electricity

PSE&G recently put two new landfill solar farms in service as part of the utility's Solar 4 All program. The 10.14-MW Parklands Solar Farm in Bordentown, NJ and the 11.18-MW Kinsley Solar Farm in Deptford, NJ were brought online in late-December 2014 and will supply enough grid-connected solar electricity to power about 3,500 average-size homes annually. These are the two largest centralized solar projects built to date by PSE&G, creating a portfolio of 26 solar farms and 174,000 pole-attached solar units that supply more than 101 MW of electricity.

Dominion Virginia Power will develop multiple large-scale solar projects totaling 400 MW of electricity. All projects will be built in Virginia with the involvement of Virginia-based companies and are expected to be operational by 2020. Together, these solar facilities are anticipated to be capable of generating enough electricity at peak capacity to power 100,000 homes.

Babcock & Wilcox’s Denmark-based subsidiary, Babcock & Wilcox Vølund A/S, was awarded contracts by Margam Green Energy Ltd. for more than $200 million to engineer, procure and operate a state-of-the-art biomass power plant in Margam, Wales. B&W Vølund's consortium partner, Interserve Construction Ltd., will build the plant. The plant will be designed to burn 335,000 tons of wood waste biomass annually and generate approximately 40 MW of electricity.

Florida Power & Light (FPL) plans to build substantially more solar energy capacity as part of its ongoing strategy of advancing clean energy while keeping electricity affordable for customers. Before the end of 2016, FPL intends to build three new solar PV power plants that are being designed to cost-effectively complement other major system improvements, which include the retirement of some of the company's oldest fossil fuel-burning units and the continued investment in clean, fuel-efficient, 24-hour

SunEdison and Omnigrid Micropower (OMC Power) signed a framework agreement to develop 5,000 rural projects, representing 250 MW of electricity, throughout India over the next three to five years. Building upon the 36-kW micro power plants OMC Power has already put in place across India as part of a sustainable and reliable rural electrification plan, this partnership will bring electricity to 10 million additional people.

Alstom, and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), collaborated to design, develop and deploy MicroGrid Power Mix Management (MPMM) solution in the context of the Renewable Energy Integration Demonstrator - Singapore (REIDS) initiative. The REIDS initiative, a first in the region will encompass the construction of a microgrid to manage and integrate electricity generated from multiple sources including solar, wind, tidal, diesel, as well as energy storage and power-to-gas solutions.

Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power plans to develop a 131- MW PV solar project in Georgia. The electricity and associated renewable energy credits (RECs) will be sold to three Georgia electric membership corporations. Southern Power has selected First Solar to be the EPC contractor for the facility. Construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in September 2015, and the project is expected to achieve commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2016.

GE Global Research and GE Energy Consulting, along with National Grid, the Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Clarkson University announced a partnership on a research project to improve the reliability and resiliency of electricity delivery in northern New York.

IKEA plans to increase the solar array atop its Detroit-area store that opened eight years ago in Canton, MI. In September, IKEA began work on a 44,000-square-foot expansion to the store, atop which new panels will be installed beginning spring 2015, with a completion by summer. The 40,000-square-foot solar addition will consist of a 240.9-kW system built with 765 panels, and will produce 287,490 kWh more of electricity annually for the store.

OneEnergy Renewables and Constellation developed a 4.3-MW solar electric project located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The off-site system, which is part of an electricity supply agreement between Constellation and the National Aquarium, will provide power for approximately 40 percent of the Aquarium's electricity requirements for the next 25 years.