News

Hawaii is inviting companies to pilot their pre-commercial technologies at the Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology (HOST) Park in Kailua-Kona. HOST is a model of sustainable development that  allows companies to run their facilities on solar, use cold deep seawater to cool buildings and hold meetings at the LEED-Platinum Gateway building. HOST is interested in energy storage because it is also in the process of developing a microgrid for the campus. The project will be managed by the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) and is a partnership between the State and County of Hawaii, and Hawaii Electric Light Company. Read more here.

First Wind has secured $206 million in financing to for the development of Route 66 Wind project in Armstrong and Carson counties, Texas. The wind farm is expected to generate around 150MW of electricity and will supply power to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

SunEdison has launched yieldco, an IPO aimed at unlocking the true value of its solar assets  and providing leverage as it taps into big capital markets. The terms of the IPO are yet to be determined but it will be an offering of common stock for a new yieldco vehicle. Reports over the past couple of months have suggested that a SunEdison yieldco could raise $300 million. Read more here.

Umair Irfan, E&E reporter

President Obama announced that he is directing the EPA and Department of Transportation to develop the next phase of fuel economy standards for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. These new standards will apply to vehicles manufactured after 2018 and will include fuel saving technologies across all components of a vehicle.

FERC approved a preliminary permit for the Turnagain Arm Tidal Energy Corporation for a tidal project in Alaska. The permit will allow the company to continue explore the feasibility of the tidal energy project. The proposed project would have an estimated average annual generation of 1,271,950 megawatt-hours. Read more here.

A look at the geothermal industry in 2014 shows an increase in the use of geothermal energy globally and a slowdown in growth in the US. This is forcing US companies to take projects overseas. Top players to look out for in 2014 include East Africa, Central America and Indonesia as several financing agencies have announced initiatives to spur growth in these parts of the world. According to Karl Gawell of the Geothermal Energy Association, one of the main issues in the US is the inability of Congress to decide on long term meaningful legislation. Read more here.

Rod Kuckro, E&E reporter

Washington, D.C. – At $1.1 trillion in estimated global revenue, advanced energy grew at a rate more than double the global economy last year, according to a market report commissioned by Advanced Energy Economy (AEE). In the United States, the advanced energy market excluding wind energy experienced double-digit growth the last two years – outpacing the economy by a factor of four – while wind energy saw a boom and bust in that two-year period due to inconsistent federal policy.

The co-founders of Opower, Dan Yates & Alex Laskey share the 5 top trends to look out for in utilities this year: