Energy Update

South Fork Wind received approval of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP) from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).  

The COP approval outlines the 132 MW project’s turbine spacing, the requirements on the construction methodology for all work occurring in federal ocean waters, and mitigation measures to protect marine habitats and species.

Appalachian Power issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for up to 1,000 MW of wind and 100 MW of solar generation resources with optional battery energy-storage systems. The RFP is its largest to date for wind energy resources.

Proposals would help the company meet renewable energy requirements set by Virginia’s Clean Economy Act (VCEA).  Under the VCEA, Appalachian Power must meet annual targets as it works toward 100% carbon-free energy in its Virginia service territory by 2050. 

Utility-scale solar energy deployments are not as land intensive as they were a decade ago, thanks to improved power and energy densities. As a result, developers and others who turn to older benchmarks for solar module power and energy density will “significantly overstate” land requirements.

Those are the findings of a new study by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Bowdoin College.

By Charles F. Kutscher, University of Colorado Boulder and Jeffrey Logan, University of Colorado Boulder