In this week’s Solar News Roundup, Community Energy enters an agreement to build a 50 megawatt (MW) solar project for a municipality in Kentucky, and BP announces plans to cut its oil and gas output by 40 percent by 2030.
Community Energy to build a 50 MW solar project in Kentucky
Henderson Municipal Power & Light (HMP&L), a municipal electricity utility in Kentucky, has agreed to purchase 100 percent of the electricity output of a new 50 MW solar power plant developed by Community Energy. The array, which is expected to go live in 2022, will generate enough electricity to meet 20 percent of HMP&L’s total electricity demand.
This 20-year power purchase agreement will help the municipality provide clean, affordable electricity to their customers: “At HMP&L, we continually work to secure the best and lowest cost power supply resources for our customers….It is an exciting time for us to announce that a portion of the future supply mix will include solar power produced from a locally built facility,” said the executive team at HMP&L.
BP to cut its oil and gas output by 40 percent by 2030
In February, BP made headlines when they announced intentions to become a net-zero emitter by 2050. Just this week, the oil-giant began releasing more specific details about how they will achieve this goal, including plans to cut oil and gas production by 40 percent by 2030. In addition, BP will aim to increase investments in low carbon energy by 10X, from $500 million in 2019 to $5 billion in 2030. These investments will include building renewable energy projects, funding carbon capture initiatives, expanding electric vehicle charging stations, and more.
Bernard Looney, CEO of BP, stated that the recent pandemic and economic downturn reinforced the company’s decision to work towards net-zero emissions: “We’re moving earlier, we’re moving faster, we’re moving further and more decisively….The world is in a different place now because of COVID-19 and so are we. The more we understand about the consequences of the global economy and the inevitable uncertainty, the more convinced we are that the strategy we laid out [in] February is the right one.”
