systems

Georgia utilities earned high marks this year in their annual report on the state of solar energy in the south.

In its Solar in the Southeast report, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy notes that Georgia Power ranks fourth among 14 major regional electricity providers in a key measure: solar energy produced per customer, or W/C.

As a state, Georgia trails only Florida in solar energy in this metric.

But the report cites the growth of data centers as a major challenge to the pace of deployment of new solar energy. This is driving energy demand growth to unprecedented levels, making carbon-emitting natural gas more attractive to utilities in the short term.

This was evident when Georgia Power made an extraordinary change to its approved generation mix this year.

But the SACE report still predicts that Georgia’s solar generation will double by 2025 with NextEra Energy’s 260-megawatt project in Wadley, southwest of Augusta, and more projects from Georgia Power expected in the next Integrated Resource Plan.

If this projected doubling holds true for Georgia Power, it would mean the company would generate about half as much solar power in 2025 as the nuclear-powered Vogtle Plant.

Avangrid said the project is the largest solar power plant in its portfolio and the first solar project in Texas.

Last year, Avangrid began construction of this solar PV plant and signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with social media and data giant Meta, securing one of Meta’s new data centers in Temple City, Texas.

Meta has a number of PPAs, particularly in Texas, and has committed to run its operations entirely on renewable energy from 2020. For example, Pine Gate Renewables signed an environmental asset purchase agreement (EAPA) with Meta for a 204 MW solar PV project. Temple, Texas, in May 2024.

In addition to the True North Solar project, Avangrid recently installed the first modules at the 202MWdc/150MWac Powell Creek PV project in Putnam County, Ohio. Construction on the project began in late 2023, and Avangrid said the site would be operational “in approximately 14 to 18 months.” That would put the operational date in the spring of 2025.

Avangrid is a subsidiary of the Spanish utility company Iberdrola, since it was fully acquired by the latter in May 2024. Iberdrola took full ownership of Avangrid for a total of US$2.551 billion after acquiring the 18.4% minority stake it no longer held in Avangrid for the US. $35.75 per share. After the deal closes, Iberdrola will request that the shares in Avangrid be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

Don’t overload solar users

Orlando’s 100% renewable energy goal by 2050 is in jeopardy. As chair of the Orange County League of Women Voters’ Clean Energy Caucus, I urge the Orlando Public Utilities Commission to protect our future by maintaining its current policy on net metering for customer-owned solar systems and recognize other concerns. from the proposed plan.

OUC should review the new rates it offers for residential customers and introduce fair policies for all.

Net metering is important for both individual consumers and community sustainability. Solar customers feed excess electricity into the grid, which improves energy reliability and helps offset the costs of building new transmission lines.

OUC’s proposed time-of-use rate would unfairly burden residents who cannot easily shift their energy use to off-peak hours. Consumers vulnerable to high energy costs include working families, low-income families, and 24-hour operations such as nursing homes and hospitals.

The OUC should promote tariffs that encourage energy conservation without undue financial strain.

In addition, the proposed new demand payment poses a problem. These charges penalize users who exceed the power consumption limit in any 15-minute increment by dropping them into a more expensive category for the next 12 months. Since most residential customers do not have the knowledge to avoid high charges, few electric utilities use demand charges with residential customers.

We urge the commission to listen to community members and stakeholders. To meet our renewable energy goals, we need to continue policies that promote solar adoption and fair practices.

Mary Dipboye Winter park

Florida is not a free state

Once again, Ron DeSantis is using taxpayer money for false advertising. “Free State of Florida” signs now welcome drivers to the Sunshine State. It is not a free state when books are banned, history/climate change is whitewashed, districts are annexed, politicians are for politics rather than the people, the homeless and immigrants are demonized, white children are blasphemed, rents are out of control, and conspiracies abound. , incompetent puppets are employed, science/critical thinking is obsolete, authoritarian ideology is embraced over democracy, and guns are more important than life itself. No, this is not a free state, but a state of desolate and hateful people.

Katie Sanchez Orlando

The debate about climate change continues

Some points in the climate debate have been disputed: It’s a hoax. False news! The evidence is inconclusive. The models are faulty. Climate is cyclical. Earth’s climate has always changed. It has just snowed (in the city). This time it’s bad, but it has nothing to do with people. Well, people play a role. Well, it’s mostly our fault, but it’s too late/expensive to fix. Scientists will find something. We don’t have to do anything because God will take care of it.

Florida’s latest move on textbooks sounds like a bad parody of a Disney movie: “We’re not talking about climate. No, no, no!” Less than 400 years ago, people were imprisoned for claiming that the Earth revolved around the Sun. I hope that students will learn about our era in 400 years.

Jack Crimmins DeBary

How state legislation led the banning of big wind and solar projects in a fourth of Ohio’s counties cleveland.com

I came across this news from techxplore.com that new data compiled by the NGO Global Energy Monitor details the truly astonishing dominance that China has been able to build in the construction of large-scale wind and solar projects, as the chart above shows.

With a total capacity of 180 GW of utility-scale solar and 159 GW of wind currently under construction, this approx. twice the power of all other similar projects in the rest of the world combined — and almost as large a range as what we, the US, in distant second place, are currently building!

More information from the GEM report:

China added almost twice as much utility-scale solar and wind power in 2023 as in any other year. In the first quarter of 2024, China’s total utility-scale solar and wind capacity reached 758 GW, although data from the China Electricity Board put the total capacity, including distributed solar, at 1,120 GW. Wind and solar power currently account for 37% of the country’s total electricity generation, an 8% increase from 2022, and are expected to surpass coal power, which accounts for 39% of total capacity, in 2024.

Even more impressive:

In a separate report released on Thursday, the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA) found that China will not issue new permits for coal-based steelmaking projects in the first half of 2024.

CREA said there were no new permits on a half-yearly basis for the first time since China announced its “dual carbon targets” in September 2020 – a development hailed by the independent research organization as a possible “tipping point”.

“As China’s steel demand peaks and more scrap becomes available, there is great potential to move away from coal-based generation, a significant opportunity to reduce emissions over the next 10 years,” CREA’s report said.

Indeed, China is still the largest emitter of greenhouse gases:

Looking ahead, if all proposed utility-scale solar and wind projects come online
projected, China could easily reach 1,200 GW of installed wind and solar capacity
The end of 2024, six years and one year ahead of the promise made by President Xi Jinping
Earlier than GEM’s forecast last year.

…

The potential developed in China provides a huge amount of potential
further evidence for the prediction that energy sector carbon emissions may peak
Sooner than the promised “by 2030” timeline. In fact, the May 2024 study
Lauri Myllyvirta, senior fellow and lead analyst at the Asia Public Policy Institute
The Center for Energy and Clean Air Research suggests so China’s total CO2
emissions may already peak in 2023, accounts for 90% of the electricity demand
increases have been offset by wind and solar generation as well as declines
housing construction activity.

If true, this would be a huge step towards China’s ambitious goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2060 – if only the rest of the world could follow their example!