Sunrun's Lunar Energy acquires Moixa; Amp Energy's financial closure for 61 MW solar & storage, it also energizes 2 solar farms in New York; Alliant Energy's maiden utility scale solar farm online; SEE sourcing solar power; MIT's solar car wins American Solar Challenge.
Sunrun reintroduces Lunar Energy: Home storage systems and home electrification solutions company Lunar Energy, founded by Sunrun and South Korea's SK Group in August 2020, has been reintroduced now with an update. Lunar Energy has invested in British software company Moixa, a software company for distributed energy resources (DER) management. Lunar has raised $300 million in funding over 2 rounds by Sunrun and SK Group. It is led by former Tesla Energy executive Kunal Girotra who said the maiden launch of the company is a next generation home battery system. He added, "It's the first step towards our mission to electrify all homes and connect communities to form clean, resilient virtual power plants—freeing us from power outages, rising energy costs and harmful emissions."
Amp Energy closes financing for solar & storage portfolio: Renewable energy developer Amp Energy has closed financing on its 61 MW solar with 6.5 MWh storage portfolio valued at $155 million. The 13 projects are located in Massachusetts and New York. Most of the facilities are scheduled to come online in 2022 and remaining in Q2/2023. Of these, 3 projects will incorporate DC-coupled energy storage and dispatched by the Amp X optimization and management platform. KeyBank led the construction and term debt while US bank invested tax equity for the portfolio.
It also announced having energized 2 new community solar farms in New York that it purchased from EDF Renewables with the latter as EPC contractor. The 5.8 MW DC Quiet Meadows Solar Farm 1 project is located in Verona and 7.5 MW DC Quiet Meadows Solar Farm 2 in Vernon. Both the facilities will be owned and operated by Amp for 35 years.
Alliant Energy's 50 MW solar project online: Electricity utility Alliant Energy has commissioned its maiden utility scale solar project with 50 MW capacity, in Wisconsin. The 50 MW Bear Creek Solar Plant is located in Richland County, and is part of the utility's target to construct over 1 GW utility scale solar across 12 sites in the state. While Bear Creek is the 1st of these project to have become operational, 3 additional projects are expected to go into service later this year. The solar projects are part of the utility's target to become coal power free by 2040, and achieve net zero by 2050 under its Clean Energy Blueprint.
Sealed Air goes for solar power: Food packaging company Sealed Air (SEE) is sourcing solar power from a 3.5 MW ground mounted solar power plant with 770 kW/3,080 kW battery storage system to power its Madera, California manufacturing facility. Power supplied will account for 98% of the electricity needs of the plant where SEE manufactures products as Bubble Wrap, Korrvu, as well as those related to retention and suspension packaging, mailers, and other solutions. SEE's COO Emile Chammas said solar power through this project is aligned with its overarching ambition to transition to net zero CO2 emissions in its operations by 2040. The project was commissioned by TotalEnergies that has taken over SunPower's Commercial and Industrial Solutions business (see SunPower Finds Buyer For CIS Business).
MIT wins American Solar Challenge: The Solar Electric Vehicle Team (SEVT) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has won the American Solar Challenge for the 2nd consecutive year in the Single Occupant Vehicle category. The team won the challenge for its hand-built Nimbus car that uses 100% solar energy to cover the 1,940-mile journey. SEVT won with a 73.4-mile lead. They were also recognized with the Battery Pack Award and Sportsmanship Award.