Solar Survives Hurricane Florence’s Wrath With Little Effect

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It’s no surprise that North Carolina is the No. 2 solar state in the country. Aggressive utility-scale installation, combined with a friendly public utilities commission, have vaulted the state to the top of the list. What I’m saying is that North Carolina has earned its place among the solar elite.

Which is why those of us who have watched that growth were nervous as Hurricane Florence bore down on North Carolina. Between the wind and rain, the resiliency of the state’s solar inventory would be sorely tested – and we all hoped it would come through with flying colors.

Well, wonder no more – Hurricane Florence threw everything at North Carolina that it could, and the solar in the state survived with nearly no interruptions.

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Inside Climate News has the details:

Duke and Strata Solar, two of North Carolina’s largest owners and operators of solar farms, said they found almost no damage in initial inspections. Both companies temporarily shut down some systems in anticipation of flooding, but there were few reports of damage to solar panels.

“I know sometimes we think, ‘Oh it’s the wind, it’s the panels flying around.’ But we haven’t found that to be the case,” said Randy Wheeless, a spokesman for Duke, the largest electric utility in the state. “Our bigger worry usually is flooding.”

Duke only shut down three of its 35 solar farms, and the one that took damage only had 12 modules – less than 1% of the total number of modules at the site. And Cypress Creek took to Twitter to brag about its solar farms, which made it through Hurricane Florence in “solid shape.”

Here’s the bottom line: One of the selling points for solar has always been its resiliency during natural disasters. In the past, because of the small amount of utility-scale solar installed, it was a claim that was more true in theory than had been proven in practice.

Now, however, we have proof that solar can survive a hurricane the strength of Hurricane Florence and survive well. That should only solidify solar’s position as a leading electrical generation source in the future.

More:

Solar Energy Largely Unscathed by Hurricane Florence’s Wind and Rain

Xcel Energy Wins Approval For Aggressive Renewable Growth (And Closing A Third Of Its Coal Plants)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Yesterday, we wrote about how utilities didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about the new rules the Trump Administration had laid out to weaken regulation on coal plants. In fact, most of the utilities discussed in the article reaffirmed their commitment to growing their renewable portfolios at varying speeds.

And today we have another real-life example of the shift that is coming in utilities’ attitudes both toward traditional coal plants and renewable energy.

Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest utility, won approval from the Public Utilities Commission to ramp up its investments in renewable energy to to the tune of nearly 2,000 MW of solar and wind and 300 MW of battery storage.

Oh, and in the process, they’ve also pledged to close nearly one-third of their coal plants, according to an article in The Denver Post.

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As The Post notes:

As part of the plan, Xcel, Colorado’s largest electric utility, will phase out its Comanche 1 and 2 coal-fired plants in Pueblo about a decade earlier than the original target date of 2035. Xcel says the plan will invest $2.5 billion in eight counties and save customers about $213 million, thanks to the declining costs of renewable energy.

The breakdown of the renewables is as follows:

  • 1,100 MW of wind
  • 700 MW of solar
  • 275 MW of battery storage

Company officials were delighted by the PUC’s decision and said they looked forward to a clean-energy future for Colorado.

“The Colorado Energy Plan Portfolio is a transformative plan that delivers on our vision of long-term, low-cost clean renewable energy for our customers, stimulating economic development in rural Colorado, and substantially reducing our carbon emissions,” Alice Jackson, Xcel Energy Colorado president, said in a written statement. “We are excited to move forward.”

Colorado has long been a renewable energy leader. It was one of the first states to experiment with community solar, and its solar and wind development has continued apace, even when policies didn’t ideally line up with the overall renewable energy goals. Now with Xcel Energy making such a large commitment, you’ll likely see other state utilities get on board, which could drive Colorado further up the list of solar-friendly states in the country. One can only hope these developments spur that kind of reaction.

More:

Colorado regulators green-light Xcel’s plan boosting renewables, cutting coal

Could Utah Solar Be Cratering A Mere Year Before SPI Comes To The State? (No.)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Could the Utah solar market be cratering just one year before Solar Power International heads to Salt Lake City.

No. The answer is no.

Despite breathless reporting over the weekend that implied that Utah’s market has hit the skids, most observers believe the market is simply correcting itself after full retail-rate net metering went away in November. And while installations are off 23% so far in 2018, it’s far too early to tell whether the decline will continue as consumers adjust to the new rules.

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As Jasen Lee reported in The Deseret News, Utah’s oldest newspaper, the slide has been attributed by the Public Service Commission’s Administrator to an unusually high spike in installations ahead of the November deadline. Lee also says “observers” have said the 23% drop in installations is the result of fewer Utahns wanting solar on their roofs – but offers no examples of such “observers” in his story.

Instead, he cites Public Service Commission Administrator Gary Widenburg saying just the opposite:

“Some people rushed to get their installations done,” he said. “Now, several months later, things have settled down a little bit. Once that November date, passed, people who were going to have systems installed early did so and others are just planning accordingly.”

He said the decline seemed to be more because of the deadline rather than decreasing overall demand for rooftop solar.

“I think there was an increase in applications and (installation) activity,” he added. “People who were thinking about doing it and were in a position to do so took advantage of that ‘grandfather date’ and jumped in.”

In recent years, Utah has been a solar market on the climb – not near California and Arizona yet, but making its name known as a potential solar boom state. Therefore, to panic in the year following a significant change in net metering laws and declaring the state a solar bust state seems overheated and a bit hysterical. This has happened in solar states before – heck, it’s happened in the COUNTRY before. Once people adjust to the new rules, we would expect Utah to renew its rise as a solar state – just in time for Solar Power International to celebrate it next fall.

More:

After surge before new rules, solar installations in Utah slip 23%

Reports: Exxon May Want To Power Itself With Solar And Wind – And Is Close To Signing A PPA

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It’s as if Apple started using a Microsoft operating system.

Exxon, one of the world’s largest oil-and-gas corporations, put out a request-for-proposal for contracts on at least 100 MW of solar and wind power, and possibly up to 250 MW for the right contracts.

The contracts would be for between 12 and 20 years long, according to Bloomberg reporters who have seen the confidential RFP. It’s also unclear whether the power is intended to fuel the company’s Irving, Texas, headquarters or whether Exxon would re-sell the power to other offtakers.

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It’s not unusual to see oil companies dabble in renewable energy. After all, as Bloomberg points out, Shell and BP have already (re)entered the solar markets and are actively exploring entering wind. But Exxon, the legacy company of John D. Rockefeller’s oil conglomerate, has long held to the precept that it should stick with what it knows.

There is no indication of what has changed the company’s mind, but if Exxon joins the renewable revolution, its importance can’t be overestimated. As Kyle Harrison, a New York-based analyst at Bloomberg NEF, said:

I have never seen an oil and gas company doing a corporate PPA anywhere near that size. If you’re seeing the biggest oil and gas companies going out and making investments in clean energy, it shows that renewables are cost-competitive. This can be a way for them to show a commitment to sustainability without suffering economically.

It would indeed be something of a game-changer, particularly in Texas (where the RFP is for). Texas is one of the largest wind-producing states in the country, and even solar is becoming cost-competitive with coal in the Lone Star State. What a revolution it would be to see this once and future oil capital of the world slowly but surely move on toward a renewable future. You’d expect that kind of future in states like California and Arizona (and even Massachusetts). But in Texas? A move to renewables – especially by a company like Exxon – would really change the conversation around renewable energy, in the best way possible.