Renewable Energy News

Pattern Energy Group’s (Pattern Development or the Company) Conejo Solar photovoltaic power project in Chile has secured a 22-year PPA with an affiliate of Antofagasta Minerals SA. The 104-MW Conejo Solar project was originated by Pattern Development and upon completion will be the largest solar energy project in Chile with a PPA. Conejo Solar will connect to the Sistema Interconectado Central's (SIC) 220kV transmission system and is located on public lands owned by the government of Chile with a long-term concession.

Bourne Energy successfully field-tested the latest version of its BackPack Power Plant (BPP) portable hydropower system in a shallow remote river in the Pacific Northwest. A zero-fuel power generator of this size (one cubic meter) producing 600 W will help renewable energy move past the low energy density, low capacity factor and high cost barriers that have slowed the growth of renewable energy.

SunEdison and BlueWave Capital completed a 1.8-MW solar power plant constructed on a remediated EPA Superfund site in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The City of New Bedford is the owner and host of the site and will purchase the net metering credits generated from the system. SunEdison partnered with BlueWave Capital to develop the project, arranged construction financing and permanent financing for the project, and managed local partners to provide EPC services.

AREVA Federal Services (AFS), an AREVA subsidiary in the United States, was awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to continue the development of next generation fuel for light water nuclear reactors. This program aims to develop enhanced accident tolerant fuel (EATF), a fuel that is more resistant under severe accident conditions, particularly those involving a loss of cooling. The AREVA-led team, comprising the U.S.

Dominion acquired two solar energy projects totaling 42 MW from EDF Renewable Energy. The acquisitions of the California projects are expected to close in 2015. The Cottonwood project, with solar sites located in Kings, Kern and Marin Counties, has secured a 25-year PPA, interconnection agreements and EPC contracts. The company anticipates that the 24-MW solar energy facility will come online in the first half of 2015. The Catalina Solar 2 project, located in Kern County, has secured a 20-year PPA, an interconnection agreement and an EPC contract.

Google agreed to provide $145 million in equity financing for the Regulus, SunEdison's largest developed and constructed project in North America. Located in Kern County, Calif., the Regulus plant will begin operation later this year, and will supply power to Southern California Edison through a 20-year PPA. SunEdison developed, designed, executed the structured financing and is constructing the Regulus project, which was contributed to TerraForm Power.

AWS Truepower was hired to act as independent engineer to support the financing and construction of the Ventika I & Ventika II wind projects in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The Ventika Wind Project consists of two 126-MW wind projects, for a total capacity of 252 MW, making it the largest wind project in Mexico at the time of financing. The total investment for the projects is $650 million, secured by co-developers CEMEX and Fisterra Energy.

Duke Energy Renewables will build, own and operate a 110-MW wind power project, Los Vientos V, in Starr County, Texas. Garland Power & Light, Greenville Electric Utility System and Bryan Texas Utilities (BTU) have signed 25-year PPAs produced by the project. Vestas will supply 55 2-MW turbines for the project. The project is expected to be completed in late 2015.

ReneSola Ltd will develop a 13-MW solar project in Dorset, England and expects the solar farm to be fully operational and connected to the national energy grid by end of 2014. The company has identified a number of potential buyers for the project, which received planning consent in January 2014 and is eligible for the United Kingdom's support scheme to promote renewable electricity-generating technologies. The project will feature ReneSola PV modules exclusively, specifically the Virtus II.

Xcel Energy, the EPA, and the Colorado State Land Board joined community solar developer Clean Energy Collective (CEC) to officially open Denver County's newest community solar facilities — two 500-kW solar arrays in Denver County. Developed on a 5-acre site at the Evie Garrett Dennis School campus in northeast Denver, the two medium-scale solar PV arrays, consisting of more than 4,000 panels, are the eighth and ninth arrays CEC has brought online as part of Xcel Energy's Solar Rewards Communities program.