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Qatar Will Boost Middle East Solar with 800-MW Project

January 22, 2020

The post Qatar Will Boost Middle East Solar with 800-MW Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Qatar’s energy minister on Jan. 19 said the country will build an 800-MW solar power project that will push the country far beyond its announced goal for solar energy. That goal of 100 MW of solar generation was established when Qatar in December 2010 was awarded rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament.

France energy giant Total, along with Tokyo, Japan-based investment group Marubeni, signed an agreement with Qatar to build the Al Kharsaah plant near Doha, Qatar’s capital. The project’s cost is estimated at 1.7 billion riyals ($ 467 million). It’s the latest in a string of projects bringing solar power to the Middle East.

“Today is the commencement of the project itself and we expected by the first quarter of 2021 to have half of the [plant’s] capacity up and running,” said Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister, in a news conference Sunday.…

Dominion Solar, Wind Projects Will Power Virginia Government Buildings

October 23, 2019

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The post Dominion Solar, Wind Projects Will Power Virginia Government Buildings appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Dominion Energy has entered a partnership with the commonwealth of Virginia in which government-owned buildings and facilities in the state will get power from Dominion’s solar and wind energy projects.

The agreement, signed by Dominion and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Oct. 18, is the largest procurement of renewable energy to date by the state as part of Northam’s plan to power the whole of state government with clean energy.

The deal includes a 75-MW wind project—the first onshore wind farm in Virginia—along with four proposed solar farms with total generation capacity of 345 MW. The projects are expected to come online in stages over the next three years, if all are approved.

The governor’s office said the new generation, along with previously announced solar projects, should produce enough power to support as much as 45% of the state government’s annual energy use. The agreement comes after Northam in September announced that state government agencies would lead the commonwealth’s push for renewables.…

ENGIE, Microsoft Seal Innovative ‘Firm Power’ PPA for 230 MW Wind and Solar in Texas

September 26, 2019

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The post ENGIE, Microsoft Seal Innovative ‘Firm Power’ PPA for 230 MW Wind and Solar in Texas appeared first on POWER Magazine.

ENGIE, the world’s largest independent power producer, has signed an innovative volume firming agreement (VMA) with Microsoft that will allow the technology giant to buy “firm” power from wind and solar projects in Texas under a specially structured power purchase agreement (PPA).

The companies on Sept. 24 said the long-term PPA will allow Microsoft to buy a total of 230 MW that ENGIE plans to put online in January 2021 on a fixed, 24/7 basis, to match hourly consumption from a Microsoft data center in Texas. The majority of output will come from the 200-MW Las Lomas wind project in Starr and Zapata Counties in south Texas, but Microsoft will also buy 85 MW from the 200-MW Anson Solar Center project in Jones County, central Texas.

ENGIE and Microsoft on Tuesday also announced a partnership to integrate Microsoft Azure intelligent cloud services with ENGIE’s Darwin energy software to optimize performance of ENGIE’s wind, solar, and wind + solar hybrid assets worldwide.…

The POWER Interview: SEPA’s Julia Hamm Talks Solar Pathways

September 24, 2019

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The post The POWER Interview: SEPA’s Julia Hamm Talks Solar Pathways appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) is meeting this week in Salt Lake City, Utah, joining with the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) to present North America Smart Energy Week, which this year includes both the long-running Solar Power International gathering along with Energy Storage International.

A big theme this week is the integration of solar with storage. Climate change also is a topic of discussion, as solar and storage advocates tout the benefits of carbon-free power generation and their roles in crafting legislation and regulations designed to help meet clean energy targets.

Julia Hamm, CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance. Courtesy: Smart Electric Power Alliance

Julia Hamm, president and CEO of SEPA, sat down with POWER on Sept. 23 at the show to discuss how her group has evolved, and to talk about the changing power generation landscape. Hamm has been with the group for 20 years, starting in 1999 when it was known as the Utility PhotoVoltaic Group (UPVG) before becoming the Solar Electric Power Association (version 1.0 of the SEPA acronym) in 2000.…

POWER Notebook: New 1,600-MW Coal Plant in India; Low-Price Solar Deal in Idaho

April 9, 2019

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Financing has reportedly been secured for a 1,600-MW coal-fired power plant in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand. Qatar’s Gulf Times newspaper reported April 6 that Power Finance Corp., a state-run lender in India, and its subsidiary REC approved a $ 1.5 billion loan for the project. The report said the new plant would be funded through loans and equity, with Power Finance and REC covering the entire cost of the project, which Bloomberg estimated at just more than $ 2.1 billion.

The plant is being designed to sell power to Bangladesh through a power purchase agreement with the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB). Adani Power Limited, part of India’s Adani Group, one of the world’s largest coal-mining companies, is building the plant. People familiar with the project reportedly said the plant is eligible for tax breaks, as India’s commerce ministry has designated the region as a special economic zone, and the plant as an export industrial facility. BPDB said Bangladesh currently gets about 56% of its power generation from natural gas, with oil and diesel providing most of the rest.…

FPL Plans to Build 1,500 MW of Solar in Next Two Years

March 16, 2019

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Florida Power & Light (FPL) continues to add to its solar power portfolio, with the utility on March 13 announcing plans to build the largest community solar program in the U.S.

Eric Silagy, FPL’s president and CEO, in a statement said, “We’ve been aggressively expanding solar with one goal in mind: bringing more solar to all of our customers cost-effectively while continuing to keep their bills lower than 90 percent of the country. This innovative program is another major step forward in our ‘30-by-30’ plan, which is one of the world’s largest solar expansions, and also an unprecedented opportunity for our customers to harness the power of the sun like never before.”

The company’s FPL SolarTogether program, which needs approval from the state’s Public Service Commission, would allow customers to receive a credit on their bills from the utility’s cost savings from solar power. FPL plans to build 20 solar power plants, with total generation capacity of 1,490 MW, over the next two years.…