Meyer Burger set to begin production at U.S. module factory The relocation of the photovoltaic manufacturer’s core business from Germany to the USA is taking shape. Production of heterojunction solar modules is starting and financing for a new cell plant is progressing.

Solar tax transfer for smaller projects: Dissecting a $600,000 tax credit transaction Basis Climate has closed its smallest IRA transferable tax credit deal to date,  marking the end of an era dominated by million-dollar minimum tax credit transactions.

Origami Solar sets up regional fabrication of steel solar panel frames Partnerships with steel equipment producers in Ohio and two locations in Texas will enable Origami to have its steel solar module frames shipped from fabricator to module manufacturer in one to two days, the company says.

‘Module prices surprisingly keep going down’ As part of our Intersolar 2024 interview series, pv magazine spoke with Yana Hryshko, head of Solar Supply Chain Research for Wood Mackenzie, about overcapacity, declining panel prices and expected PV demand for the next years. She revealed that Chinese module procurement schemes are currently seeing unprecedented, “ridiculously” low bids, but she also noted that the $0.08/W threshold may now be difficult to exceed. Hryshko also expects many manufacturers to backpedal on previously announced capacity expansion plans and renegotiate module supply contracts.

Cultural considerations for international solar expansion Each region has a different way of doing things, whether it’s selecting sites, managing employees, or implementing manufacturing standards. Companies looking to expand into foreign markets need to be prepared to deal with these cultural differences, says Clean Energy Associates (CEA) Vice President Mark Hagedorn.

City of Detroit to install solar in mostly vacant neighborhoods Three Detroit neighborhoods were chosen as sites for solar facilities. The City plans to build 33 MW of solar to power its municipal buildings.

‘We expect solar panel prices to stabilize in the second half of the year’ At Intersolar Europe 2024, pv magazine spoke with Edurne Zoco, executive director, Clean Energy Technology at S&P Global Commodity Insights, about module price trends, increasing solar demand and PV manufacturing outside China. She claims panel prices may stabilize in the second half of this year or in early 2025 and says top seven Chinese manufacturers may even continue with capacity expansion plans. She also believes that, without further substantial incentives, Europe will not be able to recreate a domestic PV supply chain.

The City of Detroit announced it has selected three sites for its Solar Neighborhoods initiative, which seeks to develop solar facilities on mostly vacant neighborhoods throughout the city. 

Detroit city-owned buildings use a collective 33 MW of electricity. The city seeks to meet all this demand with new solar projects distributed throughout the metro area. 

Phase one of the project will add 21 MW of capacity across the Gratiot Findlay, Van Dyke/Lynch, and State Fair neighborhoods. Lightstar Renewables was selected to develop 10 MW of the portfolio. Site maps can be found here. 

Under the agreement, the solar facilities will be operated for 25 to 35 years. When the arrays reach the end of their useful life, the contract calls for developers to remove the equipment and return the property to a green field.

A coalition of local nonprofits, environmental groups, energy experts and solar developers are participating in the program. The groups engaged in a several-months-long community engagement program to explain its benefits and reach residents. 

Projects are planned in mostly vacant neighborhoods. Residents located in the footprint of the proposed solar facilities are offered compensation equal to double the market value of their property (or $90,000 minimum) along with moving expenses and relocation services. Renters will receive 18 months’ worth of rent and relocation services. The initiative includes energy efficiency upgrades for surrounding homes, with a minimum value of $15,000 on average per home. 

Each acre contributed will be provided with up to $25,000 in community benefits for energy-efficient upgrades, prioritizing affected homeowners and renters within the solar array footprint. Neighbors can elect to install energy bill saving measures like new windows, roof repairs, energy efficiency, home insulation, smart thermostats, battery back-up, and residential solar panels. 

For the next steps, the Office of Sustainability, The Department of Neighborhoods, the program’s Neighborhood Solar Partners and the solar developers to work with the community and get their insight into how the sites will look and operate. There will be a negotiated and approved agreement between the developer and residents, which will include what the design, vegetation and maintenance will be for each solar neighborhood before any construction work begins. 

List of Neighborhood Solar Partners: 

Green Door Initiative  

EcoWorks  

D2 Solar  

MI Interfaith Power and Light  

Peace Tree  

Sustainable Community Farms  

Walker-Miller Energy  

Rescue MI Nature  

Manistique Community Treehouse Center  

Ryter Cooperatives  

First Family Solar  

Anti-Gravity, LLC  

SDEV  

Energy Alliance 

A pair of bills that would establish rules for a community solar market are working their way through the Michigan legislature. If passed, Senate bills 152 and 153 of 2023 would enable customers to subscribe to off-site solar facilities, paying a monthly rate for electricity generated by the project in exchange for offsets on their utility bills.

The legislation would require all customer classes to have access to community solar subscriptions, and it would contain a carve-out that ensures at least 30% of the electricity produced is serving low-income households or low-income service organizations.

The bill would also provide for the transferability and portability of subscriptions, including a subscriber’s retention of a subscription to a community solar facility if the subscriber moves within the same electric provider’s service territory.

Senator Ed McBroom, a Republican serving Waucedah Township, said the legislation would allow Michigan residents to “escape the ever-increasing rates” from electricity providers.

“As we’ve shackled our residents to fossil fuels and a limited system that requires them to go through providers, the rates have just gone up and up and up and up and up,” said Senator Jeff Irwin (D–Ann Arbor).

Michigan’s electric utilities have opposed the bill.

“Unfortunately, this legislation completely misses the mark while putting Michigan’s clean energy transformation at risk and raising costs for everyone,” said Tracy Wimmer, a spokesperson for utility Consumers Energy.

Consumers Energy has its own internal “community” solar program that is utility owned and managed. The proposed solar legislation would destroy its monopoly control of the market.

The need for non-utility-run community solar projects has more implications than fighting a monopoly and securing rates. It will also enable Michigan to access federal funds as part of the $7 billion Solar For All program, which requires community solar projects to be owned independently from utilities for program eligibility.

(Read: “Calculating potential impact of EPA’s $7 billion Solar for All program”) 

“Without a community solar enabling policy here in Michigan that allows independently owned projects, we will be leaving a key policy lever off the table on our ability to take full advantage of the Solar for All funding and provide the energy cost-saving benefits to residents that true community solar provides,” said Tim Minotas, deputy legislative director, Sierra Club Michigan. 

Track the bills’ progress for Senate Bill 152 and 153.

Michigan utility Consumers Energy and the Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center announced a partnership to develop a 250 MW solar facility in the county.  

The project is in pursuit of the utility’s goal to add 8 GW of solar by 2040. This would represent an enormous growth ramp for solar in Michigan, which currently totals 1.4 GW, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). 

Approximately 1,900 acres of land within the Resource Recovery Center’s (RRC) footprint will be developed for the project, in partnership with the Moorland Township. The RRC has treated wastewater in the region for 50 years and maintains a working farm that uses spray irrigation on crops as part of the treatment process. 

“This solar farm fulfills the vision of the Muskegon County Commissioners,” said Dave Johnson, director of the Resource Recovery Center. “It will benefit the users of the Muskegon County wastewater system as well as Moorland Township and the Ravenna School District.” 

The 250 MW project is expected to generate enough power for the equivalent of about 40,000 homes. It is slated for commercial operations in 2026.

Consumers Energy will own and operate the project while leasing the land beneath it, creating a source of ongoing revenue for the RRC.

Consumers serves electricity to 6.8 million of the 10 million people living in Michigan’s lower peninsula. The utility’s clean energy plan calls for eliminating coal as an electricity source by 2025 and achieving 90% emissions free electricity over the next 20 years. The company expects to bring 1.1 GW of solar online by the end of 2024. 

“We expect to meet our solar energy targets using less than 2% of farmland in Michigan,” said Consumers Energy. “We’re considering potential locations as farm fields – including those less ideal for growing crops – brownfield sites and publicly owned properties.”

Power Panel, a U.S.-based solar products manufacturer, introduced its portable solar device for emergency response, humanitarian aid and off-grid living. Manufactured in Oxford, Michigan and now being commercialized across the globe, the Gen20 is a portable cabinet equipped with solar, water filtration, and a hot water heater.

The off-grid system can produce 200 gallons per hour of potable water with no need for an external energy source, said Power Panel.

The device has been shipped to crisis zones, like in September 2017, when a Gen20 was sent to Dos Bocas, a mountain community that was severely impacted by the category 5 hurricane Maria. The device helped three families share electricity as they repaired from the damage. A further two Gen20 cabinets were sent to Ukraine in February 2022 to support front line responders and humanitarian efforts.

The device is comprised of four solar modules adding 540 W of peak power. Each module is an HJT N-type module with 28 cells in series per module. The device also contains 2.4 kWh of energy storage via two 12 V lead-acid batteries.

Water can be both filtered and heated by the energy produced by the off-grid device. It contains a 5-micron sediment filter and three 25-foot hoses.

The PV-thermal panels also have a peak thermal generation peak of 2.5 kW and a 52-gallon thermal energy storage tank. An optional water desalination tank can be added to the device.

The device also allows for charging electrical devices, including eight USB type 2 ports and a switch controlled 20 A aux cable.

The dry weight of the portable unit is 450 pounds, but it can be lowered to 242 pounds. for moving by removing the modules. With its 50 gallon tank full, the unit weights 891 pounds. Power Panel said the full unit can be installed from box to operations in under 2 hours.

The product, made in the USA, is expected to qualify for the 10% domestic content tax credit bonus laid out by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Power Panel originates from a long line of innovative American businesses run by its president Rob Kornahrens. Kornahrens opened a roofing business 40 years ago, followed by an air conditioning division in 1994, a solar installation business Advanced Green Technologies in 2005, and Power Panel in 2015. Advanced Green Technologies is among the largest rooftop solar installers in Florida.

See an installation time lapse below:

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law the Clean Energy and Jobs Act, a series of bills that include a mandate for 100% clean energy sales by utilities by 2040. Michigan now becomes the 12th state to enact a 100% clean energy mandate.

Whitmer said the clean energy package is expected to add more than 160,000 Michigan jobs. The state had already experienced a 5% boost in clean energy and transportation jobs last year.

Senate Bill 271 outlines the 100% emissions-free mandate, which directs utilities to generate at least 60% of its electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind. Nuclear power, hydrogen fuel, and natural gas paired with carbon capture are eligible to cover the remaining 40%.

While the high renewables penetration is a desirable outcome in the view of environmental advocates, some have argued that the inclusion of natural gas combined with carbon capture is a detriment due to inefficiency and high cost. Juan Jhong-Chung, co-executive director of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, said that carbon capture technology does not address air pollution associated with burning natural gas.

“What the bill does is actually redefine what counts as clean energy,” Jhong-Chung said. “It’s repackaging natural gas as a clean energy source. To us, 100% clean energy by 2040 is not going to be 100% clean.”

The bills include several clean energy milestone mandates, including:

• Requiring utilities to get 15% of their electricity from renewable energy sources — such as wind or solar— through 2029 and then increase the amount of electricity that’s generated from renewables to 50% by 2030 and 60% by 2035
• An energy storage standard of 2.5GW by 2030
• Raising caps on distributed energy sources such as rooftop solar
• Increasing electric utility energy efficiency savings requirements and goals and clarifying that energy efficiency programs don’t discourage building electrification

“Once Michigan’s bill becomes law, a dozen states will have made 100% clean or renewable electricity commitments,” said Johanna Neumann, a senior director with Environment America. “Environment America and our state organizations will continue to campaign for 100% renewable energy commitments from state governments across the country in years to come.”

The Clean Energy Future Plan, passed by Michigan’s House and Senate and now awaiting the Governor’s signature, will move the state closer to 100% clean energy.

The legislation, which includes Senate Bills 271, 273 and 502, calls for 50% renewable energy by 2030, ramping up to 60% by 2035 and 100% by 2040. The rooftop solar cap will be increased from 1% to 10% of each utility’s average peak load. The legislation also sets an energy storage standard of 2.5 GW.

Michigan is known as the center of U.S. automotive manufacturing, with three major automobile companies headquartered in the Detroit area. However, it has also been a trendsetter as far as moving to clean energy. If passed, Michigan would be the ninth state to enact a 100% clean electricity standard. It would also be the first Midwestern state to enact an energy storage standard.

“If this legislation passes and makes the state a leader in energy storage development, it can also be a model for other states seeking to improve distribution grid reliability,” Laura Sherman wrote in an OpEd on pv magazine USA. Sherman is president of Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council (EIBC). She added that, “Michigan has long been one of the worst-performing states for reliability, and recent severe power outages following an ice storm illustrate this vulnerability.”

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Michigan ranks 23rd with just over 1 GW installed, or enough to power 223,888 homes. SEIA projects that the state will install another 3.4 GW over the next five years to be ranked 16^th.

The legislation also calls for Michigan Public Service Commission to consider equity in its Integrated Resource Plan.

Earlier this year, a report by Evergreen Action and the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council found that in addition to saving Michigan households an average of $145 a year in energy costs, these policies supported by additional measures would secure $7.8 billion more in federal investment from the Inflation Reduction Act and drive the creation of nearly 160,000 quality jobs. The report also found that 65% of voters supported legislation to transition the state’s energy grid to 100% clean energy.

Whether taking a weekend excursion or living the increasingly popular “van life,” shoppers for class B recreational vehicles or camper vans have a new all-electric vehicle option from Detroit-based company Grounded.

The van, called the G2, was developed on GM’s BrightDrop Zevo 600 electric vehicle platform. It was developed by ex-SpaceX senior software engineer and Grounded chief executive officer Sam Shapiro and his team.

The G2 van offer 250 miles or more of range, 615 square feet of living space, and 640 W of solar. The van is powered by a 165 kWh battery, while a 10 kWh solar-charged battery supports the van’s interior.

Electrical features in the van can be controlled via the Grounded+ App, which can also be used to view energy usage, operate appliances, and monitor battery and water levels.

The G2 van has a max charging rate of 170 miles of range per hour and supports two passengers. It has an all-wheel drive powertrain with 390 lb.-ft torque and a 1,460 lbs. payload. It has an overall length of 290 inches and a 290 inch wheelbase. The van has a 6’5” interior ceiling.

Many features in the van include a queen-sized bed, bench seating with a flip-up table, a kitchen with a refrigerator and freezer, a sink, and induction stove. It has a “garage” for storage, under-seat storage, and overhead storage areas. The van also has an outdoor shower and dry-flush toilet.

Grounded supports its electric camper van with an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty, whichever comes first. The warranty also covers the interior appliances for one year. The camper van starts retailing at $195,000.

From pv magazine global

For the energy transition, the electrification of transport, and dozens of other technological areas, the relatively short lifetime of today’s battery technologies is a persistent roadblock.

Cracks forming in the electrodes of batteries are one cause of performance loss over time, and an issue that many manufacturers are looking to engineer out of the batteries using new materials more resistant to cracking. Research published this week, however, suggests that getting rid of cracks in the cathode may have an unwanted side effect.

“Many companies are interested in making ‘million-mile’ batteries using particles that do not crack,” explained Yiyang Li, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan. “Unfortunately, if the cracks are removed, the battery particles won’t be able to charge quickly without the extra surface area from those cracks.”

Conventional wisdom states that the charging speed for batteries should be improved by using cathodes made from smaller particles, since these have a higher surface area to volume ratio, shortening the distance lithium-ions have to travel.

Li and colleagues put this assumption to the test using sophisticated techniques to track the behavior of individual particles as the battery is charged. “Back when I was in graduate school, a colleague studying neuroscience showed me these arrays that they used to study individual neurons. I wondered if we can also use them to study battery particles, which are similar in size to neurons,” said Li.

The setup involved a 2x2cm chip containing 100 microelectrodes, onto which the group scattered nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode (NMC) particles. Using a needle which they say is “around 70 times thinner than a human hair,” the scientists could move the individual particles onto an electrode, allowing them to charge and discharge the particles individually. The group worked with NMC “532” material, containing 50% nickel, 30% manganese and 20% cobalt, and say they would expect similar results for any type of NMC cathode.

The experiment is described in full in the paper “Direct measurements of size-independent lithium diffusion and reaction times in individual polycrystalline battery particles,” published in Energy & Environmental Science. The results showed that the charging speed was not affected by particle size.

Li and Jinhong Min, who carried out the experiments, theorize that this could be down to the larger particles behaving more like a collection of small particles when the cathode cracks, Or that lithium-ions are able to move more quickly at the grain boundary. “Our results overturn the dominant picture of lithium transport in the most widely-used cathode material,” the two stated. “If this electrolyte cracking model is accurate, then our results show that intergranular cracking, long believed to be strongly detrimental to cycle life, is in fact essential for the ability of polycrystalline particles to (dis)charge at reasonable cycling rates.”

SPI Energy’s Solar4America plans HJT solar cell factory in the U.S.  The announced cell factory adds to the company’s U.S. manufacturing plans, which includes modules, wafers and now, cells.

Desalinated ocean water for green hydrogen production  A California hydrogen developer and a Netherlands-based desalination company that uses waste heat as an input have formed a partnership.

Former coal plant to house 100-hour iron-air battery  Minnesota’s public utilities commission approves Form Energy’s 10 MW/1 GWh iron-air long-duration energy storage facility construction project for Xcel Energy.

Michigan utility settlement revises resource plan to add 3.8 GW of renewables  DTE Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan will be more climate-friendly following political action from Vote Solar, Union of Concerned Scientists and the Ecology Center.

Secretary Yellen’s China mission underscores economic diplomacy, domestic climate policy nexus  The central tension at the heart of the IRA – limiting dependence on competitors like China while undergoing an energy transition that we cannot accomplish without them – will inform, and even dictate, so much of U.S. policy going forward.

Biden hails clean energy investments at new Enphase manufacturing site  President Biden delivered a speech celebrating the $500 billion in recent private investment in U.S. manufacturing. Solar inverter manufacturer Enphase announced its first shipments from a U.S. contract manufacturing facility, owned and operated by Flex.

New guidelines for inter-row spacing of PV power plants  A Canadian research group has applied new guidelines for ground coverage ratios to 31 locations in Mexico, the United States and Canada. It found the new formulae show that the factors affecting inter-row energy yield loss are highly dependent on latitude.

Michigan energy storage bills can serve as a model for the nation  Passing these bills would make the state among the most ambitious in the Midwest when it comes to growing storage capacity and encouraging business models that unlock the full potential of this technology, like the “virtual power plant” model.

The rapid expansion of small-scale, distributed-generation solar  Small-scale PV systems drove the installation of more than 200 GW of solar capacity last year and could support more than 300 GW this year. That means a reset for utilities.

Grassland agrivoltaics show minimal difference in forage yield to traditional growth  A Colorado State University study found that despite a 38% reduction in light availability, a C3 semi-arid grassland only reduced aboveground productivity and photosynthesis by 6%, pointing to the feasibility of grassland agrivoltaics.

Active grid-scale energy storage projects across the U.S.  Energy storage supports a grid increasingly defined by renewable energy. pv magazine USA recaps three recent project updates in grid-scale storage.

Duke Energy sells commercial DG business to ArcLight Capital  Combined with the sale of its utility-scale renewables business, Duke Energy has divested $3.16 billion worth of utility and distributed generation solar assets this year as the utility shifts its business to focus on its core regulated holdings.

DOE announces $45 million for pilot manufacturing of solar components  Funding from the Biden Administration’s Investing in America agenda is intended to support silicon component manufacturing and develop dual-use PV technologies.

There is broad consensus that the transition to clean energy is going to require lots more energy storage than we have today. How exactly that should happen is less clear. A handful of states have set storage procurement targets of varying ambition. At the federal level, the Inflation Reduction Act has created the biggest incentives for storage yet, but more work needs to happen at the state level. State policy will ensure that storage investments spurred on by the federal legislation happen at a big enough scale and quick enough pace to match the deployment of renewable energy needed to meet emissions reduction targets.

The Michigan Legislature recently introduced some of the boldest state-level policies for energy storage in the entire country. Passing these bills would make the state among the most ambitious in the Midwest when it comes to growing storage capacity and encouraging business models that unlock the full potential of this technology, like the “virtual power plant” model.

The first bill, HB 4256 would establish a state-wide target of 2,500 MW of grid-scale energy storage by 2030 and require utilities to achieve that goal by competitively procuring storage systems. These targets would set Michigan on a path to achieve the emissions reduction timeline set by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan. That plan aims to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 28% below 2005 levels by 2025 and 52% by 2030 and ultimately achieve economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050.

A separate set of bills, HB 4839 and HB 4840, would stimulate the market for behind-the-meter generation, help consumers make the decision to install their own storage systems and increase access to backup power for low-income customers who experience the worst consequences of rolling blackouts and power outages. One bill would provide rebates to residential electric customers who install rooftop solar and behind-the-meter storage systems, including extra support for low-income households. The other bill would require the development of statewide programs to create virtual power plants.

Virtual power plants are created by aggregating resources such as behind-the-meter customer solar and storage. On their own, these devices empower customers to generate and store their own power, ensure backup power, and save on their electricity bills. Bundled together through virtual power plants by the hundreds or thousands, these devices become even more powerful. They can be called upon to supply vast amounts of power to the grid to reduce peak energy supply constraints and add reliability to the grid, reducing costs for all ratepayers.

The recently introduced energy storage bills will collectively serve as a model for other states. The amount of storage HB 4256 targets would be transformative, especially for a state in a region of the country that has not deployed as much storage as elsewhere–there is only about 78 MW of utility-scale battery storage capacity in the region of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the grid operator for most of the Midwest including Michigan, compared to 317 MW in the region of the New England Independent System Operator and 295 MW in the region of the Mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM, according to the most recent U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

The residential storage bills would also help Michigan catch up to other regions of the country when it comes to behind-the-meter storage at homes and businesses. Utility customers in states from California to Texas have been able to receive compensation for their home storage systems by enrolling their systems with other distributed energy resources in a local area as aggregated virtual power plants.

The fact that these proposals surfaced in Michigan is particularly significant. The only Midwestern states that have enacted storage-related policies are Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri, according to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Energy Storage Policy Database.

Michigan is also facing significant electric reliability challenges. If this legislation passes and makes the state a leader in energy storage development, it can also be a model for other states seeking to improve distribution grid reliability. Michigan has long been one of the worst-performing states for reliability, and recent severe power outages following an ice storm illustrate this vulnerability. Lawmakers are calling for investigations into the major utilities’ stewardship of the grid, while the largest utility in the state, DTE Energy, is proposing some of its biggest rate increases ever to try to cover the costs of more grid maintenance. Storage, however, can make the grid more reliable and resilient while deferring the need for utilities to perform as many expensive grid upgrades, ultimately saving money for ratepayers. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s (EGLE) Energy Storage Roadmap, the document that informed the storage targets found in both the MI Healthy Climate Plan and the new legislation, identified several benefits from storage relevant to reliability: transmission congestion relief, distribution upgrade deferral, shaving demand to help meet peak load requirements and enabling virtual power plants.

To confront Michigan’s reliability and resiliency challenges, several things need to happen. First, low-income customers who are hit the hardest by power outages need to be provided with affordable options to purchase solar plus storage systems. HB 4840 would provide this much-needed assistance. Second, customers who are interested in installing storage for the sake of making their homes or businesses more resilient need to have assurances that if they install such a system, they can utilize those assets to their maximum potential, justifying the up-front costs. HB 4839 would ensure that customers are compensated for any benefits they provide to their neighbors, the grid and the utilities.

Third, as more of the state’s electricity is generated by renewables, utility-scale storage is becoming increasingly important to ensure that power is always available. HB 4256 would help preserve Michigan’s long-term electric reliability by making utility-scale storage more readily available wherever it is needed.

Finally, Michigan needs more storage that can discharge energy for longer periods. HB 4256 has a provision that could help encourage new technologies to meet the long-duration storage needs that are so critical for grid decarbonization goals. The provision requires the Michigan Public Service Commission to complete a study to determine how much long-duration energy storage is needed in Michigan and to establish targets to procure the needed long-duration storage.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently described Michigan as a “hotbed” for clean energy development. The state’s role in the electric vehicle space is known, but these bills would grow Michigan’s standing as a hotbed for battery storage and distributed energy.

Laura Sherman is president of Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council (EIBC), a trade organization that represents renewable energy developers and related companies working in Michigan.

Two Michigan representatives have introduced bills that would significantly slash the cost of residential solar and energy storage systems for low- and moderate-income (LMI) ratepayers. The bills would encourage widespread adoption of these technologies as a means of bolstering resiliency, reducing pollution and lowering energy costs.

State representatives Jenn Hill (D-Marquette) and Donavan McKinney (D-Detroit) introduced HB 4840, which would require utilities to offer rebates to customers to  offset the costs of solar and storage systems by thousands of dollars.

A companion bill, HB 4839, would require the Michigan Public Service Commission to create a virtual power plant (VPP) system which would aggregate solar plus battery systems into the grid when needed.

McKinney’s bill, HB 4840, would establish a rebate to customers of $500 per kW for a new solar system and $300 per kWh for a new battery storage system, which would be doubled for LMI customers.

The companion bill introduced by Hill would support a VPP framework, including load reduction, demand response and voltage support.

“An in-home battery paired with solar can keep vital medical equipment or refrigerators full of food running for days, protecting households during outages cause by extreme weather,” Hill said. “As an additional benefit, behind-the-meter storage systems can provide excess power back to the grid during periods of peak energy demand.”

“These bills will help build a more equitable and just Michigan while also making our state greener,” McKinney said. “In recent years, my district has been heavily impacted by power outages due to wind, ice and other causes, which have hindered many residents’ access to power. This legislation mitigates against those negative consequences. It also ensures that low-income areas receive opportunities to access alternative energy.”

The new legislation would boost Michigan’s residential solar market. Net metering ended in the state in 2018, replaced by the “Distributed Generation Program.” This program is similar to net metering because solar users get credit for all the excess energy they send to the grid—but only during the day. The credits vary by utility and are used to offset the power supply portion of their electric bills.

Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the Spring of 2022 announced the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan, which proposes that the state gets to 60% renewable energy resources and build infrastructure to accommodate millions of electric vehicles by 2030. The state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) states that 15% of the state’s energy consumption must be from renewable sources.

Through Q1 2023, Michigan ranked 25^th in the U.S. for solar development, with 1.04 GW of total installations and a 2.61 GW pipeline of projects to be deployed over the next five years, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

Producing a ton of cement requires 4.7 million british thermal units (BTU) of energy, equivalent to about 400 pounds of coal, generating nearly one ton of carbon emissions, according to Columbia University.

More than 90% of emissions from cement production are from the kiln where limestone and silica (shale and sand) are heated to create the material called “clinker” necessary in making cement. Of those emissions, 60% comes from “process emissions,” or the chemical decomposition of limestone in kiln. The other 30% comes from the combustion of fossil fuels to reach the high temperatures required to continually make cement, according to the Department of Energy.

Today global industrial companies are taking a more sustainable approach to cement production to stamp out the use of fossil fuel energy. Holcim US, the North American division of Swiss-French industrial conglomerate Holcim AG, announced the addition of a 25 MW ground-mounted solar array to be installed this year at a cement plant in the upper peninsula township of Alpena, Michigan.

Holcim plans to install solar on a 100-acre field site on the Alpena property, which produces 2.4 million metric tons of cement per year, including the OneCem brand cement, a low-carbon cement which cuts 10% emissions per year, as well as Types I through III, Masonry Type N and Type S cements.

Combined with existing projects, the Alpena solar facility will help the site self-generate 75% of its power needs with clean energy—an important step toward fulfilling Holcim’s pledge to power all of its U.S. operations with 100% renewable energy by 2030.

Holcim retained NorthStar Clean Energy, a subsidiary of utility business CMS Energy, otherwise known as Consumers Energy, to install the 25 MW solar array. The project will use fixed-tilt bifacial solar panels that generate power on both the front and back sides of the module.

The solar project will reduce the cement plant’s CO₂ emissions by 25,000 tons annually. Holcim is expected to receive about 35,000 MWh of clean power from the project per year under a Solar Equipment Service Contract, under a 20-year contract.

Commercial operation of the Alpena solar facility is slated to begin in December 2024.

Renewable energy plays a key role in Holcim’s decarbonization efforts across its building products operations. In late 2022, the company entered into its first virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

The industrials company has expanded its renewable portfolio to include a co-located 33 MW solar array with a 40 MWh battery storage system in Colorado, 4.5 MW of wind generation from three wind turbines in Paulding, Ohio, as well as an additional 20 MW from in Hagerstown, Maryland and Arkansas. Last week, the company announced its participation in the New York Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) program.

The company says it is evaluating on-site renewable energy at 11 manufacturing sites out of 350 sites in 43 states with 7,000 employees.

The Alpena solar facility follows a recent opening of a Holcim tire-derived fuel (TDF) facility at the  plant. Holcim launched the $7.4 million initiative to recycle 22,000 tons of tires per year into energy to help fuel the plant without the use of fossil fuels, while diverting tires from landfills.

Holcim AG is a $40.5 billion market capitalization producer of concrete, cement, aggregates, roofing and insulation building products in 70 countries.

Ontario, Canada-based Polar Racking announced it will add two facilities to manufacture solar mounts in the United States. One factory will be located in Michigan, the other in Florida.

A spokesperson for the company told pv magazine USA that it is building up to over 1 GW of tracker and fixed-tilt capacity by mid 2024, with the ability to scale up from there. The company said each site will add 10 jobs, with job opportunity growth as demand increases.

The Michigan facility is currently operational, and the Florida plant is expected to reach commercial production by the end of summer 2023, said the spokesperson.

“Our new U.S. facilities mitigate shipping lead time risks for our customers and gives us additional control over the entire supply chain,” said Pals Saddyappan, director of supply chain and global manufacturing, Polar Racking.

The company currently has a pipeline of 3.4 GW of solar mounting and racking across North America and the Carribean.

Made-in-USA solar components, including racking, trackers, and mounts, are in-demand across the nation, as the Inflation Reduction Act includes a 10% tax credit adder for renewable energy projects that include a certain threshold of domestic content. The Treasury Department recently released guidance on the content requirements, which contain complexities and are actively being evaluated by the industry. The subject of domestic content requirements was a hot topic at the RE+ Southeast renewable energy conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

“The expansion of Polar Racking’s manufacturing operations is in response to our customers’ needs to meet the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) domestic content requirements,” said Vishal Lala, managing director of Polar Racking. “Polar Racking supports the government’s initiative to re-shore the PV supply chain to create local jobs and bolster the local economy.”

Tracker for all terrains

This March, Polar Racking was tapped by OYA Renewables to supply its solar mounts for community solar projects in New York, the nation’s largest community solar market. Polar will supply its terrain-following Axsus series single-axis tracker for the construction of the Camillus Site 1 (6.61 MW), Camillus Site 2 (6.64 MW) and Vernon Site 1 (5.93 MW) community solar projects.

The company’s Axsus Sol-X tracker was developed in collaboration with leading automotive manufacturers to meet the challenge of installing solar on uneven terrain. As of April, Polar Racking has installed 200 MW of the product, with up to 400 MW expected to enter construction in 2023.

By applying automotive manufacturing best practices for a modular, on-site factory process, Polar Racking has increased assembly efficiencies, said Lala.

The Sol-X tracker features independent tables that can hold 6 to 24 modules per table for a total of up to 180 modules per row that are all controlled by a single motor. The table purlin design and flexible drive shaft allow it to follow the undulations of the terrain. Additionally, the Sol-X is can connect directly to various types of foundations, such as ground screws, helical piles, driven piles, and concrete ballasts for landfills. Its purlin table design also allows for greater pile and assembly tolerances that the company says allows for a much simpler and quicker installation.

Battery producer BorgWarner made two announcements of significant expansions to its manufacturing facilities in South Carolina and its home state of Michigan.

BorgWarner announced it will invest $42 million in the expansion of its Seneca, South Carolina facility. In addition to upgrading existing factory capacity, the investment will help fund the expansion of 3 GWh of new battery pack production lines.

The company expects to add 122 new jobs across production, technical support, manufacturing, engineering, maintenance, and supporting function roles over a three-year span as a result of the investment. Expansion projects are slated to begin in Q2 2023, with expected completion in the first half of 2024.

The battery producer said it worked closely with the State of South Carolina and Oconee County for approval of the expansion. Volker Weng, vice president and general manager, said the expansion moves the company closer to its goal of enabling lower-emissions transportation.

On the same day as the South Carolina announcement, BorgWarner released a report that said it will invest $20 million to expand the capabilities of three of its existing Michigan facilities, while also adding a new electric vehicle service center. An additional 186 jobs are expected to be created as a result of the investment.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation granted the company $1.86 million for the project via its business development program.

BorgWarner said the project will accelerate development, manufacturing and testing of EV products and EV charging infrastructure. This includes battery modules and packs, DC fast chargers, and microgrid control and operations devices.

The investment will be split across the three facilities. An Auburn Hills facility will add new electrification labs that will house testing equipment and new research and development areas. The Dearborn facility will expand its footprint by about 7,000 square feet, adding a DC fast charging wing. The new enhancements are expected to double the facility’s production and enable a second shift schedule.

“On top of creating more pathway jobs in the community … we intend to use the grant to expand BorgWarner’s manufacturing capability and presence, enhance volume capacity and grow our cross-functional departments,” said Frédéric Lissalde, president and chief executive office, BorgWarner Inc.

BorgWarner posted a full year 2022 net sales of $1.5 billion, with an adjusted operating margin of 10.1%. It expects earnings to range $1.6 to $1.75 billion in 2023, with a similar adjusted operating margin.

A bipartisan coalition led by Michigan Senators Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) and Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) introduced Senate Bills 152 and 153 to enable a statewide community solar market.

The bill would create a pathway for residents and businesses in Michigan to subscribe to a portion of capacity of off-site solar facilities. Production of the facility would be credited to a customer’s utility bill.

“Solar energy brings a lot of economic and environmental benefits, but not everyone is able to build their own solar array,” Sen. Irwin said. “These bills give people, organizations, and businesses the option to participate in affordable renewable energy generation in their own communities.”

From 2020-22, the average monthly residential electricity bill in Michigan increased by more than 15%, according to the Energy Information Administration. Some Michigan homeowners can lower their energy bills by installing their own solar panels, but more than 50% of households cannot access solar due to financial barriers, roof limitations or property ownership, said Irwin’s office. Under this legislation, residents can subscribe to community solar projects.

“These small-scale, local solar projects will be particularly useful to residents, providing an opportunity to independently produce energy for themselves and their neighbors, and providing savings on energy bills for those who subscribe,” said Sen. McBroom.

Community solar projects would be limited to 5 MW of maximum nameplate capacity. The program would enable homeowners, small businesses, government buildings, schools, and churches to share a solar facility’s capacity. These arrays are often built on small parcels of underutilized farmland, but can also be built on large commercial rooftops, parking lots, brownfields or reclaimed mining lands.

Michigan performs worse than the U.S. average in terms of hours of electric service interruption and the number of interruptions, according to a report by Local Solar for All. More than a quarter million Michiganders went without electricity for six hours in August 2022 due to grid failures started by inclement weather. Equipment failures left Ann Arbor in the dark for six hours on February 1, 2023, disrupting university and municipal operations.

 The Local Solar for All report found that interruptions in service led to just under $5 billion in losses throughout 2020 and 2021. Local community solar offers a solution as electricity is generated close to where it’s needed and can provide homes and small businesses power even during demand spikes and widespread outages.

Local Solar for All released a roadmap in 2020 for distributed solar and storage adoption. It found that distributed clean energy like local solar could provide energy consumers nationwide as much as $473 billion by 2050 as part of the clean energy transition that is already underway.

In Michigan, Vote Solar modeled that ratepayers would experience direct benefits of $379,966 annually from local solar and storage expansion. The roadmap also showed that a clean electric grid that leverages local solar and battery storage can be $88 billion less expensive to run across the country than today’s centralized grid.

Utility DTE Energy proposed a $7 billion, five-year grid investment plan in November 2021. Consumers Energy also filed its own grid investment plan in 2021, which includes $5.4 billion in investments over five years. This $12.4 billion in spending is passed to consumers in the form of rate raises. Community solar may offer a more cost-effective and reliable electricity grid for Michigan.

The University of Michigan (U-M) has released a request for information (RFI) for 25 MW of solar installations, distributed across its campuses in Dearborn, Flint, and Ann Arbor.

U-M is targeting carbon neutrality for Scope 2 emissions (purchased electricity) university wide by 2025 and eliminating all Scope 1 (direct) emissions by 2040. Additionally, the City of Ann Arbor has declared a climate emergency and set a Scope 1 and 2 carbon neutrality targets for the entire city boundary by 2030.

The university is seeking information from parties that are qualified to either design, build and transfer the PV installations or to design, build, own, operate and maintain them through an energy-as-a-service model. It seeks a 20-year contract and requests to retain the right to remove or relocate installations at its own cost.

The RFI calls for 15 MW to 20 MW at its Ann Arbor campus, 1 MW to 5 MW at the Dearborn campus, and 1 MW to 5 MW at the Flint campus. Providers are welcome to bid on the entirety of the MW volume or smaller portions therein. Projects are expected to be constructed in a phased approach, with the entire portfolio planned to reach commercial operations no later than December 31, 2025.

For the Ann Arbor Campus, the University of Michigan owns and operates its own 13.2 kV and 4.8 kV electrical distribution systems. Individual building electrical usage data can be found here.

Preference will be given to goods or services manufactured or provided in the U.S. if they are competitively priced and of comparable quality, said U-M. Additional preference will be given to competitively priced goods or services manufactured or provided by Michigan businesses.

In addition to the 25 MW RFI issued by U-M, the City of Ann Arbor is seeking to procure an additional 1 MW to 2 MW of capacity through a separate request for proposals (RFP).

Campus maps identifying buildings, parking structures and lots for each university campus can be found on the following websites:

• Ann Arbor – https://umaec.umich.edu/maps-detours/campus-construction-maps/
• Dearborn – www.dropbox.com/s/bjxmme3ihcyomzu/2022_UM_DearbornMap-no%20bleed.pdf
• Flint – https://www.umflint.edu/campus-map/

Project proposals will be selected based on the proposals alignment with scope and project objectives; relevancy and success of company’s comparable projects; individual proposed team members’ experience in working on similar projects; demonstrated adequate financial, planning and execution resources; proposed phasing of the project; transfer cost or energy purchase cost as applicable; and the firm’s philosophy regarding installation locations and interconnection to the campus system.

“This action marks the start of a process — toward renewable, sustainable power generated right here on campus — that the entire community can rally behind,” said Santa J. Ono, president, University of Michigan.

In addition to on-campus solar efforts, U-M was recently recognized by the EPA Green Power Partnership for its renewable energy use. The organization ranked U-M eighth on its quarterly Top 30 College & University List and 89th on its National Top 100 List.

Our Next Energy, Inc. (ONE), announced Aries Grid, a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) utility-scale battery system that can serve as long-duration energy storage.

Founded in 2020 by Apple Inc. veteran Mujeeb Ijaz, ONE was initially known for making batteries for electric vehicles. Earlier this month, ONE announced that it had raised $300 million to fund the first phase of a $1.6 billion U.S.-based battery cell gigafactory. Investors include Fifth Wall, Franklin Templeton, Temasek, and others. The company also received $220 million in grants from the state of Michigan, and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures was an early investor.

“Energy storage is the key to decarbonizing both mobility and the grid.” said Mujeeb Ijaz, CEO and founder of ONE. “With Aries Grid, ONE is servicing a market demand for safer and more sustainable utility-scale energy storage solutions that are, for the first time, cost competitive with fossil fuels, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act.”

The Michigan factory, which is located in Van Buren Township, will begin production of the Aries Grid LFP cells in 2024, and the cells will be offered in 2-, 3- and 6-MWh options to support modular and scalable renewable energy storage.

The lithium iron energy storage system uses a LFP cathode chemistry, which is known as having a minimized fire risk when compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries. ONE also reports that LFP is more durable and has double the lifetime energy throughput of the nickel, cobalt and manganese (NCM) chemistries which make up most commercially available stationary energy storage systems in the United States.

With discharge times ranging from 4 to 12 hours, the company reports that the Aries Grid can create a renewable microgrid that provides 24×7 firm capacity baseload to power factories, data centers and communities.

“Aries Grid offers utilities a versatile grid asset while providing businesses with a tool to help decarbonize their supply chains,” said Dr. Deeana Ahmed, vice president of strategy, policy & sustainability of ONE. “With durable, sustainable, Michigan-built batteries, there is a real path forward to increasing renewable electricity across the U.S. and around the world.”

Since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law in August, several battery manufacturers have announced plans to set up shop in the United States. Included in the IRA is over $60 billion for domestic manufacturing across the clean energy supply chain, which includes $30 billion in production tax credits to accelerate domestic manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and critical minerals processing.

The energy transition has caused an upswing in interconnection costs related to network upgrades across the PJM Interconnection market, according to a new study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. PJM is a regional transmission organization that serves 13 states and the District of Columbia.

At year-end 2021, PJM had 259 GW of new power generation and storage capacity actively seeking grid interconnection. Capacity in PJM’s queue is dominated by solar (116 GW), standalone energy storage (42 GW), solar-plus-storage systems (32 GW), and wind power (39 GW).

PJM’s queue has ballooned in recent years, with 2021’s active queue increasing by 240% compared to year-end 2019. The capacity associated with interconnection requests is nearly twice as large as PJM’s peak load in recent years (155 GW). This explosive growth of interconnection requests along with lengthy study timelines and high project withdrawal rates (423 GW) motivated the Mid-Atlantic grid operator to reform its interconnection process in 2022.

Going forward, PJM has adopted a “first-ready, first-served” approach and increased study deposits that are at risk when projects withdraw.

The PJM study culls data from more than 1,100 projects, covering 86% of new generators in the grid from 2000 to 2022. However, the Berkeley Lab notes the difficulty in finding project cost specific data, creating an information barrier for developers, regulators and policy makers.

For completed projects, average costs have doubled relative to pre-pandemic costs, from $42 per kW to $84 per kW, with a median of $18 per kW to $30 per kW).

For active projects, interconnection costs have ballooned higher, from $29/kW to $240/kW between pre-pandemic costs and costs starting in 2020.

Withdrawn projects face the highest costs, averaging at $599/kW, with a median of $156/kW, which is likely a key driver for those withdrawals, the report notes.

Full access to the study can be found here.

Network upgrade cost driver

The key driver to interconnection cost increases has been network upgrade costs, Berkeley Lab finds.  The average costs for upgrades beyond the substation have risen sharply since 2019, to $71/kW for complete projects, $227/kW for active projects, and $563/kW for withdrawn projects.

A small group of generators face lower network upgrade costs by choosing interconnection services as an energy source instead of a capacity resource. However, as a result project owners forfeit preferential treatment during daily high load times, cannot participate in PJM’s capacity market, and may face increased curtailment.

Among recently completed projects, interconnection costs have fallen for natural gas ($18/kW) facilities, while increasing for both solar ($99/kW) and onshore wind ($60/kW) relative to historical costs through 2016. Costs for both active and withdrawn storage and solar plus storage projects are surprisingly high ($337/kW), but complete projects are much cheaper (storage: $4/kW, solar hybrid: $20/kW).

The PJM study was funded in part under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X), and builds on Berkeley Lab’s previous work tracking interconnection requests and timelines.

After a recent study from October 2022 examining interconnection costs in the MISO market, the Berkeley Lab will publish future analyses on the NYISO, ISO-NE, and SPP markets in the coming months.

IRA to drive $114 billion in U.S. renewable energy investments by 2031, report says  The advanced manufacturing production (AMPC) credit and domestic content requirement (DCR) are key to spurring a more rapid U.S. renewable energy economy, Wood Mackenzie notes.

Virginia governor kills Ford-CATL battery plant, calling it a “front for the Chinese Communist Party”  In recent weeks Glenn Youngkin nixed a Virginia Ford facility after he was informed that companies had decided to invest.

50 states of solar incentives: Michigan  Michigan’s Healthy Climate Plan put the state near the top in renewable expectations, but it is currently planted squarely in the middle as far as how much solar is installed.

Southern Environmental Law Center calls for new TVA board to pause TVA’s gas plans  With six new TVA board members appointed by President Biden, the board should pause TVA’s plans to add gas generation, the group says, and direct the utility to evaluate cleaner and lower-cost alternatives.

Three groups appeal to CPUC to reconsider NEM 3.0  The California Public Utilities Commission should redo its analysis because NEM 3.0 is based on flawed modeling, the groups said.

Duke acquires 175 MW Colorado municipal utility solar project  Under the agreement, Juwi will continue to develop, and provide O&M support to Duke for the municipal project.

U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board rules in favor of Q Cells in patent dispute with REC  The Board issued a favorable decision for Hanwha Q Cells over REC Solar’s patent claims. The court has ruled that the contested claims of REC’s U.S. patent were not patentable. The decision is similar to those in courts in China and Europe, according to Q Cells.

Near the end of 2022, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin told the Virginia Economic Development Partnership group to remove the state from the running to host a $3.5 billion battery factory that Ford Motor was considering in partnership with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer.

The Republican governor first publicly commented on the decision during his State of the Commonwealth annual address on January 11th. Local reporting from the Richmond Times-Dispatch suggested the governor made the decision even after being told the two companies had decided on the Virginia site.

During the speech, he called on Virginia’s General Assembly to send him a bill that would “prohibit dangerous foreign entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing Virginia’s farmland.” In the Washington Post, Youngkin’s chief legal counsel Richard Cullen was quoted saying, “They (CATL) were looking for land and incentives to build something and I think that was the nucleus of the evolving concern about farmland.”

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis recently made statements that China was attempting to purchase land in his own state, and that they should be wary of those actions.

After the speech, many news sources reported that the Virginia governor said, “We felt that the right thing to do was to not recruit Ford as a front for China to America.”

A spokesperson for the Governor told the Detroit News, “While Ford is an iconic American company, it became clear that this proposal would serve as a front for the Chinese Communist Party, which could compromise our economic security and Virginians’ personal privacy.”

Ford was also considering building the facility in Michigan.

A U.S. Department of Energy map from November 2022 highlights 55 individual battery factory announcements in the United States. The capacity will take the nation from 55 GWh of manufacturing space in 2021 to more than 1,000 GWh by 2030. The estimated capacity will be able to support the manufacturing of 10 to 13 million vehicles per year.

Michigan is one of the states leading these battery manufacturing announcements. Of the 55 projects noted by the Department of Energy, 11 of the facilities were from Michigan. Facilities n Georgia and Kentucky also top the list of planned manufacturing volumes. All three of the states have already announced between 97 and 136 GWh of manufacturing capacity.

In December, Bloomberg reported on the facility and suggested that CATL may be uncertain about moving to the U.S. due to the political complexities of the relationship between the two countries, specifically considering Taiwan.

The pv magazine USA tour of solar incentives last stop was Texas, and now jumps north to Michigan.

Michigan, the Great Lakes State, is located in the upper Midwest and ranks 10^th largest by population and 11^th by area. It is known as the center of U.S. automotive manufacturing, with three major automobile companies headquartered in the Detroit area.

Last Spring, Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan, which proposes that the state gets to 60% renewable energy resources and build infrastructure to accommodate millions of electric vehicles by 2030. The plan has been under development since 2020 when the Governor committed Michigan to achieving economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. This included interim reductions of 28% by 2025, 52% by 2030, and maintaining net negative greenhouse gas emissions after 2050.

The Governor has begun taking steps outlined in the plan. She committed to powering all state facilities with 100% renewable energy by 2025 and attracted battery and electric vehicle manufacturing investments from automakers, who have added 21,600 jobs in the state.

While the roadmap put the state near the top in renewable expectations, it is currently planted squarely in the middle as far as how much solar is installed. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), in 2022 Michigan ranked 25^th with just under 1 GW installed, or enough to power 153,000 homes. SEIA projects that the state will install another 2.4 GW over the next five years.

Incentives

Michigan’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) states that 15% of the state’s energy consumption must be from renewable sources.

Net metering ended in the state in 2018, replaced by the “Distributed Generation Program.” This program is similar to net metering because solar users get credit for all the excess energy they send to the grid—but only during the day. The credits vary by utility and are used to offset the power supply portion of their electric bills.

“Michigan EIBC and our member companies have been working for years to address the challenges facing customer-sited distributed energy resources, like rooftop solar and storage, as well as community solar projects in Michigan,” said  Dr. Laura Sherman, president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council. “For rooftop solar, one of the biggest challenges is the limit on how much solar can be installed by homeowners and businesses and the limit on how big those solar projects can be.”

Such a limit creates a challenge to any customer thinking about going solar, because they can’t be sure they’ll be able to benefit from net metering. It also presents an obstacle to solar installers who, because of the uncertainty, are cautious about hiring new employees or expanding their businesses.

“We’re working with the legislature to reintroduce bills to eliminate the limits on rooftop solar and ensure that customers are fairly compensated for benefits they provide to the grid,” said Sherman.

Consumers Energy, an investor-owned utility serving over 6 million customers in Michigan, had set a cap of 2% total distributed generation in its territory, which was one of the most restrictive distributed energy ratemaking rules in the nation and had come under fire from solar advocates and environmentalists. In December the utility filed a settlement agreement with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) in its 2022 rate case, agreeing to double the cap from 2% to 4%. The utility now awaits MPSC’s approval on the settlement agreement.

Community solar

Community solar enables those who cannot afford solar on their own homes, or whose homes are not amenable to solar, to benefit from renewable energy. Unfortunately Michigan does not have any community solar legislation in place.

Last year House Bills 4715 and 4716 were presented to the legislature, which—if passed—would allow for the creation and financing of community solar facilities and for subscribers to receive credit for solar produced. The bills would also include mechanisms to ensure that low-income households or service organizations could subscribe to community solar and called for the development of financing options, financial incentives, education and outreach programs. The bills never reached a vote in the last session, but will be reintroduced in the new legislative session in the House and Senate in the coming weeks.

“Here at CCSA, our goal is to pass the legislation, cut red tape, and enable the creation of a community solar program that will give access to customers across Michigan,” said Carlo Cavallaro, Midwest Regional Director of the Coalition of Community Solar Access. “Without legislation passing, customers will not be able to access community solar.”

Michigan EIBC also sees the value in community solar. “It’s important that these projects are driven by communities and generate the greatest benefit to those communities,” said Sherman. “Michigan EIBC is working with partners to reintroduce legislation that would create a legal structure for community solar projects and ensure all Michiganders are able to access the benefits of renewable energy.”

Solar loans

Michigan Saves is a non-profit green bank that offers low-interest loans to homeowners or businesses that want to go solar or go all electric. The program has set a goal to provide $1 billion in clean energy finance by the end of this year, and that includes supporting low- to middle-income individuals.

Cutting rate increase

Last February, Michigan electric utility DTE Energy proposed to implement new charges for future residential solar customers that dissuade people from going solar. But in a win for rooftop solar, the Michigan Public Service Commission announced that it had rejected the plan. This came as part of a November 2022 ruling that rejected the utility’s proposal for a $388 million rate increase, instead approving a $30.5 million increase. The full ruling can be found here.

Landmark installations

The Assembly solar project is the largest solar installation to date in the state of Michigan. Built in three phases, the third and final phase came online early last year. The 346.9 MWdc solar installation spans a total of 1,200 acres in Shiawassee County. It includes 800,000 Longi bifacial solar modules on Nextracker trackers. The project was developed by Ranger Power, a Chicago-based utility-scale solar developer, in partnership with D.E. Shaw Renewable Investment.

The impressive Assembly plant will soon be supplanted as the largest in the state. Ford Motor Company announced through MIGreenPower, a clean energy program run by DTE, that it will add 650 MW of new solar at its headquarters. The company said that by 2025 all of its Michigan-made vehicles will be assembled with the equivalent of 100% carbon-free electricity.

Next stop

The next stop on the pv magazine tour of solar incentives will be Illinois.

The Palm Desert region of southern California was an early innovator in renewable energy, with picturesque Tehachapi Pass wind farms dotting the horizon and utility-solar projects cropping up over the last decade. To fully harness the daily potential of wind and solar energy, the region will soon unveil a new grid-scale energy storage system portfolio from a project developer whose roots lie in its renewable energy market.

Advanced Battery Concepts received a 646 MWh order from Coram Energy, a renewable energy project developer, to deploy battery storage systems in utility-scale projects in Los Angeles and the Coachella Valley of southern California.

Coram Energy’s founder Brian O’Sullivan was the original developer of the Tehachapi Pass wind farms in the Palm Desert region.  In 2012, Coram sold a 50% interest in a 102 MW wind project portfolio plus 22 MW of operated wind farms in the Tehachapi region to Brookfield Renewable Partners.

ABC secured the agreement by offering a solution to storing excess local wind and solar generation at what it says was lower acquisition, operation, maintenance and lifecycle costs, resulting in an improved levelized cost of stored energy and return on investment for the operator, versus lithium-ion competitors.

The battery system is based on ABC’s recently released BOX-BE Energy Storage System, a DC battery pack that stores and delivers 341 kWh of daily energy at power delivery rates up to 1.8 MW, using the EverGreenSeal bipolar battery cell.

The Coram supply agreement is built on an initial project consisting of three phases: an initial demonstration followed by two installations at two sites representing 646 MWh, using 2,000 BOX-BE systems.

“Coram in striving to improve renewable source power reliability for California customers, seeking the best available energy storage products for present and future economical operation from a company with matching values,” said Dr. Edward Shaffer, founder and chief executive officer of ABC. “ABC’s BOX-BE ESS embodies our priorities of economic, social and environmental responsibility.”

Following the sale of the Tehachapi wind farms to Brookfield, Brian O’Sullivan headed Mexico Power Group, a Mexican wind project developer that partnered with private equity investor First Reserve in 2015 to build the first utility-scale wind farm south of the border, La Bufa (130 MW) wind in Zacatecas, Mexico.  Volkswagen Mexico produces cars in Zacatecas using clean power produced from the La Bufa wind farm, whose power-purchase agreement expires in 2033.

Formed in 2009, Clare, Michigan-based Advanced Battery Concepts has advanced a lead-acid battery that recycles numerous components found in traditional batteries.  The company has raised $16.75 million in growth equity to date from Nuveen Global Impact Fund and other investors.  Founder Ed Shaffer told MiBiz on January 9 that ABC is in the midst of raising an additional $50 million equity round.

The California Public Utilities Commission filed a 2022 integrated resource plan (IRP) which adopts a target of 25.5GW of supply-side renewable energy and 15GW of energy storage and demand response capacity by 2032. The renewable capacity targets would effectively raise the state’s portfolio to 73%.

With the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act, California sees significant incremental energy storage additions, at 6.5 GW from 2022 to 2030, according to BloombergNEF’s second half 2022 Energy Storage Cost Outlook. While batteries are already the preferred choice for system capacity shortfalls in the state, the standalone investment tax credit in the IRA makes the economics of storage projects much more attractive.

From pv magazine global

University of Michigan researchers developed a new photocatalytic water splitting system that is reportedly able to reach a 9.2% solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency.

The proposed system uses the higher energy part of the solar spectrum to split water and the lower part of the spectrum to provide heat that encourages the reaction. The extra heat also allows the hydrogen and oxygen to remain separate, rather than renewing their bonds and forming water once more.

It works in an indoor environment and uses pure water, concentrated solar light, and an indium gallium nitride photocatalyst. The semiconductor catalyst, a forest of nanowires of indium gallium nitride grown onto a silicon surface, is able to become more efficient during use, according to the scientists. The device absorbs photons and converts them into electrons, which are used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The nanowires are peppered with nanoscale balls of metal, 1/2000th of a millimeter across, that use those electrons and holes, positively charged gaps left behind when electrons are liberated by the light, to help direct the reaction.

“A simple insulating layer atop the panel keeps the temperature at a toasty 75 C, or 167 F – warm enough to help encourage the reaction while also being cool enough for the semiconductor catalyst to perform well,” the scientists said.

They claim that the system is nearly 10 times more efficient than other solar water-splitting systems of the same kind. They said that the final cost of hydrogen could fall with a bigger semiconductor.

“We reduced the size of the semiconductor by more than 100 times compared to some semiconductors only working at low light intensity,” said researcher Peng Zhou.

The research group described the system in the study “Solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of more than 9% in photocatalytic water splitting,” published in Nature.

“This temperature-dependent strategy also leads to an STH efficiency of about 7 % from widely available tap water and sea water and an STH efficiency of 6.2% in a large-scale photocatalytic water-splitting system with a natural solar light capacity of 257 watts,” they said.

They claimed that the next challenge is to further improve the efficiency and generate ultra-high purity hydrogen that can be directly fed into fuel cells.

Electric vehicle battery manufacturing capacity in North America is projected to increase to 1,000 GWh/year by 2030, representing a 20 times increase from 55 GWh/year of manufacturing capacity in 2021, thanks primarily to stimulus funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.

The majority of new EV battery plants are scheduled to begin production between 2025 and 2030. By then, production capacity will be capable of supporting the manufacture of roughly 10 to 13 million fully electric vehicles per year.

In a report by the Department of Energy in conjunction with Argonne National Laboratory, planned battery capacity production is seeing the highest penetration rate in the Midwest and Southeast, with historic Rust Belt states across the Midwest having facilities devoted to battery production.  To optimize supply chain logistics, many battery facilities will be co-located within existing automotive plants.

Michigan, Kentucky and Georgia have the highest estimated battery production capacity through 2030, at 97 GW per year to 136 GW/y, followed by Ohio, Kansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and California, with 46 GW/y to 97 GW/y of estimated battery production.

By existing vehicle production locations, the Midwest has a good number of existing facilities for battery use, at 25 facilities, while surprisingly Ontario has nine facilities and Mexico has 30 facilities that are flagged for planned EV battery capacity.

In addition to vehicle facility co-locations for EV battery production, the concentration of 2030 battery plant announcements broadly correlates to states in the same region seeing the highest rate of new EV registrations. Southeast states like Georgia and Florida, which tallied 128,000 new EV registrations, are seeing a manufacturing uptick across the historic manufacturing hub of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. West Coast states of California (878,000) and Washington  (91,000) seeing a high EV registration are broadly seeing production capacity coming online in the next few years in California, Arizona and Nevada.

A few states with existing vehicle assembly plants such as Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi, have not telegraphed plans for additional 2030 goal EV battery production capacity, despite having five existing vehicle assembly locations.

Since the landmark Inflation Reduction Act passed in August, auto makers and battery companies have announced $11 billion in new investments into the North American EV battery supply chain. Panasonic opened a $4 billion factory in Kansas and is now eyeing Oklahoma,  Toyota increased its commitment to a North Carolina battery production facility from $1.3 billion to $3.8 billion, and Statevolt intends to spend $4 billion on a factory in California.

Through late 2021, 2.3 million vehicles or just over 4% of North American vehicles on the road were EVs or plug-in hybrid EVs, with 630,000 EVs sold in 2021 alone, representing sales growth of 92% compared to 457,000 of sales in 2020.

Since 2010, 65% of EVs sold in the U.S. have been assembled here, and over 110 GWh of lithium-ion batteries have been installed in those vehicles to date.  The average range for EVs reached 290 miles in 2021, with 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline cumulatively saved since 2010, reducing consumer fuel costs by $1.3 billion in 2021. EVs drove 19.1 billion miles in 2021 using 6,100 GWh of electricity, saving 700 million gallons of gasoline.

As of December 2021, Tesla (42.9%), General Motors (11.6%), Toyota (8%), Ford (6.8%) and Nissan (7.1%) generated more than 75% of total EV sales in North America, with four Tesla models, the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt/Volt, Ford Fusion Energi and Toyota Prius making up some of the 14 most popular EV models by sales of over 30,000 units apiece in 2021.

California, Washington D.C., Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Vermont and Colorado all have total EV shares above 1% relative to total cars on the road, with California holding more than 3% ratio of EVs to conventional vehicles on the road for late 2021, with Hawaii and West Coast states to Colorado following the Sunshine State.

The rate of electric vehicle adoption will likely increase substantially in coming years as states issue EV mandates.

Additional data and reports can be accessed from the DOE here. The research report was authored by Argonne’s David Gohlke, Yan Zhou, Xinyi Wu and Calista Courtney.

Consumers Energy, an investor-owned utility serving over 6 million customers in Michigan, filed a settlement agreement with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) in its 2022 rate case. The utility now awaits MPSC’s approval on the settlement agreement.

Under the settlement, which was arrived at in late December, Consumers agreed to raise its cap on distributed generation in its service territory from 2% to 4% of total generation.

The cap was one of the most restrictive distributed energy ratemaking rules in the nation and had come under fire from solar advocates and environmentalists since it was placed in 2008. Members of Vote Solar, the Ecology Center, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) worked in tandem to advocate for this outcome.

“Raising the cap on distributed resource generation has been a long time coming, and we’re thrilled to have this increase included in the agreement,” said Will Kenworthy, Midwest regulatory director at Vote Solar.

Though the cap has been raised, a 4% limit still places a low ceiling for a rooftop solar, which is in increasingly higher demand and offers many ratepayers significant bill savings.

“Legislation to permanently eliminate the cap and accelerate solar growth for all Michiganders is still the ideal outcome, and our sights remain set on making it a reality,” said Kenworthy.

Also in the Consumers Energy settlement was the agreement to increase the value of credit for exporting excess distributed energy back to the grid, often referred to as net metering. The new includes transmission costs in the outflow credit, offering what Vote Solar called a fairer compensation rate for solar energy that homeowners produce but do not self-consume.

The settlement also added a community solar pilot proposal that will be implemented when Consumers Energy files its Voluntary Green Pricing proposal before October 2023. Vote Solar said while all Michigan utilities are required to offer Voluntary Green Pricing programs to their customers, eligibility is largely limited by the utility’s offerings. This often leaves renters, low-income households, and those in non-traditional housing locked out of participation.

“Community solar can unlock the economic and environmental benefits of solar power for those who might otherwise face barriers to clean energy access,” said Charles Griffith, climate and energy program Director, the Ecology Center. “It has a vital role to play in closing disparities in clean energy adoption.”

Consumers also pledged to incorporate equity into its distribution grid planning. It promised to conduct an analysis of energy reliability in underserved communities and to improve its stakeholder outreach processes, providing ratepayers with opportunities to engage on issues that impact them.

The analysis Consumers pledged to conduct will shed light on current inequitable service and hosting capability,” said Daniel Abrams, attorney, ELPC, “The next step is fixing these issues with an increased focus on investment in these communities.”

Finally, the settlement introduced electric vehicle rulemaking improvements and expanded programs. The utility will expand its residential PowerMIDrive pilot to a permanent program and will increase rebate amounts. The program will add more options to facilitate charging for low-income customers and residents at multi-family housing.

“With more and more EVs coming on the market, we need to ensure that charging opportunities are available to everyone that wants to drive electric,” said Griffith.  “This will ensure that we expand access to the benefits of EVs–such as lower fueling costs and cleaner air–for all communities.”

Vote Solar and its affiliates celebrated the win and look forward to an approval from the MPSC. “This voluntary increase is a big step forward and an indication of more progress to come,” said Kenworthy.

Michigan PSC rejects anti-rooftop solar policy The state’s utility regulator was not convinced by DTE Energy’s argument that distributed energy causes a cost shift, and the utility improperly modeled the benefits of distributed generation.

UConn receives $4.4 million solar-plus-batteries predictive resilience grant The University of Connecticut’s Eversource Energy Center will develop technologies to shorten power outages.

Solar-powered Sion EV to feature enhanced driver-assistance systems from Continental Sono’s first Sion models are planned to be priced at $25k, with production slated to begin in the second half of 2023.

Powin, BlackRock start working on world’s largest battery Grid-scale battery specialist Powin and BlackRock have started work on a 909 MW/1,915 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Australia; Construction is set to begin in 2023.

CSI Energy Solutions signs 2.6 GWh battery agreement with UBS in North America Batteries under the agreement utilize CSI Energy’s SolBank utility-scale energy storage systems and will be deployed in 2024-25.

Longi claims world’s highest efficiency for silicon solar cells Longi Green Energy said it achieved a 26.81% efficiency rating for a heterojunction solar cell, as confirmed by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH).

In February, Michigan electric utility DTE Energy proposed new charges to future residential solar customers that would harshly devalue the investment, working in direct contrast of climate and sustainability goals while impinging on the personal choice of Michiganders. 

In a win for rooftop solar, the Michigan Public Service Commission announced it rejected the plan. The rejection came as part of a November 18 ruling that rejected the utility’s proposal for a $388 million rate increase, instead approving a $30.5 million increase. The full ruling can be found here.

Under the proposal, a fee based on the three highest-demand one-hour intervals over the last year would be leveraged on rooftop solar customers under the proposal. Ben Inskeep, principal energy policy analyst at EQ Research, said the proposed charge would amount to $100 a month or more. Inskeep said customers would have no way to predict what their charge is, as peak demand hours are not reported to customers by DTE. 

“I certainly can’t imagine any customer ever wanting to take service under this proposal. It would be too draconian and would completely erode any financial benefit one would receive from putting solar on their rooftops,” said Inskeep. 

The utility also proposed to slash bill credits for excess solar production sent back to the grid in half.

Rejecting the proposal, the Michigan Public Service Commission said, “The Commission is not convinced by the company’s argument that DG (distributed generation) customers create a cost shift onto non-DG customers and does not find that the company properly evaluated the benefits of DG…” 

A nationwide study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of net metering found that a cost shift is negligible until solar reaches 10% of the grid mix. In its filing with the Commission, DTE said it would voluntarily increase the current 1% cap on the number of customers that can participate in its residential rooftop solar program to 3%, but only if its proposals are approved. 

The Commission flatly rejected the proposed mandatory rates, which Inskeep said “included confusing and egregiously high fixed charges.” 

Net metering policy battles are cropping up in most major solar markets across the nation. Recently, there have been rooftop solar policy failures in California and Indiana. 

Four states with a combined population of 29 million could enact new renewables laws next year, or more aggressive versions of existing laws, thanks to voters in those states.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has previously targeted 100% clean electricity by 2040, and will soon work with a state legislature with a majority of Democrats in both legislative bodies.

Similarly, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has called for economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050, and will soon be backed by a majority of Democrats in both legislative bodies.

In each state, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) expects the new “pro-environmental” legislative majorities to “hit the ground running” with a major climate bill.

In Maryland, Governor-Elect Wes Moore campaigned on a goal to reach 100% clean electricity by 2035, and will lead the state alongside a Democrat-controlled legislature that last year enacted a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

In Massachusetts, Governor-Elect Maura Healy pledged in her campaign to seek 100% clean electricity by 2030. The state’s legislature last year enacted a law targeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and will retain its Democratic majority.

In each of those two states, a renewables law more aggressive than the current version could result.

In Arizona, where votes were still being counted, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs has proposed a water and energy innovation initiative in which stakeholders would work together toward carbon-free energy by 2050. If she wins her election, she may have the opportunity to work with a Democratic-controlled legislature to launch that initiative.

Calling the U.S. elections a “green wave,” Pete Maysmith, senior vice president of campaigns for LCV, saw a similarity to 2018, “when we saw new governors come into office ready to pass major clean energy and environmental legislation.” Four of those five governors have won re-election, he said, while in Nevada the vote count is ongoing.

New goals

Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healy proposes to reach 100% clean electricity by 2030 in part by reaching “a total of 10 GW of deployed solar by 2030,” with a focus on bringing rooftop solar to underserved communities, and encouraging “smart siting” of large solar projects.

Healy also plans to “press utilities to plan for and upgrade the distribution system to integrate new solar, without the delays customers face today due to utility backlogs.”

To position Massachusetts as “the nation’s offshore wind capital,” Healy plans to expeditiously permit the 5.6 GW of offshore wind procurements currently authorized by law, and “more than double” the state’s current target to reach 10 GW of offshore wind by 2035.

Healy also plans to quadruple the state’s energy storage deployment, install one million heat pumps, incentivize one million electric vehicles, and electrify school buses and Boston’s public transit buses, all by 2030.

Maryland Governor-Elect Wes Moore’s proposal for 100% clean electricity by 2035 would reduce energy consumption, “supercharge” investments in wind and solar projects, and invest in research and development of battery storage, to bring new technologies to market quickly.

Moore also plans to target net-zero emissions by 2045, through clean energy generation targets, incentives for electric vehicles and public transit, support for more sustainable agriculture and forestry practices, and reduced consumption.

Encouraging words

Offering suggestions for two of the states, Solar United Neighbors Communications Director Ben Delman said that Maryland could make the state’s community solar program permanent, while Minnesota could protect homeowners who want to go solar, yet face restrictions set by homeowner associations.

With changes in the Michigan and Minnesota legislatures, Clean Energy States Alliance Executive Director Warren Leon said the two states are “good candidates” to convert their respective governors’ goals into law.

Vote Solar sees opportunities across the four states, said Chief Program Officer Sean Garren, and is “eager to take full advantage” of those opportunities.

Entergy to purchase power from 50 MW Louisiana solar facility  Iris Solar and the upcoming St. James Solar facility will provide 70 MW of clean energy for 13,000 homes per year.

California proposed decision to cut payments for rooftop solar net metering  The new NEM 3.0 proposed decision has been released. The decision implements a net billing format with a five year glide path that lowers rates based on the “avoided cost” calculator.

Partnership announced to develop $3 billion, 3 GW renewable energy portfolio  OYA Renewable and Oil Well Shares announced a new joint venture to roll out solar, wind and storage facilities on private land spanning Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

DOE announces 31 finalists for $100,000 prize for community solar projects and programs  Recognizing best practices to increase equitable access to community solar, the Sunny Awards move into final round.

ESS tapped by Consumers Energy for Michigan microgrid battery deployment  The microgrid helps the utility achieve goals laid out in the Michigan Department of Environment’s Energy Storage Roadmap to spur installation of 1 GW of energy storage projects by 2025 and 4 GW by 2040.

U.S.-made mobile lithium-ion batteries for utility-scale market  NOMAD Transportable Power Systems (NOMAD) has started offering plug-and-play, utility-scale mobile energy storage systems. There are three versions – 2 MWh, 1.3 MWh, and 660 kWh – with a patent-pending docking platform.

Automation tool helps speed rooftop solar connection to the grid  NREL and SMUD developed PRECISE, a tool that leverages smart inverter functions to help utilities make faster interconnections.

Are sheep eligible for the ITC?  Most professionals believe that sheep are not Investment Tax Credit eligible because they’re not considered integral components of a solar plant, others suggest pushing the argument that a taxpayers’ patriotic duty is to challenge the tax code on behalf of sheep.

Energy Storage Systems Inc. (ESS), a manufacturer of iron flow batteries, was retained by the Michigan utility Consumers Energy to supply batteries to a solar-plus-energy storage microgrid project powering a gas compression facility.

Consumers Energy will deploy the company’s Energy Warehouse solution to deliver a 20-plus- year long-duration energy system. The project is intended to help the utility achieve goals laid out in the Michigan Department of Environment’s Energy Storage Roadmap, which aims to see the installation of 1 GW of energy storage projects by 2025 and 4 GW by 2040.

Using abundant iron, salt and water resources in its electrolyte, the ESS Energy Warehouse is an environmentally safe long-duration storage solution that is suited for daily time-shifting renewable energy. In this instance, the Energy Warehouse manages the gas compression facility’s daily demand charges and balances the intermittency of renewables on a constrained grid.

“ESS is proud to provide our safe and non-toxic battery storage system to a leading utility provider in the Midwest serving millions of customers,” said Hugh McDermott, senior vice president of business development and sales at ESS.

In a recent interview with pv magazine USA at the RE+ conference, McDermott said the long-duration energy storage market is ripe to expand its manufacturing base in various markets such as Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and California.

In the U.S., ESS is seeking to expand its manufacturing to 25 MW per year by the end of 2022, and to over 100 MW by the end of 2023, while the company is also flexing to produce 400 MW per year in Australia.

ESS aspires to produce at 750 MW per year, which was mentioned on the company’s Q2 22 earnings call. The company sees demand reaching far beyond 1 GW per year of manufacturing capacity. The Long Duration Energy Storage Council issued a report suggesting that under the right conditions, 1.5 to 2 TW/85 to 140 TWh of long duration batteries could be deployed by 2040.

Consumers Energy’s parent company CMS Energy published a 2022 ESG and sustainability report following a 2021 IRP that calls for a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions from its utilities’ service territory by 2025, including the retirement of its 1.88 GW coal generation fleet by 2025, and the installation of 8 GW of new solar capacity by 2040 to drive $650 million in customer savings to ratepayers. In that timeframe the utility’s generation mix will shift from its current mix of 39% natural gas, 19% coal generation, 11% renewable energy and 8% nuclear power to a power generation mix comprised of 63% renewable energy, 12% energy storage, 10% natural gas and 15% customer saving programs.

American Battery Solutions (ABS) is located in Lake Orion, Michigan, in the heart of America’s automotive manufacturing center. While the company has supplied batteries to the electric vehicle industry, ABS is announcing its new Energy Storage System division, branded ABS ESS. The division is unveiling both a new lithium-ion battery energy storage platform and a management control system.

TeraStor, the energy storage platform, is designed for large-scale energy storage projects. Factory assembled and tested, and it arrives on-site, ready for commissioning in just six hours, the company reports.

StorView is its Energy Management Suite of software and control hardware designed to to optimize the performance, market participation, and financial performance of TeraStor. The software has an easy-to-use interface that simplifies set-ups, controls, and operations.

“Leveraging our track record for driving battery energy innovation, and developing and testing new technologies and chemistries with our advanced engineering team, ABS again demonstrates our dedication in support of the energy transition,” said Subhash Dhar, chairman and CEO of American Battery Solutions, Inc. “There is a critical need for both hardware and software intended for stationary energy storage needs, especially following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which intends to fund so much utility-scale storage. We are confident that ABS ESS and its leadership team can bring our products to market and meet the growing demand for energy storage systems.”

ABS is backed by investment from KCK Group and acquired manufacturing and battery pack testing assets from Robert Bosch Battery Systems. The company has assembled a team with deep understanding of high-voltage, automotive-grade battery systems.

The new energy storage platform, TeraStor, was designed and developed by industry leaders Bud Collins, VP and GM, Michael Hoff, CTO, Greg Tremelling, VP of Product Development, and Rick Cwiakala, VP of Operations & Service, who have, collectively, deployed over 1.5 GWh of storage around the globe.

ABS reports that one of its goals is to take the complexity out of large-scale energy storage. TeraStor, which the company says is easy to purchase, install and operate, is engineered to optimize lithium-ion cell life and performance, while minimizing stranded cell capacity. ABS ESS secure online pre-sale sizing and configurators help determine how much storage is needed in a given application. ABS ESS also offers an in-person interactive training to help get the system up and running and to prepare the operator to respond to any contingency.

TeraStor offers more than 7.2 MWh of storage and 3.5 MW of integrated inverter capacity. The storage system is self-powered and requires no auxiliary AC infrastructure, ABS reports. It also features an integrated liquid cooling system, which the company says eliminates the need for on-site HVAC installation. With a reported 60% increase in energy density, ABS says that with TeraStor, ABS ESS can deploy an ultra-high density of 600 MWhs of energy per acre.

Net losses triple at US tracker maker after acquisition  New Mexico-based Array Technologies is keen to emphasize the revenue benefits of buying Spanish rival STI Norland and said US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act would also be good for business.

Pink Energy files lawsuit against Generac  A complaint filed in Virginia claims that due to faulty parts and failure to communicate promptly, Pink Energy has incurred tens of millions of dollars in damages and suffered harm to its reputation and goodwill.

Michigan pledges to cover over 1200 public buildings with solar  The State of Michigan is partnering with utility Consumers Energy to install a 68 MW portfolio of distributed rooftop solar.

DTE Energy to add 650 MW of solar energy for Ford Motors  In what is touted as the largest renewable energy purchase from a utility in US history, the added solar will mean that by 2025, every Ford vehicle manufactured in Michigan will be assembled with the equivalent of 100% carbon-free energy.

About 20% of utility-scale solar capacity was delayed in the first half of 2022  Module supply challenges led to 4.2 GW installed in the first six months, less than half of what was initially expected.

DTE Energy, a Detroit-based diversified energy utility, will add 650 MW of new solar energy capacity in Michigan for Ford Motors by 2025. The purchase is a strategic investment in Michigan through DTE’s MIGreenPower program and is the largest renewable energy purchase ever made in the U.S. from a utility, based on according to BloombergNEF’s New Energy Outlook 2021.

“This unprecedented agreement is all about a greener and brighter future for Ford and for Michigan,” said Jim Farley, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company. “Today is an example of what it looks like to lead… to turn talk into action.”

Michigan is currently ranked 24^th in the country for solar installations, receiving .64% of its electricity from its 927 MW installed, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The solar capacity to be added by DTE will increase the total amount of installed solar energy in Michigan by nearly 70%.

Two years ago Ford Motor Company announced its intention to achieve carbon neutrality globally by 2050, with interim targets set. With this 650 MW of solar installed, the company will be able to attribute all its electricity supply in Michigan to clean energy.

Ford is purchasing carbon-free electricity through DTE’s MIGreenPower program, which, to date, has more than 600 businesses enrolled, along with more than 62,000 residential customers. On an annual basis, MIGreenPower customers have enrolled 2.8 million megawatt hours of clean energy in the program, which has the environmental benefit equivalent to avoiding 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

“We want to congratulate Ford Motor Company for its environmental leadership and commitment to clean energy,” said Jerry Norcia, chairman and CEO, DTE Energy. “Ford was the first large industrial customer to enroll in our MIGreenPower program in 2019 and we thank Ford for its continued commitment to using MIGreenPower to help decarbonize its operations and meet its sustainability goals.”

DTE reports that since 2009 its investments in renewable energy have created more than 4,000 Michigan jobs. DTE estimates that the construction of the solar arrays will create 250 temporary jobs and 10 permanent jobs.

“I want to congratulate DTE Energy and Ford Motor Company for taking this significant step to increase our state’s solar energy production and to position Michigan as a leader in climate action,” said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. “Efforts like this are the reason Michigan had the best job growth for energy-sector jobs in the country last year, which will help to advance our state’s decarbonization goals, create good-paying jobs and strengthen our economy. As outlined in our state’s MI Healthy Climate Plan, we must take immediate, tangible steps to mitigate climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so we can achieve economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. Steps like this collaboration between Ford and DTE are helping to move our entire state forward, building on our automotive legacy while protecting clean air and water for future generations.”

In addition to its goal of carbon neutral manufacturing, Ford has added clean energy models to its fleet, and building battery manufacturing facilities to ensure a steady supply. In 2021 the company announced a partnership with SK Innovation, saying they plan to invest $11.4 billion at two sites in Kentucky and Tennessee to produce electric F-Series trucks and the batteries to power future electric vehicles. A $5.6 billion facility in Stanton, Tennessee, called Blue Oval City, was also announced, with plans to serve as a vertically integrated system for Ford to assemble electric F-Series vehicles. It will include a battery plant, suppliers, and recycling.

In February of this year, Ford announced that it had teamed up with Sunrun to enhance home energy management, leveraging the substantial onboard battery capability of the Ford Lightning with Ford Intelligent Backup Power, to give customers the ability to use bidirectional power technology from their all-electric truck to provide energy to their homes during an outage, or to reduce their reliance on the grid when electricity prices are high.

Consumers Energy and the State of Michigan have announced the two will partner to install rooftop solar arrays on 1,274 public buildings. Together, the distributed rooftop solar resources will add 68 MW of solar capacity to the power grid.

The State of Michigan made a 20-year agreement with the utility to use clean energy at state government buildings across all departments in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The solar arrays are expected to offset the annual carbon emissions equivalent of 20,000 cars.

“Consumers Energy and the State of Michigan are working together to power Michigan’s clean energy transformation,” said Garrick Rochow, Consumers Energy’s president and CEO. “This commitment will accelerate our already industry-leading Clean Energy Plan to develop carbon-free energy sources here in Michigan.”

Consumers Energy’s Clean Energy Plan, first approved in 2019, includes orders to close all its coal-fired plants by 2025 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. The utility plans to install 80 GW of solar by 2040, which would bring the utility’s operations to 90% emissions-free energy sources. It also plans for 550 MW of battery energy storage by 2040.

“Consumers Energy is able to deliver reliable and affordable energy while protecting the planet. This partnership will further support Michigan being a leader in clean energy,” said Rochow.

“As governor, I am proud that the State of Michigan is leading by example to reduce greenhouse gases, protect the planet, and lower energy costs. Today, we are proud to announce that Consumers Energy is joining BWL and DTE in an agreement with the State of Michigan to power state buildings with clean energy. This is a critical step that will help us reach the goal I proposed in 2020 to have all state buildings run on 100% clean, renewable energy by 2025. Let’s keep working together to fight climate change with common-sense steps that will lower taxpayer energy costs and ensure that state operations have the energy they need to succeed.” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

Earlier this year, General Motors agreed to power three Michigan production plants with 100% clean energy supplied by Consumers Energy. The automaker made a 20-year, 70 MW renewable energy power purchase agreement with the utility.

LG Energy Solution reported in its second quarter call that revenue increased 16.8% but operating profit decreased by 24.4% from the previous quarter, and was down 73% from the second quarter of 2021. The Q2 2021 profit increase was due in part to the $1.8 billion settlement with SK Innovation in a trade secret dispute over EV batteries. Looking forward, LG sees a bright future, driven by scaling up manufacturing of EV batteries. The company intends to triple revenue in five years and achieve a double-digit operating profit margin, setting an annual revenue target to $16.74 billion.

“This quarter’s profitability has shown moderate drop, mainly due the impacts from lock-down measures in China, global supply chain disruptions, and the time gap between the actual increase in material costs and applying them to selling prices,” said Chang Sil Lee, CFO of LG Energy Solution at the conference call. “Nevertheless, steady growth in revenue was possible thanks to the strong sales of cylindrical cells for EV, as well as successfully passing through major metal price hikes to the battery prices.”

LG also aims to achieve double-digit operating profit margin through strategic partnerships and focusing on the growing North American market. Earlier this year LG Energy Solution announced a commitment to construct a $2.1 billion battery manufacturing plant in Lansing, Michigan with General Motors to mass produce 50 GWh of EV batteries under the Ultium Cell brand. Ultium devices are unique due to their large-format, pouch-style cells that can be stacked vertically or horizontally inside a battery pack, enabling engineers to optimize energy storage and layout for each vehicle design.

“With a shared vision, GM and LG Energy Solution pioneered the EV sector by seizing new opportunities in the market well before anyone else did,” LG Energy Solution chief executive Young-Soo Kwon said. “Our third battery manufacturing plant, fittingly located in America’s automotive heartland, will serve as a gateway to charge thousands, and later, millions of EVs in the future.”

The US Energy Department intends to loan Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture of General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution, $2.5 billion to help finance construction of new lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.

LG plans to expands its joint venture partnerships with major partners in developing both cylindrical and pouch-type batteries, supplying existing customers as well as EV startups. The company plans to add a new production footprint for cylindrical batteries in Europe to cope with increasing demand, and also secure a new production site in Asia, in addition to the existing production facilities in Korea and China.

“The current production capacity is more heavily invested in Asia (59%) and Europe (34%), compared to North America (7%),” explained LG Energy Solution. “We aim to increase the production capacity in North America to 45% by 2025, thereby enabling a balanced global operation portfolio of 45% in North America, 35% in Asia, and 20% in Europe.”

LG said it intends to focus on quality in its design and manufacturing processes, establishing a full in-line inspection system and upgrading the safety diagnostic algorithm in its Battery Management System. It is also dedicated to establishing smart factories, which it expects will increase yield, stabilize product quality, improve manufacturing processes, boost productivity, and enhance workforce efficiency. The company is also working to establish a stable supply chain by investing in upstream suppliers and expanding long term supply contracts. It is also focused on establishing a battery recycling program through partnerships with material recycling companies.

Solar jobs increased 9% nationwide in 2021  According to the National Solar Jobs Census 2020, employment in the solar industry looked favorable in 2021 compared to fossil fuel industries, but solar employers have some work to do on increasing diversity.

Connecticut to allow distributed resources to compete with distribution grid upgrades  Connecticut would join five other states in enabling distributed storage, solar and other non-wires alternatives to compete with traditional distribution system capacity upgrades, under a program being finalized by Connecticut regulators.

Perovskite solar cell defect characterization during manufacture for improved stability  A novel electrochemical robotic arm is under development at the University of Arizona to identify perovskite defects during manufacturing rather than after to improve durability.

Vehicle-integrated photovoltaics for low-speed electric vehicles  Canadian startup Capsolar claims its flexible solar modules can be adapted to any type of low-speed electric vehicle with no extra modification and custom work. The panels have an efficiency of 21.3% and rely on 24%-efficient solar cells provided by US manufacturer SunPower.

Electriq Power residential batteries beat the heat with backup power, smart time of use  A home battery paired with rooftop solar can provide backup power during rolling blackouts, shift power usage schedules to avoid peak demand charges, among other benefits.

GM and LG receive $2.5 billion DOE loan to build three battery manufacturing plants  Battery manufacturing facilities will be built in Tennessee, Ohio and Michigan to produce EV batteries under the Ultium Cell name.

The US Energy Department intends to loan Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture of General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution, $2.5 billion to help finance construction of new lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.

The loan comes from the government’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program, which has $17.7 billion in loan authority to support the manufacture of eligible light-duty vehicles and qualifying components, authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

In January of this year, LG Energy Solution announced a commitment to construct a $2.1 billion battery manufacturing plant in Lansing, Michigan with General Motors to mass produce 50 GWh of EV batteries under the Ultium Cell brand.

Ultium devices are unique due to their large-format, pouch-style cells that can be stacked vertically or horizontally inside a battery pack, enabling engineers to optimize energy storage and layout for each vehicle design.

“With a shared vision, GM and LG Energy Solution pioneered the EV sector by seizing new opportunities in the market well before anyone else did,” LG Energy Solution chief executive Young-Soo Kwon said. “Our third battery manufacturing plant, fittingly located in America’s automotive heartland, will serve as a gateway to charge thousands, and later, millions of EVs in the future.”

GM and LG are investing more than $7 billion via the venture to build three battery plants, according to a Reuters article. The Warren, Ohio plant is currently employing 700 workers and is planned to begin production next month. The Tennessee plant will start production in late 2023 and the Michigan plant in 2024, according to the Reuters report.

The DOE also recently announced a separate $60 million in funding to support second-life applications for batteries once used to power EVs, as well as new processes for recycling materials back into the battery supply chain. These funding opportunities are part of the government’s strategy to bolster America’s supply chain and reduce the reliance on competing nations.

Currently China is the leader in the global lithium-ion battery production market, according to a Wood Mackenzie report. And while the United States is supporting its battery industry, China is investing heavily to build out more manufacturing facilities to extend its dominance. Secondarily, these initiatives support the President’s goal of electric vehicles making up half the vehicle sales in North America by 2030.

“Positioning the United States front and center in meeting the growing demand for advanced batteries is how we boost our competitiveness and electrify our transportation system,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “President Biden’s historic investment in battery production and recycling will give our domestic supply chain the jolt it needs to become more secure and less reliant on other nations—strengthening our clean energy economy, creating good paying jobs, and decarbonizing the transportation sector.”

University of Michigan researchers announced in a Joule magazine post that they have achieved a new technique for manufacturing efficient semitransparent solar cells. The cells are intended to be built inside panes of window glass, turning passive buildings into active energy producers.

Organic solar cells can be transparent, unlike their opaque counterparts in traditional silicon-based solar cells. Silicon cells are widely used for their durability and efficiency advantages, but recent advances from the Michigan lab have achieved efficiencies around 10% and estimated lifetimes of up to 30 years in organic solar cells.

The team set forth to make the semitransparent cells manufacturable at scale. A key hurdle was creating the micron-scale electrical connections between individual cells that comprise a solar module. Conventional methods use lasers for this patterning process, but the laser would cause damage to organic light absorbers.

The solution the Michigan team arrived at is a multi-step peel-off patterning method that achieves micron-scale resolution. Thin films of plastic are deposited and patterned in extremely thin strips. Then the organic material and metals are layered in. Finally, the researchers peel off the strips, creating very fine electrical interconnection layers between the cells.

In the process, eight semitransparent solar cells were connected, each 4 cm x 0.4 cm and separated by 200µm-wide interconnections, to create a single 13 cm squared module. The achieved module achieved efficiency of 7.3%, about 10% less than the individual cells. This material is 50% transparent, making it a good fit for commercial windows. Higher transparency is likely needed for the residential market, though the researchers said that is easy to achieve with organic solar cell material.

The team said its goal is to develop a 50% transparent cell with 10% to 15% efficiency, which Michigan professor Stephen Forrest said will likely be achieved within a few years. “The research we are doing is derisking the technology so that manufacturers can make the investments needed to enter large scale production,” he said. “In principle, we can now scale semitransparent organic solar cells to two meters by two meters, which brings our windows much closer to reality.”

Buildings account for about 40% of global carbon emissions. Buildings-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) like this technology under development are an effective way to bring energy production closer to the point of demand, mitigating the amount of grid infrastructure that needs to be built to support the building’s needs.

The University of Michigan has applied for patent protection and is seeking partners to bring the technology to market. The research was supported primarily by the US Department of Energy, as well as by Universal Display Corporation.

Consumers Energy, a utility serving 6.8 million residential customers in Michigan, announced it entered agreements to add two 150 MW solar projects to its portfolio, enough to power 150,000 homes. 

The projects are expected to reach commercial operations by the end of 2024. When complete, Consumers would purchase power from Confluence Solar project in Genesee County and Heartwood Solar project in Hillsdale County. Both agreements are under review by the Michigan Public Service Commission. Ranger Power will own and operate the two sites. 

The $200 million Confluence Solar project is expected to create up to 250 jobs and generate over $25 million in new property tax revenues over the lifetime of the project. The Heartwood project is valued at $150 million and expected to bring a similar amount of jobs, and about $19 million in tax revenues. Local townships, schools, airports, libraries, and transportation authorities are expected to benefit from the added revenues. 

“Providing 300 MW of clean energy for our customers is a commitment to our planet, the people of Michigan and contributes to the prosperity of communities where solar projects are sited,” said Timothy Sparks, Consumers Energy’s vice president of electric grid integration. 

Today, Consumers Energy purchases solar from 18 sites located across the state. It has set high solar procurement goals, targeting 8 GW of utility scale solar power by 2040, including 1.1 GW by 2024.  

If the utility achieves 2040 goal, it will power roughly 60% of its operations with carbon-free electricity. This would equate to the removal of 63 million tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to removing 12.4 million gas-burning passenger vehicles from the road for one year. 

Seeking land for development

Currently, Consumers Energy is gathering information and requesting submissions for ideal sites for solar projects.

These sites include farm fields, brownfield sites, and publicly owned properties ranging from 500 to 900 acres, often comprised of multiple neighboring landowners, said the utility. A good solar site is characterized as flat, open, and treeless with direct access to sun and proximity to existing transmission infrastructure.

Participating landowners may sell the property or create an ongoing revenue source by entering into long-term easement agreements.

Consumers Energy targets utility scale projects around 100 MW in capacity, and said its projects will likely require between five to ten acres per megawatt of electricity.

“We need support throughout Michigan, especially in rural and agricultural areas, and we want to work with landowners and local leaders interested in siting solar power plants to deliver environmental and economic benefits for their communities,” said Dennis Dobbs, vice president of Enterprise Project Management and Environmental Services.

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Western and Southeastern utilities’ progress in advancing 194 GW of solar projects is a mystery  As Western and Southeastern utilities process 194 GW of solar interconnection requests, we asked 20 of them about the final cost studies they completed last year, which would permit projects to move forward. Then we turned to Berkeley Lab analyses for more insights.

Approximately 858 GWdc of solar and over 1 TWh of batteries are in development  Government research shows that solar-plus-storage is coming to dominate the nation’s power grid queues, representing the majority of new power plant applications.

PG&E $11 million pilot programs to accelerate vehicle-to-everything technologies  Pacific Gas & Electric is developing three pilot programs to test how bi-directional EVs and chargers can send power to the grid.

50 states of solar incentives: Rhode Island  The small but mighty state of Rhode Island was the first in the nation to set a goal of 100% renewables by 2030,

Summit Ridge energizes Montgomery County’s first ground-mount community solar project  The 2.5 MW installation will help the city towards its goal of eliminating greenhouse emissions in its operations by 2035.

Consumers Energy seeks landowners for siting utility scale solar in Michigan  The utility seeks farm fields, brownfield sites, and publicly owned properties ranging from about 500 to 900 acres as it plans to add 8 GW of solar by 2040.

Michigan utility Consumers Energy has issued a request for landowners to identify locations for utility scale solar facilities in locations around the state. Central to the utility’s clean energy plan is the buildout of 8 GW of solar facilities, half of which will be owned and operated by the utility, the other half by solar developers.

Currently, Consumers Energy is gathering information on ideal sites for solar projects. These sites include farm fields, brownfield sites, and publicly owned properties ranging from 500 to 900 acres, often comprised of multiple neighboring landowners, said the utility. A good solar site is characterized as flat, open, and treeless with direct access to sun and proximity to existing transmission infrastructure.

Participating landowners may sell the property or create an ongoing revenue source by entering into long-term easement agreements.

Consumers Energy targets utility scale projects around 100 MW in capacity, and that its projects will likely require between five to ten acres per megawatt of electricity. Each utility scale project creates hundreds of local construction jobs and can increase a community’s revenue, said the utility.

“We need support throughout Michigan, especially in rural and agricultural areas, and we want to work with landowners and local leaders interested in siting solar power plants to deliver environmental and economic benefits for their communities,” said Dennis Dobbs, vice president of Enterprise Project Management and Environmental Services. “Harnessing the sun is Michigan’s moonshot — and we won’t achieve this historic goal without help.”

Consumers Energy serves 6.8 million residential customers in all of Michigan’s 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

“Our goal is to meet Michigan’s property owners and communities where they are to start a conversation about mutually beneficial solar solutions,” said Dobbs.

If Consumers Energy achieves its goal of 8 GW of solar capacity by 2040, it will power roughly 60% of its operations with carbon-free electricity. This would equate to the removal of 63 million tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to removing 12.4 million gas-burning passenger vehicles from the road for one year. Currently, the utility has added 1.1 GW of solar capacity to come online by 2024.

Governor Whitmer announces Michigan Healthy Climate Plan  Reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 requires immediate action, starting with six steps to take by 2030 that include more clean energy and an emphasis on clean transportation and charging infrastructure.

Ontario amends net metering policy to allow third-party ownership  Prior to these amendments, Ontario’s net metering regulation required the customer to own or operate the renewable generation system to qualify as an eligible generator.

An Earth Day special: Test your knowledge of solar in the US  In honor of Earth Day, we share with you a quiz put together by Dan Snowden-Ifft, a physics professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.

Polar Racking provides foundations and racking for solar plus storage project on Prince Edward Island  The 26 MW Sunbank solar and storage project in Summerside, PEI will also feature a 10 MW battery storage system and is expected to reduce the city’s imports of electricity from 58% to 38%.

Catalyze collaborates with Stream Realty Partners to deploy 450 MW of renewable energy on Stream properties  The partnership will bring solar, battery storage, and EV charging solutions across Stream’s development pipeline of over 40 million square feet, equivalent to over 450 MW of on-site solar and battery storage projects.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined Liesl Clark, Director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, business owners, tribal leaders, and students at a large solar array in Traverse City, Michigan to announce the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan that proposes that the state would get 60% of its electricity from renewable sources and build infrastructure to accommodate millions of electric vehicles by 2030. This builds on the Governor’s plan set forth in 2020 that set a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

The Governor positioned the new plan as a roadmap that would reduce emissions while also creating clean energy jobs, boosting economic development, and improving public health.

“If we follow the steps outlined in the plan and collaborate with public and private sector partners, we can build a Michigan where every Michigander has clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and access to healthy, affordable local food,” said Whitmer. “Today, we are positioning Michigan to become the global center of clean energy innovation where workers can get good-paying jobs, from those that don’t require a college degree to careers in advanced engineering and science.”

The plan has been under development since 2020 when the Governor committed Michigan to achieving economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. This included interim reductions of 28% by 2025, 52% by 2030, and maintaining net negative greenhouse gas emissions after 2050.

The Michigan Healthy Climate Plan lays out the roadmap for how the state can reach carbon neutrality by 2050, prioritizing actions that must be taken in the next eight years. The following are the six pillars of the plan: Commit to Environmental Justice and Pursue a Just Transition

• Clean the Electric Grid
• Electrify Vehicles and Increase Public Transit
• Repair and Decarbonize Homes and Businesses
• Drive Clean Innovation in Industry
• Protect Michigan’s Land and Water

Since taking office, the Governor has begun taking steps outlined in the plan. She committed to powering all State of Michigan facilities with 100% renewable energy by 2025 and attracted battery and electric vehicle manufacturing investments from automakers, who have added 21,600 jobs in the state. The Governor signed bipartisan budgets investing millions of dollars in clean energy improvements and proposed a budget that includes investing over half a billion dollars in climate action. Recently, Michigan state senators Polehanki and McCann introduced bills to establish a $500 charging equipment and $2,000 electric vehicle rebate to knock off nearly $10,000 off the price of an electric vehicle when combined with the federal tax credit.

Michigan is currently ranked 26^th in solar installations in the country, with a growth projection of 2,388 MW over the next five years, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). In March of this year, a Vibrant Clean Energy study commissioned by Vote Solar found that GW-scale investments in distributed solar and storage would yield the lower cost between two approaches studied for Michigan to achieve economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. In commenting on the draft of the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan, Vote Solar’s Will Kenworthy stated that the governor’s goals are achievable. Kenworthy noted that Michigan should “start now” to get to 50% clean energy by 2030, as “getting the first 50% is a no regrets policy” he said.

DOE program will increase electric resilience and affordability for 14 underserved communities The 14 communities selected in the first round will receive technical support to better assess their energy challenges, evaluate solutions, and find partners to support the community in meeting its energy goals, with five members receiving their own storage system.

Texas has enough solar and wind planned to permanently shut down coal Texas could meet the state’s energy needs by replacing coal with a fraction of what is proposed in solar and wind, according to Rice University researchers.

Ampyr Energy USA plans 5GW solar development in US  The newly formed joint venture combines AGP’s experience in developing large-scale renewable power projects globally and Hartree’s expertise in power trading analytics and zero-carbon solutions in a plan to roll out 5GW of large-scale solar projects across the US.

Utility-run voluntary renewable energy program reaches 50,000 subscribers Michigan utility DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower has been so popular, the utility has “thousands of megawatts” of clean energy planned to meet demand.

Nextracker unveils all-terrain tracker pv magazine sat down with Nextracker CEO Dan Shugar to discuss how customer feedback drives engineering innovation, and the potential unlocked by expanding the terrain that trackers can be installed on.

One of the nation’s largest voluntary renewable energy programs reached a milestone, as Michigan utility DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower achieved 50,000 subscribers. Each week, the program gains approximately 500 new customers, who voluntarily sign up to pay a premium to have their electricity demand tied to a new renewable energy generation site.

The popularity of the program has caused a boom in solar PV and wind energy for the state. The MIGreenPower program has doubled in enrollment for each of the past three years. To date, customers have already enrolled in 1.8 million MWh, and DTE increased its renewable energy generation by 40% in 2021.

DTE reached 15% renewable energy operations in 2021, which it said represents taking 293,000 passenger cars off the road. By this calculation, the utility’s current operations have the carbon impact of over 1.6 million passenger cars, so the MIGreenPower program’s success thus far is a welcome sign to those who are invested in fighting climate change-causing carbon emissions.

“Our customers are demanding a Grid of the Future, a modern new grid delivering clean and reliable energy, and we’re delivering it.” Jerry Norcia, president and CEO, DTE Energy.

Several projects are underway to meet the demand. Ranging from about 20MW, like the landfill-capping site in Washtenaw County, to 100MW or larger projects in rural areas in the state. MIGreenPower serves both residential and commercial customers and has numerous industrial energy purchasers. DTE said it plans to double its renewable energy generation by 2025, investing $3 billion in renewable infrastructure in the process.

The company issued a request for proposals (RFP) in February, calling for 500MW of solar PV or wind energy projects. The projects must be ready to achieve commercial operations by 2023, to be interconnected with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) grid. Bids are due April 29, 2022, and the company said it anticipates executing contracts this summer.

The Michigan Public Service Council (MPSC) said in an annual report that by the end of 2022, the state is expected to have 3,554 MW of operational renewable energy in response to the renewable energy standard. The MPSC said it expects the following renewable projects to come online this year:

• Fairbanks Wind Park – 72.45 MW, Delta County
• Meridian Wind Farm – 224.9 MW, Midland and Saginaw Counties
• Heartland Farms Wind Farm – 200 MW, Gratiot County
• Assembly Solar – 79 MW, Shiawassee County
• River Fork Solar (DTE Electric) – 49 MW, Calhoun County
• River Fork Solar (Consumers Energy) – 100 MW, Calhoun County

These projects would result in 725MW of new utility-scale generation.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) ranks Michigan 26th in solar deployment, with 599.4MW reported through Q3 2021. An estimated over 400MW was deployed in the state in 2021 alone, an indication that it may be yet another market set to expand rapidly. The state holds about 185 solar companies, including 65 manufacturers, 68 installer/developers, and 52 others, employing a combined total of 3,379 people.

Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), a portfolio company of American Electric Power, issued a request for proposals (RFP) for 500MW of solar capacity and 800MW of wind. The request comes as a first step in implementing the utility’s Next Tomorrow Plan, which calls for 2GW of renewable energy capacity to be added to the utility’s generation mix.

Currently, the utility owns five solar facilities and buys power from four Indiana wind power plants. The company said it generated over 80% of its energy emission-free in 2021.

I&M said it expects some renewables spurred by this RFP to be online in 2024, with the remainder of the 1.3GW online as early as the end of 2025. The RFP is open and non-discriminatory, opening the door for bidders to incorporate changes like battery storage, emerging technologies, and other resources to supplement the portfolio and provide optimum performance and affordability.

“These new resources will combine with I&M’s existing generation to provide an even more diversified and flexible generation portfolio that will stabilize energy costs over time, stimulate economic growth, reduce emissions and take advantage of new technologies,” said Dave Lucas, I&M vice president of regulatory and finance.

The RFP calls for projects located in Indiana or Michigan, and preference will be given to projects that demonstrate local impact or encourage the use of local resources.

Bids are due April 21, and contracts are expected to be awarded this year. The selected projects will be subject to approval by state regulatory commissions. Charles River Associates is serving as independent monitor for the RFP process.

Anti-rooftop solar net metering bill passes in Florida House Bill 741 was passed by the Florida Legislature. The rate paid by utilities to rooftop solar owners for excess electricity sent back to the grid is set to be phased down to a fraction of its original rate. It also opens the door for unlimited fixed fees to be levied on solar customers.

Community choice solar programs save New Yorkers $7 million in seven months Joule’s programs have helped to bring access to clean energy and bill savings to 800,000 New Yorkers in 44 municipalities across the state.

Wood Mac analysts trade laptops for ladders, installing solar in Puerto Rico A team of three analysts from global energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie are in Puerto Rico this week helping install solar panels on homes as part of a new initiative with charity Let’s Share the Sun Foundation.

LONGi releases Hi-MO 5 snow load test results, suggests module superiority LONGi Solar released results of an inhomogeneous snow load test showing that the company’s 72 and 78 solar cell modules held 1,800 pascals more of force before breaking than Trina Solar larger format product.

Cybersecurity for distributed energy and inverter-based resources UL and NREL released a report on cybersecurity certification recommendations and are actively developing requirements to create cybersecurity certification standards.

Plans announced for a US lithium-ferro-phosphate battery gigafactory network American Battery Factory said it is developing a US-based material processing and cell manufacturing network for LFP battery cells.

3GW distributed solar and 2.1GW distributed storage in Michigan by 2035, under a low-cost scenario A Vibrant Clean Energy study commissioned by Vote Solar found that GW-scale investments in distributed solar and storage would yield the lower cost between two approaches studied for Michigan to achieve economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050.

Greenbacker acquires interest in Minnesota solar portfolio In one of the company’s largest transactions to date, Greenbacker has acquired a significant financial interest in the 150MW operating Aurora solar portfolio.