grid

The US installed 9.7 GWh of new battery storage in Q1 2026—a 32% year-over-year jump and the highest first quarter ever recorded—as data center expansion and global gas disruptions outweigh federal permitting headwinds.

A new IRENA report introduces firm levelised cost of electricity for hybrid solar/wind-plus-battery systems and finds round-the-clock renewable power now beats new coal in China and new gas globally.

Ford on May 11 announced Ford Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary backed by roughly $2 billion that will build a 20-foot containerized BESS at a repurposed Kentucky plant, with first customer deliveries in late 2027.

California batteries discharged 12,000+ MW in late March 2026, equal to 12 nuclear plants and over 40% of state demand, as installed capacity climbs past 16 GW.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems has filed a generation interconnection request with PJM for its 400 MW Fall Line plant in Virginia, the first time a fusion developer has formally entered a major US grid queue.

China Huaneng Group fully energized the 504 MW Shandong Peninsula North L offshore wind farm on April 7, 2026, installing 42 twelve-megawatt turbines on jacket foundations in 52 to 56 meters of water — the deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind project ever built in China.

At an April 16 House Appropriations hearing, Energy Secretary Chris Wright pledged that the first five to ten new planned US nuclear reactors will almost certainly receive financing from the DOE lending office, directing the agency's renamed loan authority toward first-of-a-kind projects.