On The Road. Apologies for the smaller than usual commentary but 2025 has the solar industry heading in the right direction and me on the road. With the Deepseek sell-off from a few days ago adding to the directives from the White House there is a plethora of news and hot takes without a clear view of what it means. On the AI front, the reduction of energy use per model was forecasted and expected, probably with a different timeframe but ultimately whatever the data center need is going to be remains at least in the short term. Just think about how long we’ve been saying the term peak oil.
Opinion
News
1 Los Angeles Times:
Boiling Point - Farewell to Ivanpah, the world’s ugliest solar plant
2 Axios:
DeepSeek shakes up the energy-AI equation
3 Utility Dive:
Calpine to sell 3.5 GW in PJM to avoid market power concerns from Constellation merger
4 Bloomberg:
Brookfield Offers to Buy Outstanding Shares in Neoen
5 Reuters:
US grid investments take off as power demand hikes
6 PV-Tech:
NextEra reports 2.2GW of solar additions in 2024 financial results
7 Renewable Energy World:
Trump freezes federal loan and grant programs, injecting further uncertainty into clean energy projects
8 Energy Storage News:
US - IRS modifies BESS domestic content cost proportions, number of suppliers increases
9 PV-Magazine:
U.S. solar power purchase agreement prices rise 3.3% in Q4
Opinions:
10 Canary Media:
The US electric vehicle industry faces a bumpy road ahead
Have a great day!
Yann
Opinion
Best, Yann
News
1 New York Times:
Oil Companies Embrace Trump, but Not 'Drill, Baby, Drill'
2 Bloomberg:
Germany Fears Battery Boom Will Aggravate Power Grid Congestion
3 Canary Media:
Why we don’t need to worry too much about the latest grid battery fire
4 PV-Magazine:
Greenbacker secures nearly $1 billion for New York’s largest solar project
7 Energy Storage News:
NineDot closes US$65 million for 20 New York BESS projects
Opinions:
8 Utility Dive:
Achieving AI dominance through competitive power markets
Have a great day!
Yann
Power Plants Must Be Built. I agree with Trump on this, we have to use all of our available legislative and regulatory powers to build more power plants. If it has land and a customer for the energy, we need to build it. Over the past 2 decades our energy demand has increased 9% and over the next 20 years it will increase a projected 55%. That kind of growth with aging infrastructure is a deploy now, now, now time for our grid and economy. AI clusters, like Stargate, can’t be built without the infrastructure and power plants it will take to keep them operating and if we can advantage onsite power plants, then let’s push that forward. Here’s a great slide of what that looks like from NextEra Energy’s investor presentation this past week.
Opinion
News
1 Utility Dive:
Trump plans to use emergency powers to fast-track generation co-located with AI
2 Bloomberg:
Trump Seizes Wartime Powers in Battle for More Fossil Fuels
3 Reuters:
Trump's high-wire act to transform US power grid won't be easy
4 PV-Tech:
JinkoSolar subsidiary files patent infringement lawsuit against LONGi
5 Renewable Energy World:
California just debunked a big myth about renewable energy
6 Energy Storage News:
China reaches over 70GW of BESS, DC block prices ‘stable’
7 Canary Media:
Chart - The biggest clean energy projects built in the US last year
8 PV-Magazine:
Loan guarantee of $1.7 billion to help U.S. producer scale clean hydrogen
Opinions:
9 New York Times:
Trump Has Now Made His Energy Project Clear
Have a great day!
Yann
Opinion
Best, Yann
News
1 PV-Magazine:
Republican Congress members support retaining clean energy tax credits
2 Solar Power World:
Solar Battle of the Bands returns to Intersolar next month
3 Bloomberg:
AI’s $100 Billion Stargate Venture Touted by Trump Will Tap Solar Power
4 Utility Dive:
State utility regulators, 4 governors urge FERC to lower PJM capacity price cap
5 New York Times:
The Dissonance of Climate Promises at Davos
6 Reuters:
US clean power groups turn to longer deals to finance growth
8 Energy Storage News:
FlexGen secures US$75 million financing, focuses on increasing bankability
9 Canary Media:
Illinois considers state incentives for transmission projects
Opinions:
10 Renewable Energy World:
A solar trade group is ‘deeply disappointed’ in New York’s latest budget proposal. Here’s what it wants
Have a great day!
Yann
