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Utility-scale generation, storage, transmission, and the markets that run them.
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Minnesota PUC finds co-op's threat to disconnect Upper Sioux solar unlawful
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission determined on September 17, 2026 that Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light & Power Association is acting unlawfully and unreasonably when it threatens to disconnect the Upper Sioux Community over its behind-the-meter solar and battery project, and required the co-op to keep serving the community as long as the project operates behind the meter and safely. The West Central Tribune reports a unanimous vote, a 2.5 MW array with battery storage, and that the co-op's attorney said it would appeal any such order.
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Vistra reports new fire in Moss Landing 300 building's unburned batteries
Vistra says its personnel identified a flare-up at about 6 a.m. Pacific time on September 18, 2026 along the north wall of the Moss Landing 300 building, the building at its Moss Landing, California site that burned in January 2025. In a later, undated update the company says county officials report the fire inactive at this time, and that it believes about 1,200 of the roughly 5,000 unburned, still-charged modules inside ignited. CalMatters reported that Monterey County officials issued a shelter-in-place order and local authorities lifted it that afternoon.
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Congress moved four energy bills in three days; one goes to the President
Between September 15 and 17, 2026, the House passed the High-Capacity Grid Act (H.R. 6633) and the Load Forecasting Enhancement Act (H.R. 9332) by voice vote and the Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340) by 417 to 3, and the Senate passed the Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act (H.R. 3657) by unanimous consent without amendment; the bill status record shows that bill presented to the President on September 17 and the other three received in the Senate. Each orders a report, a rulemaking, study boards, or a state proceeding; none funds or builds anything.
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Virgin Islands VPP discharges at 800 kW and 500 kW in two half-hour tests
The Virgin Islands Energy Office said on September 16, 2026 that its Tesla-operated VIBES-2.0 virtual power plant ran two half-hour tests on September 11: 190 residential batteries on St. Thomas and St. John discharged at approximately 800 kW and 108 on St. Croix at approximately 500 kW, and VIEO put the combined total at 2.5 MWh without saying how it was measured. It has paid out over $176,000 in participation incentives; its Terms and Conditions set a $500 per battery enrollment incentive and a $500 per battery annual participation incentive, each capped at $2,000 per participant.
First Student says trenchless NYC bus charging cut build costs 13%
First Student and Con Edison said on September 15, 2026 that the first phase of an electric school bus project serving the New York City Department of Education is complete in Brooklyn and Queens, on First Student's above-ground First Charge equipment, which it says cut infrastructure construction costs by 13% by avoiding trenching; First Student plans 40 more electric buses for the department. The release names no dollar figures, no count of buses now operating, no charger count, no depot address, and no baseline for the 13%; the smart energy hub promised in 2024 is now under consideration.
Mazama Energy raises $135M for superhot geothermal wells at Newberry
Mazama Energy announced $135 million in new capital on September 17, 2026, including an oversubscribed Series B led by Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital, for its Newberry, Oregon engineered geothermal system, which it calls the hottest ever built at 629°F. The money funds Project Ceres, DOE-supported horizontal wells; the BLM issued a categorical-exclusion decision record on a Project Ceres geothermal operations plan on July 24, 2026, and the company now says Ceres will demonstrate power generation in 2027, where its October 2025 release had placed a 15 MW pilot in 2026.
PG&E picks six community microgrids for $30M in second incentive round
Pacific Gas and Electric Company said on September 17, 2026 that it selected six community microgrid projects in the second application window of its CPUC-authorized Microgrid Incentive Program, directing $30 million in awards of $2 million to $6 million each, and that several of the nine first-round awardees are executing grant agreements. Counting the first round at the $43 million the new release states (up to $43 million in the March 2025 release), PG&E puts its authorized community microgrid investment at more than $73 million of a $79.2 million allocation.
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Oklo tells FERC that PJM's fault test is not in PJM's own guidelines
Oklo's September 14, 2026 answer in FERC docket EL26-101-000 says its cure for the 750-MW project (150 MW nuclear, 300 MW gas, 300 MW fuel cells) passed the flat start test for the whole facility and the 9-cycle ride-through test for the inverter-based fuel cells, the only two stability tests it says PJM's guidelines contain, and calls PJM's explanation of the 5-cycle three-phase fault it ran a post hoc rationalization. PJM's answer says the cured model was unstable with all 750 MW in service. No FERC order was on the docket as of September 16.
Chubu withdraws Hamaoka 3 and 4 applications after seismic-data inquiry
Chubu Electric Power's board decided on September 14, 2026 to withdraw the new-regulatory-standards applications for Hamaoka units 3 and 4 (1,100 MW and 1,137 MW) after an outside investigation committee reported on how the plant's design basis ground motion was developed. Chairman Satoru Katsuno and President Kingo Hayashi step down September 30; director Minoru Yasui becomes president October 1. The committee says it does not find the acts appropriate but also rejects reducing them to falsification or data fraud.
UL Solutions opens V2G certification under new UL 1741 Supplement SC
UL Solutions Inc. announced on September 14, 2026 a certification program for vehicle-to-grid equipment: bidirectional EV supply equipment tested to UL 1741 Supplement SC, which the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council says UL Standards & Engagement published on May 21, 2026 for EVs with SAE J3072 onboard inverters, plus a second route pairing UL 1741 multipiece DER requirements with UL 9741. Its borrowed figures: a GM Energy-funded E3 study's 2030 model (V2G 5 to 15 times managed charging per vehicle) and a 2020 EPRI Journal projection (about 90% of EVs will be parked at any given time).
Suniva closes $835M raise for 4.5 GW South Carolina solar cell plant
Suniva said on September 8, 2026 it completed an $835 million debt and equity raise to build a 4.5 GW solar cell factory in Laurens County, South Carolina, for 5.5 GW of US cell capacity with its 1 GW Georgia plant. The release puts it at approximately $600 million and 564 jobs, completion late 2027; South Carolina's April 14, 2026 announcement said $350 million. The raise precedes Section 232 minimum import prices on polysilicon, ingots and wafers, cells and modules effective December 4, 2026, which the proclamation says replace the safeguard relief Suniva petitioned for in 2017.
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BLM sets October 27 auction for 19 California geothermal parcels
The Bureau of Land Management announced on September 11, 2026 a competitive geothermal lease sale on October 27, 2026 for 19 parcels covering 39,723.81 acres of public land in Inyo, Mono, Lake, Sonoma, Modoc, and Imperial counties, California. It is the fourth sale listed on the bureau's California geothermal page since 2014; the August 2025 sale took $2,711,858 on 13 parcels, and a December 2025 instruction memorandum directs BLM state offices to hold geothermal sales annually where nominations are pending.
PJM says Oklo's fix left the 750-MW model unstable, asks FERC to deny
PJM asked FERC on September 4, 2026 to deny Oklo's complaint over the withdrawal of its 750-MW project C01-1735 from Cycle 01. PJM says Oklo's response to a May 15 deficiency notice removed excitation-limiter models from the synchronous units and that the model showed an unstable response when PJM tested the whole facility at 750 MW; it says its tariff allows one cure round, that four other Oklo projects totaling 900 MW advanced, and that reinstatement could delay Phase I, set to start September 28, by as much as two months. It asks FERC to act by September 14 if it grants relief.
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Tesla says about 69,000 California homes sent over 500 MW to the grid
Tesla Energy said on X on September 9, 2026 that about 69,000 Powerwall owners across California were dispatching more than 500 MW to the grid during that day's heatwave. The attached screenshot of Tesla's California Virtual Power Plant dashboard showed 105,009 homes in California VPPs, 68,887 homes in a VPP event, and 507 MW of battery power discharging. The dashboard credits Tesla VPPs with the majority of a July 2025 event that delivered over 500 MW, which a Brattle Group report commissioned by Sunrun and Tesla Energy measured as an average 539 MW net-load reduction in a test event.
NRC proposes rule package for existing reactors and new applicants
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on September 11, 2026 a proposed rule, docket NRC-2025-1138, that it calls a broad overhaul of its reactor licensing and oversight regulations under Executive Order 14300, for existing plants and new applicants. The release lists ten changes "among other things," including removing the expiration date for standard design approvals; comments run 30 days after Federal Register publication, which the NRC's tracker estimates for September 25, 2026, with a final rule estimated for March 31, 2027.
Hexagon leases geothermal rights on 145,000 acres of Weyerhaeuser forest
Hexagon Energy announced on September 10, 2026 that it has leased the geothermal rights on approximately 145,000 acres of Weyerhaeuser timberland in Washington and Oregon and says the portfolio could bring over 3 GW of power online once operational. The release names no project site, schedule, or technology. Weyerhaeuser optioned nearly 667,000 acres of geothermal rights to AltaRock Energy in 2008, and the largest plant on the Oregon Department of Energy's geothermal list is 22 MW.
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PJM proposes ride-through rules for data centers after 3,800 MW drop-off
PJM presented proposed voltage and frequency ride-through requirements for large computational loads, a category PJM says includes data centers and crypto-mining facilities, at its September 8, 2026 Planning Committee, after a July 22 fault in the Dominion zone that PJM's August 6 Operating Committee deck says sent approximately 3,800 MW of load onto backup power. PJM plans to file at FERC in November 2026 in docket EL26-67-000, where FERC faulted the tariff in June for specifying no ramp-rate or ride-through requirements and on August 14 paused the proceeding until November 16.
SEIA/WoodMac: residential solar fell 12% in Q2 2026, utility-scale up 61%
The Q3 2026 US Solar Market Insight from SEIA and Wood Mackenzie puts Q2 2026 residential solar at 995 MWdc, down 12% year over year and 10% from Q1, the quarter in which the report says interconnection data began to reflect the end of the Section 25D credit; the authors now expect a 23% residential contraction in 2026. Utility-scale solar installed 9.6 GWdc, up 61% year over year, as developers placed safe-harbored projects into service.
Department of War plans shore-based Navy microreactor at Crane by 2028
The Department of War announced on September 9, 2026 the planned installation of an advanced nuclear Micro Modular Reactor at Naval Weapons Station Crane, Indiana, no later than September 2028, executed through the Army's Janus Program with the Navy and the State of Indiana. The release describes the reactor as commercially owned and operated and as the first power-producing reactor installed in Indiana, and names no vendor, design, output, or cost; an Army official's quote cites the Army's "regulatory authorities" without saying who licenses the unit.
DOE closes loan of up to $1.9B for Duane Arnold nuclear restart
The US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Dominance Financing announced on September 8, 2026 the financial close of a loan of up to $1.9 billion to NextEra Energy for the restart of the 615 MW Duane Arnold Energy Center in Linn County, Iowa, shut down since August 2020. NextEra plans to restart the plant no later than the first quarter of 2029, pending regulatory approvals, and NRC staff expect to issue final licensing decisions by January 29, 2028. Google holds a 25-year agreement for power from the plant, with Central Iowa Power Cooperative buying the remainder on the same terms.
Ember: coal power has stalled in 17 of the 26 Chinese regions it tracks
Ember's China Energy Transition Review 2026, published September 8, 2026, says coal generation plateaued or turned flat between 2021 and 2025 in 17 of the 26 provincial-level regions it tracks, together holding more than half of China's thermal capacity, and that thermal generation fell 0.7% in 2025 while electricity demand rose 5%. China's National Bureau of Statistics reports thermal generation down 0.7% and total coal consumption up 0.1% for 2025. Ember says battery storage overtook pumped hydro in installed capacity by the end of 2024 and grew 84% in 2025.
ENGIE's storage fleet reaches 10.7 GW operating or under construction
ENGIE said on September 4, 2026 that its storage portfolio in operation and under construction has reached 10.7 GW worldwide, counting batteries and pumped-storage hydropower, with 4.7 GW in Europe and 4.4 GW in the United States. July and August 2026 added 1.1 GW / 3.3 GWh of European battery projects across seven countries, led by a 758 MW / 2,156 MWh Polish portfolio assembled through two acquisitions and one adjacent development, scheduled for commissioning in 2028 and 2029.
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Bruegel: Europe's EVs hold 600 GWh, about ten times its stationary storage
Bruegel's European Clean Tech Atlas, published September 2, 2026, says 60 GWh of stationary battery storage had been connected to the European grid by 2024 and estimates 600 GWh of capacity in the EV fleet. Assuming away physical constraints, it says the stationary fleet could absorb or supply the grid's average output for about a quarter of an hour, and the vehicles, if all connected, hypothetically for almost two hours; SolarPower Europe's June 2026 outlook says 2025's additions took operational stationary capacity beyond 100 GWh.
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SB Energy IPO filing shows about 5.5 GWac of contracted solar and storage
SB Energy, Inc., the SoftBank-backed developer, filed a Form S-1 with the SEC dated August 31, 2026 and posted September 1 for a Nasdaq IPO under the symbol SBE. The filing describes a Standalone Power Contracted Portfolio of approximately 5.5 GWac of solar and battery storage, about 2.2 GWac of it operating, about $10 billion of power backlog, and about $430 billion of data center backlog from campuses leased to SoftBank and OpenAI, with the 8 GW-IT Ohio campus expected to be supported by the PJM transmission system and neighboring gas plants that SB Energy says it does not expect to own.
Google to buy from 86 MW solar and zinc storage project in West Virginia
MN8 Energy, Eos Energy Enterprises, and Google announced on September 2, 2026 that Google will purchase the energy, capacity, and clean energy attributes of MN8's Mammoth Solar project in Kanawha County, West Virginia: 86 MW of solar, 70 MW/280 MWh of lithium-ion storage, and 10 MW/100 MWh of Eos Z3 zinc-based long-duration storage on a reclaimed coal mine. MN8 expects the solar online in 2028, the lithium-ion in 2029, and the zinc system in 2030, and estimates up to $350 million in capital investment; the West Virginia PSC granted the project's siting certificate on November 24, 2025.
India drafts storage mandate for ground-mounted solar and onshore wind
India's Central Electricity Authority published a draft second amendment to its construction technical standards on September 3, 2026 that would require ground-mounted solar and onshore wind plants commissioned after July 1, 2027 to have co-located energy storage of at least 10% of installed capacity with a two-hour minimum duration, rising to four hours for plants commissioned between July 1, 2029 and June 30, 2031. Renewable plants commissioned after July 1, 2027 would also need grid-forming control on at least 15% of inverters; comments are due October 4, 2026.
Siemens Energy's Newcastle works to build turbines for UK's first SMRs
Rolls-Royce SMR announced on September 3, 2026 that key steam turbine components for its first three reactors at the Gwyndod project on Anglesey, North Wales, including high-pressure turbines and valve casings, will be manufactured at Siemens Energy's Newcastle site, the former CA Parsons Works. The company says the work will support more than 550 jobs and is the first time such components will be produced for a small modular reactor anywhere in Europe.
East Point withdraws 125 MW Tewksbury battery over grid upgrade costs
Hillman Energy Center, East Point Energy's project company, moved on September 1, 2026 to withdraw its 125 MW / 500 MWh Tewksbury, Massachusetts battery from the Energy Facilities Siting Board (docket EFSB 26-02), saying ISO New England's Transitional Cluster Study left the project economically unviable. The study's final report lists $65.3 million of upgrades for the 125 MW queue position at the Tewksbury 115 kV substation; the board had approved the project on June 30, 2026 with what the motion counts as 104 conditions.
NRC proposes groundwater rule for uranium in-situ recovery sites
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on September 1, 2026 a proposed rule, docket NRC-2025-1204, to set what it calls risk-informed groundwater protection criteria for uranium in-situ recovery facilities and to streamline extensions of decommissioning timelines for reactors and materials facilities. The rule text had not been published in the Federal Register as of September 4; comments are due 30 days after publication. The NRC's rulemaking tracker says the rule would reduce post-restoration monitoring, and the three industry letters in the docket asked for a narrowly targeted rule.
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Equinor's 100 MW Citrus Flatts battery starts merchant operations in ERCOT
East Point Energy, Equinor's wholly owned storage developer, has started operations at Citrus Flatts, a 100 MW / 200 MWh battery in Harlingen, Texas, Equinor announced on September 3, 2026. Equinor calls it its largest US storage project; the plant runs on a fully merchant basis in ERCOT, and the company says a four-project 80 MW / 160 MWh Virginia portfolio is on track for early 2027.