Meanwhile, in Southern California, nonprofit news site Canary Media reports that an old gas combustion plant is being replaced by a "power bank" named Nova.

It's expected to store "more electricity than all but one battery plant currently operating in the U.S."

The billion-dollar project, with 680 megawatts and 2,720 megawatt-hours, will help California shift its nation-leading solar generation into the critical evening and nighttime hours, bolstering the grid against the heat waves that have pushed it to the brink multiple times in recent years... The town of Menifee gets to move on from the power plant exhaust that used to join the smog flowing from Los Angeles... And the grid gets a bunch more clean capacity that can, ideally, displace fossil fuels...

Moreover, [the power bank] represents Calpine's grand arrival in the energy storage market, after years operating one of the biggest independent gas power plant fleets in the country alongside Vistra and NRG... Federal analysts predict 2024 will be the biggest-ever year for grid battery installations across the U.S., and they highlighted Calpine's project as one of the single largest projects. The 620 megawatts the company plans to energize this year represent more than 4% of the industry's total expected new additions.

Many of these new grid batteries will be built in California, which needs all the dispatchable power it can get to meet demand when its massive solar fleet stops producing, and to keep pace with the electrification of vehicles and buildings. The Menifee Power Bank, and the other gigawatts worth of storage expected to come online in the state this year, will deliver much-needed reinforcement.

The company says it's planning "a portfolio" of 2,000 megawatts of California battery capacity.

But even this 680-megawatt project consists of 1,096 total battery containers holding 26,304 battery modules (or a total of 3 million cells), "all manufactured by Chinese battery powerhouse BYD, according to Robert Stuart, an electrical project manager with Calpine. That's enough electricity to supply 680,000 homes for four hours before it runs out."

What's remarkable is just how quickly the project came together. Construction began last August, and is expected to hit 510 megawatts of fully operational capacity over the course of this summer, even as installation continues on other parts of the plant. Erecting a conventional gas plant of comparable scale would have taken three or four years of construction labor, due to the complexity of the systems and the many different trades required for it, Stuart told Canary Media... That speed and flexibility makes batteries a crucial solution as utilities across the nation grapple with a spike in expected electricity demand unlike anything seen in the last few decades.

The article notes a 2013 Caifornia policy mandating battery storage for its utility companies, which "kicked off a decade-long project to will an energy storage market into existence through methodical policies and regulations, and the knock-on effects of building the nation's foremost solar fleet."

Those energy storage policies succeeded in jumpstarting the modern grid battery market: California leads the nation with more than 7 gigawatts of batteries installed as of last year (though Texas is poised to overtake California in battery installations this year, on the back of no particular policy effort but a general openness to building energy projects)... California's interlocking climate regulations effectively rule out new gas construction. The state's energy roadmap instead calls for massive expansion of battery capacity to shift the ample amounts of solar generation into the evening peaks.

"These trends, along with the falling price of batteries and maturing business model for storage, nudged Calpine to get into the battery business, too."

Abstract credit: https://slashdot.org/story/427236

Although New York has the largest of several state tax credit incentives for homeowners installing rooftop solar, the state’s “rooftop solar gap” is large, leaving many low-income residents unable to take full advantage of incentives, according to a new report from think tank Win Climate.

New York’s State Solar Tax Credit has paid for 25% of a rooftop solar installation, or $5,000 – whichever is less. The Residential Solar Tax Credit Reform Act (S3596/ A6739) made the tax credit fully refundable, with the intention of allowing low-income homeowners and residents to benefit, and increased the tax credit amount to $10,000.

The report, Closing NY’s Rooftop Solar Gap, aimed to analyze how many New York residents have utilized the State Solar Tax Credit, and how the Residential Solar Tax Credit Reform Act could impact the cost of solar for low-income residents. The “rooftop solar gap” is the difference in rooftop solar installation rates between households making more and less than $50,000 per year.

"Spanish consultancy AleaSoft Energy Forecasting recorded negative hourly electricity prices for all but one European energy market it analyzed during the first week of April, including in the Spanish and Portuguese markets for the first time. It also registered an all-time production record for photovoltaic energy in Portugal and the second highest value ever recorded in Italy"

A community turns on itself over the aptly named Mammoth solar project, a planned $1.5bn power field nearly the size of Manhattan

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14084343

EU pushes to curb China’s green tech market lead

Brussels’ new probe into Chinese wind turbines comes as Beijing grabs dominance over global market for solar panels.

On paper, the EU sees China as a partner in the fight against climate change.

But the trade reality tells a different story. 

As Beijing responds to weak domestic demand with heavy state subsidies, it’s a perfect recipe for overcapacity — from electric vehicles to solar panels — just as the European Union puts the green transition at the top of its policy agenda.

On Tuesday, EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager will launch a new anti-subsidy investigation into China’s fast-growing and increasingly dominant wind turbine sector, as exclusively reported by POLITICO’s China Watcher.

Europe was once a leader in the renewable energy source, but China’s rapid development since 2018 has inflicted billions in losses on its leading wind power players, including Denmark’s Vestas and German-owned Siemens Gamesa, forcing them into drastic cost cuts.

The EU is keen to avoid a mistake it made over the past decade, when China’s solar panel-makers all but killed their European competitors. Today’s playbook on wind turbines is indeed “all too familiar” to European policymakers, said one EU diplomat, who was granted anonymity to discuss the imminent policy announcement.

"Signed into law by President Biden in August 2022, the IRA, along with the so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) enacted in November 2021, are intended, amongst other things, to funnel billions of federal dollars into developing clean energy.

The aim is to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and incentivise private investment, to encourage the growth of green industries and jobs: a new foundation for the US economy.

With a 10-year lifespan, and a cost originally estimated at $391bn (£310bn) but now predicted to reach over $1tn - the final figure is unknown - the IRA offers new and juicer tax credits, as well as loans and loan guarantees for the deployment of emissions reducing technology."

On April 8, millions of glasses-clad onlookers will, for the second time in seven years, hold their collective breath. As the celestial odds align, the Earth and moon will be in the perfect position to blot out the sun across the U.S., along with the solar power that makes up an increasing share of our energy mix. With eclipses anticipated decades in advance, local utilities have had time to prepare for the big day. From little Vermont to hulking Texas, how the eclipse will impact the energy grid paints a picture of energy progress, but also how we still depend on fossil fuels to stay resilient.