What You Missed in Wakeup Premium. You can now subscribe to Wakeup Premium. If you want to hear a trial episode, send me an email by hitting reply. Yesterday I discussed what was happening in transformers and solar farm repower including a forgotten segment of that market. The entire clip was less than 8 minutes.
Opinion
News
1 PV-Magazine:
Clean energy capital expenditures on track for $180 billion in 2026, reports Crux
2 Axios:
OpenAI announces massive data center in Ohio with Nvidia guarantee
3 Energy Storage News:
Startup Heron Power to build 40GW power conversion manufacturing facility in California
4 Canary Media:
California gubernatorial candidate pledges two hours of free power a day
5 Bloomberg:
French Power Hits 19-Month High on Tighter Nuclear, Solar Supply
6 PV-Tech:
Opportunities remain in US policy landscape, according to Crux
7 Utility Dive:
Hyundai unifies vehicle V2X capabilities with AllDayEnergy entity
Opinions:
8 Solar Power World:
What can Tesla really make in a $10 billion solar factory?
Have a great day!
Yann
Subscribe and Help SolarWakeup Grow. You can now subscribe to Wakeup Premium and get a deeper briefing into today’s news in both audio and transcript format.
Opinion
News
1 New York Times:
Transformers Power Electric Grid
2 Solar Power World:
Sunrun solar + storage projects could soon power AI data centers
3 Canary Media:
Home battery installations climb despite loss of federal incentives
4 Energy Storage News:
Australia’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program officially passes 500,000 installations
5 Utility Dive:
DOE cancels 3 national transmission corridors, citing ‘Green New Scam’
6 Reuters:
Nvidia to provide up to $105 billion guarantee for OpenAI's Ohio data center
7 PV-Magazine:
Kinematics acquires RenuTrak to expand solar lifecycle services, repowering leadership
8 Axios:
Inside the tech movement to process American copper
Opinions:
9 Bloomberg:
US Ends Solar Tariff Dodges, But Building Own Sector Is Tough
Have a great day!
Yann
Cells And Wafers. 232 has a vision to basically stop the imports of the module ecosystem into the US. At least that’s the policy expectation. The politics of 232 was to increase margins for domestic suppliers which it will certainly do. I’ll be watching how a couple things play out, from the announcements on cell and wafer manufacturing onshoring versus just paying the import tariff and how the higher module prices impact those 2030 projects that are likely Post ITC at this point. In general, projects through 2029 should have enough development done and the 232 advance knowledge that the modules are already figured out, for those projects that haven’t secured the module, that will add another wrinkle to the markets backlog but I would expect that to be minimal.
In Today’s Premium. I’ll discuss IPPs and data centers, the politics of the 45x and ITC in DC and how FEOC may be impacting your storage pipeline and what you could be looking out for.
News
1 PV-Magazine:
Section 232 minimum import prices force foreign solar to match U.S. production costs
2 Canary Media:
Data centers are officially shaping election season
3 Utility Dive:
Quantum computing is coming fast. Are utilities ready?
4 BLoomberg:
China’s 20,000-Mile Solar Trade Route That Battled US Tariffs
5 Energy Storage News:
FEOC regulations reshape US BESS financing as compliance becomes capital allocation issue
6 Reuters:
Nvidia eyes investing $3 billion in SB Energy under OpenAI data center deal, Information says
7 PV-Tech:
Section 232 may offer ‘limited prospects’ for US solar wafer capacity
8 Solar Power World:
California legislators considering bills to bolster virtual power plants
Opinions:
9 Politico:
How $600B of Biden’s clean energy funding escaped Trump’s cuts
Have a great day!
Yann
Capital Needs. The grid and infrastructure needs more capital, the companies that are building the projects need to bolster their balance sheets so that bonding in in place and they can handle the procurement for the scale of the projects they sign up and they need to buy these material well ahead of time. Development platforms need the capital to move projects forward and you know that many of them wish they had bought modules ahead of the 232 announcement. You know what everyone needs to bring more capital to the table? Certainty in the ecosystem working as expected and more years of the rules to be existing or better. What is your capital strategy if you were to focus on scaling your business? From private equity to debt and public markets, you have choices available.
Some News. You may or may not have seen some career updates from me but you can catch it on my LinkedIn here. You can also now subscribe to Wakeup Premium and get one of the seats in this ecosystem we’ve built over the past 14 years. By joining premium Wakeup, a small group of you will be able to shape the discussion that the solar industry is hearing. In the meantime the first premium content will be a quick hit discussion from my desk to yours, a memo style view of what I am seeing as if I was in your board room.
News
1 Utility Dive:
The US infrastructure buildout needs more than capital
2 Bloomberg:
Australian Homes Lead the World on Home-Battery Installation Thanks to Subsidies
4 Reuters:
SMA Solar backlog leaps on energy storage demand, lifting shares
5 Solar Builder:
Noon Energy signs ultra-LDES agreement for Sabanci AI infrastructure
6 Solar Power World:
Kinematics expands solar tracker repowering services by acquiring RenuTrak
7 Energy Storage News:
FEOC regulations reshape US BESS financing as compliance becomes capital allocation issue
8 PV-Magazine:
Energy storage moves toward next-gen lithium cells as price volatility drives interest in alternatives
Opinions:
9 PV-Tech:
Australian pilot recovers nearly 100% of silver from retired PV modules
Have a great day!
Yann
