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Our top story this month focuses on the increased capacity of solar module manufacturing in the U.S. 

Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which created long-term industrial policy anchored by rich supply-side and demand-side incentives for manufacturing solar components, large global companies are betting big on U.S. manufacturing. Trina Solar, Canadian Solar and Longi have each announced 5GW solar manufacturing facilities and in a combined 15GW of capacity. To put the investments into context, each of these factories represents between $200 million and $600 million in capital expenditure. Prior to the IRA, the U.S. had about 7GW of module manufacturing capacity in 2021. As of April 2023, 46 utility-scale clean energy manufacturing facilities were announced, bringing an expected 18,000 or more U.S. jobs.

Our next story focuses on the offshore wind industry, after the Department of Interior has announced its approval of the Revolution Wind project. Located 15 nautical miles southeast of Point Judith, Rhode Island, the project will have an estimated capacity of 704MW of clean energy, capable of powering nearly 250,000 homes. The project is expected to create an estimated 1,200 local jobs during the construction phase. This is the Biden administration's fourth approval of commercial scale offshore wind energy projects joining the Vineyard Wind project offshore of Massachusetts, the South Fork wind project offshore of New York, and Ocean Wind 1 project offshore of New Jersey.

Vesper Energy has secured $100 million in the form of an equity investment to support the growth of its portfolio of solar and energy storage projects. U.S. alternative asset manager GCM Grosvenor Inc has committed to investing the amount in the Dallas, Texas-based energy firm over the next 12 months. It will acquire a minority stake in the business and join the U.S. hedge fund Magnetar Capital as a fellow shareholder. Vesper Energy has a pipeline of over 55 renewable energy and energy storage projects, with a generating capacity of 17GW across North America. The firm was set up after Magnetar bought the renewable energy business unit of Australian property and infrastructure company Lendlease Group in late 2020. Earlier this year, Vesper upsized its existing letter of credit facility to $200 million to advance its development pipeline.

Enel North America has added five battery energy storage systems totaling 555MWh to the Texas grid this summer. The new facilities will more than triple its operational utility-scale storage capacity, according to an announcement in September. Enel now has 780MWh of battery storage in operation in the state and over 1,234MWh under construction within Texas.

Finally, renewables wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems has secured a 243MW order in the U.S. from RWE Clean Energy. Under the contract, Vestas will supply, deliver and commission 54 units of its V163-4.5MW turbines for an undisclosed project for the customer. The deal also includes a multi-year Active Output Management 5,000 service agreement. Delivery of the turbines will start in the second quarter of 2024 with commissioning planned for the fourth quarter of the same year. Laura Beane, president of Vestas North America, noted that the manufacturer will supply RWE with its newest turbine to the U.S. market.

If you have a renewable energy project coming up, CMC provide engineering, construction and project management services to help deliver your project ahead of schedule and under budget. For more information, please visit www.expertisedelivered.com or reach out to myself directly on LinkedIn. Thank you for watching. I'm Eddie Maunder. This has been the Renewables Roundup and I hope to see you again next month.