North America

174 Power Global bags funding for utility-scale solar in Texas
174 Power Global has wrapped up construction financing for the US$210 million, 150MW first phase of its solar farm in Ector County, northwest Texas, clinching funding from a group of global banks.
Sep 12, 2019 // Markets & Finance News, USA, Texas, PV plants, North America, 174 power global, credit agricole corporate and investment bank, korea development bank, Q CELL modules
Innolia Energy to invest $31m in solar module and EV product manufacturing in Hyderabad
The U.S. company claims its 300 MW manufacturing plant in Hyderabad will deliver fully integrated, customizable solar panel, lithium battery pack and controller systems under a single roof.
Sep 11, 2019 // Manufacturing News, USA, solar panel, North America, Hyderabad, lithium battery pack, controller systems, Innolia Energy
Major solar projects change hands in Colorado, California
The US renewables business of Japanese oil and gas major Idemitsu Kosan has bought a 100MW solar project in Colorado from GCL New Energy, a subsidiary of China's GCL New Energy Holdings.
Sep 11, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Inverters, Grids, California, USA, Colorado, North America, GCL New Energy, acquisitions,, project acquisitions, 8minute, allianz global investors, solar frontier americas, Charles Pimentel, 8minute Solar Energy
Can solar power shake up the energy market?
The classical Greek philosopher Socrates believed the ideal house should be warm in winter and cool in summer. With clarity of thought like that, it's easy to see how the great man got his reputation.
Sep 11, 2019 // Solar, USA, BATTERIES, China, Asia, North America, Socrates, Golden Thread, Edmond Becquerel, Charles Fritts, Albert Einstein, Vanguard 1, silicon PV cells
Bipartisan bill looks to simplify distributed solar permitting in US
A Republican senator from Maine and a Democratic senator from New Mexico have introduced legislation that aims to slash costs and red tape currently complicating local permitting for distributed renewable energy, energy storage and electric vehicle (EV) charging systems.
Sep 10, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Residential, Markets & Finance News, Storage, Grids, Rooftop PV, USA, storage, North America, rooftop solar system, distributed solar, investment tax credit, Ross Hopper, Maine
Esdec claims dominant US solar mounting position with double buy
Dutch rooftop solar mounting provider Esdec has acquired US mounting specialists IronRidge and Quick Mount PV, claiming the double acquisition gives it a dominant share of the US residential mounting market.
Sep 10, 2019 // Markets & Finance News, USA, Quick Mount PV, Yann Brandt, North America, mounting, esdec, ironridge
Senators introduce bipartisan supplemental legislation for SolarAPP
United States Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the American Energy Opportunity Act, which will provide voluntary assistance and tools for local governments to simplify, standardize and automate clean energy permitting for residents and businesses while enhancing safety.
Sep 9, 2019 // Solar, USA, SEIA, Sunrun, North America, Abigail Ross Hopper, Martin Heinrich, Lynn Jurich
RPCS partners with Nurturing Minds to bring e-readers to solar-powered girls’ school in Tanzania
RP Construction Services (RPCS) announced earlier this week the launch of a campaign to bring e-readers to the Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement (SEGA) school in Morogoro, Tanzania, with the help of Nurturing Minds, a U.S.-based non-profit organization.
Sep 9, 2019 // Solar, USA, Africa, North America, RPCS, SEGA, Morogoro, Tanzania, Nurturing Minds, Laura DeDominicis
California passes law that prevents cities from taxing energy generated by solar rooftop projects
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law last week financial protections for consumer investments in rooftop solar energy. The law, AB 1208 authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), extends a prohibition on cities and counties taxing the energy generated by rooftop solar panels for use by homeowners and businesses.
Sep 9, 2019 // Rooftop PV, California, USA, rooftop, North America, rooftop solar, Gavin Newsom, Bernadette Del Chiaro, Assemblymember Ting, Dave Rosenfeld, Solar Rights Alliance
Report finds consumers could save $29 billion if clean energy replaced proposed natural gas plants
The economics guiding U.S. investments in electricity generation have reached a historic tipping point: combinations of solar, wind, storage, efficiency and demand response are now less expensive than most proposed gas power plant projects. According to a new report by Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), portfolios of these clean energy resources can provide the same energy and reliability services as traditional gas power plants — but cost less.
Sep 9, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, USA, North America, Mark Dyson
Lightsource BP breaks ground on 70MW Pennsylvania trio
Lightsource BP has started construction of a 70MW trio of Pennsylvanian solar projects that will provide power to Penn State University.
Sep 9, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, USA, pv power plants, utility-scale PV, Lightsource BP, Pennsylvania, North America, penn state university
STI Norland expects 1.2GW of contracted mounting systems orders in 2019
Mounting systems specialist STI Norland said it had surpassed 3GW of cumulative installations with 1.2GW of contracted mounting systems orders expected in 2019.
Sep 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Japan, Spain, France, India, pv power plants, Europe, Asia, Mexico, North America, sti norland, pv trackers, pv mounting systems
High power prices, falling PV costs and new regulations behind Brazil’s solar carnival
The nation’s thriving distributed generation market is flying, as was evident at last week’s Intersolar South America trade show. The sector seems unconcerned by mooted changes to net metering incentives in the new year and when even an environmental non-believer like President Bolsonaro is on side, it is difficult to be pessimistic.
Sep 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Inverters, Solar, USA, Sungrow, Canadian Solar, China, South america, Latin america, Europe, Brazil, Asia, Fronius, Greener, North America, Intersolar South America, Solar Promotion, Florian Wessendorf, utility scale solar, Marcelo Sousa, Ada Li, Thais Zampieri Bitancourt, Julian Rau, Trina, Álvaro García Maltrás, Apollo Chai, Rodolfo Meyer, Portal Solar, Marcio Takata, Lucas Troia
Urban Grid lands US$100m funding to help support 5GW PV pipeline
US PV developer Urban Grid has closed a senior secured term loan facility for up to US$100 million with New York-based private credit manager and asset-based lender Crayhill Capital Management LP.
Sep 5, 2019 // Markets & Finance News, USA, North America, crayhill, urban grid, funding
Ameren puts forward plans for 30MW of solar-plus-storage in rural Missouri
Utility Ameren Missouri is planning three grid-scale solar facilities with energy storage, marking what is claimed will be the first ever instance of an energy company in the US Mid-West state powering its customers’ homes with batteries.
Sep 5, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Storage, USA, pv power plants, solar pv, solar-plus-storage, BESS, North America, Missouri, ameren, battery energy storage systems