CleanChoice Energy on Thursday said it was opening an additional 20.51 MW of community solar capacity for residential customers of Xcel. The new capacity is being supplied by fifteen solar farms owned and operated by AltusPower America in various locations in Minnesota. CleanChoice Energy is the largest community solar provider in Minnesota with more than 85 megawatts of solar capacity. [...]

The insurance industry has lots of exposure to climate change. But as Warren Buffet has explained, not so much for companies that do annual policy adjustments, like Berkshire Hathaway. Their exposure is limited because the trends are baked into the premiums. But there is an opportunity for reducing insurance risk due to climate change, and it comes from the insurance industry itself. The business model is to have car insurance salespeople provide leads to virtual electric car charging services. [...]

Community Solar in New York has a messaging problem. It is confusing, and even some industry professionals have given up in disgust because of aggressive marketing and a lack of clarity. [...]

As of 2018, the city of Los Angeles boasted close to 350 MW of installed local solar power, according to reports. Its solar capacity increased some 44 percent year over year. [...]

Today, IREC proudly joins the collective voice of advocates and industry celebrating a milestone we have worked for 37 years to witness: two million solar installations now in the U.S. What better timing than in a year when children and governors, presidential candidates and corporate CEOs are all making headlines about the urgency of climate change action. [...]

New Energy Equity, Region Five Development Commission (R5DC) and Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) last week announced a partnership to develop six solar arrays, totaling 1.5 MW, for Pine River-Backus and Pequot Lakes school districts and Central Lakes College. [...]

The Colorado Legislative session adjourned on Friday evening, but not without passing several bills of great consequence to the state’s electric power sector. For solar and storage companies, the two biggest bills were HB19-1003, the Community Solar Modernization Act, and SB19-236, Sunset Public Utilities Commission. Both are expected to be signed in the near future and become law. There were several others that will indirectly impact the industry too. The Community Solar Modernization Act [...]

SOHAR deep-sea port and free-zone has signed a 600-hectare lease agreement with Shell Development Oman (SDO) for land to set up industrial and commercial solar panels. The port is managed in a joint-venture between the Port of Rotterdam and the Sultanate of Oman. [...]

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees an end to the gloom for solar manufacturers as demand in China stabilizes and free-falling panel prices bottom out. [...]

Last week, independent power producer Silicon Ranch Corporation said that the 53-MW solar array that it built in partnership with the City of Millington, the U.S. Navy, Memphis, Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is now operational. It’s the largest solar power plant in the state. [...]

Solar energy is now providing the electricity for an entire village in Togo of 4000 people, powering streetlights, homes, schools and shops. [...]

This week global energy and infrastructure group, Eversheds Sutherland, announced that it helped Ball Corporation secure two virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) – one wind and one solar – for a total of 388 MW of new renewable energy. According to Ball, these agreements will allow the company to power 100 percent of its corporate, packaging and aerospace operations electricity load in North America with renewable energy by the end of 2021. [...]

This week Sempra Energy subsidiary PXiSE Energy Solutions announced that Sempra-owned development company Infraestructura Energetica Nova (IEnova) would be using its software at the 110-MW Pima Solar facility located in Mexico to help manage the integration of renewable power to the electric grid. [...]

A year ago, Tesla Inc. lost its throne as king of the U.S. rooftop solar business to Sunrun Inc. Now, it may get relegated to third place. [...]

In the years since its passage, Section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) has provided one of the few options for small producers of renewable energy to access electric generation markets controlled by monopoly utilities. The law requires a monopoly utility to purchase the output of certain small power producers known as “qualifying facilities” (QFs) at the utility’s “avoided cost”—that is, the cost the utility would incur to generate or purchase power in the [...]