Weekly Market Update

01 APAC

The EU plan to drastically ramp renewables to replace Russian gas

• The EU's plan to hit fast-forward on its?Fit for 55?emissions reduction plan, in a bid to reduce the bloc's reliance on Russian gas, will include a proposal to bring forward enough?rooftop solar?panels to generate up to 15TWh of clean electricity this year.
• The?European Commission?yesterday stated its intent to draw up a “RepowerEU” package of policies “by the summer” to try and reduce by two-thirds the volume of Russian gas it imported last year, with the aim of securing that result by the end of December.
• The commission pledged to deliver a solar energy document in June which will include a proposed European Solar Rooftops Initiative and the EU body said successfully installing enough panels to generate the hoped-for 15TWh of clean power this year would remove demand for 2.5bcm of Russian gas.
• With the Fit for 55 package – which refers to a planned 55% cut in EU carbon emissions this decade – laying plans for 420GW of solar generation capacity by 2030, speeding up that planned rate of PV project deployment 20%.
• With the RepowerEU package set to recommend a further 80GW of solar and wind capacity this decade – on top of the figures included in the Fit for 55 plan – to power green hydrogen production, the commission called for EU member states to immediately get to work?processing permits for renewable energy projects?as quickly as their legislative systems allow, and to allocate the land and?water bodies?necessary for the raised ambition.

Source: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/09/eu-plan-to-drastically-ramp-renewables-to-replace-russian-gas/

Italy installed 937MW of solar, 431MWh of storage in 2021

• Italy installed around 937MW of new PV power in 2021, according to new statistics released by Italian solar association Italia Solare.
• In 2020, the?newly installed PV capacity was 625.4MW, in the previous four years, new PV additions had totaled 737MW,?407MW, 369MW and 305MW, respectively.
• Most of last year's new capacity comes from PV systems with a capacity of up to 12kW, which totaled 371MW, and PV systems ranging in size from 20 to 200kW, which reached a total capacity of 208MW. Solar arrays with an output of 12 to 20kW equaled only 56MW and solar parks with a size of 1 to 10MW reached 101MW.
• The country's cumulative PV capacity reached 22.56GW at the end of December.
• Furthermore, Italia Solare reports that 431.42MWh of storage capacity was deployed in Italy last year. This compares to 111.9MWh in 2020, 79.6MWh in 2019, and 55.3MWh in 2018. Most of the new storage capacity was installed in the northern regions of?Lombardia?and Veneto, which are both supporting storage with dedicated incentive schemes.
• The cumulative capacity of all storage systems deployed in Italy reached 734.4MWh by the end of December. Around 720MWh is represented by lithium-ion batteries.
• Italy's National Integrated Plan for Climate and Energy aims for?50GW of solar?by 2030.

Source: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/09/italy-installed-937mw-of-solar-431mwh-of-storage-in-2021/

Storage: 35,064 new systems installed in Italy in 2021

• In?2021 ,?35,064 storage systems?combined with?photovoltaic?systems were installed?in?Italy.?The figure marks a growth of?164%?compared to the?13,247?devices connected in 2020.
• This is what emerges from the?Italia Solare?elaboration on the basis of the?Gaudì?data made available by Terna.?The storage capacity installed in 2021 reached 431.4 MWh, an increase of 45%.
• Once again Lombardy is the region with the highest number of devices installed, with 6,643 new storage systems connected.?Followed by Veneto (5,047), Emilia Romagna (3,518), Piedmont (2,841) and Lazio (2,439).
• Overall, at the end of 2021 there were?over 75,000 storage systems in Italy for a capacity of 735 MWh.

Italian solar sector defines standards for agrivoltaics

• Italian renewable energy associations?ANIE Rinnovabili,?Italia Solare?and?Elettricità Futura?have released a joint position paper defining a series of standards for?agrivoltaic projects.
• The document identifies with extreme precision the area that?is allowed to be used for power generation in the two most common agrivoltaics configurations — solar arrays with elevated solar modules and PV systems deployed between crop rows.
• Furthermore, according to the document, a photovoltaic project combined with agriculture, in order to be compatible with the proposed standards, should comply with three main requirements: the authorization of experts such an agronomist or a zootechnician, depending on the farming activity; the adoption of a monitoring system for the agricultural yield; and limiting the area for the non-agricultural activity to up to 30% of the total project area.
• The three associations added that projects relying on elevated modules should be prioritized, as their deployment allows full agricultural continuity.

France’s tender for utility scale solar concludes with final average price of $0.06499/kWh

• France's Ministry of Ecological Transition has published the?results of the first round?of the new?PPE2 tender scheme?for ground-mounted solar installations.
• A total of 71 projects, totaling 704.9MW, were selected by the French authorities, which hoped to allocate 700MW through the procurement exercise.
• The tender concluded with an average final price of €0.05884/kWh ($0.06499), which is 7% lower than that of the?previous tender of the same kind, which had recorded a decrease in the average price, of 3%.
• For the category of projects exceeding 5MW in size, the average final price was €0.05496/kWh, up slightly from €0.05232/kWh in the previous round.
• Some 20 developers were identified by French consultancy Finergreen,?including six that secured have less than 10MW of allocated projects.?French power utility EDF secured the largest portion, with 112 MW, followed by French independent power producer Neoen, with 93MWp.
• The next round of the tender scheme will be held in May and is expected to allocate 925MW of solar power.

Germany: Demand for photovoltaic home storage systems increased by 60 percent in 2021

• According to data published on Wednesday by the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar), demand rose by around 60 percent last year - a total of around 141,000 small battery storage systems were newly installed in 2021.?This means that around 413,000 home storage systems are now installed in Germany.?Initially, BSW-Solar did not provide any information on the total installed storage capacity or capacity.
• According to the association, a further increase in private photovoltaic systems and home storage systems can be seen this year due to the Ukraine war and the associated energy crisis.?Consumers see this as an opportunity to protect themselves against sharply rising electricity costs and supply bottlenecks or power failures.

Mini-PPAs for residential PV in Germany

• German renewable energy company?Trianel?plans to offer mini power purchase agreements (PPAs) to residential PV system owners in Germany, starting from the second quarter of this year.
• Solar array operators will sell their electricity to Trianel at a fixed price. Trianel will then sell that power on the energy futures market. This will ensure that customers get prices above the minimum feed-in tariff for rooftop PV, explained Bastian Wurm, head of direct marketing at Trianel.
• For its fixed-price model, Trianel is targeting systems that have been excluded from the German incentive scheme for renewables. According to Wurm, old systems could use the fixed-price model to protect themselves against volatility on electricity markets. The continued operation of the systems can thus be better planned economically.
• Trianel has been offering mini PPAs for wind energy, biogas plants and hydroelectric power projects since the end of 2021. Since then, Trianel has included 350MW of capacity in the short-term fixed price payment.
• It defines the terms of the mini PPAs directly with the customer. They amount to three to six months on a rolling basis, although the company says it can also envisage longer terms of up to 12 months.
• Customers will be able to switch between a fixed price model via mini PPAs, said Trianel.

The Netherlands deployed 3.3GW of PV last year

• The?Dutch solar market?last year grew by 3.3GW of newly deployed capacity, which pushed the Netherlands’ cumulative figure to more than 14.3GW, according to the Dutch Central Agency for Statistics.
• By comparison, newly deployed PV systems hit?2.93GW?in 2020, 2.57GW in 2019, 1.69GW in 2018, and 853MW in 2017.
• According to the agency, the large increase in solar capacity – and that of wind power, which grew by around 1.1GW last year – raised the share of electricity production from renewable energy in the country to 33%, which compares to 27% in 2020.
• “Solar power increased by 30% to 11.4 billion kilowatt-hours, wind power by 17% to 17.9 billion kilowatt-hours, and production from biomass by 23% to 9.7 billion kilowatt-hours,” it said in a statement.

Source: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/09/the-netherlands-deployed-3-3gw-of-pv-last-year/

Saudi minister appears to signal 15GW, two-year clean energy push

• The energy minister of?Saudi Arabia?has, according to 50% state-owned energy company?Acwa Power, signaled plans for a vast clean energy program in the kingdom by the end of next year.
• A press release issued today by Acwa Power to announce the signing of a power purchase agreement connected to the 700MW Ar Rass solar project stated: “During the signing ceremony, the minister of energy announced that the energy sector aims to launch several renewable energy projects to produce approximately 15,000MW of clean energy between the years 2022 and 2023, with the aim of diversifying the energy mix and achieving its designated targets.”
• It was not clear whether the statement of intent made by?Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud?related to 15GW of renewable energy generation capacity or clean energy facilities sufficient to generate 15GWh of green electricity. Nor was it clear whether the projects would be completed by the end of next year, or merely launched.?

Turkey’s energy storage market is ‘now fully open’

• With a commitment to add 1GW each of new solar PV and wind each year, Turkey’s need for energy storage is coming sooner rather than later.
• The country’s energy regulator has already acted to enable market participation for storage and companies on the ground are ready to deliver, says Can Tokcan, managing partner at Turkish energy storage EPC Inovat.
• Turkey has around 97GW of electricity generation capacity — in 2011 it had about half of that. It currently has about 9GW of solar and about the same amount of wind connected to the grid and is committed to the gigawatt annual targets in the years 2017 to 2027.
• In April 2021, Energy-Storage.news reported on the commissioning of Turkey’s first grid-connected battery storage project, a 500kW/500kWh system which was designed to help smooth out local peaks in supply and demand for a town in the north of the country.
• “The general expectation is that Turkey will install about 2GW of batteries in the next 10 years,” Can Tokcan of Inovat says.
• Regulations open up market for wide range of use cases
• In the first category above, storage with generation, licenses for energy generation assets can be updated to include energy storage — without renewable generators losing their feed-in tariff. Solar facilities in Turkey usually have about 1.2 to 1.3 times more installed capacity than the amount they can feed in to the grid.

Source: https://www.eqmagpro.com/turkeys-energy-storage-market-is-now-fully-open-eq-mag-pro/

Debate on land allocation for ground mounted solar heats up in Israel

• The Finance Ministry and the Environmental Protection Ministry of?Israel?are currently in conflict with each other about the amount of land that should be devoted to the deployment of utility scale solar power plants.
• According to Israeli media outlet?Haaretz, the country's National Planning and Building Council decided, last week, to postpone the decision on how much land to allocate for ground-mounted PV projects until the end of this year. The article reveals that the Israeli authorities have already allocated 11,600 acres (4,693 hectares) for solar plants, and that another 9,000 acres is what is at stake in the conflict between the two ministries.
• Israel supports PV through tenders for large scale projects and operates an?incentive scheme for rooftop PV, offering feed-in tariffs. In an effort to encourage the dual use of land, the country's?Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,?and the Ministry of Energy, in January launched a?tender?to deploy around 100MW of agrivoltaic capacity across 100 locations in the country.

Egypt To Add 300-400 MW RE Capacity In 2022

• Egypt to add renewable energy of 300-400 MW capacity in 2022 after the completion of current projects. New projects will also be implemented in next 2 years to boost the renewable energy to 10,000 MW said Mohammed Al-Khayyat, CEO of the state-owned New and Renewable Energy Authority.?
• “We expect new projects and the projects under construction to add 300-400?MW to the country’s renewable energy network this year,” Khayyat said.?
• He added, “Other projects are planned for 2023-2024…when they are completed, we expect the country’s production of solar power and other renewable energy sources to reach more than 10,000 MW…this target within Vision 2035 will certainly be achieved.”?
• Khayyat said, “new developments in this sector worldwide will allow Egypt to step up plans to boost renewables in the energy mix and this will surely open up massive opportunities for investors.”?
• The country will boost the production from renewable energy as per the Vision of Egypt 2035 and will invite investors to invest in renewable energy sector. Renewable energy projects are a crucial part of Egypt’s long term devlopment goals.

Source: https://solarquarter.com/2022/03/08/egypt-to-add-300-400-mw-re-capacity-in-2022/

02 APAC

India installed 1.7GW of rooftop PV in 2021

• India installed 1.7GW of rooftop solar in 2021 – its highest-ever annual?rooftop solar?capacity additions to date. Installations rose 210% year on year, according to a new?report?by Mercom India Research.?The residential and commercial segments accounted for 35% and 33% of all installed rooftop solar capacity, respectively. Industrial?rooftop solar installations?accounted for 26% of the total, while the remaining 6% came from the government segment.
• “The rooftop solar market in India had its best year, largely due to the pent-up demand from 2020, which experienced a severe decline due to Covid-19. Certainty around net metering regulation helped along with demand from consumers across all segments – residential, commercial, and Industrial. An increase in component costs will dent demand in 2022, but we still expect positive growth this year,” said Raj Prabhu, chief executive officer of Mercom Capital Group.
• According to the report, India’s cumulative rooftop solar installations surpassed 7GW by Dec. 31, 2021. The state of?Gujarat?has the most installed rooftop solar capacity, followed by Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
• Rooftop solar installations reached 402MW in the fourth quarter, down 10% from the 448MW added in the third quarter of 2021. However, fourth-quarter installations rose 41% year on year.
• Mercom analysts said installations could have been higher in 2021 if not for?price increases in components, commodities, and raw materials. The hike in the goods and services tax (GST) rate also dealt a big blow to installers. Average rooftop solar system in 2021 cost 14.75% more than in the fourth quarter of 2020 as installers increased prices to match the 12% GST hike and?high material costs.

Source: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/10/india-installed-1-7gw-of-rooftop-pv-in-2021/

Indian solar manufacturing sector is set for a boom

• The Indian solar manufacturing sector, currently limited to mostly module production, is seeing increased activity on the cell front. New players are joining the existing handful to announce big plans.
• Bridge To India Managing Director Vinay Rustagi expects to see a massive cell manufacturing expansion of up to 35GW in the next 2~3 years, compared to 3.5GW of operational capacity at present.
• The government’s 25% basic customs duty on PV cell imports, starting in April 2022, and the expansion of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme’s subsidy budget, are providing the required push.
• As India looks to ramp up its domestic solar manufacturing industry, the government has issued a series of policies to support manufacturers establishing PV production lines in India, and to drive demand for their products.
• ICRA Senior Vice President Girishkumar Kadam. “In this context, capacity addition in the solar energy segment within RE is expected to remain significant with about 65% to 70% share by FY 2030, given the relatively lower execution challenges in the solar segment.”

Japan allocates 268.7MW in eleventh solar auction, lowest bid comes in at $0.078/kWh

• Japan's Green Investment Promotion Organization has released the?final results?of the latest auction for solar energy projects with a power rating of more than 250kW.
• According to the government-run agency, 273 PV projects with a combined capacity of?268.7MW were selected through the procurement exercise, which was the eleventh of the country's?auction schemes for utility scale solar?and will be the last exercise awarding fixed tariffs. Starting from the next auction, developers will be awarded?feed-in premium tariffs.
• The lowest bid offered in the auction was ￥8.99/kWh ($0.078) and the average, offered final price was ￥9.99. The?ceiling price had been set at ￥10.25/kWh.
• The Japanese authorities had accepted to review?345?project proposals with a combined capacity of 278.5MW.
• The agency stressed that this is the first time that the minimum price crossed the ￥9 threshold. Total solar capacity, however, was lower than in the tenth auction, in which about 340MW was allocated and the lowest bid reached ￥10.23/kWh.
• In 2021, the Japanese government allocated a total of 675MW of PV capacity across three different auctions. In the?previous auctions, it allocated 942MW.
• The main issues solar developers have to address in Japan are land availability – in part due to restrictions on the use of abandoned agricultural sites – and grid constraints.

Source: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/09/japan-allocates-268-7mw-in-eleventh-solar-auction-lowest-bid-comes-in-at-0-078-kwh/

The road to renewable energy in Japan, a top CO2 emitter

• Japan now wants 36%~38% of its power to come from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2030, up from its previous goal of 22-24 percent.
• Japan is slowly getting there: in 2020, renewable energy accounted for around 20% of Japan's electricity production, up nearly 2% points year on year.
• Japan's government wants nuclear to account for 20%-22% of electricity production by 2030.
• Another controversial topic is the Japanese financing of overseas fossil fuel projects such as coal plants.
• Tokyo has pledged to tighten rules for investment in foreign power stations, but will push on with plans already in progress for several massive coal projects.

Philippines to incorporate nuclear power into energy mix

• Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has reportedly approved an executive order to include nuclear power as an option in the Philippines’ energy mix as the country phases out coal-fired power plants to meet its climate goals. The order was signed on 28 February and made public on 3 March.
• The coal-fired power plants currently provide for about 60% of the Philippines’ total energy requirements.
• As part of its increased focus on renewables, the Philippines aims to deliver a further 10GW of solar energy by 2030. This would account for more than 20% of its energy mix.

Rooftop solar market bounces back in Australia

• Rooftop solar installations on Australian homes and businesses have rebounded over the course of February, new data has shown, offering a much-needed sign of a return to business-as-usual for the sector after a conspicuously slow start to 2022.
• The latest monthly report from industry statisticians, SunWiz, shows an uptick in installations over the past month, with the addition of another 217MW of sub-100kW PV systems around the nation, taking the total installed for the year so far to 400MW.
• The total installations for February puts the market 18% ahead of January (183MW), but still leaves it 24% behind the year-to-date installation figures from the same time last year.
• In just the two months of 2022, so far, there have already been some ominous signs of reckoning for the solar industry, including the shock exit from panel manufacturing by LG.

Hanwha Q CELLS launches residential energy solution in Australia after preoccupying the VPP market

• Hanwha Solutions Q CELLS division (hereafter Hanwha Q CELLS) announced on the 21st that it will launch Q.HOME CORE, a residential energy solution, in Australia in March.
• Q Home Core is an integrated energy solution that combines a solar inverter, an energy storage system (ESS) and an energy monitoring service (Q.OMMAND).
• Q Home Core will be unveiled through the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) pilot project implemented by the Victorian State Government in Australia. Hanwha Q CELLS plans to gain an advantageous position to enter the VPP market in countries around the world by participating in this pilot project.
• Hanwha Q CELLS plans to take the lead in the Australian VPP market by participating in several pilot projects in the future and secure a foothold for the VPP business in the US, Japan, and Korea markets. An official from Hanwha Q CELLS said, "According to a market research institute, the global VPP market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of about 25% until the end of 2027."

Energy X-Avansys Korea to launch BIPV business

• Energy X (CEO Park Seong-hyun) announced on the 28th that it had signed a business agreement with Avansys Korea (CEO Jong-Jin Lee) to jointly promote a carbon-neutral building project through Zero Energy Building (ZEB) and green remodeling.
• Through this agreement, the two companies will jointly develop a carbon-neutral business model and BIPV business to respond to climate change.
• In order to revitalize the platform’s building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) business, EnergyX will apply and develop technology to the BIPV application business that flows through the EnergyX platform, and Avansys Korea will develop and apply BIPV manufacturing technology.

03 AMER

Accumulated PV Capacity in Brazil reached 14 GW

• According to ABSolar, the total PV capacity installed in Brazil reached 14 GW by the end of February 2022, of which 4,735 MW are Centralized Generation (CG) and 9,288 MW are Distributed Generation (DG). Furthermore, 44.7% of the Distributed Generation are residential.
• In the first two months of 2022, Brazil has added 545 MW of solar PV, among which 103MW are CG and 442 MW are DG.

The NCRE generated 35.5% of Chile's electricity in 2021

• In the statistical publication corresponding to the month of February, ACERA, the Chilean Association of Renewable Energies and Storage, reports that the accumulated NCRE participation in 2022 corresponded to 35.5% of the electricity matrix, which represents an improvement over expectations collected in the NCRE Law that pointed to 34.3% of the electricity matrix.
• The NCRE installed capacity in February reached 11,916 MW. This increase in installed NCRE capacity is due to the entry of new solar photovoltaic and wind technology plants, increasing NCRE capacity by 1.6% compared to the previous month. Of this installed capacity, 6,449 MW, 20.1% corresponds to photovoltaic solar energy, 2.1% more than the previous month.
• As of February 2022, the small-scale installed capacity, PMG and PMGD, correspond to 321 MW and 1,796 MW, respectively.
• As of February 2022, the NCRE and Storage Systems capacity under construction reaches 4,209 MW.?Of this amount, 81% corresponds to photovoltaic solar projects followed by 15% from wind projects.

Dominican overcomes a 14-year lethargy in renewable incentives

• Edward Veras, executive director of the CNE, highlighted in an interview in a local media that due to the planned work that is being carried out, currently the production of renewable energies covers between 10 and 11% of the national demand.?
• He stated that during the year 2021 some 11 new projects were concessioned to be developed in the next three years, and that the government also granted 10 energy purchase contracts to renewables.?
• He highlighted that in 2021 the distribution companies were able to contract long-term renewable energy, after expressing that several of the companies favored with the concessions are building their power plants and that they will be able to start injecting energy at the end of the year.
• He concluded that they expect that by the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023, renewable energy will reach between 15 and 17% of the total energy produced in the country.
• Last week the?National Energy Commission (CNE) reported that in 2021 it had managed 1,458 requests for tax incentives?, which represented RD$1,095 million, about US$19.82 million, in exemptions in support of renewable energy generation projects.

Solar Energy Market in Argentina to Record 82.21% YOY Growth in 2022

• The?Solar Energy Market in?Argentina?share?is estimated to increase by?53.73 terawatt-hour units?from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth is anticipated to?accelerate?at a?CAGR of 70.64%. Factors such as?increasing demand for electricity?are significantly driving the?solar energy market share in?Argentina.
• Solar Energy Market in?Argentina?report key highlights
• Estimated year-on-year growth rate: 82.21%
• Key market segments: End-user?(utility and rooftop) and application (grid-connected and off-grid).

New tender for photovoltaic works in isolated areas of Argentina

• Within the framework of the Renewable Energy Program in Rural Markets (Pemer), the Ministry of Energy will install photovoltaic equipment to supply electricity to National Highway camps, border posts of the Argentine Army, National Gendarmerie posts, National Parks shelters, rural schools and health and police establishments in a total of 19 provinces.
• With an?investment of US$ 22 million, Permer?announced the call for tenders for the supply and installation of photovoltaic equipment in 281 public, national and provincial institutions, in Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Chaco, Chubut, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Jujuy, La Pampa, Misiones, Neuquén, Río Negro, Salta, San Juan, Santa Cruz, Santiago del Estero, Tierra del Fuego and Tucumán.
• The Undersecretary of Electric Energy, Federico Basualdo, indicated that "the Project allows reliable and safe electricity to be provided for fundamental institutions in isolated areas throughout the national territory, to contribute to improving the quality of life and the development of thousands of Argentines." .
• Companies interested in the LPN 1/2022 tender can submit their offers until next April 8.

Anti-rooftop solar net metering bill passes in Florida

• In a hard blow to the budding solar rooftop industry in Florida, the state legislature passed House Bill 741, which phases down the value of net metering, and opens the door for utilities to add fixed charges to solar customer bills. Advocacy organizations FLASEIA, Vote Solar, and environmental groups in the state?said they will now call on Governor Ron Desantis?to veto the bill.
• Once the law takes effect in 2023, payments to solar customers will regress from a retail rate, like the one they pay utilities at around 10 cents a kilowatt, to the “avoided cost” to the utility, a fraction of the retail rate. The phase out will slash payment rates to solar customers by 50% in four years and would drop further still to the avoided cost rate by 2029.
• The bill also allows for fixed charges for grid connected solar customers starting in 2026. The broad language in the bill does not set a limit on the fixed charges. Similar fees were proposed in the now-stalled California Net Energy Metering 3.0 and?were described as?“a tax on the sun.”
• The Berkeley study found that cost pressures from net metering don’t start making a tangible effect until solar penetration reaches 10%. Florida is nowhere near this figure, with 0.86% of households currently topped with solar. Read more about the?“cost shift” and a utility-funded coalition that spread the idea in California?here.

Source: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/florida-passes-net-metering-bill-that-will-gut-rooftop-solar-advocates-say/620000/?

3GW distributed solar and 2.1GW distributed storage in Michigan by 2035, under a low-cost scenario

• The average Michigan customer could save $773 per year through 2050 compared to current utility plans, if the state electrified transportation and heating to meet Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s clean energy?executive directive, and made optimal investments in renewables.
• Distributed solar in Michigan would reach 3GW by 2035 in the lowest-cost scenario, while distributed storage would reach 2.1GW. Current utility plans call for no additional distributed solar or storage beyond minimal existing levels.
• While distributed solar and storage would be higher under the lowest-cost scenario, utility-scale solar would be lower, at 3.6GW in 2035, versus 7.8GW under current utility plans.
• The study found tremendous untapped land-based wind capacity in Michigan, with the lowest-cost scenario adding 21GW of wind power by 2035, compared to 4.4GW under current utility plans.
• The study, which Vote solar submitted in its comments on the draft Michigan Healthy Climate Plan prepared by Governor Whitmer, showed that the governor’s goals are achievable, said Kenworthy. Michigan should “start now” to get to 50% clean energy by 2030, as “getting the first 50% is a no regrets policy” he said. Vote Solar supports a Michigan renewable energy standard of 50% by 2030, a goal stated in Michigan’s draft plan, he said.

California’s solar market is now a battery market

• At the end of January the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) queue included a total of 282 projects with a solar component (including various hybrids of solar+storage & solar+wind), compared to 533 projects with a battery component. The raw capacities tell the same story: At 135 GW the capacity of battery projects is 78% higher than the 76 GW of solar projects.
• We found only 23 solar projects in the queue that don’t include batteries, meaning that more than 90% of solar projects that have applied for interconnection have a battery component.
• Another notable factor is the size of the batteries. Gone are the days when small batteries were added to solar projects. The average ratio of battery capacity to solar capacity was .89. Nor are the standalone battery projects small; the average capacity of a standalone battery project in the CAISO queue is 248 MW.
• The large majority of this capacity is scheduled to come online in 2022 and 2023. This means that with new projects getting approved, as early as 2024 the market could flip to standalone battery projects being dominant.
• According to?the American Clean Power Association, California had only 256 MW of utility-scale batteries before 2020, but had reached 2.1 GW by the end of 2021—an 8x increase. A recent analysis suggests that the state needs 37 GW of batteries over the next 20 years, as well as 53.2 GW of utility-scale solar.

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