Massive solar project goes online in Nevada desert

SOLAR: Developers bring the 690 MW Gemini Solar + Energy Storage project online in southern Nevada, making it one of the nation’s largest operational facilities of its kind. (Power)

ALSO:

• Federal data show California residents are increasingly pairing rooftop solar with battery storage installations after the state slashed net-metering compensation for distributed generation. (news release)
• A Nevada county votes to reject a proposed solar panel recycling testing facility, citing residents’ concerns it may lead to industrial expansion. (Pahrump Valley Times)
• California’s Port of Oakland allocates nearly $20 million to purchase solar power and resell it to tenants. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY: Colorado economic development officials approve up to $1.84 million in tax incentives for a clean energy manufacturer considering establishing a facility in the state. (CPR)

STORAGE:

• A New Mexico county asks a developer for more information before voting on a proposed $230 million industrial bond to finance a 150 MW battery energy storage system. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• A Colorado electric cooperative brings a 78 MW battery energy storage system online in the eastern part of the state. (news release)
• An Arizona utility and a developer plan a 250 MW battery energy storage system in the Phoenix area. (news release)

GRID: Distributed energy provider Sunrun says its virtual power plant composed of some 16,000 residential solar-plus-storage systems sent up to 51 MW to the California grid during a July heat wave. (news release)

MICROGRIDS: Colorado awards utilities more than $2.1 million to construct solar and battery storage powered microgrids. (Microgrid Knowledge)

OIL & GAS: The federal Bureau of Land Management proposes strengthening oil and gas drilling regulations on public land in Colorado to mitigate impacts to wildlife habitat. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: California electric vehicle sales for the second quarter of 2024 drop 1.2% from the previous year, raising questions about whether the state can meet its goal of banning new gasoline-fueled car sales by 2035. (Los Angeles Times)

MINING: Advocates push back against a company’s plan to breed an endangered wildflower in a lab to offset its proposed Nevada lithium mine’s impacts to the plant, saying the firm is ​“greenwashing extinction.” (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR:

• California startup Oklo successfully demonstrates its advanced nuclear reactor fuel recycling process. (World Nuclear News)
• A firm considers establishing a nuclear reactor fuel fabrication facility in Wyoming. (World Nuclear News)

CARBON CAPTURE: Montana residents push back on an ExxonMobil subsidiary’s proposal to store 150 million tons of captured carbon in federal lands in the eastern part of the state, saying it would ​“change our way of life here forever.” (Inside Climate News)