Focus
Bill supporting offshore wind port infrastructure introduced in California
OffshoreWind – February 10
A new bill has been introduced in California’s state legislature that would add an assessment of funding opportunities for offshore wind port infrastructure to the governor’s Five-Year Infrastructure Plan. Introduced on February 6, Assembly Bill 472 would amend the definition of “infrastructure” in the California Infrastructure Planning Act to include offshore wind port infrastructure as under the existing law it encompasses real property, including land and improvements to the land, structures, and equipment integral to the operation of structures, easements, rights-of-way, and other forms of interest in property, roadways, and water conveyances.
News
RTOs could fast-track dispatchable generation under House, Senate bills
Utility Dive – February 7
Dispatchable power plants could gain priority in interconnection queues under legislation introduced in the House and Senate last Thursday. In 2023, solar interconnection requests totaled 1.1 TW, storage requests totaled 1 TW, wind requests totaled 366 GW, and gas-fired requests totaled 79 GW, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Generating projects that started operating in 2023 faced a 5-year median time between entering the interconnection process and coming online, the lab said. Under the legislation introduced Thursday — the GRID Power Act — FERC would have 60 days to review proposals from regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators for specific projects that would be pushed to the head of interconnection queues.
U.S. power use to reach record highs in 2025 and 2026, EIA says
Reuters – February 11
U.S. power consumption will rise to record highs in 2025 and 2026, according to a new U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report. With growing demand from data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency and with homes and businesses using more electricity for heat and transportation, EIA projected power demand will rise to 4,179 billion kWh. The percentage of renewable generation will rise from 23% in 2024 to 25% in 2025 and 27% in 2026, while nuclear power's share will hold at the 2024 level of 19% in 2025 and 2026, according to the outlook.
Projects
Enel North America completes 202 MW solar + storage project in Texas
Solar Power World – February 6
Enel North America has started operations at the Estonian solar + storage plant in Delta County, Texas. The 202 MW solar PV facility is paired with a 104 MW battery energy storage system.
Microsoft signs three vPPAs with EDP Renewables in Illinois and Texas
Data Center Dynamics – February 11
Microsoft has signed three long-term Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (vPPAs) with EDP Renewables North America for 389 MW of power across Illinois and Texas. The vPPAs are tied to three recently completed utility-scale solar projects with a combined capacity of 400 MW and will supply Microsoft with renewable energy credits.
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