EGEB: Nevada will have more solar than 37 other states combined, more

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Nevada’s NV Energy has more solar coming than 37 other states combined.
• America’s Pledge releases its climate action report at the UN Climate Summit in Madrid.
• Green energy will cause Australian power prices to fall in the next three years.

The Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB): A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

Nevada’s solar surge

Nevada’s NV Energy is going to add more than 1 GW in solar capacity and nearly half of that in storage in the next four years, according to PV Magazine.

Three of NV Energy’s now-approved solar projects — Gemini, Bighorn, and Arrow Canyon — will provide 1,190 MW of solar and 590 MW of battery storage.

NV Energy shares that the three projects are being added to meet two renewable generation goals: the recently passed 50% renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) by 2030…  and NV Energy’s own commitment to double its renewable energy.

At the end of 2018, NV Energy achieved an overall 24.2% RPS (roughly 3,000 MW). PV Magazine estimates that these three new projects will bring NV Energy to 34% RPS — well on track to meet its 50% goal, “as the company has exceeded Nevada’s current renewable energy requirement for the nine straight years.”

Nevada leads the US in solar power potential, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The US’s climate plan (without the Trump administration)

America’s Pledge was founded in July 2017 by US presidential candidate and former UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael Bloomberg and former California governor Jerry Brown.

The coalition consists of nearly 4,000 “US states, cities, businesses, communities of faith, universities, healthcare and cultural institutions, and other organizations [that are] are now acting to fulfill America’s climate pledge to the world.” The coalition is in support of the Paris Agreement.

They now represent 68% of U.S. GDP, 65% of US population, and 51% of US emissions. If they were a country, these US coalitions would have the world’s second largest economy — second only to the entire United States itself.

Today, America’s Pledge released a report at the UN COP25 in Madrid. Titled “Accelerating America’s Pledge: Going All-In to Build a Prosperous, Low-Carbon Economy for the United States,” the report assesses:

What would be delivered from expanded actions by states, cities, businesses, and citizens and then layers on a robust, complementary, and ambitious federal policy program after 2020 to form an “All-In” comprehensive American climate strategy.

This report illuminates a pathway to a comprehensive and ambitious American climate strategy for 2030, using expanded bottom-up leadership as the foundation of a comprehensive “All-In” climate strategy.

You can read the executive summary here and the full report here that explains what America’s Pledge plan is.

America’s Pledge is joined by We Are Still In, Beyond Carbon, and the World Wildlife Fund at the US Climate Action Center in Madrid, which is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

This US coalition has picked up the ball that Trump’s US administration decisively dropped by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and not sending any high-level members of the administration to the UN COP25.

Green energy will drop Oz’s power prices

Australia’s Econews reports that the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has forecast the price of residential electricity to start falling next year and continue to fall until 2022. The price falls are mostly driven by increasing supplies of green energy.

The AEMC predicts further investment in batteries, wind, and solar as an “optimal mix.” No new investment in coal or gas is projected.

AEMC chairman John Pierce said:

More supply puts downward pressure on prices.

But it’s important to note that over a decade of analysis we have seen trends change sharply in response to factors such as sudden generator closures and implementation of new policies.

As such, all price projections should be seen as just that, projections.

The forecast reflects the addition of nearly 5,000 megawatts (MW) of new green power supply across Australia the country until 2022.

Photo: Michael Quine/Las Vegas Review-Journal