1. Houston tech hub secures $40M to meet rising data center needs

Learning: "A technology hub in Houston has fresh funding to drive tech advancement and data center growth.

Texas’ Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program Lone Star PACE has arranged $40 million in C-PACE financing for the revitalization of ViVa Center in Houston to help support the development of data centers that revolve around the growth of AI."

Implication: "C-PACE gives access to property owners to long-term financing for energy and water conservation systems at commercial buildings at lower costs. The property owners can use C-PACE to finance building retrofits, recapitalizations, or new construction. Nuveen Green Capital served as a capital provider for the project. The project involves retrofitting an existing building with Phase 1 being scheduled for completion this fall."
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2. Study finds rooftop solar efficiency has tripled

Learning: "Tracking the Sun, an annual study of solar by Berkeley Lab, analyzed the evolving trends in solar panel efficiency and cost across the United States.

The 2023 report found that 'median residential system sizes reached 7.4 kW in 2023, with most systems ranging from 5-11 kW in size.' Compared to 2000, when the median system size was 2.4 kilowatts, this is a huge increase in power."

Implication: "The "size" of a panel refers to generating capacity efficiency, or how productive the panel is, as opposed to the surface area, which is known as the roof-coverage ratio. While panels are more productive than ever, their roof-coverage ratio has stayed stable, meaning their efficiency isn't because of an increase in panels, but rather advancements in solar technology."

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3. Dominion Energy Virginia unveils residential EV charging program

Learning: "Dominion Energy Virginia plans to launch the Residential Charger Program, a new turnkey solution for customers interested in a Level 2 home charging system for their electric vehicle."

Implication: The program allows "households in the state to install home-based electric vehicle chargers with modest cost and minimal administration. Participants can pay for the equipment and installation by installments on their monthly bills, with the installation performed by electricians and ongoing support from the utility. Some low-income customers will be able to use the program free of charge."
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4. Energy-hungry data centers are quietly moving into cities

Learning: "When you think of data centers, you probably picture a giant server farm in a rural area where electricity is cheap, and tax breaks are plentiful. Big tech companies like Google, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Meta have placed millions of square feet worth of server space in places like Northern Virginia or Hillsboro, Oregon. But now, to reduce lag times, companies are increasingly weaving nodes in their network into the fabric of cities."

Implication: "The demand for such facilities, especially in urban centers, is growing quickly: last year, spending on colocation data centers jumped 11.7%. The biggest cloud companies are not far behind. Amazon Web Services has been pushing shrunk-down data centers, which it calls Local Zones, close to major population areas; so far, it has placed them in 32 cities across the US. The trend has even piqued the interest of Walmart, which may soon start renting out sections of its superstores to host data centers for third-party companies.

One explanation for the flurry of demand, Poole says, is that consumers themselves have changed. As more of our lives have gone online, “people’s tolerance for latency has continued to go down,” he says. The main drivers are those applications where a delay in the milliseconds can prove critical: you might not notice a quarter-second lag on Netflix, but you certainly will if you are using an online sports betting app, trading stocks, or participating in a multiplayer game like Fortnite."

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5. JFK Airport in NYC gets a microgrid

Learning: "New York City (began) Climate Week 2024 with a bang, announcing the start of construction on a massive microgrid project at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s New Terminal One.

Energy as a Service (EaaS) provider AlphaStruxure will construct, operate, and maintain a 12-megawatt (MW) microgrid that will distribute energy from solar panels, fuel cells, and a battery energy storage system to power the terminal’s everyday operations, meeting about half its daily load. All of the power generated on-site will stay at the airport."

Implication: "The microgrid will include the largest solar canopy in New York City and the biggest at any U.S. airport- a 6.63 MW array containing more than 13,000 panels, blanketing an area the size of six and a half football fields on the new terminal’s roof. It will provide a valuable case study due to federal requirements regarding mitigating glare at airports, according to The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey."