ENERGY
businesswire | March 24, 2023
AVANGRID, a leading sustainable energy company and part of the Iberdrola Group, has announced today the signing of a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Meta to procure renewable energy from True North, a 240 MW solar farm under development in Falls County, Texas, and AVANGRID’s first solar facility in the state.
“We are proud to sign this agreement with a partner like Meta who, like us at AVANGRID, has a strong commitment to accelerating the energy transition in the U.S.,” said Pedro Azagra, AVANGRID’s CEO. “With projects like True North, we continue our mission of helping the country meet its ambitious clean energy goals, while also creating quality jobs and strengthening our local economies.”
“We’re excited to expand our partnership with AVANGRID to help bring new solar energy to support our local operations in Texas,” said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta. “True North will support our commitment to 100% renewable energy and represents additional investment and jobs for the region.”
Since 2020, Meta’s global operations have been supported by 100% renewable energy. The True North project will support Meta’s upcoming data center in neighboring Temple, their second data center facility in Texas.
True North, AVANGRID’s first solar farm in Texas, will deliver 240 MW of clean, renewable energy once it reaches commercial operations, which is expected by early 2025. During its construction and operation, True North will create over 200 local jobs and is expected to pay over $40 million in property taxes over 25 years in this state, in which the company already operates more than 1,250 MW of onshore wind facilities.
With more than 8.6 GW of installed renewable capacity, including 1.1 GW of solar projects operating and under construction, AVANGRID is the third largest renewable energy operator in the U.S. In total, the company has a strong pipeline of more than 25 GW under development, encompassing solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, and battery energy storage.
About AVANGRID
AVANGRID, Inc. aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $41 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, AVANGRID has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, AVANGRID owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, AVANGRID owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. AVANGRID employs more than 7,500 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022 and 2023 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2023, AVANGRID ranked first within the utility sector for its commitment to the environment. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2022 for the fourth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. AVANGRID is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A.
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SOLAR+STORAGE
businesswire | March 27, 2023
Amprius Technologies, Inc. a leader in next-generation lithium-ion batteries with its Silicon Anode Platform, is once again raising the bar with the verification of its lithium-ion cell delivering unprecedented energy density of 500 Wh/kg, 1300 Wh/L, resulting in unparalleled run time. At approximately half the weight and volume of state-of-the-art, commercially available lithium-ion cells, the all-new battery cell delivers potential industry-disrupting performance with barrier breaking discharge times. Amprius’ next-generation cells are well positioned to power products in the fast-growing aviation and, eventually, electric vehicles markets, estimated to be collectively over $100 billion in battery demand by 2025.
“These cells provide a run time of 200% compared to state-of-the-art graphite cells, while being lighter and smaller than other batteries with the same energy content,” said Jon Bornstein, President of Amprius Lab. “This latest validation continues Amprius’ track record of producing the world’s most powerful battery cells and sets an industry benchmark for next-generation battery technology that will ultimately revolutionize how high we fly, how far we travel and how long we can use our devices.”
The 500 Wh/kg battery platform significantly expands boundaries for customers and is a tailored solution for applications that require maximum discharge times without compromising key features such as aircraft payload and without having to increase vehicle weight. The new batteries demonstrate both high gravimetric energy density (Wh/kg) and volumetric energy density (Wh/L) with exceptional adaptability. The customizable platform allows customers to select the option to either increase energy content in a battery pack without increasing weight, reduce weight in applications that target a fixed energy content, or combinations of both. Higher energy is important for longer run times, range and endurance, while lighter packs increase energy efficiency – even for the same battery energy content.
“We look forward to taking advantage of Amprius’ 500 Wh/kg cell to further develop Zephyr’s unrivalled stratospheric endurance capabilities,” said Pierre-Antoine Aubourg, Chief Technical Officer at AALTO HAPS, the Airbus subsidiary developing the 100% solar-electric High Altitude Platform Station for connectivity and earth observation applications. “Amprius is a valued current supplier with a great track-record, and we are confident that Amprius’ battery will deliver the capability we need.”
The record 500 Wh/kg energy density performance was verified by Mobile Power Solutions, a leading testing house offering comprehensive battery regulatory compliance, safety, and performance testing. The results indicate that this cell model provides >504 Wh/kg and >1321 Wh/l at 25°C.
About Amprius Technologies, Inc.
Amprius Technologies, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of high-energy and high-power lithium-ion batteries producing the industry’s highest energy density cells. The Company’s corporate headquarters is in Fremont, California where it maintains an R&D lab and a pilot manufacturing facility for the fabrication of silicon nanowire anodes and cells. To serve significant customer demand for its high-performance silicon anode lithium-ion batteries, Amprius recently signed a letter of intent for an approximately 774,000 square foot facility in Brighton, Colorado that initially provides a potential of up to 5 gigawatt-hours (GWh) manufacturing capacity.
Amprius’ commercially available batteries deliver up to 450 Wh/kg and 1,150 Wh/L, the industry’s highest known energy density cells available on the market today. Based on Amprius’ current level of battery performance and pilot production, the Company will be able to use its proprietary anode technology to deliver battery cells that contain energy density levels that approach 2x the performance of current commercially available graphite cells.
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SOLAR+STORAGE
HIF Global | March 09, 2023
HIF Global, an eFuels company, reached an agreement with Siemens Energy, allowing Siemens Energy to expand its electrolyzer manufacturing capacity more than its previously announced plans. Through this agreement, it will obtain a specific capacity of electrolyzers for the HIF Matagorda eFuels facility.
This agreement would make the HIF Matagorda eFuels facility the world-scale eFuels facility in Texas. It will aggregate approximately 1.8 gigawatts of capacity electrolyzers, annually supporting about 300,000 tonnes of green hydrogen production. Both companies work in front-end engineering and design for about 1.8 GW of Silyzer 300 polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. These electrolyzers will utilize renewable energy to isolate hydrogen gas from water molecules, producing around 300,000 tonnes of hydrogen gas per year. The green hydrogen is combined with recycled carbon dioxide to produce carbon-neutral eFuels chemically similar to fuels. Without any modifications, these can support the existing engines. The products of the HIF Matagorda eFules facility, i.e., green hydrogen and eFuels, will convert about half a million cars to carbon neutral in 2027.
CEO of HIF Global, Cesar Norton Sacre said, "We face a time of incredible expansion in hydrogen production amid global supply chain challenges. The agreement with Siemens Energy allows for electrolyzer deliveries which could support the start of construction as early as the first part of 2024 for the HIF Matagorda eFuels Facility. We look forward to starting construction at the pioneering Texas green hydrogen and eFuels facility, with Siemens Energy's industry leading electrolyzer design and manufacturing strength."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
SVP of Sustainable Energy Systems at Siemens Energy, Stefano Innocenzi said, "Hydrogen and powerto-X applications such as eFuels will play a key role in the energy transition. To ramp up this new industry, we need many projects, including large-scale ones, and investors and off-takers who are willing to make a promise for the future. These agreements give us planning certainty, creating the basis for ramping up the technology and the industry as a whole."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About HIF Global
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, HIF Global, a renewable energy and power generation company, has been developing projects for eFuels in Chile, the USA, Australia and EMEA since 2019. It strives for decarbonization and against climate change by producing eco-friendly gas and fuels. It produces carbon-neutral liquid fuels, eFuels, which can replace fossil fuels required in cars, ships and airplanes without technological modifications. Its wholly-owned subsidiaries are HIF Chile, HIF USA, HIF Asia Pacific, and HIF EMEA. It teams up with professionals from diverse backgrounds in business, engineering, legal, finance, and environmental fields and works on projects for developing, financing, building and operating energy infrastructure.
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