A round-up of the latest news from the US solar market, featuring the completion of a 250MW plant in California, an EPC deal for Black & Veatch in Texas and a new PPA from DESRI.
California’s energy transition will need 53GW of solar PV by 2045, with the state’s transmission system requiring a US$30.5 billion investment alongside major increases in energy storage to accommodate the extra power.
Proposed changes to California’s net metering (NEM) incentive programme will severely reduce residential PV’s value proposition in the state, cutting its solar market in half by 2024, Wood Mackenzie has warned.
The year has gotten off to a frenetic start, with plenty of news from the global solar and energy storage sectors to digest on the January 2022 episode of the Solar Media Podcast.
US solar installer SunPower is to be hit by a cracking issue discovered in connectors associated with equipment installed in some commercial and industrial (C&I) projects, resulting in charges of around US$31 million.
Solar project developer Eco Energy World is aiming to “aggressively” grow its US PV pipeline after formally entering the market last week and intends to replicate the cheaper engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) costs it sees in Europe in the country. PV Tech Premium speaks to CEO Svante Kumlin to find out more.
Proposed net metering (NEM) rules in California that would add a US$8/kW per month grid access fee for residential solar systems have been described as “regressive and out of touch with reality” by a NEM policy expert.
California governor Gavin Newsom said there is “more work to be done” on the state’s net metering laws and that “changes need to be made” to proposals that have been proven highly contentious in the state.
Solar power will account for nearly half of utility-scale capacity additions in the US this year, according to new figures from the country’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).
California regulators have proposed a raft of changes to a state solar incentive programme, including reducing the credit homeowners with PV systems would receive for selling excess electricity back to the grid.
