The same is on the rise: Canadian Solar won a large-scale energy storage bid, the report provides a reason for more rooftop solar in California, and Babcock & Wilcox will sell 100-hour, 135-megawatt energy storage technology.
Local officials in upstate New York approved a development proposal that brings Convalt Energy closer to building a facility that produces approximately 700 MW of solar modules per year.
Convalt is developing a plant in Watertown, New York, which may open in 2022, using a solar production line acquired from SunPower earlier this year.
In January of this year, photovoltaic module manufacturer Sunpower said it would close its module plant in Hillsboro, Oregon. Sunpower began producing its P-series modules at the plant in February 2019, but decided to switch from photovoltaic manufacturing to providing rooftop photovoltaic arrays and storage systems.
In early July, industrial development officials in Jefferson County, New York, approved Convalt’s plan to build a 300,000-square-foot module manufacturing plant. The factory was initially expected to hire 300 employees, an increase from the approximately 170 people laid off when Sunpower closed its Oregon operations.
According to reports, Convalt is working hard to arrange construction financing and government incentives before proceeding with the project. Founded in 2011, Convalt is a portfolio company of ACO Investment Group. So far, it has developed renewable energy projects in Southeast Asia and Africa.
In June, First Solar stated that it would invest US$680 million to expand its domestic photovoltaic solar manufacturing capacity by 3.3 GW annually, which means that the implied capital expenditure per watt is approximately US$0.20. The new plant in Ohio is expected to start operations in the first half of 2023 and reach rated capacity in 2025.
Canadian Solar said that it won the first 45 MW / 45 MWh utility-scale battery storage project in Colombia.
The project was obtained through a public tender initiated by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals of Colombia through its subsidiary UPME Mining and Energy Planning Department. The project is located in the city of Barranquilla in northern Colombia and consists of a 45 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system. It is expected to achieve commercial operation in June 2023. The project has a 15-year income structure with the Colombian government and is linked to the country’s inflation or producer price index.
The Barranquilla project is expected to strengthen the transmission network of Colombia’s northern Atlantic province, support the government’s efforts to prevent future supply shortages, and promote greater penetration of renewable energy.
A report by the California Center for Environmental Research and Policy and the Frontier Group advocated installing more rooftop solar in California as a way to increase the generation of renewable energy while also protecting the state’s open space.
Laura Deehan, the state director of the California Center for Environmental Research and Policy, said the panel installation speed is fast and “will not take up valuable open space.” She said the state should “do everything it can” to accelerate the development of rooftop solar.
The report stated that for the state to achieve its renewable energy goals, it would need to add 28.5 GW of rooftop solar energy, almost four times the current rooftop solar capacity. Adding so much rooftop solar capacity will allow California to maintain its current land use on more than 148,000 acres, about half the area of ​​Los Angeles.
The report also stated that new rooftop solar projects are usually completed within three months, which means they can start generating electricity faster than traditional sources. Rooftop solar energy also helps save water because it does not require installation or cooling water.
The report pointed out that the California Public Utilities Commission is currently considering changes to the state’s net metering plan, which pays solar energy owners for the excess electricity they sell to the grid.
“The utility proposal to abolish net metering will hinder the growth of Golden State rooftop solar,” Dihan said.
Babcock & Wilcox signed an intellectual property selection agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the US Department of Energy, which grants limited exclusive rights in the B&W field to negotiate a licensing agreement that enables it to sell currently under development.
B&W is part of the NREL Power Storage Duration Extension (DAYS) Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) team, which is developing innovative electric particle heaters, pressurized fluidized bed heat exchangers, long-term thermal energy storage systems Energy for up to 100 hours, and other technologies, enable power producers to store solar or wind energy to generate continuous, reliable, grid-scale electricity.
B&W stated that its fluidized bed heat exchanger will be able to generate up to 135 MW of electricity from the stored thermal energy for a duration of up to 100 hours and zero carbon dioxide emissions. By promoting long-term storage, the technology is expected to enable power producers to supply power to the grid 24 hours a day, including during peak demand periods, or when solar or wind energy is not optimal. ”
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