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Solar nonprofits are taking the federal government to court over rescinded grants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
Inverter Supply Chains. I worry about this one and worry about the lack of concern from the broader market. Whatever happens at the DC level could range from disruptive to market altering but any situation will cause headaches for the market. The growth of domestic manufacturing will have to come from players that are subpar and not ready for primetime while the larger folks have learned their lessons with scaling power manufacturing. My point being, you should get ahead of this now.
Opinion
News
1 PV-Tech:
European PV inverter manufacturing
2 Bloomberg:
As US Residential Solar Industry Craters, Florida Bucks Trend
3 Utility Dive:
PJM board proposes backstop capacity auction, data center curtailment plans
4 Reuters:
Big Tech takes on power project risk to avoid forecast jump in prices
5 Energy Storage news:
Inside the container
6 Canary Media:
Solar-powered EV carshare pilot launches in Massachusetts
7 PV-Magazine:
MN8 Energy to acquire Greenbacker for $375 million, creating 6 GW renewable energy platform
Opinions:
8 Solar Power World:
Op-ed
Have a great day!
Yann
A Premium Launch. Next month, after 14 years, I’ll be launching a limited size premium distribution of the SolarWakeup commentary. Consider it a micro consulting view of the solar market reserved for those of you that want another voice in your dataset on the most important trend. A two-way conversation to shape the dialogue and get inputs from your competitors and peers to help your decision making. More information coming soon.
A Podcast with Yours Truly. I joined Scaling Clean to record an episode of their podcast with host Melissa Baldwin. You can find the episode here. Do you have a podcast? Let me know and I can help spread the word.
News
1 PV-Magazine:
As solar breaks records, its security must catch up
2 Utility Dive:
Trump’s ‘vindictive’ use of energy, other grants sparks backlash
3 Bloomberg:
Backlash Over Data Centers, Power Costs Tests GOP’s Hold on Ohio
4 Axios:
Cracks appear in the vision of off-grid AI data centers
5 Reuters:
Tata Power eyes first solar exports to Europe as EU curbs China reliance
6 PV-Tech:
US DOC starts AD/CVD probe into Ethiopian solar cell producers, Toyo claims it ‘does not use Chinese wafers’
7 Energy Storage News:
Energy storage generates nearly 20% of CATL’s revenues in first half of 2026
Opinions:
8 Solar Power World:
Op-ed
Have a great day!
Yann
