Thin-film solar leader First Solar just signed two 15-year power purchase agreements with community choice aggregators, Monterey Bay Community Power and Silicon Valley Clean Energy. Monterey Bay Community Power is a community choice aggregator (CCA) sourcing clean electricity for Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties in addition to San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay. Silicon Valley Clean Energy serves the majority of […]
Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) has announced two power purchase agreements (PPA) with an average price of 2.2¢/kWh. The individual project pricing, total solar modules onsite, and expected volumes of electricity delivered on an annual basis were blacked out in the draft PPAs available to the public (236 page pdf). But we were […]
It’s odd to be writing about an active feed-in tariff (FiT) in 2019. The policy which accelerated Germany into a 7 GW+ market annually and kick-started the global solar market had its heyday nearly a decade ago, with feed-in tariffs being introduced across Europe and Asia. This led to spectacular market growth but also dramatic […]
Earlier this week 18 organizations led filed a 9-page letter with the Federal Energy Regulator Commission (FERC) calling for broad changes to policies to both spur investment in an expanded and modernized bulk power system and to recognize the benefits of transmission in long-term system planning. 2/3 of the organizations in the Grid Advancement Coalition are either […]
On August 6, the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) will hold a vote which could have serious consequences for the largest residential energy storage market in the nation. In specific, CSLB is considering restricting the ability of solar installers who hold a C-46 solar installation license, but not a C-10 electrical license, to install batteries. California Solar and […]
While it has been no secret that the City of Glendale, California has been looking to re-power the aging gas-fired Grayson Power Plant with renewables, details the scope of that project, as well as the carveouts for each specific type of generation proved to be scarce. That all has changed, however, as the city has […]
As first said by Senator William Marcy nearly 200 years ago: “to the victor belong the spoils,” and today the proverb rings true again as Xcel Energy or, more specifically, its subsidiary, Public Service Company of Colorado, claims the spoil of serving the city of Boulder, Colorado unobstructed. This news comes with the passing of […]
When looking at the current version of the Solar Bill of Rights (SB 288) on the website of the California Assembly, one thing is obvious: a lot of red lines through whole sections of the text. The following parts of the legislation have been removed: Explicit protection for PV system owners from discriminatory fees Removal […]
One constant in the solar industry is attempts by utilities to either kill rooftop solar outright or at least claw back revenue from their customers who adopt solar. And from our work in covering this subject, we’ve seen it apply to publicly owned utilities as well as those owned by investors. And while utilities are […]
It’s hardly a secret that California dominates solar deployment. Not only was the state a pioneer in solar policy and put some of the nation’s first large-scale solar plants online starting in the late 1980s, but it has kept relatively steady policy support while other states have gone back and forth on their commitments. This […]