Elon Musk has bought APR Energy, a $1 billion gas turbine company with over 1 GW of generation capacity, as part of his efforts to power data centers for xAI's Grok. The purchase is in contrast to Musk's stated goal of transitioning to a "solar electric economy". Musk plans to use the turbines to feed electricity to the data centers running the AI platform.
Aligned Climate Capital has acquired the 7.3-MWDC Armoracia community solar project in Illinois, which will use high-density, terrain-following solar racking to reduce land grading. The project is expected to reach commercial operation later this year and serve subscribers through the Illinois Adjustable Block Program on the Ameren Illinois grid.
Masdar has reached financial close on the "world's first gigascale Round-the-Clock (RTC) renewable energy project", a 5.2GW solar power installation paired with a 19GWh battery storage system, providing 1GW of continuous clean energy. The project is considered "gigascale" in terms of its size and scope. It will supply clean energy to a large number of users indefinitely.
Google has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the majority output of the Steel River Energy Center, the largest planned solar project in the United States, located in Wilson, Arkansas. The 2.5 GWDC solar project will be co-located with 2.9 GWh of battery energy storage. Construction on the first two phases has started.
Fronius GEN24 Plus solar inverters paired with Renon Xtreme HV 1.0 batteries have been listed by the California Energy Commission as a paired residential storage solution, offering simplified installation for California installers. The pairing is available in three different battery sizes: 9.6, 14.4, and 19.2 kWh. This listing enables Fronius-Renon system to be marketed as a CEC-approved solution.
Regulatory and technological advances led to the transformation of isolated utilities into integrated regional grids through historic transmission interties. Projects such as the PJM Interconnection and Pacific Intertie played a crucial role in building the foundation for today's grid. These advancements enabled better power management by connecting isolated utilities into more efficient systems.
Fluence Energy will serve as the EPC for a 200 MW/800-MWh energy storage project in Tulare County, California. The project pairs with a solar facility and features Fluence's four-hour duration Smartstack system, utilizing U.S. domestic content. The deployment marks Fluence's involvement in a 200 MW/800 MWh project, likely part of the Rexford 2 energy storage project.
Utilities are requesting significant rate hikes in Q2, with Dominion Energy seeking $1.5 billion in Virginia and Oncor in Texas asking for $1.2 billion, primarily due to investment in transmission and distribution.
The levelised cost of storage (LCOS) of utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the US has increased since restrictions on Chinese cells came into force. This reverses a trend seen in previous years where LCOS was declining. The increase is attributed to the new restrictions, which have impacted the supply and availability of certain types of cells used in BESS.
Thailand's new market rules aim to create a "flexible and competitive environment" that encourages investment in energy storage. The goal is for energy storage to be a key component of the country's national energy vision. This move is expected to attract more investment in the energy storage market.
Electrek