Once again we're bringing you the latest news stories from across the USA in the world of renewable energy. With America's renewable energy sector growing rapidly, there are more and more stories to bring you every month. We've highlighted the biggest and most important developments from June, which you can watch or read below.
Our top story this month focuses on the solar industry where US President Joe Biden is to waive tariffs on solar imports from Southeast Asia for the next 2 years. Biden is providing the 2 year tariff exemption for solar modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The tariffs were initially implemented to counter the countries on going probe into alleged circumvention of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.
The move is likely to be criticised by US domestic solar manufacturers that have sought protection from the alleged circumvention however Biden is also reported to be invoking the US Defense Production Act to issue loans and grants in support of solar manufacturing facilities.
_____
For our second story, TotalEnergies will acquire 50% of Clearway Energy Group. TotalEnergies is establishing a major position in the US renewable energy and storage market, Clearway has 7.7GW of wind and solar assets in operation and 25gw of pipeline renewable projects, and 150GWs are in an advanced stage of development.
_____
National Grid Renewables has purchased 2GW of First Solar modules for future projects, the thin-film modules will be delivered in 2024 and 2025 as per the terms of the purchase agreement.
Nathan Franzen VP of Development for National Grid Renewable said:
“National Grid Renewables and First Solar share more than just deep roots in the U.S. Midwest and a longstanding strategic partnership. We share a common view on the need to create a sustainable energy future, We’re pleased to be working with First Solar as we continue on our mission to deploy clean, economically beneficial and community-focused solar energy projects, powered by responsibly produced American solar technology.”
Georges Antoun the COO of First Solar said:
“As America’s solar company, we’re proud of the fact that National Grid Renewables has, once again, selected our technology to power its mission to repower rural American communities, Experienced project developers and owner-operators like National Grid Renewables understand the criticality of both, insulating themselves from pricing and supply volatility, and staying true to their values and principles. Both factors are invaluable in helping them successfully navigate some of the industry’s headwinds.”
Anders Nielsen the CTO at Vestas has stated that the wind industry must slow down turbine development and speed up the offshore rollout. Anders stated that the industry should slow down new technology rollouts and focus more on perfecting and improving existing platforms to help push the offshore wind industry forward To enable the massive build-out of offshore wind, it is key for the industry to mature and prepare for scalability and localisation.
For this to happen, technology developers across the renewable value chain must be able to capture enough value to reinvest back into building scale and innovation.
This is critical to ensure we can grow as an industry and grow quickly enough to remain in line with increasing energy needs and net-zero targets.
Optimising the complete value chain calls for a smarter and more responsible approach to product development.
Accelerating build-out requires decreasing execution time of projects, utilisation of existing vessels and more secure business cases for our customers and the rest of the value chain.
_____
The New York State Energy Research and Development Agency has announced it has awarded CS Energy 3 utility scale solar projects, that will deliver 365MW DC of renewable energy to the state further establishing CS Energy’s position as a leader in the New York State solar, construction on the projects is planned to begin in 2025 and be completed in 2026. The projects are made up of a 216MW, 122MW and 27MW solar project all in upstate New York.
_____
Exus Management Partners is partnering with commodities trader Vitol to manage three wind farms totalling 244MWs in Pennsylvania, Vitol has agreed to acquire the portfolio from a Blackrock-managed fund with the transaction expected to close later this quarter.
_____
The southeast's largest floating solar plant will be producing power for the US Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The 1.1MW solar facility is the result of a utility energy service contract with Duke Energy and Ameresco, the floating array is part of a $36million contract that focused on energy resilience and security at Fort Bragg.
_____
Finally, the Department of Interior and its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a Proposed Sale notice for potential commercial wind energy development off California, 23 developers have already qualified to participate in the lease sale and are expected to be put up for auction by the end of this year which will bring the US it’s first commercial-scale floating wind projects.
_____
Staying with offshore wind I will be attending the US Offshore Wind 2022 event in Boston on July 18th and July 19th if you are attending the event and would like to catch up please feel free to contact me on LinkedIn.