Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC) has contracted Broadway Electrical Company with a Round II PV agreement to supply a total of 49.4MW energy for projects in Massachusetts. The company will develop, install and operate 44 PV projects in varying sizes, located in the areas of Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod. Broadway Electrical will sell the energy through a number of 20-year PPAs.
Former CEO of the Carbon War Room, Jigar Shah, and Eric Graber-Lopez of BlueWave Capital will both be speaking at the May 11-12 Solar Future Eastern USA 2012 conference and both agree that within the next five years solar energy in a large part of the US will be cheaper than power from the grid. They cite the continued drop of solar panel costs, combined with transportation costs of electricity increasing as the factors leading to such an expanded solar market.
The Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC) announced that it had awarded its Round II PV contract to Broadway Electrical and Cape, which consists of two tiers of PV installations that amount to 49.37MW of PV capacity. Broadway will design and install 44 PV systems throughout the Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard regions, helping to supply the areas municipal companies’ electricity at a fixed kWh rate for 20 years.
Contrary to figures published by Bloomberg early last week announcing global clean energy investment was down by 22% Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) has published a report in defiance stating that nearly 50,000 clean energy jobs have been created in the US alone, through approximately 137 project proposals in Q1 2012.
The Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is expected to attend the induction of the 5MW Cañada Honda solar park in the Argentinean province of San Juan. The park, developed by Emgasud is the largest South American PV project to date, according to Photon.
EDF Energies Nouvelles has awarded EPC company Bechtel a contract to partner with EDF’s subsidiary enXco’s on its Catalina Project in Kern County, southern California. Bechtel will also build the 7.2 mile transmission line to connect the facility to a nearby substation. The 110MW facility is to be built on 1,100 acres to produce enough energy to power approximately 35,000 homes.
A new survey by the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has ranked Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) as the US’s top electric utility in the amount of solar power added to its system in 2011. PG&E is first in the Annual Solar Megawatts category of the more than 240 utilities that participated in SEPA's 2011 Utility Solar Rankings survey.
Nicaragua’s Ministry of Energy and Mines has started construction on a 1.38MW project in the west of the country. The solar farm, located 12km from the city of Diriamba, will be partly funded by the Japanese, with an investment of US$12 million. According to Nicaraguan newspaper El Nuavo Diario, the PV installation will become the largest in Central America.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison need to explain their methods in calculating the quantity of net-metered energy to the grid, the Californian Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has announced.
Subsequent to the announcement last week of Los Angeles’ approval of a feed-in tariff, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has signed an ordinance authorizing the city’s Department of Water and Power to now establish a pilot program. Approval of the program by the Board of Water and Power Commissioners has been scheduled for April 17.
