AES has made a major investment in 5B Solar, an Australian company that makes Maverick, a portable solar farm that cost less than traditional ground mount solar and can produce twice as much electricity per area of measure.
New South Wales has begun implementing a plan to add 17.7 GW of renewable energy, while a new joint venture between Siemens and AES propses to 250 MW battery storage installations in NSW and Victoria.
I recently highlighted a couple of big solar + storage projects that were given the go-ahead in Hawaii. Then I found out that these are two of 16 solar and energy storage projects just approved for development in the state.
Arizona is stepping up its energy storage game with a new contract for battery supplier AES to install 100 megawatts of stationary storage for the utility Arizona Public Service.
Hawaiian Electric Companies submitted contracts earlier this month for seven grid-scale solar-plus-storage projects to be built on three of the state’s islands which will add approximately 262 megawatts (MW) worth of new solar capacity and 1,048 MW-hours worth of energy storage.
Hawaiian electric utilities have been forcefully de-linking residential rooftop solar generators at peak hours for several years, but the installation-discouraging practice may fade as refocused utility-scale solar+storage contracts come into effect. Beyond Hawaii, these new contract types, which shift curtailment risk away from the solar owner, also may help California avoid an increase in the curtailment of solar flowing onto its grid.
AES Energy Storage and Siemens have joined forces to create a new energy storage company called Fluence Energy, which we mentioned recently in a story about the breakthrough prices of renewable energy + storage projects. Fluence CEO John Zahurancik has since answered some questions for CleanTechnica about the new company and one of its major new energy storage projects.
In a new report from Xcel Energy, the company reported unprecedented low bids for wind and solar with storage. Last year, Xcel announced it would close 660 MW worth of coal-fired power capacity at Comanche Generating Station. Xcel subsidiary Public Service Company issue a request for proposals for wind, solar, natural gas, and storage.
Renewables are disrupting the utility industry in Missouri, where one utility say it will invest $1.8 billion in renewable energy in the next few years and another says it will shutter an existing coal fired generating plant 10 years earlier than planned.
Puerto Rico, as most of us know, was hit by two hurricanes in as many weeks. Irma and Maria made a mess of the island, and it will take months to get things back to normal. When the island does get its electric system back to normal, however, it will not be as things were. It will be new, and hopefully better.
