Tag Archives: solar

Consolidation Comes To Energy Storage Market As NantEnergy Buys Sharp Properties

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

For those of us who love the solar industry, storage is the next frontier. If we can figure out how to marry solar + storage, then the rest of the market opens up and mass adoption arrives in a big green wave.

But much like the solar module manufacturing segment of the industry, there are too many battery manufacturers out there in the market. To allow companies to make money and thrive – meaning keeping innovation and breakthrough ideas alive – consolidation is a critical part of that equation.

So when a company like NantEnergy, which currently focuses on zinc-air batteries, purchases the lithium-ion technology arm of Sharp Electronics, some of us sign with relief and suggest that this kind of consolidation will actually move the industry forward rather than make it take a step back.

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What makes me even more sanguine about this purchase is that NantEnergy appears to be keeping the entire staff of Sharp’s Energy System and Services Group on board, including its founder Carl Mansfield, who will join NantEnergy as a vice president. In other words, they have decided not to pretend they have all the answers and recognize that there is intelligence and innovation to be found in places other than within their insular four walls.

Mansfield himself recognizes the importance of this approach, too. He’s quoted in the release as saying this:

“The SmartStorage team continually aims to make energy storage accessible, affordable and simple for our customers, guaranteeing that performance will be delivered,” Carl Mansfield said. “NantEnergy’s proven technologies will enable us to offer new SmartStorage products and expanded capabilities in the future. I have ultimate confidence in the direction and promise of SmartStorage and NantEnergy, and I look forward to working with a leadership team that shares my passion for growing and innovating in the energy storage market.”

I have great hopes for this consolidation not only to work, but to thrive because NantEnergy isn’t trying to put its own stamp on what had already been a successful business venture. Here’s hoping they give Mansfield the autonomy necessary to continue growing this side of the business so all of us in the solar industry, including NantEnergy, can benefit from his expertise.

God Bless(ed) Solar Energy: Catholic Diocese Goes All In In New York

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

And the Lord said let there be solar, and it was good.

OK, that’s not really how the quotation from the book of Genesis goes, but under an agreement between the Archdiocese of New York and Con Edison Solutions, five parishes in the sprawling Catholic diocese will soon be running (at least partially) off energy they harvest from the sun.

The Energy Department of the Archdiocese of New York along with five parishes joined Con Edison Solutions, one of America’s leading energy services companies, and students from Blessed Sacrament School to launch a renewable energy pilot program. As part of the initiative, five parishes, including Blessed Sacrament, St. Clare, and St. Patrick on Staten Island and St. Ann and St. Anthony in Yonkers have installed rooftop solar arrays which will collectively generate approximately 700,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity through 1,717 solar panels.

“Preventing further environmental degradation has become a top priority for the Catholic Church under Pope Francis. As such, the Archdiocese of New York is very pleased to partner with Con Edison Solutions to launch a solar pilot program that will allow five of our parishes to benefit from clean energy,” said Bishop John O’Hara, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York. “This initiative epitomizes the Pontiff’s call for sustainable development and thus serves as a great model for our parishioners and our students.”

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The Archdiocese’s initiative is in accordance with the appeals made by Pope Francis in 2015 in his second encyclical, On Care for Our Common Home (Laudato Si’). In the encyclical, the pontiff called upon people all over the world to take unified action to fight global warming, practice responsible development, and protect the planet. Through these five solar projects, the Archdiocese of New York is doing its part to adopt environmentally-friendly programs while meeting its obligation to help its parishes run as economically as possible by significantly lowering energy costs.

On average, each solar project will provide approximately 50 percent of a parish’s annual energy needs. Each parish has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Con Edison Solutions. Under the agreement, Con Edison Solutions will install, own, operate, and maintain the solar projects allowing the parishes to reduce energy costs by approximately 25 percent on average over the next two decades.

“Blessed Sacrament is thrilled to become a host for clean, renewable energy by taking part in the Archdiocese’s solar program,” said Monsignor Peter Finn, Pastor of Blessed Sacrament. “In addition to supporting sustainable energy while cutting energy costs and creating a physical demonstration of our commitment to preserving the environment for future generations, we will leverage the program as an educational aid by teaching our students about the latest clean energy technologies.”

“Con Edison Solutions is proud to partner with the Archdiocese of New York on this groundbreaking solar pilot program,” said Mark Noyes, President and CEO of Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses which includes Con Edison Solutions. “We applaud the Archdiocese and its participating parishes for championing solar power and its resulting environmental and cost-saving benefits. Working together with the Archdiocese and the schools, we have successfully installed five rooftop solar arrays that help bring us closer to a clean energy future.”

All five solar arrays are behind-the-meter, installed to serve the electrical needs at the customer’s building. The amount of electricity to be generated at each site will vary according to the system size. System capacity is detailed below:

Blessed Sacrament Parish – 153kW-DC with 472 PV modules
St. Ann’s Parish – 56 kW-DC with 173 PV modules
St. Anthony’s Parish – 78kW-DC with 240 PV modules
St. Clare’s Parish – 134kW-DC with 412PV modules
St. Patrick’s Parish – 136 kW-DC with 420 PV modules

The Archdiocese of New York is also working with Con Edison Solutions on potential community solar projects at other parishes, schools, and other institutions in the archdiocese.

The Archdiocese of New York selected Con Edison Solutions through a competitive procurement process that included more than 10 solar developers. The two organizations have been working collaboratively since January 2017 to finalize the elements of the pilot program.

This solar energy initiative is part of a much larger energy program being led by the Energy Department of the Archdiocese of New York which includes several energy conservation efforts like energy audits, LED lighting upgrades, upgrades to higher efficiency heating and cooling options, tightening the building envelope and more efficient energy procurement.

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.

More:

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.