2023 is set to see a record solar production capacity for the USA, with Texas leading the way with nearly $20 billion in investments. Meanwhile, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is combining several schemes to generate a potential 2.2GW capacity in Maryland. And Israel's Ashtrom Renewable Energy has obtained a $270 million green loan for Texas's 400MW-DC Tierra Bonita Solar Project.
All this and more is covered in the latest edition of the Renewables Roundup, bringing you the biggest stories from October with energy expert Eddy Maunder. Get in touch with Eddy and his team to learn how you can benefit from Coalesce's expert energy engineering consultants, or read on for more of the last month's biggest news stories, including:
- An overview of America's 53% YoY solar market growth
- BOEM's draft environment statement for US Wind Inc's Maryland Offshore project
- Texas's solar energy job growth of over 10,000 professionals
- Ashtraom Renewable Energy's $270 million green loan for Tierra Bonita Solar Project
- First Solar's 2GW module procurement for Longroad Energy
America's Solar Power Growth
The U.S. solar industry expects to add a record 32GW of production capacity this year, up 53% on new capacity from 2022 and helped by the investment incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act. The report by the Solar Energy Infrastructures Association and Wood Mackenzie estimated total operating solar capacity would grow from 153GW, currently to 375GW by 2028, as supply chain challenges brought from the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictive trade policies abate. Increased investment in domestic manufacturing could see the U.S. solar module production growth improve by tenfold by 2026 if all new factory plans materialise. “In the years since its passage, the Inflation Reduction Act has undoubtedly caused a wave of optimism across the solar industry”, said Michelle Davis, Head of Global Solar at Wood Mackenzie. The Biden administration's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act allocates around $370 billion towards climate change and clean energy efforts, including incentives aimed at promoting solar and wind power.
US Wind Inc's 2.2GW Maryland Offshore Project
Our second story is the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) recently released a draft environmental impact statement for U.S. Wind Inc.’s Maryland Offshore wind project that combines several schemes with the potential capacity of up to 2.2GW. The project represents an overall capacity of between 1.1GW and 2.2GW coming from three stages. Under the plan, U.S. Wind Inc. is seeking approval for the construction and operation of the plans and has already secured offshore renewable energy certificates from the state of Maryland for two of them: MarWin and Momentum Wind. The three plans with up to 121 turbines in total will be sited with a lease area located 8.7 nautical miles off the Maryland coast and 9 nautical miles off Delaware. The proposal comes with the installation of up to four offshore substation platforms, a meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors. Once in operation, the turbines of the three-phase complex will be able to produce electricity for 770,000 homes.
Texas leads in solar job and market growth
Our next story is that Texas now leads the way for solar development in the United States. With many large utility-scale projects coming online month after month, a 36GW build-out is expected from the Solar Energy Industries Association over the next five years, building on roughly 16GW that is active today. Much of the investment in solar, which nears $20 billion, is going towards large-foot solar facilities, which often exceed 100MW in capacity. Over 10,000 Texans are employed by the solar industry, and those job numbers will sharply rise as more utility-scale projects are built. Today, nearly 5% of all Texas electricity is generated by solar.
Ashtrom Renewable Energy's $270 million green loan
Israel's Ashtrom Renewable Energy, part of a construction and real estate giant Ashtrom Group has obtained a $270 million green loan for the realisation of a 400MW-DC Tierra Bonita Solar project in Texas. The financing was arranged with five banks, including BHI, Bayerische Landesbank, ING Capital, Rabobank and Societe Generale, according to a statement recently published.
First Solar's 2GW solar module procurement for Longroad
Finally, First Solar announced that Longroad Energy, a U.S. based renewable energy developer, owner and operator, have agreed to procure an additional 2GW of advanced thin film American solar modules. The order for responsibly produced solar modules, which are expected to be delivered between 2027 and 2029 builds on an existing 3.7GW framework agreement between the two companies and increases Longroad Energy’s total procurement from First Solar’s thin film modules from approximately 8GW since 2017.
True Expertise Delivered
They were the top stories from the U.S. renewables market in October. The Renewables Roundup will be back next month with more of the biggest news stories from America's renewable energy industry.
If you are developing renewable energy projects, CMC provide engineering, construction and project management services to help deliver your project ahead of schedule and under budget. Get in touch to arrange a discussion with Eddy or our global renewable energy experts.