This is your SolarWakeup for December 19th
Here It Comes. PJM’s auction is bad for everyone and it’s worse because we knew this was coming years ago. Reaching the price cap and STILL falling short on capacity is a recipe for consumers that don’t have the desired outcome when they hit their light switch.
News
1 Canary Media:
PJM’s capacity costs hit record as grid falls short on supply
2 Reuters:
US House passes bill to speed permitting for big energy projects
3 Politico:
Clean energy industry group pulls support for permitting bill after GOP changes
4 Utility Dive:
Court agrees to rehear $14B climate funding freeze case
5 Bloomberg:
California Cuts PG&E’s and Edison’s Profits for Grid Investments
6 Axios:
America's data center growth hot spots, mapped
7 PV-Tech:
T1 Energy begins construction at 2.1GW TOPCon cell manufacturing facility in Texas
8 Solar Power World:
Environmental and renewable energy groups sue IRS, Treasury
9 PV-Magazine:
Machine learning models identify hidden physical defects in solar arrays
Opinions:
10 Energy Storage News:
ERCOT BESS revenue ‘roller coaster’ is a feature, not a bug
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 17th
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
US Lawmakers Investigate Big Tech’s Role Pushing Up Power Bills
2 Reuters:
Why corporates are getting real on renewables purchasing
3 Utility Dive:
Clean energy industry preps ahead of impending FEOC guidance
4 New York Times:
Ford Will Take $19.5 Billion Hit as It Rolls Back E.V. Plans
6 PV-Tech:
Acciona Energia sells stake in 1.3GW US solar PV portfolio
7 PV-Magazine:
U.S. Q3 energy storage deployment grows 31% year-over-year
Opinions:
8 Canary Media:
Texas’ energy market redesign could leave battery developers in limbo
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 15th
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
Green Stocks Are Big Winners as Tech Boom Drives Energy Demand
2 Utility Dive:
Grid-scale battery energy storage systems face heightened risk of cyberattack
3 New York Times:
The Oilman Who Pushed Trump to Go All In on Fossil Fuels
4 Reuters:
How tight supply, AI demand propelled copper towards $12,000
5 PV-Tech:
US solar PV companies are not waiting for FEOC guidance – Crux survey
6 Energy Storage News:
Li-ion battery pack prices fell 8% since last year despite metals prices rising, BloombergNEF says
7 Canary Media:
Permitting talks are back, and clean energy is caught in the middle
8 PV-Magazine:
Analysis finds “anytime electricity” from solar available as battery costs plummet
Opinions:
9 Axios:
Why Trump's first offshore drilling lease sale didn't wow the oil industry
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 12th
Juicy DC Inside Baseball. I know many of you miss my fun inside baseball stories so I thought I would revisit the old days for a minute because this one caught me off guard because I’m not on X anymore. Last week, as the Senate was working on the SPEED Act, which portrays itself to be a permitting reform bill, one clean energy trade group signed on to support the Act. This is not uncommon but what is both rare AND surprising (i.e. shocking) is that a senior Senator publicly, loudly and transparently comes after that trade group. I would presume that there were behind the scenes discussions on this topic that I am not privileged to hear but juicy indeed. Here is Senator Schatz’s twitter, feel free to go into this rabbit hole on this while you grab a bag of popcorn. I am reattaching a story from yesterday to the rundown today because they are related.
News
1 Reuters:
Wind and solar power frozen out of Trump permitting push
2 PV-Magazine:
Solar, storage, and demand-side resources offer least-cost path in Kentucky, study finds
3 Bloomberg:
German Power Shortage Threatens From 2031, Grid Operator Warns
4 New York Times:
New York Was a Leader on Climate Issues. Under Hochul, Things Changed.
5 PV-Tech:
SEIA appoints Darren Van’t Hof as interim president and CEO
6 Energy Storage News:
Battery storage assets in Europe could see 3% ROI uplift with 15-minute trading, Rystad says
7 Canary Media:
The man behind the fall of offshore wind
Opinions:
8 Financial Times:
The hidden cost of ultra-cheap solar power
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 11th
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
Cheaper Battery Storage Enabling ‘Anytime’ Solar, Ember Says
2 Washington Post:
This one gadget could give China a back door into the U.S. power grid
3 New York Times:
A Rare Bright Spot for U.S. Solar
4 Reuters:
Wind and solar power frozen out of Trump permitting push
5 PV-Tech:
US adds 11.7GW solar PV in Q3 despite permitting and political roadblocks persisting
6 Solar Power World:
Witnesses testify in support of Wisconsin community solar bill
7 Energy Storage News:
PJM awards interconnection agreements to 23 BESS resources
8 Canary media:
New York’s public utility approves plan to build 5.5GW of renewables
9 PV-Magazine:
California study finds electrification can put downward pressure on electric rates
Opinions:
10 Utility Dive:
Permitting reform is critical to meeting our AI moon shot
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 9th
Opinion
News
1 E&E News:
California regulators reject solar plant closure deal over objections from feds, energy companies
2 PV-Magazine:
Residential solar installer Posigen files for bankruptcy
3 Reuters:
US utilities lock in data center supply deals as AI powers demand surge
4 Solar Power World:
Tariff uncertainty, import rules and FEOC plague solar panel market
5 Bloomberg:
European Gas Market Could See Near-Round-the-Clock Trading
6 Axios:
Federal judge strikes down Trump's anti-wind directive
7 Utility Dive:
Trump wants ‘ONE’ national AI rule as states seek to curb impacts on energy costs
8 Energy Storage News:
US battery manufacturing ‘could cover domestic BESS demand within a few years’
Opinions:
9 Canary Media:
Duke Energy wants to spend on battery incentives to save on power plants
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 8th
Opinion
News
1 Bloomberg:
Homeowners Risk Missing Out on Solar Tax Credits. This Is Why.
2 New York Times:
Once a Gamble in the Desert, Electric Grid Batteries Are Everywhere
3 Utility Dive:
US added 2 GW of solar in September, putting 2025 ahead of 2024 for new solar generation
4 Axios:
New energy analysis boss plans data center info harvest
5 Ohio Capital Journal:
This Ohio county banned wind and solar. Now, residents are pushing back.
6 Reuters:
Edison CEO says group speeds up green investments, EDF eyes minority stake sale
7 Canary Media:
Trump admin invests $800M in latest move to bolster US nuclear industry
8 PV-Magazine:
ESS–EV battery supply chain bifurcates as U.S. manufacturers pivot toward storage
Opinions:
9 PV-Tech:
PV self-consumption on ‘significant’ rise in Germany – Fraunhofer
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 5th
Pro AI, Anti-Solar. I fully recognize that I hold a megaphone in a very specific echochamber so I often try to say something I believe to be obvious to non-solar professionals. One of those statements is whether or not it is mutually exclusive to be pro-AI build out (rapidly) while also thinking that we need to curb or stop solar deployment/development. It gets a bit more layered when you add electricity cost inflation to the equation but the argument is that you don’t have enough electrons on the grid (per yesterday’s comment about load growth projections) without the solar build out, and quite frankly expansion of the build out. I would go so far that regulators should look at module pricing distortions to accelerate and lower the LCOE of solar even further to enable more AI build out. Meanwhile DC is taking the stop solar approach which seems not to jibe with the overall goal of AI dominance, yet the data center folks seem to be quiet about the impacts.
News
1 Bloomberg:
Trump’s Plan For AI Dominance Threatened by His Own Attacks on Solar, Wind Power
2 Reuters:
Edison CEO says group speeds up green investments, EDF eyes minority stake sale
3 PV-Magazine:
Congress urged to reform “nearly complete moratorium” on U.S. solar projects
4 Utility Dive:
Flexible connections and BYOC could reduce data center burden
6 Reuters:
Morocco to secure 60% of water needs from desalination, minister says
7 PV-Tech:
Australia generates over 5,000GWh of electricity from renewables in November 2025
8 Energy Storage News:
Indiana utility to deliver 1.6GWh BESS for Amazon’s data center expansion, though fossil fuels form major part of package
Opinions:
9 Canary Media:
The grid storage industry set a wild goal for 2025 — and then crushed it
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 4th
Data Center Forecast. What forecast for load growth makes the most sense? BNEF in today’s top story says 106GW but ERCOT alone says 25GW by 2031 (overall growth of 70GW though). Yet the rate cases point to potentially much more.
News
1 Utility Dive:
U.S. data center power demand could reach 106 GW by 2035
2 PV-Magazine:
Utilities can manage data center demand with focused tariffs and rate design
3 Bloomberg:
Trump Makes Next Move to Revoke New England Wind Farm
4 Axios:
China blowing past world on renewables and EVs
5 Reuters:
India's clean energy firms seek better weather data as rules tighten
6 Inside Climate News:
Alabama Regulators Approve Two-Year Electric Rate Freeze and Two Solar Projects for a Meta Inc. Data Center
7 Energy Storage News:
ABB acquires Gamesa Electric power electronics division for undisclosed sum
8 Canary Media:
After Ohio’s landmark decisions on HB 6 utility scandal, what’s next?
Opinions:
9 PV-Tech:
Buyers should exercise ‘caution’ as solar component prices rise, says Intertek CEA
Have a great day!
Yann
This is your SolarWakeup for December 3rd 2025
Opinion
News
1 Solar Power World:
DOE changes name of NREL in continued campaign against renewable energy
2 Axios:
Data centers' power demand surging faster, new analysis shows
3 PV-Tech:
AEMO charts Australia’s rooftop solar boom to 42.5GW by 2036
4 Reuters:
Grid equipment makers invest in US to ease supply shortage
5 Bloomberg:
Canadian Solar Rises on Plan to Reshore to North America
6 Energy Storage News:
Aypa Power to build, own, and operate 1,200MWh South Carolina BESS
7 PV-Magazine:
U.S. battery fleet grows 59% with nearly 14 GW added in 12 months, says EIA
Opinions:
8 Canary Media:
Can the war on coal still be won?
Have a great day!
Yann
