The LFP Scale Up. Samsung is building out their domestic LFP production and already highlights that demand will outpace their capacity which is a reasonable start to take. There is an overlap of the demand between the auto and energy sectors and finding the volumes that will drive pricing and cost structures. The trade cases will also come to the storage market, which will surely take some time to find a rationalization as well.
FCC Part 1 of Many. Hard to consider the FCC rule that defines everything. I’ve spoken to several executives that feel fine with what was issued from their side but when I speak to asset owners, they’re a bit more worried about replacements, firmware updates etc. My highlight is that this is likely to extend to storage and those software components in the EMS and BMS. Both of which would well to be expected to be included in the near future. On the market altering side, Some developers are wondering how the interconnection procedures will adapt to the rule and how it will be enforced at that level.
News
1 Energy Storage News:
Samsung SDI on track with US LFP cell production, expects demand to outstrip production
2 Heatmap News:
Scoop - Clearway Cancels Plan to Swap Solar Farm for Data Center and Gas Plant
3 Bloomberg:
KKR Buys Total Renewable Power Stake in €1.8 Billion Deal
4 Axios:
TotalEnergies agrees to buy Shell's European onshore renewables business
5 Reuters:
Ameresco books $1.8 billion in new awards as power demand remains strong
6 Salt Lake Tribune:
Utah produced more power from solar than any other source in May, marking a new first
7 Politico:
Kansas’ data center boom is shaking up the governor’s race
8 Utility Dive:
AEP secures 13 GW of gas turbines as generation ‘central’ to growth plans
9 Canary Media:
Virginia lays groundwork to combine more solar with farming
10 PV-Magazine:
First Solar hits sales record as it reaffirms 2026 guidance, balances tariff risk
Opinions:
11 PV-Tech:
Building with bankability in mind
Have a great day!
Yann
Opinion
Best, Yann
News
1 Bloomberg:
Brookfield Faces Looming Creditor Clash Over Polish Solar Firm
2 Axios:
The grid's climate stress test
3 Reuters:
US bars imports from 43 more companies over China's alleged forced labor involving Uyghurs
4 PV-Tech:
FIC acquires US solar-plus-storage firm Perfect Power
5 Solar Power World:
Xpanner unveils pile installation aid that attaches to skid steer
6 Energy Storage News:
‘Business as usual, just accelerated’
7 Canary Media:
New York takes on the myth that solar is swallowing farmland
8 PV-Magazine:
Tigo announces expanded eligibility for virtual power plants
Opinions:
9 New York Times:
A Cyberattack on US Water Systems And the Growing Threat of Falling Space Junk
Have a great day!
Yann
Opinion
Best, Yann
News
1 Energy Storage News:
‘Tremendously important market for storage’
2 Wall Street Journal:
First Solar Sales Fall on Contract Cancellations
3 PV-Magazine:
Solar nonprofits are taking the federal government to court over rescinded grants
4 Utility Dive:
DOE mulls changes to Biden-era transformer rule, raising utility concerns
5 Bloomberg:
China Crosses Energy Milestone as Coal Falls Below 50% of Power
6 Reuters:
Data center boom to make Portugal one of Europe's fastest-growing power markets, EDP says
7 PV-Tech:
Origis Energy inaugurates first half of 2GW Texas solar-plus-storage complex
Opinions:
8 Solar Buildermag:
Report - U.S. data center development slows in Q1
Have a great day!
Yann
Inverter Rule Deployed. Just as I wrote about my concerns on the inverters, the FCC came out with a rule about inverter production. Somewhat going further than I expected in that it ‘bans’ all countries of origin but then limits it to ‘new models’. Having heard some experts on what this could mean and how it rolls out, there is room for interpretation on how bad and impactful this could be. More to come.
How This Happened. I am not going to name names but this came from domestic inverter suppliers that aggressively pursued this rule, hence why it’s both big and not really immediate at the same time. The reality is that this was a way to promote the sale of the company, i.e. increase the value during the sale process and make a compelling case for domestic supply chain. Problematic is that the domestic assembly of these products isn’t scaled and trying to do it quickly is going to lead to quality issues, potentially.
News
1 Canary Media:
Trump admin bans ‘new’ foreign-made inverters. What does that mean?
2 PV-Tech:
US government bans foreign-produced inverters
3 Bloomberg:
US Risks Broadening China Clash With Robot, Inverter Curbs
4 New York Times:
Trump Administration Is Repurposing Federal Land for A.I. Data Centers
5 Energy Storage News:
Battery storage is an important growth driver, NextEra CEO says, amid merger to create largest regulated utility in US
6 UTility Dive:
CMS Energy plans to sell renewable assets to focus on regulated utilities
7 PV-Magazine:
Enphase leans into Europe, TPO and new tech as U.S. residential solar slump persists
Opinions:
8 Reuters:
Europe's energy transition is now an economic security race
Have a great day!
Yann
