Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will install 34 new bus chargers, solar panels and a microgrid at its Cerone Bus Yard to provide zero-emissions transporation. January 27, 2022 Anne FischerThe California Air Resources Board’s requirement for public transit agencies to transition to 100% zero-emission fleets by 2040 is moving the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) to install a solar-powered microgrid to power its fleet. The VTA received a grant for the project from the California Energy Commission.In conjunction with Proterra and Scale Microgrid Solutions, VTA will deploy approximately 1.5MW of rooftop solar on a solar canopy at the Cerone bus yard. VTA’s current electric bus fleet consists of 40 Proterra buses, with five more on the way. Upon completion, the new charging infrastructure will be able to fully charge a bus in as little as four hours.Proterra is a developer and producer of commercial electric vehicle technology, and, in addition to providing the electric buses, the company is installing the charging system. Scale Microgrid Solutions is the integrator of the EV infrastructure with onsite solar, 4MWh battery storage system, and a backup system that can provide power for up to 20 hours. The system will be connected to the grid, but can also enter island mode in the event of a grid outage. For extended outages, VTA has the option to easily connect a temporary generator to provide additional backup power for fleet operations. The microgrid and charging infrastructure will be linked together by a switchgear and controls package designed by Schneider Electric.The solar PV and battery energy storage system will give VTA operational flexibility as to when to purchase the utility power needed to charge its vehicle fleet. “California’s electric grid needs distributed energy resources in order to support fully electrifying its transportation sector,” says Tim Victor of Scale Microgrid Solutions.“This project combines several VTA goals.  It shifts us toward greener sources of energy, saves VTA money that can be reallocated to other operating needs and provides the infrastructure to charge our next batch of zero-emission buses.  Our riders will benefit from a newer, quieter fleet and we will decrease our contribution toward climate change and poor air quality,” said Adam Burger, Senior Transportation Planner with VTA.The microgrid and charging infrastructure will be linked together by a switchgear and controls package designed by Schneider Electric.The VTA also partnered with Lehigh University, whose Institute for Cyber Physical Infrastructure and Energy has been working in the “smart grid” space for nearly a decade. The system is expected to be operational in 2023.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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Semper Solaris will install Enphase’s IQ microinverters and batteries. The microinverters have the ability to island the home off-grid in the case of a power outage. January 27, 2022 Ryan KennedyEnphase Energy announced it reached a partnership with installer Semper Solaris in which its IQ microinverters and home batteries will be deployed throughout the state of California.Enphase started shipping the IQ8 microinverters in December. IQ8 gained attention for their ability to form a microgrid during a power outage. The devices limit energy capture to just what the home is consuming, so if the grid goes out, the IQ8 automatically switches between on or off-grid.(Read: “Enphase going Einstein with IQ8 solar power inverters”)The Enphase Energy System with IQ8 comes in four different configurations: “Solar Only”; “Sunlight Backup” with no battery and the addition of IQ Load Controller to only support essential loads during an outage; “Home Essentials Backup” with a small battery; and “Full Energy Independence” with a large battery. While the first configuration is a standard grid-tied system, the remaining configurations are grid-agnostic systems that need the Enphase IQ System Controller 2 (formerly called Enpower smart switch) to island the home during an outage.The IQ8 family includes five types of software-defined microinverters, IQ8, IQ8+, IQ8M, IQ8A, and IQ8H, with peak output AC power of 245VA, 300VA, 330VA, 366VA, and 384VA, respectively. Enphase reports that the IQ8H microinverter is its most powerful microinverter to date and has a California Energy Commission (CEC) efficiency of 97%. The multiple types of IQ8 enable seamless pairing with a full range of solar modules, up to 540W DC.“We began piloting the product in the third quarter of 2021 with select installers and the feedback has been great. Homeowners not only get backup power with sunlight, but also have the flexibility to add more solar or batteries in the future as their needs change,” said Badri Kothandaraman, president and CEO of Enphase Energy.Semper Solaris plans to use Enphase’s proposal and permitting services. Enphase said it plans to build on the partnership and create a fully integrated digital platform, integrating additional services like operation and maintenance.“We have seen an incredible surge in demand from our customers for backup power and expect this trend to continue to increase as the push for electrification grows,” said John Almond, CEO of Semper Solaris. “There will be significant strain on our aging energy infrastructure, forcing us to rethink the way we generate and deliver energy to California households.”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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Voluntary CECs are certificates that each represent 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of clean electricity that has been generated from a non-emitting source. Businesses will be able to to voluntarily purchase and retire these CECs to meet their corporate sustainability goals. January 27, 2022 Anne FischerThe Ontario government is developing a voluntary clean energy credit (CEC) registry, announced Todd Smith, minister of energy.Voluntary CECs are certificates that each represent 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of clean electricity that has been generated from a non-emitting source, such as solar, wind, bioenergy, hydroelectric, and nuclear power. Businesses will be able to to voluntarily purchase and retire these CECs to meet their corporate sustainability goals and demonstrate that their electricity has been sourced from a non-emitting resource. A CEC registry could return funds raised through the purchase of CECs to Ontario ratepayers and could support future clean energy generation in the province.“A CEC registry could enable more Ontario consumers to choose wind and solar energy to power their operations and help companies meet their ESG targets,” said Nicholas Gall, CanREA’s director, Ontario and Distributed Energy Resources.CanREA has a net-zero target to be achieved by 2050, and reports that at the end of 2021, at the end of 2020 had approximately 2,399MW of major solar energy capacity and ranked 22nd in the world for installed solar energy capacity. In 2021 Canada saw 288MW of new utility-scale solar energy commissioned, and CanREA projects that 2022 and 2023 will see significantly more growth in the deployment of wind and solar energy.The Ontario government has directed the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) to research and report back on the design of a provincial CEC registry, that would give businesses more choice in how they achieve their corporate sustainability goals.The IESO will deliver its report by July 4, 2022, and the government intends to have the registry available by January 2023.“A voluntary clean energy credit market could be a key tool to help Ontario electricity customers realize their clean energy preferences,” says Lesley Gallinger, President and CEO of the IESO.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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The two projects will add over 70MW of capacity to the company’s North Carolina solar portfolio. January 27, 2022 Tim SylviaDuke Energy announced it achieved the commercial operation of two of the utility’s solar projects,  adding just over 70MW to the company’s ever-growing utility-scale project portfolio.The projects in question are the 50MW Broad River Solar power plant in Cleveland County, North Carolina, west of Charlotte, and the 22.6-MW Speedway Solar power plant in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, just northeast of Charlotte.Construction of the Broad River project began last March, with Swinerton physically constructing the facility. Located on roughly 500 acres, the project is comprised of more than 170,000 solar panels and created more than 100 jobs during peak construction.In constructing the project, Duke also awarded a $5,000 grant to the Cleveland County Schools Educational Foundation and Crest High School to add a renewable energy and green construction skills module into the school’s workforce development curriculum.Construction on Speedway Solar also began in spring 2021, with efforts officially beginning in May. The project’s 185 acre site is home to 77,000 Jinko bifacial modules mounted on single-axis trackers. During peak construction, the project created roughly 70 jobs, and Duke awarded a $5,000 grant to the Cabarrus County Education Foundation to increase internet connectivity for students in Midland and Mt. Pleasant, N.C., much like the company did with the Broad River project.In total, Duke has constructed or acquired more than 4,100 MW of solar power via roughly 40 solar installations across North Carolina.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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The Kansas Geological Survey may help address the challenge of intermittent production from solar and other renewable sources. January 27, 2022 Anne FischerWorking with Evergy, a utility serving customers in Kansas and Missouri, the Kansas Geological Survey is studying the possibility of storing excess energy generated by coal-fired power plants in underground salt caverns for future use.“Excess electricity can be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gas,” said Franek Hasiuk, KGS geologist and principal investigator for the project. “The hydrogen can then be stored in salt caverns for later use, either by burning it with natural gas in the power plant, adding it into pipeline natural gas for burning in home furnaces and stoves, supplying it to another business for use in chemical processes like fertilizer production, or using it to power vehicles.”Map of Kansas showing thickness of the Hutchinson salt bed, power plants (red circles), wind farms (blue diamonds) and refineries (yellow triangles).Image: Kansas Geological SurveyAs electrical grid operators increasingly buy power first from wind, solar and nuclear operations and turn to natural gas and coal plants only when needed, there’s a growing need for storage of  energy for future use.“Hydrogen storage could allow Evergy to store large amounts of energy to deal with the problem of intermittent power production from renewables – no solar when it’s night, no wind power when it’s not windy,” Hasiuk said.Extensive salt beds lie under the surface in Kansas. The Hutchinson Salt Member, deposited during the Permian Period, covers about 37,000 square miles in the subsurface in central and south-central Kansas and reaches a maximum thickness of more than 500 feet. Thick salt layers also occur in western and southwestern Kansas.Salt has been mined in Kansas since the late 1800s. Caverns in the salt beds are used for storing natural gas, natural gas liquids and other hydrocarbons.The study, supported by a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, will study the economic risks and benefits of storing hydrogen in these underground salt caverns.“Right now, it’s unclear whether undertaking a project like this is feasible for energy companies,” Hasiuk said. “Our study will help reduce the uncertainties related to hydrogen storage. At the end of the study, we may find out the costs of underground storage are as risky as or more risky than thought, but we should certainly be more confident about just how risky it is.”If the one-year project successfully demonstrates the viability of hydrogen storage, the partners will move to a second phase consisting of more advanced engineering and design of a storage system.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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