Renewables Dominate Interconnection Queues, Outstrip U.S. Capacity: Berkeley Lab
April 19, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 19, 2022
The total of renewable generation and energy storage seeking to connect to the electric power grid is greater than existing installed capacity on the United States, according to a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
There was a total of 1,400 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in interconnection queues across the country as of year-end 2021, of which 1,300 GW was solar, wind and energy storge capacity, according to the report, Queued Up: Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection. The installed capacity of the United States is 1,200 GW.
Although not all the projects are likely to reach fruition, the total still represents a milestone. “The sheer volume of clean energy capacity in the queues is remarkable,” Joseph Rand, a senior scientific engineering associate at LBNL, said in a statement. “It suggests that a huge transition is underway, with solar and storage taking a lead role.”
Researchers at LBNL compiled and analyzed data from the seven organized electricity markets in the U.S. and additional 35 utilities outside of those regions, which collectively represent over 85% of all U.S. electricity load.
Rand pointed out that the amount of solar, wind, and storage in the queues today is roughly the same amount needed to derive to 80 percent of U.S. electricity from zero-carbon resources by 2030.
The Biden administration has set a goal of creating a carbon dioxide pollution-free power sector by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050 to combat climate change.
“The trends in these interconnection queues suggest that developers are eager to meet this ambition, though they may face some headwinds,” Rand said.
Available historical data shows that only 23 percent of the projects seeking connection from 2000 to 2016 reached commercial operations and completion percentages appear to be declining in recent years and are lower for wind and solar than for other resources, the report’s authors noted. In addition, they said, interconnection wait times are rising.
Available data show that the time required from an initial connection request to a project being operational increased from 2.1 years for projects built in 2000-2010 to 3.7 years for those built in 2011-2021, according to the report. With the dramatically increasing volume of submitted projects, developers and grid operators alike are sounding alarms about backlogs in the queues, the report’s authors said.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has initiated an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to study and address interconnection issues, and new research from the Department of addresses the importance of improved planning and policies for transmission and interconnection to facilitate higher levels of clean energy sources.
Of the capacity now in interconnection queues, solar power represents the largest share, with 676 GW. There is also a substantial amount of wind power in interconnection queues, 247 GW, including 77 GW of offshore wind power capacity. And the amount of energy storage in interconnection queues doubled in one year, hitting 427 GW at year-end 2021, the report said.
The proposed solar power projects are widely distributed across the United States, with 147 GW in the PJM Interconnection, 139 GW in the non-ISO West, and 112 GW in the Midcontinent ISO (MISO), according to the report.
Proposed wind power projects are highest in the non-ISO West at 49 GW, followed by the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) with 43 GW, and the New York ISO with 41 GW, which are main offshore wind projects, the report said.
The data showed that proposed wind capacity has shrunk in some historically dominant wind regions such as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and SPP, but has grown in other areas, particularly those with proposed offshore wind projects such as NYISO, PJM, California and New England.
The capacity of proposed energy storage projects is highest in the California ISO (CAISO) at 136 GW, the non-ISO West at 122 GW, PJM at 54 GW, and ERCOT at 43 GW. Proposals for new natural gas capacity center on the Southeast with 24 GW and PJM with 17 GW, with less than 10 GW in all other regions, according to LBNL.
Company Submits Lease Request For 2,000-MW Washington State Offshore Wind Farm
April 19, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 19, 2022
Trident Winds Inc. has submitted an unsolicited lease request to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) for a commercial lease to pursue the permitting, development, construction, operation, and maintenance of the first floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Washington State.
The Olympic Wind project is planned to be sited 43 miles off the coast of the Olympic Peninsula, taking advantage of an offshore wind resource that will deliver approximately 2,000 megawatts of energy.
With the submission of the request for the Olympic Wind Project, BOEM will conduct an initial review to confirm the applicant meets the agency’s legal, technical, and financial qualifications to hold a lease on the Outer Continental Shelf for commercial offshore wind energy development.
Following confirmation of qualifications, BOEM will issue a public notice of a request for interest to determine if competitive interest exists for the proposed site.
North American Solar And Wind PPA Offer Prices Increased 9.7% In Q1 2022
April 19, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 19, 2022
A rapidly growing imbalance between power purchase agreement (PPA) supply and demand, combined with skyrocketing development costs, has raised North American PPA prices 9.7% during the first quarter of 2022 to nearly $40 per megawatt hour, according to a new report from LevelTen Energy. Year-over-year, this represents a 28.5% increase.
Prices cited represent an average of the 25th percentile of PPA prices of each independent system operator on LevelTen’s Energy Marketplace.
According to LevelTen Energy, North American renewable energy developers are struggling to build solar and wind projects fast enough to keep up with demand because of the extremely difficult development landscape in the first quarter.
This is leading to a shortage of PPAs for corporations and other large energy buyers, which are critical to bringing new clean energy projects online and meeting corporate and federal net zero targets, LevelTen said.
Many developers rely on PPAs with corporations and other large-scale energy buyers in order to secure the financing required to construct new multi-million dollar solar and wind projects, LevelTen noted. “But the cost models used to price PPAs are becoming increasingly unwieldy as regulatory, interconnection, and supply chain challenges make it difficult to pin down costs and construction timelines.”
Supply chain issues have also taken a toll on developers in terms of rising costs and shipment delays. A LevelTen survey of 57 developers this quarter revealed that 40% said they were able to find new suppliers that can more reliably deliver components. However, 28% were unable to make changes to supply chain operations despite wanting to do so.
At the same time, corporations and other large energy buyers aren’t deterred by rising PPA prices, according to LevelTen. “Eager to meet their clean energy targets, energy buyers continue to pursue PPAs, which are delivering higher value as wholesale electricity prices also rise.”
Natural gas prices, which have been driven up in part by the conflict in Ukraine, have also contributed to rising PPA prices. When gas prices increase, the value of locking in renewable energy at a specific price increases, driving more demand to the market, it said.
California’s Peninsula Clean Energy To Buy Energy From Geothermal Facility
April 15, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 15, 2022
Ormat Technologies has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Peninsula Clean Energy, a California community choice aggregator, under which the CCA will purchase 26 megawatts (MW) of energy from Ormat’s Heber 2 geothermal facility located in Imperial Valley, Calif., effective January 1, 2023.
The PPA marks the successful completion of Ormat’s first ever solicitation for bids, with a request for bids (RFB) on the Heber 2 facility issued in July 2021.
The RFB was published immediately after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued its Mid-Term Reliability decision, requiring the procurement of 1,000 MW of weather invariant, zero-emission, 80% capacity generation by all California load serving entities by 2026.
Power from the Heber 2 facility complies with related guidelines, making it the first geothermal PPA to meet the new CPUC requirements, Ormat said on April 14.
The American Public Power Association has initiated a new category of membership for community choice aggregation programs.
Utility In Reading, Mass., Expands Renewable Choice Program To C&I Customers
April 13, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 13, 2022
The Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) in Massachusetts recently expanded its Renewable Choice program to commercial and industrial customers.
RMLD launched the opt-in program in February, making it available to residential customers and allowing them to support additional renewable energy resources above and beyond the public power utility’s annual non-carbon energy targets.
Funds contributed to the Renewable Choice program are used to retire New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) Generation Information System (GIS) compliant renewable certificates, starting with Mass Class 1 certificates.
The certificate retirements under the Renewable Choice program are in addition to RMLD’s compliance retirements of 26 percent in 2022, which increase 3 percent each year so as to reach 100 percent, i.e., net zero by 2050.
Customers in the program, which now includes commercial and industrial customers, can choose to contribute at one of three levels to bring their monthly electricity usage to 50 percent, 75 percent, or 100 percent renewable/non-carbon. RMLD will base the Renewable Choice charge on the participating customer’s monthly kilowatt hour (kWh) usage, which will appear as a line item on the customer’s monthly electric bill.
The expansion of the Renewable Choice program will enable commercial and industrial customers to achieve sustainability goals that are often established in corporate mission statements and supply chain reporting, RMLD said.
Participation in the Renewable Choice program requires a one-year commitment and that a customer is current with their bill.
Additional information about the Renewable Choice program is available at https://www.rmld.com/home/pages/renewable-choice where customers also can find a calculator that allows them to input their monthly kWh usage to calculate their monthly
Renewable Choice charge for any of the three participation levels.
RMLD serves over 70,000 residents in the towns of Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, and Lynnfield Center and has over 30,000 meter connections in its service territory.
SMUD Board Approves 100-MW Geothermal Energy Contract With Calpine
April 12, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 12, 2022
California public power utility SMUD has approved a 100-megawatt (MW) contract with Calpine Corporation for geothermal power from The Geysers. The move marks a major step forward toward the SMUD’s 2030 zero carbon plan.
The 10-year power purchase agreement for 100 MW of energy from Calpine’s operations at The Geysers was approved by the SMUD Board of Directors on March 16. The contract takes effect on January 1, 2023.
Located north of San Francisco, The Geysers is the single largest geothermal electrical operation in the world.
A geothermal resource occurs when water deep below the earth’s surface is heated by exposure to hot, porous and permeable rock resulting in dry steam or hot water.
At The Geysers, dry, superheated steam is produced. Steam production wells about two miles deep are drilled to tap this naturally occurring steam. Once the steam reaches the surface, it is piped overland to a network of interconnected power plants where it spins conventional steam turbines that drive generators.
BOEM To Auction Offshore Leases With 1.3 GW Of Wind Potential On May 11
April 1, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 1, 2022
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed its environmental review and scheduled an auction for May 11 for two wind energy lease areas off the coast of the Carolinas.
The lease areas cover 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area that, if developed, could result in at least 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy, the Department of the Interior said in an announcement.
Developers will be able to bid one or both of the lease areas within the Wilmington East Wind Energy Area (WEA), as described in BOEM’s Final Sale Notice (FSN), which is available in the Federal Register reading room. The two lease areas include similar acreage, distance to shore, and wind resource potential, BOEM said.
Among the stipulations in the Final Sale Notice, BOEM is offering a 20 percent credit to bidders if they commit to invest in programs that would advance U.S. offshore wind energy workforce training or supply chain development.
The leases will also require lessees to identify Tribal Nations, underserved communities, agencies, ocean users and other interested stakeholders, and report on their communication and engagement activities with those parties.
Through a public comment process for the upcoming lease auction that began in November 2021, BOEM reduced the acreage available for leasing by 14 percent from the originally proposed lease areas in order to avoid conflicts with ocean users and minimize environmental impacts. BOEM said it would continue to engage with its partners and stakeholders as the process unfolds.
In October 2021, the administration of President Joe Biden announced a new leasing path forward that identified up to seven potential lease sales by 2025, including the upcoming Carolina Long Bay lease sale and last month’s New York Bight lease sale. Lease sales offshore California and Oregon, as well as in the Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, and the Gulf of Mexico are expected to follow, BOEM said.
In February, an auction of six lease areas totaling over 488,000 acres in the New York Bight for potential wind energy development drew winning bids from six companies totaling about $4.37 billion, making it the highest-grossing competitive offshore energy lease sale in history, including oil and gas lease sales.
The announcement of the Wilmington East Wind Energy Area auction marks “significant progress in achieving this Administration’s goal for deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, while creating jobs and strengthening a sustainable domestic supply chain,” Amanda Lefton, director of BOEM, said in a statement.
Reports Present Framework For Using Storage To Mitigate Solar Interconnections
April 1, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 1, 2022
A pair of reports from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory presents resources to aid developers and utilities with the integration of solar power to the grid by using battery energy storage to mitigate interconnection costs.
The project, Use of Operating Agreements and Energy Storage to Reduce Photovoltaic Interconnection Costs, was done under the auspices of the Solar Energy Innovation Network and comprises two reports, a Technical and Economic Analysis report by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Conceptual Framework report authored by the national laboratory researchers, as well as staff from the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, National Grid, and the Rocky Mountain Institute.
The researchers set out to address the problem that connecting solar photovoltaic systems to the grid can result in time consuming and expensive upgrades. Developers usually either pay the cost of the grid upgrades, which can delay construction and interconnection, or reduce the capacity of the solar system to eliminate the risk of grid violation fees and reduce interconnection costs. A third option, controlling the generation exported to the grid, can be achieved through curtailment or the addition of equipment such as battery storage.
To minimize time from project conception to operation, developers often downsize the size of their solar system in order to maintain proper voltage and power quality requirements on a feeder, the researchers said.
However, because of decreasing land availability and increasing public concern over the visual impact of many small solar power systems, there may be benefit to a shift in strategy, the researchers said. Instead of maximizing the number of solar systems, “there may be future emphasis on maximizing the revenues (and perhaps grid benefit) of each PV system by providing electrons during expensive hours and near large load centers,” they said.
In addition, instead of grid upgrades on an as-needed, project-by-project basis, “focus could shift to using advanced controls and storage technology at the point of interconnection to increase the hosting capacity for distributed resources,” the researchers said.
The two reports examine how controlling exported solar generation at critical hours can be a viable alternative to downsizing a solar project.
The technical report explores the viability and economic feasibility of pairing energy storage to mitigate solar system grid violations. The second report develops an Operating Envelope Agreement that can serve as the conceptual framework for a contractual agreement between a solar system owner and an electric utility on how to operate the paired solar and storage system.
The technical report concluded that an Operating Envelope Agreement that “specifies technical parameters by which a developer can avoid downsizing a proposed PV system and avoid paying expensive infrastructure upgrade costs can be an economically attractive option under select conditions.”
In the second report presents the parameters for developing an Operating Envelope Agreement (OEA). In the future, the researchers said they hope “to produce a follow-on report with real-world examples of OEAs, or interconnection service agreements that include OEA concepts.”
New Product Aims To Brings More Transparency To REC Market In Midwest
April 1, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 1, 2022
Australian software firm Powerledger is introducing a new product to the Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System (M-RETS) that aims to provide greater transparency and granularity to the renewable energy credit (REC) market.
By using blockchain technology, the new software, TraceX, will allow companies with renewable energy targets to have greater speed and visibility over the RECs that are bought and sold, Powerledger said.
Decisions on which unbundled RECs to purchase are often based on price and vintage (the year the REC was issued), Fiona Tiller, Powerledger’s TraceX product owner, said in a statement.
“Powerledger’s TraceX marketplace provides provenance transparency, so customers can pick and choose exactly what they want and get alignment with their corporate goals,” Tiller said. “For example, customers can buy by project, fuel source, voluntary or compliance eligibilities or at the most basic level, vintage and price.”
Those and other attributes “are becoming increasingly important as companies look behind the REC at the energy they represent,” Tiller said.
In February 2020, Powerledger announced its plans to add the ability to buy and sell RECs to the M-RETS platform that previously had only been a Web-based platform for tracking RECs.
Powerledger says its blockchain-enabled digital platform can match buy and sell orders using TraceX. The platform also provides an immutable and verifiable audit trail for the transfer of REC ownership and allows financial settlement to occur seamlessly within the platform, which connects to users’ business bank accounts and their REC registry account with M-RETS.
M-RETS, the largest REC registry in North America, is used by power generators, utilities, marketers, and qualified reporting entities across the United States.
“M-RETS is excited to be working with Powerledger to pioneer a more data-driven approach to renewable energy certificates,” Ben Gerber, M-RETS CEO, said in a statement.
“Organizations can now make a much deeper impact on the environment, community or grid beyond decarbonization alone,” Tiller said.
Department Of Commerce To Commence Investigation Into Solar Imports
March 29, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
March 29, 2022
The U.S. Department of Commerce last week said it would begin an investigation into whether certain photovoltaic solar cells and modules imported from Southeast Asia are circumventing U.S. tariffs.
The March 25 announcement, by James Maeder, deputy assistant secretary for antidumping and countervailing duty operations, was quickly met by criticism and objections, in particular from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), which said the effect of the tariffs, which could be as high as 250 percent, could “have a devastating impact on the U.S. solar market at a time when solar prices are climbing, and project delays and cancellations are adding up.”
The Department of Commerce memo recommends whether imports of solar cells and/or modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are circumventing the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from the People’s Republic of China.
Tariffs on imported Chinese solar power components were originally put in place during the Trump administration in response to American solar manufacturers claims that China was harming their business by flooding the market with inexpensive components.
President Joe Biden in February extended the tariff for another four years.
The Department of Commerce’s investigation is being launched in response to a complaint filed by Auxin Solar, a photovoltaic solar manufacturer based in California’s Silicon Valley.
In November, the department rejected a similar request by a group of anonymous petitioners called the Solar Manufacturers Against Chinese Circumvention because the anonymity of the petitioners could hamper a full inquiry into the matter.
In its petition, Auxin Solar claims that the solar cells imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are identical to those from China that are subject to tariffs. Auxin also provided the names and addresses of the producers allegedly circumventing the tariffs.
Further, Auxin said, certain solar cell and module processors in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam obtained needed materials, such as silicon wafers, silver paste, silane, solar glass, aluminum frames, junction boxes, ethylene vinyl acetate, and backsheets, from China “either from, or with the assistance of, their Chinese parent solar conglomerates”
In its filing with the Department of Commerce, Auxin also submitted a BloombergNEF report stating that 70 percent of the actual value of the solar equipment imported into the United States from Southeast Asia accrues to China where key, pre-assembly steps take place.
Auxin’s filing also noted that China had invested $643 million to $2.1 billion in polysilicon enrichment facilities while “Chinese solar conglomerates’ investments in solar cell and/or module facilities in the third countries ranged from as little as $7.7 million to a maximum of $160 million.”
In its response to Commerce’s announcement, SEIA said the decision “responds to the self-interests of one company and will lead to more market volatility and job losses. Additional tariffs will cause the loss of 70,000 American jobs, including 11,000 manufacturing jobs.”
SEIA cited a Wood Mackenzie report that argued that higher tariffs on solar components could cause solar deployment to crater by 16 gigawatts annually.