January 4 (SeeNews) – US geothermal company Ormat Technologies Inc (NYSE:ORA) said on Tuesday it has struck a deal to take over Philadelphia-based demand response and energy storage firm Viridity Energy Inc.

The targeted business uses proprietary software to serve primarily retail energy providers, utilities, and large industrial and commercial customers. Currently, it has under contract more than 850 MW across 3,000 sites. This includes the management of a portfolio of non-utility storage assets in the northeastern US with over 80,000 operational market hours.

“Ormat intends to use the Viridity platform to accelerate long term growth, expand its market presence, and further develop Viridity’s demand response VPower software platform and energy storage services,” said Isaac Angel, Ormat’s CEO. He added that in the long term the company would seek to expand in the broader renewable energy market and not just in the geothermal sector.

Under the terms of the deal, Ormat will pay an initial price of USD 35 million (EUR 33.6m) for Viridity and may provide additional payments upon the achievement of certain performance milestones. The transaction is expected to close early this year.

Ormat noted it anticipates Viridity to generate a positive operating income in 2017.

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November 24 (SeeNews) – The island of Ta’u in American Samoa can now meet almost 100% of its power needs with renewable energy thanks to a solar power and battery storage-enabled microgrid from SolarCity and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), which just closed the buy of the solar installer.   

The microgrid features 1.4 MW of solar generation capacity and 6 MWh of battery storage from 60 Tesla Powerpacks. It replaces diesel generators, providing cost savings and energy independence for Ta’u’s almost 600 residents.  

The project was funded by the American Samoa Economic Development Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Interior (DoI), according to a SolarCity blog post this week. It is operated by American Samoa Power Authority.

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September 27 (SeeNews) – New York City has set a new target of 1 GW of citywide solar capacity by 2030, mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Friday.

In 2014, the city committed to installing 100 MW of solar power on public buildings and spurring the installation of 250 MW on private buildings by 2025. Mayor de Blasio said progress made so far has encouraged the administration to adopt the new target, which is equivalent to the power needs of more than 250,000 households.

The mayor also set the city’s first ever energy storage target that calls for the deployment of 100 MWh by 2020.

According to the announcement, New York City’s solar capacity has almost quadrupled to 96 MW from 25 MW since mayor de Blasio took office at the start of 2014. There are 69 MW of private solar installations plus another 17 MW scheduled to be installed, while almost 9 MW of solar has now been constructed on public buildings.

New York City has a target of reducing carbon emissions 80% by 2050.

Separately, de Blasio on Monday announced the completion of a 3,152-panel rooftop solar installation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

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