The scoreboard: Clean power developers dumped $79B into US projects last year, according to American Clean Power, spinning up over 50 GW of supply (that’s more than 90% of all new grid connections in 2025). And despite growing partisan pushback, 79% of the country’s installed clean capacity sits in GOP congressional districts—where officials may talk the talk, but clearly don’t always walk the walk.

As for this year? Developers are leaning hard into clean generation, per new EIA data, planning 43.4 GW of new utility-scale solar for 2026 (out of the unprecedented 86 GW of new capacity slated for this year). That’s a 60% solar jump from last year. Also in the 2026 queue: 24 GW of utility-scale storage to manage the growing intermittency. 

Texas is cornering this aggressive buildout, claiming over half of that new storage capacity and 40% of all new solar projects.

This departure will leave a gaping hole—the UAE is the group’s third-biggest oil producer. Their reasoning? The nation has long claimed that OPEC’s price-setting quotas curtail its exports. Now, the UAE hopes to ramp up production to match consumer demand. But this likely won’t affect oil prices in the near term as the Strait of Hormuz closure limits the region’s production overall.

The endgame? Other countries could follow suit, including Kazakhstan. Less oil under OPEC’s control could equal even more crude chaos around the globe.

The DOE has resumed the Biden-era plan to distribute nearly $430M to 212 hydropower facilities across 33 states. This flood of cash will help operators replace decades-old turbines, generators, and spillways…without passing the costs to ratepayers.

Speaking of ratepayers: After weeks of pressure from a bipartisan group of senators, the Trump administration is releasing its clutch on the final $421.5M tranche of this year’s funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The Trump administration is back at the strategy it brokered with TotalEnergies last month. Now, Ocean Winds and its financial partners will 1) dump $765M from a NY/NJ offshore wind project into a US LNG facility and 2) recover $120M from a CA offshore lease to funnel into oil & gas infrastructure.

Meanwhile: With all 62 turbines in place, Vineyard Wind officially activated its 20-year utility contracts to sell power at $69.50 per MWh—less than half of New England's average Jan. wholesale price.

The context: FirstEnergy admitted to bribing former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder to secure legislation to subsidize aging coal and nuclear plants—ultimately costing ratepayers roughly half a billion. Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges are the only people involved in the scheme to have served prison time (under federal RICO charges). 

These men appealed the decision to the Supreme Court last December, claiming they had protection under the First Amendment. The Justice Department’s recent response? The Constitution doesn’t cover a financial quid pro quo. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, didn’t explain why it turned down the request on Monday.

Worth watching: Householder’s legal team says it might seek a presidential pardon to secure his release. And the broader legal fallout remains active, with two FirstEnergy execs scheduled for a state retrial this Sep. following a deadlocked jury in March.

NYISO projects a baseline summer reliability margin of 417 MW this year—an 80% freefall from the 1.9-GW buffer the system held in 2022. The drivers? An aging generation fleet plus a lack of new dispatchable resources.

The threat: If a three-day, 95-degree heat wave parks over the state, that baseline drops to a projected -1.7 GW. NYISO can still pursue 3.2 GW of emergency actions to stave off blackouts, but the operational headroom is exceptionally thin.

Yesterday, Commonwealth announced it had applied to plug a 400-MW plant (the Fall Line Fusion Power Station) into PJM. The MA-based company plans to bring the plant online in VA’s Data Center Alley by the early 2030s. 

The details: CFS relies on a relatively small tokamak system powered by high-temp superconducting magnets, and its demo machine is currently about 75% complete. Backed by nearly $3B in capital, the developer has already secured Dominion Energy as a utility partner and inked offtake agreements with Google and Italian energy firm Eni.

What’s next: Perfecting commercial fusion would prove a tremendous feat…but so is surviving PJM's interconnection process. The grid operator will now run the application through a 90-day review window before launching the extensive engineering studies required to map out network upgrades.

Nearly two-thirds of VA counties ban (or severely restrict) utility-scale solar farms. But the state’s data center frenzy is compounding the pressure for new, more affordable electrons. Beginning July 1, a new law signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger voids those prohibitions and establishes new statewide siting guidelines.

Yes, but: Localities can still reject individual project permits. But under the new statute, governments must explain their reasoning for any permit denial directly to state regulators.

Why it matters: The newly viable acreage could trigger an immediate rush on the queue. Industry groups suspect developers are already pitching projects in previously off-limits territory.