Tyndall Air Force Base Proves Solar Not Just For Power Anymore

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located 12 miles east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt. Frank Benjamin Tyndall. The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing of the Air Combat Command.

The Air Force base found itself in the direct path of Hurricane Michael, and the results were tough. A lot of roofs were ripped off, leaving homes exposed to the elements – with no protection from the rain and winds.

But I noticed something interesting as I watched this video of Tyndall Air Force Base. It’s a damage assessment video to document the damage to base housing to move the recovery process forward. It was shot by Master Sgt. Alexander Farver. Watch the video (it’s only 2:34) and see if you noticed what I noticed. I’ll wait.

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Right? As the camera pans across the homes damaged by Michael, what I noticed was exposed wood. Shingles had been ripped from their moorings and tossed aside like so much crumpled computer paper. Debris surrounded the houses, and my heart felt for those families affected by the storm.

Except….

Except those roofs with solar on them appeared to be largely in tact.

We often talk about how much solar can be a boon for areas that are hit with natural disasters, but it’s almost always in conjunction with keeping the power on in the aftermath of the disaster. But what often gets forgotten, however, is the role solar can play in protecting the roof. After all, solar panels and racking are tested in high winds and under adverse conditions.

What this video shows is that properly installed solar can help mitigate some of the damage done by natural disasters – and that is absolutely fascinating.

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Tyndall Air Force Base View of Housing Following Hurricane Michael

Ohio Is One Step Closer To Get Large Appalachian Solar Farm

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

We talked about this a couple of times last week, but coal country is suffering as more utilities are cutting back on their use of coal. Which makes it more interesting when coal may be replaced by a 400 MW solar farm in Ohio Appalachia – which is right in coal country’s heart.

Inside Climate News has the details:

American Electric Power submitted a plan Thursday evening to work with two developers to build 400 megawatts of solar in Highland County, Ohio. It would more than triple the state’s current solar capacity and be a big step forward for solar energy in a part of the country where renewable energy has been slow to develop.

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What makes this particularly interesting is that American Electric Power (AEP) is one of the staunchest coal-fueled utilities in the country. After all, their primary service area is in the heart of coal country.

But they view this move as the start of a “just transition” from coal to renewable energy, Inside Climate News reports. As jobs are lost in the coal industry, additional renewable energy opportunities will allow those workers to have jobs directly with the plants and the other industries that will crop up surrounding the plants.

“This is something that Appalachia needs,” said Dan Sawmiller, Ohio energy policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Inside Climate News. “The jobs of this renewable energy economy are going to go somewhere and I think it’s important that they go where they’re needed.”

Other utilities will be watching this proposal closely because it is challenging the regulatory structure in Ohio, which currently separates utilities from their power plants. The rule supposedly keeps markets competitive, and this proposal would challenge that rule.

Solar advocates are hoping that approval of this project will open the market for future solar development for the region.

New Mexico To Add Solar To Serve Facebook (Or How Corporates Are Driving Solar Adoption)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It’s stories like this that remind us all how corporates are going to drive solar adoption in many solar-reluctant states. New Mexico, which has had a contentious relationship with solar, is going to add 100 MW of solar in order to serve the electricity needs of a corporation of which you may have heard.

PNM Resources’ New Mexico utility, PNM, received approval on Wednesday from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) to purchase 100 megawatts of solar generation from NM Renewable Development, LLC (NMRD) in order to continue serving the Facebook data center in the state with 100 percent renewable energy. This addition supports the goal to achieve a more sustainable energy portfolio at PNM.

“Opportunities for solar energy are abundant in New Mexico, and Facebook’s growth allows us to demonstrate our commitment to making our state a sustainable energy leader,” said Pat Vincent-Collawn, chairman, president and CEO of PNM Resources. “We are proud to support Facebook’s presence in our state.”

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NMRD, a joint venture between subsidiaries of PNM Resources and American Electric Power, will build two 50 megawatt solar photovoltaic generation facilities in New Mexico. The first facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2019, followed by the second facility in June 2020. Each facility is expected to result in approximately $70 million of investment in New Mexico and create approximately 200 construction jobs.

“With these two new projects, we have worked with PNM to bring 396 megawatts of new wind and solar projects that will contribute to a greener grid and help bring more renewable energy and investment to New Mexico,” said Bobby Hollis, Head of Global Energy at Facebook. “We appreciate the state’s supportive environment that has enabled us to procure this amount of renewable energy so quickly.”

Solar and wind projects constructed to serve Facebook are expected to total approximately $800 million of investment in New Mexico and create over 1,300 construction and permanent jobs, representing significant economic development in Valencia, Bernalillo, Quay, Torrance, Cibola and Sandoval counties.

The agreements are subject to approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Will There Be A New Jersey Solar Industry For Us To Discuss? (Yes.)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

As SolarWakeup Live! heads to Jersey City, New Jersey, in about three weeks, I was startled to run across a story at the website NJSpotlight with the following headline:

COLLAPSE OF NJ SOLAR INDUSTRY, BIG LAYOFFS IF NO INTERIM STATE PLAN — WARNING

Because I understand clickbait when I see it, I did not immediately pull out my phone and call SolarWakeup Managing Editor Yann Brandt and tell him to abort his trip out East. Instead, I clicked on the link to figure out exactly what writer Tom Johnson was talking about.

It turns out that it’s not nearly as scary as he made it sound – at least if New Jersey legislators get their acts together and do something about the transition period between the old solar compensation structure and the new one signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy earlier this year.

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Based on the people told the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities at a public meeting yesterday, of course, the headline might be accurate. But the truth is the legislature has six months to figure this out, so the use of the word “imminent” might be a little much.

Still, according to NJ Spotlight writer Tom Johnson, the solar industry painted a pretty grim picture. To wit:

Unless there is a seamless transition, the industry could shut down, solar executives told state regulatory officials at a stakeholder meeting in Newark yesterday. If that happens, it could cause massive layoffs in a sector that now employs more than 7,000 and has invested in excess of $10 billion in New Jersey.

The collapse also could leave many solar projects — including those undertaken by school systems, municipalities, hospitals and others — as money-losing ventures. Loans and bonds used to finance them would be difficult to repay as revenues from the solar systems would fall short.

If I were on the Board of Public Utilities, that kind of testimony would leave me terrified. But don’t worry – we’ll sort it all out at SolarWakeup Live! on November 6 in Jersey City. You have Yann Brandt’s word on it.

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COLLAPSE OF NJ SOLAR INDUSTRY, BIG LAYOFFS IF NO INTERIM STATE PLAN — WARNING