A new US Department of Energy (DoE) roadmap outlines 35 ways to allow solar developers to expedite the interconnection of utility-scale renewables and storage projects. The roadmap, developed through a DoE stakeholder process known as i2X, proposes actions to implement these solutions.

The US Department of Energy is funding a pilot project to demonstrate the commercial viability of storing energy in heated sand, which is capable of producing 135 MW of power for five days.

Adding residential solar or commercial-scale electric vehicle chargers on a utility’s distribution feeder may require the utility to conduct power flow calculations. Duke Energy can now complete those studies in hours, an Amazon executive said at a policy forum held by ACORE.

While distributed solar and storage are advancing quickly in Puerto Rico, utility-scale solar and storage procurements ordered by regulators in 2020 have made little progress.

Four Native American tribes, two US states and the US government have agreed to work together to replace the energy now produced by hydroelectric dams.

California should put front-of-the-meter distributed solar on an equal footing with transmission-connected utility-scale solar and behind-the-meter solar, say several US advocacy groups.

Large-scale reconductoring of existing transmission lines could cost-effectively double transmission capacity within existing rights-of-way, a study says. Renewable energy projects near reconductored transmission lines could more easily interconnect.

California plans to shift 3 GW of load from dirtier, more expensive times of day to cleaner, less expensive times by setting flexible demand standards for many types of electric appliances. Global interest in California’s work is high, according to a state agency commissioner.

As renewable energy generation grows, demand is rising for grid-forming inverters to deliver the same functions as traditional rotating synchronous generators. The UNIFI Consortium is now taking the lead in advancing the development of this new inverter technology.

Solar industry veteran Jigar Shah, the director of the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) Loan Programs Office, says that virtual power plants are the path to success, as solar net metering now faces an uncertain future.