Solar IPOs Hot Again. It’s time to start the public company CEO group chat (this is just a joke!) But with Forgent going public, NEOS partners strike again with their third major renewables-related IPO in this decade. Next week, we could see another solar EPC go public and that’s a great thing for many of our friends and their investors. It’s also great for the solar market and other companies that see this path to liquidity and capital reopening for solar.

• Bloomberg: Forgent Power Shares Advance 7.4% After $1.5 Billion IPO
• Seattle Times: Amazon outbids WA utility for one of nation’s largest solar projects
• Utility Dive: Federal energy assistance programs survive budget gauntlet
• Reuters: US rooftop solar installers cut jobs, restructure as homeowner subsidy expires
• Energy Storage News: Aypa Power closes US$1.5 billion credit facility for US BESS projects
• Canary Media: Massachusetts scrutinizes pipeline-safety program as gas bills spike
• PV-Magazine: State legislatures consider bills to speed solar project deployment
   

Opinion

• PV-Tech: What are the latest issues with TOPCon solar panels?

Best, Yann

• New York Times: A Trump ‘Blockade’ Is Stalling Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects Nationwide
• Utility Dive: TVA pursues 6.2 GW of new generation, citing data centers, population growth
• Bloomberg: Power Equipment Maker Forgent, Backers Raise $1.5 Billion in IPO
• Reuters: Chinese solar shares jump on reports of Musk-linked visits, some firms deny cooperation
• PV-Tech: Cost the key consideration in European supply chains as reliance on China remains
• Energy Storage News: Standalone solar no longer enough in Europe as storage takes centre stage
• Canary Media: California has abundant solar power. Here’s how factories can use it.
• PV-Magazine: Lunar Energy raises $232 million to accelerate development of residential storage, VPP software

Opinion

• Axios: Exclusive: Trump pollster finds MAGA voters like solar energy

Best, Yann

• Bloomberg: Texas Considers Revisiting Some Data Center Grid Approvals
• New York Times: Why U.S. Car Companies Want to Make Giant Batteries
• Canary Media: Colorado co-ops to Trump: Let us close our aging coal plant
• Utility Dive: Tesla sets battery storage deployment record in Q4 as EV sales slump
• Reuters: Saudi Arabia to build $2 billion solar farms in Turkey, Turkish energy minister says
• Energy Storage News: ‘Scrutinising origin, ownership, and control’: FEOC rules change US BESS buying
• PV-Magazine: U.S.-India trade deal reduces solar tariffs

Opinion

• PV-Tech: ‘Difficult’ to make EU solar procurement initiatives work ‘on the ground’, developers say

Best, Yann

It’s Getting Cold Outside. Grab your ice scrapers because the weather this weekend was out of control. I’m usually the one laughing at the rest of the Country given that I sit in Fort Lauderdale but yesterday morning we woke up to a balmy 37 degrees with a wind chill making it feel like mid twenties. I assume that our grid measured a new record or something near given that most Floridians heat their homes quite inefficiently. 

• Canary Media: The 4 lessons New England’s grid can learn from Winter Storm Fern
• Utility Dive: NERC forecasts peak demand to rise 24% on new data center loads
• Bloomberg: SpaceX Seeks FCC Nod to Build Data Center Constellation in Space
• Axios: Exclusive: Meet the newest energy tech deployment player
• Reuters: SOLV Energy targets $5 billion valuation in US IPO
• PV-Tech: ‘Clear and concerning’ rise in PV module defects – Kiwa PI Berlin
• Solar Power World: Tesla claims it’s making solar panels again at its Buffalo factory
• Energy Storage News: Battery recycler Redwood receives financing boost from Google, aims to expand US energy storage division
• PV-Magazine: Uncertainty looms as solar PPA prices climb for second straight quarter

Opinion

• New York Times: Three Hours of Free Power and Other Ideas to Lower Utility Bills

Best, Yann