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New data shows Xcel Energy Colorado’s 2016-2017 all-source competitive solicitation (ASCS) secured even lower costs than power sector leaders previously thought, adding momentum to interest in this emerging approach to procurement.
Xcel’s ASCS returned a $0.017/kWh bid for wind, a $0.023/kWh bid for solar, and a $0.03/kWh bid for solar-plus-storage, according to a February 2021 Xcel presentation to Michigan regulators. These prices, compared to Colorado’s average January 2021 residential electricity price of $0.126/kWh, have other utilities asking how they can use this procurement approach.
ASCSs identify market-based portfolios that meet utility needs on both cost and risk from the full range of options, said 3rdRail Managing Partner Fredrich Kahrl, lead author of a March 2021 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) ASCS study. The study outlines 11 ASCS proceedings from investor-owned ut
PHOTO / WORLD
By Xinhua Published: Jun 01, 2021 07:49 AM
Kefilwe Gabatingwe, who bought a solar panel, a power converter and haircut clips from Chinese shops to start a business, is seen at his barbershop in Francistown, Botswana, on May 18, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)
Lekang Botlhoko cuts a customer s hair using a device bought from a Chinese shop in Francistown, Botswana, on May 18, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)
As Botswana s diamond-driven economy has been hit hard since the COVID-19 pandemic struck last year, independent companies, which mainly rely on government tenders, have found the going tough and many of them are implementing cost-cutting measures in order to remain afloat.
June 01, 2021 Abu Dhabi Airports and Masdar have announced the completion of Abu Dhabi’s largest solar-powered car park, which will save 5,300 tons of carbon dioxide per year. WAM photos
ABU DHABI Abu Dhabi Airports and Masdar have announced the completion of Abu Dhabi’s largest solar-powered car park, which will save 5,300 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
The three-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) project is installed on the car shading at the short-term car park of the Midfield Terminal at Abu Dhabi International Airport, with 7,542 solar panels producing electricity. The energy generated by the grid-connected project will be used to power the car parking facility, with excess energy fed to other sections of the airport.
Trade organization Solar Energy UK has called for the government to mandate that solar target in a co-ordinated rallying cry issued with two peers. One of them, the Nuclear Industry Association, is a membership
Image: Andreas Gucklhorn (Unsplash).
Having installed 660MW of new solar PV in the 12 months to 31 March 2021, large-scale solar sites across the UK are now eagerly awaiting expected declines in module prices, allowing 2021 deployment to reach and exceed the GW-levels forecast earlier in the year.
While this ground-breaking hiatus continues, more planning applications are adding to the pipeline, now well in excess of 15GW. About 15-20 sites (mostly in the 40-50MW range each) are ready to go, but without any incentive deadlines to drive early build, it simply requires a reset in module related capex back to levels seen at the end of 2020.