North America PV Snippets: Priority, Nautilus, SEIA

• Priority Power has signed an agreement with upstream oil and gas company FireBird Energy to develop a 6.5 MW solar project
• Nautilus Solar has taken over 60 MW DC operational community solar portfolio in New York and Maryland
• New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has been forwarded 2 solar energy bills from the state legislature that SEIA says will make way for 3.75 GW solar power capacity
• Through a notice, the IRS of US government has extended the safe harbor timeline for solar projects, giving them relief from disruption caused by the pandemic

6.5 MW solar project for oil company: FireBird Energy LLC, an upstream oil and gas company has signed up Priority Power Management, LLC under a solar development services (DSA) agreement to build a 6.5 MW solar project near Odessa in Ector County of Texas, US, on land owned by the gas company. Under the agreement, Priority Power will develop, finance, engineer, construct, operate, and maintain the solar facility, while FireBird will source clean energy from the facility under a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The partners said FireBird's private primary distribution system will serve as a point of interconnection behind the utility meter. FireBird expects to source 136 million kWh from the facility on completion on an annual basis, to be used for its operations.

60 MW solar capacity exchanges hands in US: Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC has acquired 21 operational community solar power projects with 60 MW DC combined capacity in New York and Maryland, US. It said this acquisition represents one of the largest acquisitions of operational community solar portfolio in the country to date. Of the 21 projects, 16 are New York and 5 in Maryland, together supplying clean energy to 9,500 households and 2 school districts under PPAs. A wholly-owned subsidiary of global alternative asset manager Power Sustainable, Nautilus said it will continue to enter into more merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions to add to its portfolio over the next 12 to 18 months. In Q2/2021, the company acquired 5.2 MW DC operational solar capacity in Massachusetts.

New Jersey legislature clears solar energy bills: The New Jersey Legislature has cleared 2 solar energy bills and passed these to the state Governor Phil Murphy to sign. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), these 2 bills when signed by the Governor, will help increase solar development across the state. One of these bills, called S2605, provides incentives for a minimum of 1.5 GW behind-the-meter solar facilities and 750 MW of community solar by 2026 under Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC-II) program. Additionally, it includes a new competitive solicitation process to incentivize at least 1.5 GW of large scale solar power facilities by 2026, stating a siting criteria for large scale solar projects.

The other bill, S3484, directs the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to establish what it terms as a Dual-Use Solar Energy Pilot Program to authorize up to 200 MW of solar projects on unpreserved farmland. These would authorize and encourage dual-use solar projects up to 10 MW each. SEIA said these bills will help facilitate a minimum of 3.75 GW of new solar power generation by 2026.

US government extends safe harbor for solar: The US government's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued Notice 2021-41 extending safe harbor for solar projects for 6 years, from 4 years for projects that started construction between 2016 and 2019, and to 5 years from 4 years for projects that entered construction in 2020. The Notice 2021-41 extends this period under Section 48 Investment Tax Credit (ITC) will give much-needed breathing room to companies whose project timelines were disrupted significantly due to COVID-19, to complete their projects, said SEIA's President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.