This week’s conversation is about transmission. It may have been lost in the shuffle but earlier this week, the state of Massachusetts led a coalition of Northeast states in releasing a joint strategic action plan on transmission planning. We haven’t covered transmission fights t … | Continue reading
Big Tech said this week that it’s going full steam ahead with building out data centers, and the power industry loves it. Since Microsoft and Meta reported their earnings for the beginning of the year on Wednesday, including announcements either reaffirming their guidance on capi … | Continue reading
What if — despite the news — America is in fact the world’s most promising country to invest in right now? What if now is actually the best time to build a manufacturing facility in the U.S., particularly for the new energy economy? What if hundreds of communities could be rejoic … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Flash flood warnings remain in place today throughout the south-central U.S. • Israel has requested international assistance in fighting large fires that have broken out in the hills near Jerusalem • May in Europe is off to a warm start, with temperatures in t … | Continue reading
When Donald Trump unveiled his now-infamous chart of “reciprocal” tariffs, most of the stock market shuddered — but there were a few exceptions, including the American solar manufacturer First Solar. While the market in the days following “Liberation Day” was on a hunt and destro … | Continue reading
Spain and Portugal are still recovering from Monday’s region-wide blackout. The cause remains unknown, but already a debate has broken out over whether grids like Spain’s, which has a well-above-average proportion of renewables, are more at risk of large-scale disruptions. At the … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Dangerous flash flooding could hit the south-central United States today, with some areas facing the potential for 8 inches of rain in 12 hours • The U.N. is warning countries in Northwest Africa that weather conditions are favorable to locust swarms • Tempera … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Dangerous flash flooding could hit the south-central United States today, with some areas facing the potential for 8 inches of rain in 12 hours • The U.N. is warning countries in Northwest Africa that weather conditions are favorable to locust swarms • Tempera … | Continue reading
Texas is one of the country’s biggest producers of zero-emissions energy. Last year, the Lone Star State surpassed California to become the country’s No. 1 market for utility-scale solar. More solar and batteries were added to the Texas grid in 2024 than any other energy source, … | Continue reading
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released the first draft of its portion of Trump’s big budget bill on Tuesday, and it includes the first official swipe at the Inflation Reduction Act of the months-long process ahead. Remember, the name of the game for Republ … | Continue reading
Chaos, uncertainty, “we don’t know yet.” These are words I’ve heard more during Donald Trump’s first 100 days back in the White House than I’ve heard at any other time as a reporter. That’s not to say there haven’t already been real-world impacts. Trump has gutted the staff of ke … | Continue reading
In theory at least, an electrified household could play a key role in helping stabilize the grid of the future, alleviating times of peak electricity demand by providing power back to the grid and giving utilities timely warnings about hardware that may be failing. But devices us … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Severe weather warnings continue through this evening in parts of Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota, with strong tornadoes remaining a possible threat • It will be 85 degrees Fahrenheit in Washington, D.C. today, about 14 degrees above average • Late afternoon … | Continue reading
Indiana has power. Indiana has transmission. Indiana has a business-friendly Republican government. Indiana is close to Chicago but — crucially — not in Illinois. All of this has led to a huge surge of data center development in the “Crossroads of America.” It has also lead to an … | Continue reading
Maybe you remember the time before the “basic economy” fare. A ticket on a major airline like Delta or United used to come with a few automatic amenities, like the ability to choose one’s seats — or, before 2008, even to check a bag without a fee. In the 2010s, facing rising cost … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Lisbon and “most of Spain” are without power due to a massive blackout • Dubai residents are being told to limit outdoor activity today as temperatures could hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit • Monday will be “one of the most active days of severe weather so far this … | Continue reading
That China has a whip hand over the rare earths mining and refining industry is one of the few things Washington can agree on. That’s why Alex Jacquez, who worked on industrial policy for Joe Biden’s National Economic Council, found it “astounding” when he read in the Washington … | Continue reading
This week’s Q&A is about hail. Last week, we explained how and why hail storm damage in Texas may have helped galvanize opposition to renewable energy there. So I decided to reach out to Brian Grenko, CEO of renewables engineering advisory firm VDE Americas, to talk about how dev … | Continue reading
1. Long Island, New York – We saw the face of the resistance to the war on renewable energy in the Big Apple this week, as protestors rallied in support of offshore wind for a change. Activists came together on Earth Day to protest the Trump administration’s decision to issue a s … | Continue reading
Local renewables restrictions are on the rise in the Hawkeye State – and it might have something to do with carbon pipelines. Iowa’s known as a renewables growth area, producing more wind energy than any other state and offering ample acreage for utility-scale solar development. … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Yosemite could get 9 inches of snow between now and Sunday • Temperatures will rise to as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, as Central and Southeast Asia continue to bake in a heatwave • Hail, tornadoes, and severe thunderstorms will pu … | Continue reading
America’s oil and gas industry is beginning to pull back on investments in the face of tariffs and immense oil price instability — or at least one oil and gas company is. While oil and gas executives have been grousing about low prices and inconsistent policy to any reporter (or … | Continue reading
San Francisco Climate Week started off on Monday with an existential bang. Addressing an invite-only crowd at the Exploratorium, a science museum on the city’s waterfront, former vice president and long-time climate advocate Al Gore put the significance and threat of this politic … | Continue reading
Secretary Duffy, you have no case. That was the gist of a memo Department of Justice lawyers sent to the senior trial attorney for the Department of Transportation regarding its attempt to shut down New York City’s congestion pricing program. The letter was uploaded mistakenly on … | Continue reading
Energy use in the iron and steel industry accounts for about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions — that’s more than it takes to power commercial buildings, more than twice the emissions of the entire cement industry, and nearly four times as much as the aviation sector. Steel-r … | Continue reading
Current conditions: New York City has an air quality alert today due to smoke from a 13,500-acre New Jersey wildfire • There is a thunderstorm warning for the Vatican City, where mourners are gathering to pay their respects to Pope Francis • Several New England ski areas announce … | Continue reading
The clean energy industry is beginning to report to investors and the public on its first brush with Donald Trump’s trade policy. While earnings season has only just begun, already some broad themes are emerging across the sector: Tariffs hurt. Batteries are getting more expensiv … | Continue reading
State lawmakers around the country are negotiating budgets for the coming year amid unprecedented uncertainty. Any decisions they make now about how to spend state money may need to be revisited after Congress finishes its budget reconciliation bill, which could hollow out Medica … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A fire in New Jersey’s Ocean County has grown to 8,500 acres, prompting thousands of evacuations • Parts of South Africa are bracing for “damaging thunderstorms” • It will be almost 80 degrees Fahrenheit in Moscow today — nearly 30 degrees above average. THE T … | Continue reading
Mati Carbon, a startup that spreads rock dust on small farms in India to increase the land’s ability to suck carbon from the air, was awarded the $50 million grand prize in the Carbon Removal XPRIZE contest on Wednesday. More than 1,000 teams initially registered for the four yea … | Continue reading
In just the past few years, Chinese EV-maker BYD has become the most important car company most Americans have still never heard of. It is China’s biggest private employer, the world’s third most valuable automaker (after Tesla and Toyota), and it’s capable of producing more than … | Continue reading
Tesla’s fastest growing business is its energy storage products — which also happens to be the part of Tesla’s business that’s most affected by the onslaught of new tariffs, especially on China. “While the current tariff landscape will have a relatively larger impact on our Energ … | Continue reading
Current conditions: The windiest April in 50 years is causing problems for farmers in the Midwest and Southern Plains • New Delhi marked its hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures breaking 106 degrees Fahrenheit • It was mild and sunny in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park today, whe … | Continue reading
What happens after solar modules get cheap? The relentless cost declines for solar technology driven by mass production and steady innovation — largely in China — has resulted in a commercial ecosystem where pricing is dominated by everything but the solar panels themselves. In t … | Continue reading
Current conditions: U.K. park rangers warn of a potentially “catastrophic” fire season after one of the driest springs on record • As many as nine tornadoes may have hit North Texas over the weekend • It’s expected to be a “nearly perfect” 43 degrees in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, … | Continue reading
The Esmeralda 7 solar project, a collection of proposed solar farms and batteries that would encompass tens of thousands of acres of federal public lands in western Nevada, appears to be moving towards the end of its federal permitting process. The farms developed by NextEra, Inv … | Continue reading
The Esmeralda 7 solar project, a collection of proposed solar farms and batteries that would encompass tens of thousands of acres of federal public lands in western Nevada, appears to be moving towards the end of its federal permitting process. The farms developed by NextEra, Inv … | Continue reading
With previously obligated funding for programs backed by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act beginning to be reinstated, individuals and businesses are fearing whiplash as they restart programming against a backdrop of increasing political a … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tornadoes, hail, high winds, and thunderstorms could hit a dozen states between Texas and the Great Lakes over Easter weekend • The highest peaks on Hawaii’s Big Island may get 3 to 5 inches of snow today • Cyclone Errol, the first storm to reach a Category 5- … | Continue reading
If you’re putting new power onto the grid right now, the cheapest option is likely solar. Thanks to years of declining equipment costs, generous federal subsidies, and voluntary renewables buyers like big technology companies, much of America’s planned future electricity generati … | Continue reading
I couldn’t have a single conversation with a developer this week without talking about Texas. In case you’re unaware, the Texas Senate two days ago passed legislation — SB 819 — that would require all solar and wind projects over 10 megawatts to receive a certification from the s … | Continue reading
1. Westchester County, N.Y. – Residents in Yonkers are pressuring city officials to renew a moratorium on battery storage before it expires in July. Battery fire fears predictably are the primary issue, per a local news report this week, which stated at least one project proposed … | Continue reading
Today’s conversation is with Mike Barnwell at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights, a union organization more than 14,000 members strong. I reached out to Barnwell because I’d been trying to better understand the role labor unions could play in influencing … | Continue reading
At the New York International Auto Show this week, Subaru revealed a pair of fully electric vehicles. The newly announced Trailseeker and an updated version of the brand’s Solterra EV are nothing special compared to the other electric vehicles on the market — their range figures, … | Continue reading
Current conditions: The Des Moines area could see hail the size of “a hen egg” today • Heavy snow in the Alps is expected to create dangerous avalanche conditions over Easter weekend • Saharan dust could reduce solar generation in central and southern Europe by 10% to 20% over th … | Continue reading
The Trump administration may not be enthusiastic about supporting megaprojects to suck carbon dioxide out of the air, but that’s not dampening Occidental Petroleum’s interest in the technology. Heatmap has learned that the oil and gas giant recently acquired the direct air captur … | Continue reading
The Trump administration will try to stop work on Empire Wind, an offshore wind project by Equinor south of Long Island that was going through active construction, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted to X on Wednesday. Burgum announced that he directed the Bureau of Ocean Energ … | Continue reading
In the past few days, I’ve started to wonder whether much of the Trump administration’s energy agenda is dead, and Trump officials just don’t realize it yet. Trump dreamed of a new U.S. mining bonanza. But his tariffs are slowing economic activity and raising equipment costs, sil … | Continue reading