(Bloomberg) — North American utilities and organizations
seeking to add clean energy last year overwhelmingly preferred
solar and power-storage projects, according to Bloomberg New
Energy Finance.
Of 52 requests for proposals, or RFPs, that totaled 3.3
gigawatts of capacity, 27 were for solar and 12 were for energy-smart technologies including storage, according to a report from
the London-based research firm. These requests are typically a
strong indicator of industry trends, said Will Nelson, BNEF’s
head of analysis.
“Utilities are targeting solar, especially in the West,”
Nelson said Thursday by e-mail. Last year “was an up year for
the utility-scale solar industry.”
Western states issued 18 requests, including seven from
three large utilities in California, totaling more than 1
gigawatt of mostly solar capacity, according to the report.
Companies in the Southeast sought 900 megawatts of solar in
efforts led by Southern Co. and Duke Energy Corp. Madison,
Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy Corp. issued the single largest
request, for 600 megawatts of wind power.
Ten RFPs have been issued so far in 2015.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Will Wade, Carlos Caminada