U.S. solar industry adds 43 GW in 2025, leading capacity additions for fifth consecutive year
The latest Solar Market Insight report from SEIA and Wood Mackenzie reveals that solar and energy storage accounted for 79% of all new U.S. electrical capacity in 2025 even as installation volumes fell late in the year, while domestic manufacturing reached major milestones despite uncertain federal policy.
Repowering: A smarter path for aging renewable infrastructure
Many GW of aging U.S. solar installations will require electrical upgrades in the coming years, and smart owners will turn to repowering and cable rejuvenation as cost-effective ways to extend the lifespan of aging infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of new builds or full site reconstruction, with the added benefit of preserving existing interconnection rights.
Base Power announces 100 MW residential storage program with CoServ in Texas
The program, which is the largest of Base Power’s five utility collaborations, will deliver battery backup to an estimated 5,000 CoServ customers.
Jigar Shah sees virtual power plants as the fastest way for states to stabilize electric bills
States can control the retail cost of electricity by promoting virtual power plants, consisting of distributed batteries and other resources, which can be deployed “within months,” said industry veteran Jigar Shah and a co-author in a report.
Washington’s HB 2296 could improve home solar economics, but advocates say recent amendments are cause for concern
The bill, which is being considered in Senate committees after passing the state House, requires utilities to allow meter-mounted devices to connect between retail electric customer meters and meter sockets. These devices reduce complexity and installation time, ultimately saving homeowners money.
National lab assesses alternatives to “direct transfer trip” that can block solar projects
“Direct transfer trip,” a costly approach to ensure that distributed generation shuts down during a power outage, can make solar projects uneconomical. A national lab report points to a combination of inverter-based approaches as a viable alternative.
Mexico could become data center hub, but clean power lags behind
Mexico is attracting US data centers seeking faster power connections, but these facilities will initially rely on firm gas generation from the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), with renewables as a potential future option, Mexican energy expert Santiago Barcón told pv magazine.
When the sun sets, batteries rise: 24/7 solar in California
On February 1, 2026, California’s batteries bridged the solar gap with seamless precision. After discharging through the night until sunrise, they spent the daylight hours charging, then pivoted back to exporting power well past midnight—effectively sustaining the state on solar energy for a full 24-hour cycle.
Inside Portland’s experiment that turned interconnection limits into a microgrid blueprint
A market-rate, subsidy-free solar-plus-storage microgrid in downtown Portland highlights how grid-forming buildings can overproduce clean power, island during outages and work around strict interconnection limits.
High-voltage DC solar architecture solves the AI datacenter bottleneck
High-voltage DC distribution enables solar and storage to bypass AC conversion stages for massive gains in data center efficiency and cost, said a whitepaper from Enteligent.
