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Ownership Shakeup at Colstrip Coal Power Plant

December 14, 2019

The post Ownership Shakeup at Colstrip Coal Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

NorthWestern Energy said it will file an application with the Montana Public Service Commission for pre-approval to acquire Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE’s) 25% interest in Colstrip Unit 4, which is a 740-MW coal-fired boiler. The price? $ 1.

“Securing more capacity for only a $ 1 investment is a unique opportunity that helps give us the time to continue transitioning to an even cleaner energy future without putting either our customers’ safety or their ability to pay their energy bills at risk,” Bob Rowe, president and CEO of Sioux Falls, South Dakota-headquartered NorthWestern Energy, said in a statement.

NorthWestern Energy serves electric and natural gas customers in three states: Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota. In what appeared to be an effort to fend off criticism for adding more coal-fired generation to its portfolio, NorthWestern also announced it is committing to reduce carbon intensity of its energy generation in Montana by 90% by 2045.…

Dominion Solar, Wind Projects Will Power Virginia Government Buildings

October 23, 2019

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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.…

EIA: Renewables Will Account for Half of Global Power Generation by 2050

October 2, 2019

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Solar power is expected to take a larger share of global power generation across the next 30 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), as renewable energy continues to be adopted worldwide.

The EIA’s International Energy Outlook 2019 (IEO2019), released Oct. 2, shows 28% of the world’s power came from renewables in 2018, nearly all of that from wind, solar, and hydropower. The EIA forecasts that renewables will account for almost half—49%—of global electricity output by 2050, with solar generation showing the most growth, while hydro grows more slowly.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2019

Solar and other renewables’ growth is not limited to utilities or government efforts to expand the sector. Several companies are using renewables to power their commercial and industrial operations. Exxon Mobil, the oil giant which recently reported $ 20.8 billion in earnings in 2018, signed a 12-year deal with Danish energy company Ørsted late last year to purchase solar and wind power in West Texas.…

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

September 26, 2019

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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 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.…

Texas’ Impending Reliability Issues With Wind Power

September 20, 2019

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COMMENTARY

Texas has the most wind capacity of any state, generating about 16% of its electricity from wind. In August, as temperatures rose above 100F and consumers increased their use of air conditioning, Texas’ grid operators struggled to meet the record demand for electricity.

Many of the wind turbines could not operate because the wind was stagnant, a common occurrence on very hot days. As a result, energy costs skyrocketed. In Houston, wholesale power prices spiked 49,000% (to $ 9,000 per megawatt-hour). The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) warned that reserve margins were so low that it might have to institute rolling blackouts, or controlled interruptions of power service. The independent system operator called for the construction of more gas-fired generating plants.

Mary J. Hutzler

Facing a second consecutive year of strain on its grid, ERCOT mandated all available power plants to run flat-out, called on factories to cut power consumption, and imported electricity from Mexico.…