Arno Harris

Canary Media Inc. highlights the important role that #CommunitySolar can play in supporting California’s clean energy and grid reliability goals much faster and more cheaply than relying on utility-scale projects alone. In fact, deploying 5.4 gigawatts of community solar and storage across CA would deliver some $6.5 billion in electricity cost savings over the next two decades. “Community solar has incredible potential to reduce rates across the board, reduce net peak demands, avoid long transmission investments, displace expensive gas generations, and be built quickly" - California State Assembly Member Christopher Ward Thank you to Jeff St. John and Brandon Smithwood for describing the challenges of building solar projects under the current plan in CA and the many benefits that a solar-storage program will bring: https://lnkd.in/gMDwM8AU

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Today Governor Newsom signed several major energy bills into law, including an extension of Cap-and-Trade (now called Cap-and-Invest) and Pathways legislation – to allow California's participation in a regional electricity market. NCPA General Manager Randy Howard, who was instrumental in establishing the framework for the new independent regional market as a member of the Pathways Launch Committee, attended the bill signing in San Francisco. NCPA was very engaged with the legislature throughout this session to ensure that the final Pathways bill language allows for the development of a successful regional market with broad participation, which will improve electricity affordability and reliability while also encouraging further development of renewables in the state. Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom

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So PJM capacity prices hit the price cap again, which was a surprise to no one who has been observing the market. As we've written about extensively, the only solution to the cost problem while also getting new supply online is to channel revenues to new entry without providing revenues to the rest of the supply stack. A few notes: * To those talking about extending the price caps: you fundamentally cannot implement a price cap below the cost of new entry and then ask why new entry isn't coming into the market * To those listening to what the IPP and generation associations are saying: they have a clear incentive to keep capacity prices high, so you need to read their comments through that lens. * To those assessing the future revenue potential of generation assets in PJM: you need to be aware that it is politically untenable for prices to rise to the cost of new entry and stay there. * To those blaming datacenters: load growth was coming and this was going to happen no matter what...datacenters just accelerated the underlying reality. Even with sufficient new supply to meet demand, capacity prices STILL have to rise to the level needed to support the new supply. SUMMARIZING: high capacity prices are both necessary to incentivize new generation and unavoidable in an era of load growth. And it is politically unpalatable to allow prices to stay high, but economically impossible for them to stay low. The only solution is to provide direct financial support to new entry outside of the capacity market. https://lnkd.in/gXKXe4Ck

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California’s energy transition is hitting a significant roadblock: transmission lag. A recent CPUC report reveals that nearly 9 GW of renewable energy and storage projects are currently delayed due to slow transmission build-outs. This represents roughly 22% of all new capacity in the PG&E and SCE territories. The primary culprits? Supply chain disruptions for critical components like circuit breakers and transformers, alongside complex "bundling dependencies" where one delay triggers a domino effect across the grid. With California forecasting a massive surge in electricity demand, these bottlenecks pose a serious risk to reliability and state climate goals. Regulators are now calling for more realistic project timelines and better resource allocation to clear the backlog. As we push for a greener grid, this serves as a stark reminder: we can’t just build the generation; we must modernize the "highways" that carry it. #CleanEnergy #GridModernization #Renewables #EnergyPolicy #CaliforniaEnergy #Utilities https://lnkd.in/gGBeutfB

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2026 Stanford Emerging Technology Review tackles energy technology and policy While energy demand is projected to grow 50% by 2050, the fundamental "trilemma" persists: no single energy source perfectly balances reliability, affordability, and cleanliness, according to the report’s chapter on energy. Despite renewable growth, hydrocarbons still supplied 86% of global primary energy in 2024. Recent electrical demand has risen more than 2% annually for three years, driven by data centers, AI, cryptocurrency, EVs, and industrial reshoring. Forecasts predict 16-25% growth over the next five years, so a jump to around 3% to 5% a year. This has prompted investment shifts from intermittent renewables toward natural gas, nuclear, and energy storage. Nuclear capacity is projected to triple by 2050, though supply chain vulnerabilities exist. Promising technologies the chapter reviews include iron-air batteries for long-duration storage, improved EV batteries with faster charging, green hydrogen production, enhanced geothermal energy, small modular nuclear reactors with passive safety systems, and nuclear fusion (though commercial viability remains decades away). U.S. energy policy has shifted dramatically toward prioritizing abundance and reliability over rapid decarbonization, with reduced support for wind and solar but increased backing for nuclear, geothermal, and natural gas. Critical supply chain challenges persist, particularly regarding Chinese-controlled lithium and critical minerals essential for sustainable technologies. Link to the Review’s energy technologies chapter in the comments. The report is a produced by Hoover Institution, Stanford University, the School of Engineering, and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). #energytransition #batteries #hydrogen #naturalgas

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The good and the bad of PSEG's new Gridsmart Battery Program The good: $5,000 rebate and $25,000 in interest free financing for residential battery installations The bad: it's a pilot to evaluate the benefits of residential energy storage and VPPs. It's bizarre and quite sad that in 2026 a utility, let alone a major one, needs a pilot to evaluate the benefits of residential energy storage and VPPs They have been studied to death and the benefits are thoroughly documented and well understood since they were obvious from the outset Time to get on board and get on with full scale adoption and integration with the grid #EnergyStorage #ResidentialEnergyStorage #EnergyTransition #VPP https://lnkd.in/eVw6CVCc

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Today in #RenewableEnergy news, California’s Community Choice Aggregators are leading the way on energy storage "Starting with the launch of the state’s first California’s Community Choice Aggregator (CCA), Marin Clean Energy in 2010, CCAs have led the way on integrating renewable sources into the state’s energy supply mix. With energy storage becoming the conduit through which more renewable energy is getting to the grid during peak times when it’s needed, three recently-announced projects across several CCA territories exemplify the different ways battery energy storage systems (BESS) are changing the grid for the better." Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/giB3WdZM #Local #Community #RenewableEnergy

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Let's Make Great Things Happen on the Grid (Again) I joined thousands of other utility and grid folks at DTECH 2026 in San Diego last week. No doubt, there are promising and important things happening in and around the tech ecosystem of the grid. But the industry’s bigger currents and stronger winds were really neither talked much about or seen in any of the surface level posts after the event. After reading a bunch of vanilla post recaps and thinking around the dozens and dozens of conversations I had there, I felt a spark to post something honest. The last 18 months or so have opened up the possibility for a renaissance in grid infrastructure. The explosion of the potential of AI demand and the related compute requirements are indeed at the front. Combined with electrified transportation, industrial expansion, and the steady growth of anything we rely on in commercial and residential life centering around the demand for supply of electricity, we find ourselves at an opportunity not seen in at least four to five decades. There is as strong a need for energy and the grid as ever. The industry for the most part was not ready and is not now capturing this moment. I was listening this week to the nearly three-hour podcast with Elon Musk (listen/watch for yourself here https://lnkd.in/gUtqebTZ). A large part of about the episode concerned the constraints for the ventures he is pioneering. And at the top of his list is energy and the grid. He is not seeing near-term progress from the grid to power AI, compute and other rapidly expanding frontiers. His conclusion was that in the next three to five years it will be easier to launch datacenters into space. Let’s let that sink in a bit. The global infrastructure ecosystem providers are taking so long in their deployment (with the possible exception of China) that Elon thinks it will be better to scale AI infrastructure in space. Should the utility and grid community do all the necessary work to ensure investments are prudent and useful? Absolutely. Balancing and justifying the investments being made now are among the biggest challenges in decades. But how have we become so calcified in our ways that pioneers think getting power in space is the easier solution than expanding and making our grid capable for their buildout? We must do better. It’s time... Read my full piece here: https://lnkd.in/gZZEC43P

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Bhumilok.com – Global PropTech Marketplace | 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 & 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 The intersection of 𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆, 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 continues to reshape global markets. A California-based renewable energy company’s acquisition of a 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 in 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 the growing 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆-𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵. As capital flows into solar and energy infrastructure, such projects are not only advancing sustainability goals but also i𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀. At Bhumilok.com – Global PropTech Marketplace, we closely track global developments where r𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 come together to shape the future of growth and opportunity. 🔗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: https://lnkd.in/gXbpm7E6 #Bhumilok #RenewableEnergy #SolarProjects #InfrastructureInvestment #RealEstateTrends #Sustainability #GlobalMarkets #PropertyInsights

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Nofar Energy’s US arm has expanded its solar development portfolio by over 1 GW through acquisitions and exclusive agreements, adding to its 1.2-GWh contracted energy storage pipeline. The projects span PJM, SPP, and ERCOT markets, covering utility-scale and distributed generation assets, with operations scheduled for 2026–2029. Globally, Nofar Energy manages a 10-GW solar and 22-GWh storage pipeline, including 3 GW solar and 3 GWh storage already operational or under construction. #SolarEnergy #EnergyStorage #RenewablesUSA #CleanEnergy #UtilityScaleSolar https://lnkd.in/dAuiryjF

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