• Politico: ‘The boys are fighting’: Rising tensions beset Trump’s Energy chief
• Utility Dive: Grid planners and experts on why markets keep choosing renewables
• Bloomberg: Generate Capital Cuts Staff Amid Downturn in Climate Finance
• New York Times: 22% Jump in Electricity Rates Dominates New Jersey Governor’s Race
• Axios: How states’ EV tax policies stack up after U.S. credits end
• Reuters: US market not worth the risk, says one of India’s biggest solar companies
• PV-Tech: Pause on ‘billions of dollars’ of retroactive US solar duties granted pending appeal
• Energy Storage News: Greenflash Infrastructure secures financing for Texas’s largest standalone BESS
• Canary Media: Base Power hauls in $1B for mass deployment of huge home batteries

Opinion

• PV-Magazine: Why Big Tech could outpace utilities in deploying multi-day storage

Best, Yann

Quick Rundown. Solar is cheaper than anything else when it comes to energy and even with storage, making it dispatch able that remains true, say it everywhere you can. 

More Cuts. Even with a lawsuit filed, it seems like the administration will cancel more legally binding agreements. This has a mission, that I’m unsure of, which does not align with the goals of growing the economy. 

OpenSolar Rising. Hats off to the amazing team, that I love, at OpenSolar for raising a great $13.1million of new capital to deploy their AI across their residential solar tool and platform. This team hustles and builds with the installer in mind. 

Underperforming Batteries. Batteries are underperforming across the globe and I’ve said it before, it’s the software. When you buy a full package from a battery OEM, you’re getting manufacturing capacity and not the brains of the operation, that’s why your Dell computer has a Windows operating system. It’s time for the market to bifurcate procurement of the storage tech stack. 

• Politico: The government’s own data rebuts Trump’s claims about wind and solar prices
• Reuters: Solar groups sue Trump administration over cancellation of $7 bln in grants
• New York Times: Early Signs of a ‘Turning Point’ as Renewables Edge Out Coal
• Bloomberg: Trump Administration Eyes $12 Billion in New Energy Project Cuts
• Axios: Trump announces U.S. stake in Trilogy Metals, Alaska mining road permits
• PV-Tech: OpenSolar raises US$13.1 million to advance AI platform
• Energy Storage news: Italy’s ‘exceptionally competitive’ first MACSE energy storage auction concludes, procuring 10GWh
• Canary Media: New England’s final coal plant shuts down years ahead of schedule
• PV-Magazine: Operational issues hit returns in one in five battery storage projects, report finds

Opinion

• Utility Dive: ‘Not a good sign’: Weak manufacturing demand continues amid tariff uncertainty

Best, Yann

Economic Reality. Energy and power makes up nearly 6% of the entire economy as a percentage of the total GDP, which doesn’t seem like a lot (though it’s nearly $2trillion dollars) but here’s the kicker. Energy is the first 6% of the economy, meaning the other 94% of the economy wouldn’t happen without it. Electricity alone was half a trillion and that will grow given the incredible growth in power hunger by digital players. That’s what we fight for every day, and while producing the most valuable of all GDP dollars, churning the economic engine ourselves, at factories, at job sites, law offices, development teams and bankers. From DC to the Central Valley farms and Midwest lands, solar is growing its importance and mark on the economy. 

• Bloomberg: Why America Needs to Restore Its ‘Essential Economy’ and Embrace AI
• Axios: Data center developer’s IPO shows more confidence in power and AI
• Utility Dive: Newsom vetoes bill to codify load flexibility in California grid planning
• Reuters: India may cancel at least 3–4 GW of solar tenders rushed to beat import rules, source says
• PV-Tech: Perovskite-based PV technologies could dominate within a decade, says Qcells CTO
• Canary Media: Trump admin targets blue-state grants meant to ease US electricity woes
• PV-Magazine: Arkansas to build 600 MW solar project for Google’s $4B data center

Opinion

• Electrek: Tesla revives its solar business by bringing back solar leasing

Best, Yann

Big News For MEI. Congrats to my friends from Madison on another expansion of their platform. One of my favorite news stories is to see many of you executing on your business plans in very big ways. After nearly 20 years in solar, it’s the bridges that have been built that make this industry sustainable. 

• PV-Magazine: Madison Energy Infrastructure acquires NextEra Energy’s distributed generation business
• Axios: BlackRock may buy utility AES for $38 billion
• Utility Dive: Data centers ‘primary reason’ for high PJM capacity prices: market monitor
• PV-Tech: EU to lose 5% of solar workforce in 2025 as ‘job-intensive’ residential market contracts
• Solar Power World: DOE yanks funding from over 200 energy projects
• Energy Storage News: SPP utility to invest over US$600 million in 1.9GWh BESS projects to address ‘significant capacity deficit’
• Canary Media: Pennsylvania’s solar ambitions face high federal and state hurdles

Opinion

• New York Times: A Generational Shift in American Energy

Best, Yann