North America PV News Snippets

$2.6 billion for Intersect Power: US based clean energy company Intersect Power has raised $2.6 billion financing to construct and operate a portfolio of 6 solar and storage facilities in the country. The portfolio comprises 2.2 GW DC of late stage solar and 1.4 GWh storage. All the projects—Athos III, Radian, Oberon I, Oberon II, Lumina I and Lumina II—are scheduled to come online in 2023. “This financing will allow Intersect to deliver a core set of projects in the next two years that will serve as the platform for future growth into green hydrogen and beyond,” said Founder and CEO of Intersect Power, Shelfon Kimber. Funding was committed by HPS Investment Partners and Co-Investors, along with existing Intersect investors CarVal Investors, Generate and Climate Adaptive Infrastructure. In March 2021, First Solar said Intersect Power had placed an order for up to 2.4 GW DC of its high-performance Series 6 modules as one of its largest aggregate orders for the modules (see First Solar’s 2020 Net Sales Decline To $2.7 Billion).

Consumers Energy to add 375 MW new solar: US utility Consumers Energy is to add 375 MW of new solar power capacity to its portfolio in 2023, in the form of 3 projects for which it has entered into separate agreements. The 150 MW Washtenaw Solar Energy Project will be completed by Invenergy and transfer the facility to Consumers Energy to operate. National Grid Renewables will build 125 MW Jackson Solar Project from which the company will purchase clean energy for a period of 20 years. The 100 MW Cereal City Solar facility will be developed by NextEra from which Consumers Energy will purchase electricity for 25 years. These facilities are part of the utility’s plans to add 8 GW of utility scale solar power by 2040, including 1.1 GW by 2024 under its Clean Energy Plan.

AgriSolar Clearinghouse in the US: The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), US has launched the country’s 1^st AgriSolar Clearinghouse, a communications hub. It is aimed at connecting farmers, ranchers, land managers, solar developers, and researchers with trusted, practical information to increase the co-location of solar and agriculture. It features a library of peer-reviewed information, a a media hub featuring videos, podcasts, and relevant news, and a user forum to connect people interested in agrisolar development in real-time. NCAT expects solar installations to cover over 3 million acres of the US land in less than a decade which creates opportunity to pair solar with agricultural land to produce food, and conserve ecosystems. It will also enable further creation of renewable energy, increase pollinator habitat and maximize farm revenue. More information about the communications hub that’s funded by the US Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is available on a dedicated website.

SunPower’s VPP solution: SunPower Corporation has launched a a virtual power plant (VPP) solution that it says will help stabilize the grid with clean energy. It will enable SunVault energy storage customers to get paid for allowing the utility to use stored energy during peak demand. It further adds that VPPs can enable utilities to extract energy from efficient, renewable energy resources as distributed solar and energy storage, to disperse among all grid-connected customers. The company is offering its 1^st VPP offering ConnectedSolutions to customers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Enrolled customers can participate in their local utilities’ VPP season that runs from June to September every year. Only those customers with SunVault energy storage will be able to make use of the ConnectedSolutions VPP.