Monthly Archives: August 2015

News, Solar Power

New Solar Project Announcements

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The past several months have brought a number of very positive announcements concerning new, utility scale, solar projects in three different Western states. Just yesterday SunEdison Inc. announced that it has begun construction on the 156-megawatt Comanche solar farm in Colorado, which will be the largest in the state. It will deliver power to Excel Energy Inc.’s Public Service of Colorado utility under a 25-year agreement. The plant will help Colorado meet its requirement per 2010 law that investor-owned utilities get 30 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020.

This announcement comes on the heels of two other solar project announcements in July: 1) start of construction on the 137 megawatt (MW) Springbok 1 Solar project about 70 miles north of Los Angeles, and 2) signing by SunPower of a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NV Energy in Nevada to build a 100 MW solar PV power plant near Boulder City, Nevada.

And finally, two announcements in June: 1) The Solar Star solar power plant, also located north of Los Angeles near Rosamond, California, with a total capacity of 579 MW, went fully online on June 19, 2015, making it the largest solar power plant in the world, and 2) SunPower has commenced construction of the 102 MW Henrietta solar power plant in Kings County, California.

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Blog, Coal Power, Electrical Power Generation

The EPA’s Clean Power Plan

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On August 3, 2015, President Obama and EPA announced the Clean Power Plan. The plan’s  summary states: “Shaped by years of unprecedented outreach and public engagement, the final Clean Power Plan is fair, flexible and designed to strengthen the fast-growing trend toward cleaner and lower-polluting American energy. With strong but achievable standards for power plants, and customized goals for states to cut the carbon pollution that is driving climate change, the Clean Power Plan provides national consistency, accountability and a level playing field while reflecting each state’s energy mix. It also shows the world that the United States is committed to leading global efforts to address climate change.” Although the plan addresses a number of different strategies for addressing climate change, its primary focus is on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants with key goal to cut carbon dioxide emissions from the power industry to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. And to achieve this, the plan envisions a significant increase in renewable energy, in particular to replace coal plants that are the primary source of carbon dioxide emissions.

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