A variety of misleading claims spread on social media around renewable energy, with wind turbines and the Green New Deal getting much of the attention. ERCOT said Tuesday that of the 45,000 total megawatts of power that were offline statewide, about 30,000 consisted of thermal sources — gas, coal and nuclear plants — and 16,000 […]
Orsted, the World’s Offshore Wind Giant, Gets Serious About Solar
A company synonymous with offshore wind is building 700 megawatts of U.S. solar plants, signaling the era of the renewable energy “major.” Ørsted, a developer synonymous with offshore wind, will have a novel experience in 2021: All of the new power plants it completes will be onshore, and most will involve solar panels. Since building […]
‘All round success’ for Texas’ biggest battery storage system so far
The largest battery storage system online so far in the US state of Texas has been proven an “all round success” by an independent auditor, a year and a half after it went into commercial operation. The Upton County battery storage project, a 10MW / 42MWh system installed and commissioned by system integrator FlexGen is […]
Texas’ Power Price Spike and Designing Markets for a Carbon-Free Grid
The Texas power market is designed to play chicken with blackouts. Is the model sustainable in a high-renewables system? Last week as Texas’ ERCOT grid reached its price cap of $9,000 per megawatt-hour and the price map on ERCOT’s website became a solid and deep red, many energy market wonks highlighted that this is a […]
GlidePath Builds Merchant Battery Plant in ERCOT, Bucking Industry Wisdom
Quinbrook-backed developer makes a pure merchant play in Texas, where there’s no playbook for storage to succeed. Renewables developer GlidePath has begun construction on a rare standalone storage project in the tricky Texas market. The 10-megawatt/10-megawatt-hour Prospect Storage plant will bid into the ERCOT markets for energy and ancillary services. Though small by the standards […]
Starbucks Buys Aggregated Wind and Solar Portfolio With Help From LevelTen
Coffee giant contracts for power from three projects built by three developers in three states, in what’s being described as a first for the corporate market. Starbucks announced another large-scale renewables deal Wednesday, with enough power to supply 3,000 of its U.S. stores. The portfolio, encompassing 146 megawatts of wind and solar, draws from three […]