May 17, 2020
Massachusetts Ranked Most Energy Efficient State
2 min
Last week the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEE) announced its annual rankings of the most and least energy efficient states in t...
Last week the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEE) announced its annual rankings of the most and least energy efficient states in the US. Taking into account the state-level programs and policies each state uses to encourage energy efficiency, it was a surprise to see Massachusetts trump California, considering California became the first state to enact the cap-and-trade system on the same day of the announcement. So how did they do it?
“Thanks to our investments in innovation and infrastructure, Massachusetts is now leading the nation in energy efficiency,” Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told the ACEE. “Through our Green Communities Act, we set aggressive goals and laid the foundation for greater investment in energy efficiency -- and now we are proud to be a model for the nation and world.”
The Green Communities Act, signed by Patrick in 2008, helped the state take giant steps toward a clean energy future under a bold and comprehensive bill. Under the new law, major utility companies in the state are required to purchase all available energy efficient retrofits that compete with electricity, allowing customers to save on utilities and make upgrades to current energy systems in their homes. The utility companies were also required to enter 10 to 15 year contracts with renewable energy developers, in turn, financing clean energy developers to get started on future projects.
“With this legislation, Massachusetts takes its rightful place as a national leader in energy reform and environmental protection,” according to Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles in a 2008 statement. “This legislation will help businesses and residential consumers fight rising energy costs, reap the benefits of renewable energy, and grow our clean energy industry.”
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The ACEE's top 10 energy efficient states are ranked as follows: Massachusetts (#1 for the first time), California (after holding the top spot in all of ACEE's previous four rankings), New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Connecticut and Maryland.
The 10 states listed as needing the most improvement were, from last place, North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, Missouri, Alabama and South Dakota.
The ACEE also found that total budgets for electricity efficiency are up by over a billion dollars since 2009, and many states have adopted energy-saving programs, including the Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS).
Aug 4, 2021
Sungrow links Europe's largest energy storage plant to grid
2 min
Europe's largest energy storage project, the 100MWh Minety plant with Sungrow's 1500V energy storage system solutions, has connected to the UK grid
Europe's largest energy storage project, the 100MW/100MWh Minety plant featuring Sungrow's 1500V energy storage system solutions, has been successfully connected to the UK grid.
The UK experienced the most debilitating blackout in nearly a decade in August 2019. The incident exposed the serious lack of frequency regulation of the national grid and demonstrated that the construction of energy storage projects that can regulate the frequency of the grid in a timely fashion should be prioritised. The Minety project, which began at the end of 2019, considerably mitigates the problem and is designed for facilitating grid stability and maximising renewable energy utilisation.
Sungrow supplied both NCM and LFP battery energy storage system solutions featuring high integration, which minimise the footprint, slash the commissioning duration and significantly reduce the system cost by 5%. The solution well meets the latest UK frequency regulation requirement called dynamic containment - requesting the plant to respond to the power instruction of the grid within 1 second, making the project one of the rare 30% of the UK's storage plants equipped with this function.
"We are proud of being part of this landmark project, offering solutions with extreme efficiency and safety while in compliance with the stringent UK grid codes," said James Wu, Vice President of Sungrow, which shipped more than 800MWh of energy storage systems in 2020.
Battery storage capacity in the UK is likely to heavily increase as move towards operating a zero-carbon energy system. At the end of 2019 the GB battery storage capacity was 0.88GWh. National Grid forecasts it could be as high as 2.30GWh in 2025.
Global energy storage updates
TEVOCS has announced the launch of a powerful series of universal portable power stations that provide reliable power for off-grid situations, travel, home backup and more. With an impressive 2080WH capacity and 2000W output, the TEVOCS power station is billed as 'the ultimate power station for modern life' and is available here.
Enlight Renewable Energy has completed the acquisition of 90.1% of the holdings in Clēnera LLC, a leading and seasoned company in the field of initiation, development, construction and operation of solar energy and energy storage projects in the United States.
Last month Canadian Solar Inc. was awarded the first utility-scale battery storage project in Colombia of 45 MW/45 MWh. The project was awarded in the public tender launched by Colombia's Ministry of Energy and Mines, via its affiliate UPME, the Mining and Energy Planning Unit.
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