Markets & Policy

Data centers’ energy demand is well-documented. Hyperscale AI data centers owned by big-tech companies are placing acute strain on energy infrastructure in the United States, the global data center capital, and many more are expected to come online. There is ongoing debate about how policymakers, grid operators, regulators and the energy industry – renewable or otherwise – can respond to the situation. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) can provide grid-balancing solutions, but not all are convinced they can fully replace gas.

Last week, ROTH Capital Partners hosted over 50 public and private companies and industry experts during its 12th Annual Solar & Storage Symposium at RE+ in Las Vegas. The three-day event offered perspectives on the evolving policy and market backdrop shaping solar, storage, and related sectors.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), a related executive order and other policy developments introduce new risks to the solar and energy storage industries in the United States. Changes to tax law affect everything from residential rooftop systems to utility-scale projects. Jesse Pichel and Lev Seleznov of Roth Capital Partners examine the key provisions in recent U.S. policy announcements and their likely impact on the industry.

With California facing a $12 billion budget shortfall, the state’s lawmakers opted not only against a boost in funding for its flagship virtual power plant program as initially planned, but to not renew its funding all together.

California lawmakers passed two bills that aim to facilitate how the state and its utilities handle virtual power plants.

The inverter is designed for three-phase grid configurations without using external transformers. It contains gallium nitride technology, a first for Enphase’s microinverters.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is loaded with negative measures for the U.S. solar industry. What does the bill mean for solar project development over the coming years?

The distributed energy value stack is the collection of benefits and revenue streams that distributed energy resources (DERs) — such as solar, storage, demand response, and flexible generation — can deliver to customers, utilities, and the grid. As the market evolves, the value stack has become increasingly complex. For sellers of DERs and virtual power plants (VPPs), transparency into this value stack is no longer optional.

pv magazine USA spotlights news of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

An American research group has conducted a pilot workshop for agrivoltaics stakeholders in Arizona, including farmers, developers, government officials and indigenous leaders. A reflection paper offers some key takeaways for future public participation.