Welcome to the October edition of the Renewables Round Up,brought to you by Coalesce Management Consulting's Principal Consultant and US Renewable Energy expert, Eddy Maunder.
Watch the full roundup in the below video, or read on to learn everything you need to know from the last month in North America's onshore and offshore wind, solar and hydrogen news. Including:
- Google's entry into the Solar Power market
- NextEra's massive profit increase
- Matrix Renewables' progress on the Gaskell 2 and 3 projects
- Dominion's Virginia settlement and 23 new project announcements
- Vestas To Supply Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind
Google Searches For Success In The Solar Industry
This month's top story comes from the solar industry. Google has entered into a solar power purchase agreement with SB Energy Global tied to 942 MW of generating capacity so that the search engine major can match the consumption of its Midlothian data centre in Texas.
SB Energy announced in a statement on Tuesday that Google has contracted about 75% of the future output of four solar projects – Orion I, II and III, as well as Eiffel – that are currently being developed and will have a combined capacity of nearly 1.2 GW once completed in mid-2024.
All four projects will primarily use solar modules made by First Solar Inc in Ohio. Earlier this year, SB Energy ordered 1.5 GW of thin-film PV modules from this manufacturer for its advanced-stage pipeline in the US.
The newly-announced PPA represents Google’s largest combined clean energy transaction in Texas to date.
NextEra Hits $1.7 Billion Net Profit
US clean energy company NextEra’s net profit soared by 279.4% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2022, mostly fuelled by higher revenues.
The company’s net profit in the three months came in at $1.7 billion, up from $447 million a year before.
Matrix Renewables Closes Financing On Gaskell Projects
Spanish renewables company Matrix Renewables has closed financing for construction of its California-based Gaskell 2 and 3 solar-plus-storage projects, which are already in an advanced construction phase.
$217 million was provided by MUFG, HSBC, National Bank of Canada and Commonwealth Bank to finance the construction loan and tax equity bridge loan for the projects on top of $92 million received from Bank of America in June.
The projects have a combined capacity of 143MW of solar PV alongside an 80MW storage system. Five power purchase agreements (PPAs) are in place with utilities and cities in California to offtake the power generated.
Dominion Settles With Virginia
After threats to abandon their $10bil 2.6GW offshore wind project Dominion set to avoid ‘performance guarantee’ for the Virginia offshore wind project after reaching a settlement with the Virginia attorney generals office and other parties regarding the rules for construction cost and performance of the offshore wind farm.
23 New Projects For Dominion
Sticking with Dominion they have proposed 23 new solar and energy storage projects totalling more than 800MW for the state of Virginia.
The projects include seven utility-scale solar plants, two distributed solar projects and one standalone battery energy storage installation.
The proposal also includes power purchase agreements from 13 solar and energy storage projects operated by third-party providers, which were selected through a competitive solicitation process and total more than 300MW.
Vestas To Provide Turbines For Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind
Our final story of the month focuses on Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a 50:50 partnership between Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables, is proud to announce its selection of Vestas as the preferred supplier for its 1.5 GW offshore wind project in New Jersey.
Vestas will provide its industry-leading V236-15MW offshore wind turbines, with installation expected in 2027. Once installed, the project will generate enough clean energy to power more than 700,000 U.S. homes.
This Preferred Supplier Agreement (PSA) was signed shortly after New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued an Executive Order increasing the state’s offshore wind target by 50 per cent to achieve 11 GW by 2040.
True Expertise Delivered
They were the top stories from the US renewables market in October. The Renewables Roundup will return next month. Follow us on LinkedIn and Youtube to keep up with the latest updates.
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