• Solar Builder: Four Chinese wafer, ingot makers banned from U.S., added to UFLPA Entity List
• Reuters: UAE’s Masdar announces $6 bln project to deliver reliable clean power
• Utility Dive: PJM’s proposal to unlock unused interconnection capacity gains broad support
• BLoomberg: Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Seeks US Acquisitions to Hit Green Power Goal
• PV-Tech: China reviewing expiry of anti-dumping measures on solar polysilicon from US and South Korea
• Renewable Energy World: “Speed and scale” – Biden signs landmark executive order to accelerate AI, clean energy infrastructure
• Energy Storage News: Neoen begins permitting for 1.6GWh BESS selected in Canada’s biggest-ever procurement
• Canary Media: SSAB quietly pulls out of $500M green steel award negotiations

Opinion

• PV-Magazine: Anti-solar backlash in Michigan stymies solar expansion

Best, Yann

• Reuters: Trump’s likely first moves on US energy policy
• NPR: How batteries are already changing the grid
• Axios: Southern California faces rare fire warning
• PV-Magazine: Global cleantech investment expected to surpass fossil fuels for the first time in 2025
• Bloomberg: European Power Prices Rise as Wind Forecast Is Revised Down
• PV-Tech: Waaree Energies acquires Enel Green Power India
• Renewable Energy World: PJM all over again? Changes at MISO signal potential for high prices at upcoming capacity auction
• Utility Dive: Will the success of Biden’s clean energy policies impede Trump’s agenda?

Opinion

• Energy Storage News: Year in Review – EPC Burns & McDonnell on energy storage innovation, workforce and Trump

Best, Yann

The Mega Power. Constellation is acquiring Calpine for $16billion to create a portfolio of 60GW and adds quite a bit of thermal power to Constellation’s fleet. There’s an expectation that regulators will want some divestiture to limit concentration but with the demand for power, regulators will likely also be sensitive to the pushback on anything limiting power generation.

• Utility Dive: Constellation’s $16.4B purchase of Calpine would create largest US power generator
• Bloomberg: In Hottest Year Ever, US Homes Used a Record Amount of Power to Keep Cool
• Axios: Climate change plays key contributing role in LA fires
• Solar Power World: Scale Microgrids acquired by investment firm
• NPR: People are rushing to install solar panels before Trump becomes President
• PV-Tech: The top 10 PV module suppliers in 2024
• Renewable Energy World: Polysilicon is back on the menu – Feds award Michigan company $325M for new factory
• Canary Media: Chart – 96 percent of new US power capacity was carbon-free in 2024
• PV-Magazine: The impact of wildfires on PV power generation

Opinion

• Reuters: German coal plants vital for electricity supply, importers say

Best, Yann

Is Texas Right? It’s always been a wind state, now at 42GW, but the past few years it’s been the sunny star of solar and storage with 22GW and 6.5GW respectively. Is it the development process? The ERCOT mechanics? Lack of capacity markets? Or just the growth of demand for energy. We know it’s not the politics so it’s something else, what is that and can we replicate it?

LA Fires. My thoughts go out to any of you affected by the fires in the LA area, it is an unimaginable horror to see how devastating those fires have been. If you know of legitimate aid or fundraising efforts that I can pass along to the SolarWakeup community, please reach out to me

• Reuters: Texas tops US states for renewable energy and battery capacity
• Axios: Wildfires and hurricanes could make parts of U.S. uninsurable
• New York Times: U.S. Efforts to Cut Emissions Stalled in 2024 as Power Demand Surged
• PV-Tech: LS Power acquires Algonquin Power’s renewable energy business
• Renewable Energy World: Puerto Rico’s new governor appoints an energy czar to tackle the island’s power crisis
• Utility Dive: PJM ‘shovel-ready’ interconnection plan draws mixed reviews at FERC
• Energy Storage News: Illinois Senator passes legislation to ramp up energy storage
• Canary Media: PosiGen wins another $200M for lower-income rooftop solar
• PV-Magazine: Hemlock Semiconductor receives $325 million U.S. government funding for polysilicon production

Opinion

• Bloomberg: How a Utility Actually Sets the Price of Electricity

Best, Yann