June 16
PSE’s Clean Energy Implementation Plan Greenlit
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved the Clean Energy Implementation Plan proposed by Puget Sound Energy (PSE), setting the company’s course shift to more than 60 percent clean electricity by 2025. Beyond that, the plan – filed in December 2021 – also laid out a roadmap for PSE to provide its power without carbon emissions entirely by 2045.
CLEAResult recently completed two of seven EV charging projects planned for Stanford Medicine’s Palo Alto campus. The first two projects placed a combined 31 EV charging stations at the Hoover Pavilion and Pasteur Visitor parking garages. The chargers are already being actively used, many times all at once, and a third garage for staff is in the permitting phase.
If you’ve spent any time on the internet, you’ve likely experienced the expression “do your own research.” The basic premise is simple enough – that we can all benefit from an open mind eager to learn – but that same premise underscores the increasing erosion of trust between audiences and media outlets. For example, a survey from 2022 discovered that 38.2 percent of Americans surveyed admitted to accidentally sharing misinformation.
Following evaluation of proposals, Xcel Energy announced plans to add three large solar generating facilities near existing power plants in New Mexico and Texas, while extending a power purchase contract for firm, dispatchable power generation. This approximately 280 MW of potential capacity of resources would replace generation capacity from older facilities preparing to retire.
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Industry News
The U.S. solar industry posted its best first quarter in history, as some 6.1 GW of solar capacity was installed in the quarter, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie. The record quarter was driven primarily by supply chain challenges abating and delayed solar projects moving forward.
The Edison Institute for Electric Innovation’s 2023 smart meters brief projects 128 million smart meters installed in U.S. households and businesses by the end of 2023. This corresponds to penetration of approximately 80 percent, up from the 114 million smart meters with 73-percent penetration in 2021.
Illinois’ largest solar farm is being built thanks to buy-in from the city of Chicago, helping the city’s government meet its climate goals of 100-percent clean energy by 2025. The Double Black Diamond Solar Farm, located in downstate Illinois counties with long histories of coal mining, will have a 600-MW capacity, with about half of that devoted to Chicago.
With the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration unleashed a torrent of incentives to help individuals electrify their homes and vehicles – and thereby slash their energy bills, improve air quality and cut carbon pollution. Now, the U.S. Department of Energy has created the Energy Savings Hub, a one-stop shop to put those tax credits and rebates at consumers’ fingertips.
