Sunrise brief: Big solar headed for big Texas oil operation

Also on the rise: Three solar installations in Louisiana–one is a Tesla residential. Greenbacker solar project will meet 30% of Middlebury College’s electicity needs. Puerto Rico legislator calls on US Congress to oppose proposed fee on rooftop solar. T-Mobile one step closer to 100% renewable.

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Louisiana’s first Tesla Solar Roof installed

Solar Alternatives announced the installation of a 17kW Tesla Solar Roof system with two Powerwall batteries, a first for the state. Interest in distributed solar and battery energy storage are being onset by climate-driven extreme weather. January 28, 2022 Ryan KennedyThe first Tesla Solar Roof installed in Louisiana is complete, announced installer Solar Alternatives. The product exchanges a traditional solar module configuration for buildings-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), devices that blend their visual aesthetics with existing structures.The project is expected to save the McRae family nearly $70,000 in energy costs and offset 350 tons of emissions over its 30-year warrantied lifetime. The roof is comprised of 291 Tesla SR60T1 solar modules with a total capacity of 17.46kW, and two Tesla PowerWall home batteries are attached. Aerial imagery and 3D modeling is used to fit the designs to the roof’s layout. Image: Solar Alternatives The system can be controlled with remote mobile monitoring. The Tesla Solar Inverter, which comes in 3.8 kW and 7.6 kW designs, hosts built-in Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and cellular connectivity for updates through the Tesla app.Gulf Coast region-serving Solar Alternatives is an engineering, consultation, and construction services firm with commercial, industrial, utility, and residential clients.The McRae family’s solar journey began with a 3.5kW system with Solar Alternatives to meet the demand for their electric vehicle. Now, the system is expected to supply enough power for their entire home, while also exporting excess energy to the grid during times of high energy demand for net metering credits.An effort for energy independenceThe PowerWall batteries provide backup power in the case of a grid outage. Late last summer, Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana, knocking out power for up to 1.2 million electricity customers. Investor-owned utility Entergy estimates the hurricane damaged 30,000 utility poles, nearly double that of Hurricane Katrina (17,000). As more climate-onset extreme weather is expected for the region, many families are looking to incorporate home energy storage for resilience.In his recent popular book about grid modernization, Freeing Energy, venture capitalist Bill Nussey said he sees billion-dollar opportunities for distributed solar and energy storage innovators. Nussey’s vision of an evolved grid features projects like the McRae family’s solar array, which feature local energy production and storage.Nussey said an aging grid and lower-cost alternatives to large scale transmission would make “local energy” the best way to provide most residential and commercial energy for the 70% of Americans who live in suburbs and rural areas. Nussey outlines 18 benefits localized solar provides, including grid benefits, reliability and resiliency, and ratepayer energy bill savings. Another benefit is a reduction of 1400 to 2100 pounds of carbon dioxide per month for a typical home’s rooftop solar system. If coal power is displaced, that rooftop system also prevents the creation of 185 pounds of coal ash per month, said Nussey.This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

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Big solar headed for big Texas oil operation

A 270MW project built by Black & Veatch is planned to help power Buckeye Partners’ operations. The Texas company has approximately 6,000 miles of petroleum pipeline. January 28, 2022 Ryan KennedyBlack & Veatch announced it was selected as engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm for the 270MW Parker solar project in central Texas. Houston’s own Buckeye Partners, which stores, pipes, and ships crude oil and petroleum products commissioned the project.The 500,000-panel project is planned to be located on two neighboring sites near Waco, Texas. Construction is expected to be completed early next year. Buckeye announced its initial investment in the project last August.“Our strategy is squarely focused on energy diversity and lower-carbon solutions,” said Buckeye executive Todd J. Russo. “Project Parker will further expand Buckeye’s growing renewable portfolio.”Black & Veatch has a long history with solar, developing and implementing both land-based and floating PV since 1973. The EPC firm is 100% owned by its employees, and 2020 revenues exceeded $3 billion.Buckeye Partners has been increasing its stake in renewable energy as it furthers its environmental, social, and governance plan. In a 2020 year’s end report the petroleum piper said it was actively developing eight solar projects with a total capacity of 570MW in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and the Bahamas.Grid modernizationBlack & Veatch also recently released a new eBook, Grid Modernization 2022: Reliability and Resilience. The book offers a practical guide to grid modernization. Black & Veatch said that in 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy recorded 383 power outages, more than double the total from three years earlier. Not only do the outages cause human suffering, said B&V, but they also cost the US economy between $28 billion and $169 billion annually.“Megatrends like digitization and decarbonization coupled with the increasing impacts of climate change and cybersecurity risks means that the industry’s core product of providing always-on, dependable electricity services is under serious threat,” said Kevin Ludwig, Grid Solutions Leader, Black & Veatch. “The good news is that our grids can be engineered to handle a wide range of severe conditions and threats as long as grid operators can assess, plan for, and reliably predict the risks.”The US Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in November, sets aside $550 billion in spending to rebuild roads and bridges, water infrastructure, resilience, internet, and more, and grid modernization is set to be a key feature of the Act.This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

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Puerto Rico legislator calls on US Congress to prevent an “illegal tax” on Puerto Rico solar

Puerto Rico legislator Héctor Ferrer called on Congress to use its oversight authority over Puerto Rico’s fiscal oversight board to oppose a proposed fee on rooftop solar power. January 28, 2022 William DriscollPuerto Rico legislator Héctor Ferrer has called on the US Congress to prevent an “illegal tax on private rooftop solar generation” in Puerto Rico.Ferrer said a proposed per-kWh charge on rooftop solar generation would violate not only Puerto Rico law, but also federal clean energy policies, and possibly the Constitution as well, in a January 24 letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.Ferrer noted that the Puerto Rico House and Senate passed a joint resolution last November expressing “the wholehearted rejection” of a proposed Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) that includes the solar tax.The RSA is a proposal to settle with the owners of $9 billion in face value of bonds issued by the Puerto Rico utility PREPA. The RSA would add a “transition charge” on PREPA customers’ bills of at least 2.8¢/kWh, rising through 2044 to 4.6¢/kWh, “gravely impacting” all electricity consumers, Ferrer said.Ferrer highlighted the RSA’s provision that consumers who produce any of their own electricity from a new PV system would be required to pay the new charge not only on power purchased from the grid, but also on their own self-generated power. PV systems that were installed by September 2020 would be exempted, but could lose the exemption under certain conditions.The RSA’s “solar tax-centric approach is illegal,” said Ferrer, quoting Section 3.4 of the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act (Act 17-2019): “no direct or indirect charge shall be imposed on the generation of renewable energy by consumers.” Ferrer said the proposed RSA also “intrudes upon” the exclusive rate setting jurisdiction of Puerto Rico’s independent energy sector regulator, the Energy Bureau.The Constitutionality of such solar charges “is also questionable,” Ferrer said, as the RSA would “seek to federally impose a new tax on energy generated by privately owned solar power systems within private property.”Ferrer said the Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) announced that it will file the RSA proposal by March 2022 for review by US District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who was appointed under the federal PROMESA law to oversee Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy proceedings. The FOMB was also created by PROMESA.Earlier this month, Judge Swain certified a settlement plan that reduced the Puerto Rican government’s debt from $22 billion of bonds down to $7.4 billion, according to Bloomberg News.In testimony for the Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico (SESA-PR) at a Puerto Rico Senate Committee hearing this month, SESA-PR Chief Policy Officer Javier Rúa-Jovet said that the “illegal charges” proposed in the RSA “would seriously impact the people of Puerto Rico, particularly those PREPA customers who seek to self-generate all or part of their energy through solar.”In his letter, Ferrer called on Congress to use its oversight authority over the FOMB, its board members and its executive direction “to ensure that PREPA debt restructuring is aligned with federal, as well as Commonwealth energy policies.”“As we’ve experienced during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria,” Ferrer said, “access to resilient energy is a matter of life or death for the Puerto Rican people.”Three days after Ferrer’s letter, on January 27, a reporter asked FOMB’s Executive Director Natalie Jaresko at an FOMB public board meeting about the Puero Rico legislature “passing PREPA’s restructuring bill.” SESA-PR President PJ Wilson later explained in an interview that the reporter was referring to enabling legislation that would repeal Law 17-2019’s prohibition against solar taxes, and make other legislative changes needed for the proposed RSA to move forward. In response to the reporter’s question, Jaresko said, “we look forward to getting that legislative answer in this first half of this calendar year.”SESA-PR has been advocating against the “solar tax” proposal since 2019, when it partnered with the national solar association SEIA to jointly file a “friend of the court” brief making several legal arguments against the proposal.This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

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Global Infrastructure Partners invest $500 million in renewable power producer BrightNight LLC

Solas Energy Consulting acted as key technical advisor to GIP. The investment includes preferred equity and a letter of credit facility. January 27, 2022 Ryan KennedySolas Energy Consulting announced it served as key technical advisor to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for a $500 million investment in BrightNight, LLC. BrightNight is an independent power producer of renewable energy, with operations in the United States, India, Bangladesh, and South-East Asia. GIP’s investment included preferred equity and a letter of credit facility. Solas evaluated BrightNight’s hybridized development portfolio which includes solar PV and storage. Solas said it provided due diligence on all aspects of project development, including land/topography, siting, environmental, permitting, resource analysis, interconnection, and project economic modeling. GIP’s investment is expected to enable BrightNight, as an independent power producer, to offer a complete service from development through operations. Global Infrastructure Partners is a specialist infrastructure investor with approximately $77 billion under management. It owns 46 portfolio companies with combined annual revenues of $40 billion and more than 63,000 employees. The company recently announced the election of Bob Callahan, Lucy Chadwick, and Andrew Paulson as partners of the firm. BrightNight has a track record of executing significant utility-scale solar and energy storage projects. It participated in the development of the Eagle Shadow Mountain Solar Farm, a 400MW facility with utility NV Energy as offtaker. At the time, the project was the largest ever built on tribal land and achieved the lowest LCOE in the country at $0.023/kWh. The project was built alongside a retiring coal plant. The company also brought the Mount Signal Solar Farm in California to commercial operation, an 800MW cluster of three facilities that generate enough power for over 1 million people during the daytime.This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

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Industry heavyweights look to solid-state battery cells, resources, and recycling

Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with ProLogium to integrate solid-state battery technology into a range of vehicles; Panasonic and Toyota launched an industrial-academic collaborative research program concerned with battery resources and recycling; and LG Energy Solution plans to spend $2.1 billion with GM to build another EV battery plant in the US. January 27, 2022 Marija MaischIn light of its ambition to go all electric by 2030, German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz continues to expand its network of tech partners, this time through a collaboration with Taiwanese solid-state battery specialist ProLogium.The first Mercedes-Benz test vehicles equipped with solid-state batteries co-developed with ProLogium are expected to be introduced in the coming years. The companies have agreed on milestones to enable the integration of solid-state battery technology into a range of passenger vehicles in the second half of this decade.“We believe that range and efficiency are the new industry benchmarks for electric cars,” said Daimler head of development Markus Schäfer. “Solid state technology helps to cut down battery size and weight. This is why we are partnering with companies like ProLogium to ensure that Mercedes-Benz continues to break new ground in the automotive sector for the benefit of our customers.”Under the agreement, Mercedes will take a seat on the ProLogium board. The high double-digit million euro investment by the carmaker will be used to support the development of the technology and ProLogium’s plan of establishing production capacity in Europe. The Taiwanese battery maker focuses on the development of next-generation batteries including solid-state devices with silicon and lithium metal anodes and bipolar technology.“We have been working with Mercedes-Benz on the testing of our EV [electric vehicle] battery cells since 2016 and are excited to strengthen and expand our partnership,” said ProLogium CEO and founder Vincent Yang. “At ProLogium, we believe that innovative technology must be backed by the scalability of production. We look forward to ramping up our new plant by the end of 2022 and working with our customers toward successful mass production.”Thus far, the development of solid-state batteries has been primarily driven by automotive companies. Mercedes has partnered with Canadian battery material specialist Hydro-Québec to integrate the technology into field applications and cut development cycle times and other legacy automakers have invested heavily in solid-state devices, including Toyota and Volkswagen.Offering potentially higher energy density, more cycles at a reduced rate of degradation, and less weight, solid-state battery cells are described as one of the key levers for determining the cost, scalability, and energy density of EV batteries. A solid-state electrolyte offers the option of using materials with high storage capacity, high-ionic conductivity, and better chemical stability; replacing the flammable electrolytes used in conventional lithium-ion batteries.The innovative materials and design of solid-state batteries could almost double the range of today’s conventional li-ion battery cells and could be far cheaper as they do not require cobalt. However, the technology remains relatively unproven, with auto manufacturers hoping their battery partners will give them an edge and help bring forward commercial production.Closing the loopElsewhere, Toyota and Panasonic have started research with the University of Tokyo into battery resources and recycling. In addition to closing the loop and realizing carbon neutrality, the aim of the project is to reduce production costs in the battery supply chain.Four project partners: the Institute of Industrial Science at The University of Tokyo; the Prime Planet Energy & Solutions Inc joint venture set up by Toyota and Pansonic; Panasonic’s Energy Company unit; and Toyota trading arm the Toyota Tsusho Corporation, will look at two aspects of the battery economy. They will focus on the development of new processes in an integrated manner, ranging from the development of nickel, lithium, and cobalt metal resources to refining them during the development and manufacture of battery materials. The research will also consider the development of new processes for the recycling of battery waste and used batteries.With the aim of further improving the recycling rate of batteries, the research project will promote the development of technology for the efficient and waste-free recycling of leftover materials from battery manufacturing and used devices. Combining the knowhow of the partners – manufacturing experience; commercial collection, processing and recycling of materials; and university research into rare metal refining technology – the project aims to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and recycling costs, which are currently a big issue.“We will not only supply battery materials but also contribute to the reduction of environmental impact and the formation of a recycling-oriented society by promoting recycling, making use of our knowledge in the recycling-oriented venous business,” said Masaharu Katayama, chief operating officer for Toyota’s Metals Business Unit.New fabFollowing its historic listing on the Korean Stock Exchange, LG Energy Solution unveiled its expansion plans yesterday, with a commitment to construct a $2.1 billion battery manufacturing plant in the US with General Motors. The facility will begin mass production in early 2025 and will produce 50GWh of EV batteries annually once fully operational.The factory will be located in Lansing, Michigan and will produce batteries under the Ultium brand developed by a joint venture between General Motors and LG Chem. Ultium devices are said to be unique because their large-format, pouch-style cells can be stacked vertically or horizontally inside a battery pack, enabling engineers to optimize energy storage and layout for each vehicle design.LG and General Motors are building two other battery cell manufacturing sites – one in Ohio and another in Tennessee – both of which will be capable of producing 35GWh of battery cells. “With a shared vision, GM and LG Energy Solution pioneered the EV sector by seizing new opportunities in the market well before anyone else did,” LG Energy Solution chief executive Young-Soo Kwon said. “Our third battery manufacturing plant, fittingly located in America’s automotive heartland, will serve as a gateway to charge thousands, and later, millions of EVs in the future.”LG Energy Solution shares were sold at an IPO price of KRW300,000 ($250) this month in Asia’s second largest float, behind only the $12.9 billion initial public offering for the Alibaba Group in 2019. On its trading debut today, LG Solution’s shares surged 68%, solidifying the battery maker’s rank as South Korea’s second-most valued company.This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

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