Image: Grok

Solar panels are manufactured in the US by several companies. Project developers need to know the names of the manufacturers. Here are three articles naming names.

1. T1 Energy

2. Tesla

3. Ten American manufacturers

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1. How T1 Energy is ramping up multi gigawatt U.S. solar manufacturing

Source: PV Magazine website

T1 Energy is executing a plan to manufacture solar panels in the United States. This article explains T1’s accomplishments so far and the challenges to bringing all steps to the US.

The factory named G1 produces solar panels and is up and running. G2 produces components used at G1.

Link: T1 article, PV Magazine

Quote:

CEO Daniel Barcelo was interviewed in this article. Here is a quote from him.

“It’s the winning combination of our people and our product. In roughly one year, the T1 operations team took G1 from initial production to maximum daily run rates above nameplate capacity. And we saw record sales and delivery of merchant volumes to major new customers who are very interested in high-efficiency, low-cost modules built in the U.S.”

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2. Tesla Advances 100GW Solar Goal with Texas Factory

Source: PVTIME website

Tesla’s energy division has an existing factory in Buffalo, NY and is building a second factory in Brookshire, Texas, near Houston.

Link: Tesla artice, PVTIME

Quote:

“A key milestone was reached on 31 March, when China’s Ministry of Commerce officially approved the export of HJT turnkey lines and screen printing equipment to Tesla and SpaceX by Maxwell. This aligns with a March report by CNBC that Tesla was negotiating a $2.9 billion deal for Chinese solar manufacturing equipment, including supplies from Suzhou Maxwell Technologies, a company specialising in equipment for the production of vertically integrated solar cells.”

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10 American Made Solar Panels

Source: All American Made website

Mike M., the proprietor of this site, has taken on a mission to identify American-made goods. Here is his article about solar panels. Some of the panels he identifies are for portable use.

Link: 10 Panels article, All American Made website

Quote:

“This guide covers solar panel manufacturers with U.S. production or assembly, but solar supply chains are complex. Cells, wafers, modules, frames, glass, and inverters can come from different countries.

• Module assembly in the USA does not always mean the cells or wafers are U.S.-made.

• Residential buyers should verify the exact panel model, warranty, installer availability, and eligibility for incentives.

• Manufacturing footprints can change quickly as companies open or expand U.S. plants.”

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These three items have caught my eye as valuable in professional reading.

1. Remember all possible sources of incentives in Demand Management

2. Back-to Basics: Code compliance is a necessary part of pump selection

3. Vehicle-to-Home hardware and software is being demonstrated

Please add your name to my list of subscribers if you find these of interest to you, too, and choose the subscription level that fits you best as a working professional or a person with interests in energy use.

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1. ASK THE EXPERT - Maximizing DER Value: Key Considerations for C&I Sites

Source: EnergyTech

Demand Management programs pay incentive dollars when you can comply with the rules. In this three-page overview Alyssa Schmidt mentions possible income streams for curtailing demand and exporting power. She mentions specific opportunities in Texas, New England, California, PJM’s territory, and MISO’s territory. If you are keeping a checklist of steps in your project development process these ideas warrant a checkbox.

Link: White paper download

Quote:

“Any grid-connected item that generates, stores, or uses electricity is a distributed energy resource (DER). This includes customer-owned solar, storage, and gensets, as well as equipment that can be turned down or off when the grid needs more capacity, which means every electricity customer has DERs to leverage.”

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2. Specifying Pumping Systems for Potable Water Applications

Source: Pumps & Systems magazine

This is a back-to-basics article.

Project development engineers need to understand the operation of pumps and fans. Many times energy can be saved by adjusting a balancing valve to move the operating point on the pump curve closer to the Best Efficiency Point. Other times energy savings can be achieved by right-sizing the equipment and a new pump is called for.

This article goes over the basics of the pump selection process in the context of code compliance for drinking water.

Link: Code compliance article

Quote:

“Specifying a pumping system for potable water requires balancing multiple variables that affect not only submittal approval but long‑term reliability and operating confidence. Primary considerations include:

• Wetted materials – All surfaces in contact with potable water must meet NSF/ANSI 61 requirements for the intended operating conditions.

• System configuration – Certification often applies only to defined configurations; changes to seals, coatings or auxiliary components may impact compliance.

• Operating conditions – Pressure, temperature and flow must remain within certified limits.

• Service and maintenance – Replacement parts, lubricants and modifications can unintentionally compromise compliance if not reviewed for potable‑water use.”

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3. Puget Sound Energy is turning to EVs for backup power and grid support

Source: Smart Cities Dive

Batteries on both sides of the customer meter can be used to alleviate congestion on the grid.

This article describes a test program where six EVs are connected to the grid, just by plugging them in at the existing charging socket and using the existing cord. This technology is well-proven and in use in other places. Virtual Power Plants already can call on vehicle batteries as well as home batteries.

The key is the power electronics. A vehicle needs to have power electronics that will respond to requests to allow power to flow out of the battery as well as into the battery.

Link: Vehicle to Home article

Quote:

“Though most of its sales already come from clean sources, Puget Sound Energy has identified demand response as a key lever for integrating more carbon-free power. In 2023, it announced a partnership with Autogrid — now part of Uplight — to deploy 100 MW of virtual power plant capacity within two years. More recently, it inked a deal with BrightNight and Cordelia Power to purchase power from a 200 MW/800 MWh battery facility that a utility spokesperson said would help alleviate grid congestion and integrate more clean energy when it comes online, likely next year.”

Tag: Professional Reading

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1. An SMR serving as a CHP plant has achieved a regulatory milestone

2. Oregon has a new solar and battery rebate program, will sell out fast

3. EV battery swap stations in China are numerous. More are being added.

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1. Licensing milestone for Texas SMR plant

Source: World Nuclear News

The location is Dow’s Seadrift site in Texas. The site has nine production plants on 4700 acres. It produces 4 billion pounds of chemical products and plastics used as feedstocks in other processes. There is an existing natural gas-fueled CHP plant of approximately 156 MWe.

The new set of four 80 MWe units will have a combined rated output of 320 MWe.

For both technologies, natural gas and nuclear, the thermal heat energy is more than the electric energy generated.

Link: Texas SMR CHP plant

Quote:

“Long Mott Generating Station is tipped to be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial site in North America. The Xe-100 units are engineered to operate as a single 80MW electric unit, and are optimised as a four-unit plant delivering 320 MWe: the reactor can provide baseload power to an electricity system or support industrial applications with 200 MW thermal output per unit of high-pressure, high-temperature steam.

Dow is one of several tech giants and other major energy users to have signed the Large Energy End Users Pledge, supporting the goal of at least tripling nuclear energy by 2050.”

2. Oregon’s solar and battery rebate program opens soon. Funds may go fast

Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting

The State of Oregon is providing incentive money for residential solar and battery installations. The money will go fast!

Link: Oregon solar incentive article

Quote:

“Qualifying projects include new solar installations, new solar installations that include a battery storage system, or battery storage systems added to an existing solar installation.

In all, Headley said the agency expects to issue up to 350 rebates, and he hopes that people pursue the battery rebates.

Duard Headley is the Energy Incentives Manager at the Oregon Department of Energy.”

3. China launches first battery-swap truck network with 120-second recharge system

Source: Interesting engineering

Multiple battery-swap systems are in use already. This announcement involves a leading battery manufacturer and a truck-using delivery company.

With a battery swap the vehicle can be back on the road quickly. The batteries can be charged any time, and especially valuable feature when energy prices vary throughout the day.

Link: Battery-swap article

Quote:

“According to the company, over an eight-year vehicle life cycle, the system can save more than 2,000 hours of refueling time. CATL also said the energy replenishment cost is approximately half that of a conventional fuel-powered light truck.”

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If you have lost a family member or someone in your life you have my condolences. All my family members have returned from wars back to the Civil War, although one has severe injuries he will carry the rest of his life.

Here are three items that caught my eye.

1. A free webinar hosted by Wood Mackenzie, tomorrow morning, 9:30 am Central Time.

2. Federal funds awarded for SMR deployment, possible business opportunity for small business.

3. Ford Energy business financing details.

Wood Mackenzie is hosting a free webinar panel discussion of the Strait of Hormuz

Source: Wood Mackenzine newsletter

The Strait of Hormuz is in the news. A panel of four experts will discuss possible outcomes for opening the strait. Register below

Link: WoodMac summary, Strait of Hormus

Link: WoodMac webinar registration

Quote:

“In response, in this month’s Horizons report, we set three distinct scenarios – Quick Peace, Summer Settlement and Extended Disruption – each mapping different timelines for reopening the Strait and the resulting impacts across oil, gas, LNG and the global economy.

Horizons Live will bring together our experts to unpack the scenario outcomes and answer your questions.”

aaaaa

US federal funds awarded to spur SMR deployment. Site development work may be an opportunity.

Source: World Nuclear News

Eight companies have been selected in a $94 billion federal cost-sharing program. Half the money is for site selection and development work that has not yet happened. This article names the recipients and the scope of their projects.

Link: Federal funds articel

Quote:

“Roughly half of the funding has been allocated to projects related to SMR site selection and preparation. Constellation SMR Development LLC will receive USD17.3 million to pursue a US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved Early Site Permit (ESP) for a location in New York to support the future deployment of Gen III+ SMRs, while Nebraska Public Power District will receive USD27.9 million to obtain an NRC approved ESP for a location in Nebraska to support the future deployment of Gen III+ SMRs.”

Ford Energy splits from BlueOval SK in Kentucky, restructures EV business.

Source: EV magazine

Ford Motor Company and SK On had a joint venture company they have now dissolved, BlueOval SK. It owned two factories, one in Kentucky and one in Tennessee. Each parent company took one in the settlement. Ford’s is the Kentucky location. The Kentucky plant will be the source of stationary batteries for the new Ford Energy business.

This article discusses details of Ford’s strategy.

Link: EV article - Ford battery plans

A quote:

“Ford’s Broader EV Restructuring

The BlueOval SK dissolution and Kentucky pivot are part of a wider pullback from Ford‘s original EV ambitions.

Late last year, the company announced a $19.5 billion write-down related to its electric vehicle strategy.

By then, Ford said it would restructure its EV business to focus on lower-cost models built on a new Universal EV Platform.”

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Meta, Enbridge to build solar, storage for Wyoming data centers

Source: ESG Dive Newsletter

I have argued whether renewables can be used for data centers. I say yes because solar is used in multi-source grids.

Here is a grid-connected case with solar and batteries installed at the customer site and owned by the customer. The batteries are behind the meter but Cheyenne Light, Fuel, and Power uses them as a dispatchable resource.

Link: Wyoming solar and storage

Quote:

The tariff “[allows] the utility to provide market and renewable energy options to data centers without impact on retail rates,” Enbridge said. “The [baterry energy storage system] capacity is contracted under a long-term, battery tolling agreement with [Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power] under the same LPCS tariff.”

Publicly traded SpaceX suppliers

Source: Grokipedia

With an IPO for SpaceX in the news and stock not yet traded I wondered who else benefits from the success of SpaceX. Here is an article about two suppliers.

Link: Grokipedia

Quote:

“Publicly traded SpaceX suppliers refer to companies listed on major stock exchanges that provide components, services, or related resources to SpaceX, the privately held U.S. aerospace firm known for developing reusable rockets and the Starlink satellite internet constellation, despite SpaceX’s emphasis on vertical integration and its policy of not disclosing a comprehensive supplier list.”

STMicroelectronics, STM

Has co-designed electronic parts with SpaceX.

EchoStar, SATS

EchoStar owns SpaceX stock.

Why you should (almost) always look on the bright side of life.

Source: The Economist

Here is an article about how your mind works and why pessimism about new ventures is our natural state.

Link: Economist - bright side

A quote:

“Loss aversion, a strong behavioural bias against giving up what you already have, means that the scales are already tipped against risk-taking.”

In my 13-minute video I show you the facts that caught my eye as a project development engineer. I then use the PV Watts program to show the pattern of monthly electricity production you can expect.

Photo by Ford

Ford has announced that they expect to lose $4 billion on their EV business in 2026. They are building out factories for new products.

Ford held an earnings call on February 11, 2026. Jim Farley made these points about EVs and the utility battery business.

1. The conversion of the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky from ICE cars to Ford’s Universal Electric Vehicle platform is ongoing. No products are being built yet but that is coming.

2. Ford is entering the electric utility stationary battery business. Tesla, BYD, and Volkswagen are already there. Tesla’s energy division is growing in gross profit. I think Ford noticed.

3. The conversion of the Dearborn truck plant to make the EREV series-hybrid 2027 F150 Lightning pickup is ongoing. The EREV configuration has a battery you can charge through a cord and a gas tank you fill at a gas station. The motor will be sized for towing and heavy loads. With a light load, a full gas tank, and a full battery the range is expected to be 700 miles.

Below is one page from the earnings call transcript.

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One source for information on the status and future of the EV charger market is the quarterly publication “Get Connected” from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. The Alliance is a trade group of car and car parts manufacturers. The members of this group have a strong interest in the status of the EV charger network to support their EV products.

The 27-page Fourth Quarter 2025 issue of Get Connected is available here:

Get Connected, Q4 2025

The section on chargers starts on page 15.

The two types of chargers tracked are DC Fast Charging, and Level 2 Charging.

The cost for charging

This quote mentions cost per kWh. The report cites it sources.

“Cost remains a parallel concern. Multiple analyses find that charging away from home – particularly via DC fast chargers – costs two to three times more per kilowatt-hour than residential charging, with average home rates around $0.17–$0.18/kWh compared with $0.40–$0.50/kWh or higher for public fast charging in many regions. These higher costs are driven by capital expenses, utility demand charges, and limited competition at many charging sites.”

Location of the cars

The locations that are most likely to need chargers are where the cars are. They are concentrated in a few wealthy counties.

How few? 42.

How wealthy and where? The chart below uses a county map with a tower shape for each county. Where the cars are is shown on the map by percent EV ownership as the height of county’s tower, and the income by its color.

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Link to article in PV Magazine Energy Storage

Link to Volkswagen press release

This is not an announcement of future plans or research findings. The construction phase has been completed and the system has been commissioned, meaning it has been tested as ready for operation.

So far the car companies who are in both the battery car business and the commercial stationary battery business include Tesla, BYD, Ford, and Volkswagen. Honda is in the business of solar panels and home batteries.

It may happen that these companies become known as battery companies with vehicle and stationary battery divisions.

In any case, my readers who are project developers should know who they can call to get a manufacturer's application engineers involved in making a proposal to a potential buyer of such a project.

For project developers

• The scope is 20MW and 40 MWh, so this is small by utility standards but large for a commercial building or campus. The batteries would discharge over 2 hours at the 20 MW rate but longer at lower discharge rates. A rate of 10 MW would give 4 hours of electric energy, for example.

• Volkswagen’s battery subsidiary is named PowerCo. This is the name to contact for sales support.

  My writing is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

• Elli is a company with access to wholesale power markets and is providing the power trading service. Link to Elli press release

• No project costs, or financial metrics such as Net Present Value are cited.

• The value of this project is not in energy savings. In fact, a battery is a load while charging and has a Round-Trip Efficiency of 85% to 90%. This battery is a tool for moving electric energy in time and being paid for the service. Batteries are typically charged in the morning when supply is high and wholesale electricity prices are low, and discharged in the afternoon when wholesale prices rise. In a financial analysis the benefits calculation will be centered around the opportunity to buy low and sell high.

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Link to Clean Technica article

Wind-sourced electricity is generated in sparsely-populated areas, many of which are also places were ammonia fertilizer is used.

Ammonia, NH3, can be made using nitrogen from the air and hydrogen, H2, which can be made by the electrolysis of water.

To make ammonia with these inputs you need a processing plant using the Haber process and inputs of electricity and air.

When the electricity input is going to come from variable wind-sourced electricity there are modifications that are made to the processing plant compared to a plant designed with the assumption of a constant input of electricity.

For Project Developers:

• The set of wind turbine and variable energy-ready Haber plants are in use today. This is not an announcement of a laboratory finding.

• Agricultural areas will be the best locations.

• The article does not mention cost of the plant or costs per unit of output.

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Link to article in Energy Connects

Here is a story of a wind farm operator who committed to provide power whether the wind turbines generated it or not. This proved to be inadequate risk management.

By the terms of the Power Purchase Agreement sales contract, the owner was forced to buy electric energy on the spot market, which experienced the price spike in the graph.

The article has details on the Power Purchase Agreement that the parties thought was a win-win business model.

The wind turbines also fell short of the projected quantity of energy available for sale.

My opinion is that wind-sourced electricity is a valuable resource with an input energy that is beyond the war-related price spike of natural gas-sourced that led to financial problems for this wind farm operator. The kinetic energy of the wind has been put to use in windmills and sailing ships for centuries. We now can convert it to electric energy with no need for a fuel supply chain and the points of failure this project encountered when it needed to buy spot market electricity.

I am sure the history of this business venture will be studied for lessons learned. I predict the risks of a shortfall in wind-sourced electricity will be split between the seller and the buyer is a way that puts more risk on the buyer. One party or the other needs to adjust demand and supply until they match.

Here are my suggestions.

The ideal buyer is probably one that can vary its demand and not need either party to procure power on the spot market or provide fossil-fuel generation. Perhaps a pair of buyers could be found where one of them takes the entire role of varying its demand, perhaps a company that makes a seasonal product and stores inventory for later sale.

The ideal seller is perhaps a pair of energy producers, one with fossil-fuel generation and the other with wind farms; perhaps a joint venture for the purpose of selling electricity. The plan for meeting a fixed customer demand by varying the fuel input of the joint venture could cover the issue of wind-sourced electric energy varying with the wind.

Here is the concluding quote from the article.

The location is excellent, said Jakob Norstrom, CEO of Statkraft in Sweden. But when signing a PPA, he struck a note of caution: “It’s important to find the right balance so you don’t promise too much.”

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Link: NRC Press Release on Terrapower

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I have become a skeptic about new nuclear power being a viable business. Part of my skepticism is the track record of slow construction. Another part of my skepticism is the number of licenses an owner must obtain from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. None of the other sources has a regulatory agency devoted to issuing it licenses. A license is needed for the design, the construction, operation, and disposal of the waste.

I have been a team member on projects where the weekly meetings became strategy sessions on how to get a response from the issuers of permits less complicated than nuclear operating licenses. Multiple people billed time to the job for each meeting and no forward progress was made. The project cost went up but there was no corresponding increase in its value.

President Trump and Secretary Wright have said nuclear is part of our energy dominance plan along with clean coal and natural gas.

I was under the impression this TerraPower project was under construction in Kemmerer, Wyoming. I thought I read repeatedly that the projected date for the first kWh was 2030. I have been stating that as fact in my reporting on electric power from new nuclear plants. I have said it was this project and its 2030 date which was the first.

Here are some quotes from the press release that illustrate the scope of licensing time needed. The emphasis is mine.

• “NRC staff finished their technical review of this new design in less than 18 months.”

• “The staff expects to issue the permit soon.”

• “TerraPower filed the application in March 2024, requesting a permit to build the sodium-cooled, advanced reactor design on a site near an existing coal-fired power plant. The NRC staff accepted the application and began formal review in May 2024.”

• “The 345-megawatt electric (MWe) plant includes an energy storage system to temporarily boost output up to 500 MWe when needed. US SFR Owner would need to submit a separate operating license application, and the NRC staff would need to approve it before the facility could operate.”

If President Trump and Secretary Wright can speed up this process the country will be grateful.

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Source: rondo.com

How can a factory in need of steam take advantage of solar energy?

Heinekin and others are using a refractory brick heat-storage system from Rondo Energy.

An article in Facilities Dive explains the technology and contract.

Link to Facilities Dive article

What project developers should know

• Reporting on emissions for ESG rating is at least part of the goal. Scope 1, 2, and 3 are ESG categories. The article’s headline mentions a plan to decarbonize.

• Here is the scope: “As part of the agreement, EDP will install a 7 megawatt-peak solar plant at Heineken’s Central de Cervejas e Bebidas brewery, which will power Rondo’s heat battery. Rondo’s 100 megawatt-hour battery will convert and store the renewable electricity as high-temperature heat and supply continuous zero-carbon steam for Heineken’s production processes.”

• Renewable energy from the grid is part of the energy supply. “The PPA will provide 25 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy annually, permitting the Dutch brewer to maximize the volume of clean energy available to it, according to EDP.”

• The schedule is to have the system running by April 2027.

• No budget is mentioned, and no simple payback period or other financial metric.

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Click here to read the full article in PV Magazine

This Battery Energy Strorage System (BESS) is in the category Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES).

Here is a quote:

“While lithium-ion batteries are effective for 4-hour shifts, they cannot handle the multi-day storage. Form Energy said its iron-air batteries can store renewables-sourced electricity for 100 hours at system costs competitive with conventional power plants.”

Project developers should know these facts.

• The manufacturer is Form Energy, formenergy.com

• Form Energy is a young company with little track record. I consider them to be in the start-up phase, with the risks that come with new companies and new technologies. Investors, however, are companies with deep pockets.

• Iron-air batteries are less energy dense than lithium ion batteries.

• Iron-air batteries have lower Round-Trip Efficiency. Often in the range of 40% to 60%. The pro forma financial calculations will be far different from those for lithium ion at RTE of 85% to 90%.

• I see only fuel-cost-free solar and wind energy as candidates for the source energy. Wasting energy with a zero marginal cost of kWh energy and kW demand means the energy input cost row is zero in the financial case of using batteries. In the base case of buying energy from the utility the cost of kWh and kW demand will come from a rate tariff or negotiated contract.

• Iron-air batteries are non-flammable.

• Form Energy’s product is designed for 100-hour storage.

• This article does not quote a cost.

• The factory is in the US, in West Virginia. A financial pro forma should include the Domestic Content bonus provided in the Inflation Reduction Act.

• The article does not state the owner but the PPA contract implies it will be Xcel Energy, the local utility company.

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Click here for the ASHRAE Position Document pdf

I am a member of ASHRAE, the professional society for air conditioning engineers. A Life Member actually, a designation you get if you hang around for 30 years.

Carbon dioxide concentration is inexpensive to measure and modern electronic control systems in buildings routinely have carbon dioxide sensors, with the ppm of carbon dioxide used as an input signal to determine the rate of outside air introduced.

In practice, I have typically seen the controls set to some set point value in the range of about 700 ppm to 1000 ppm. Outdoor air dampers are commanded to open when the carbon dioxide level exceeds the set point.

But why was this level chosen?

The link below takes you to a position document approved by the ASHRAE Board of Directors. This position paper is updated on a schedule as new information is discovered. The history of the use of CO2 concentrations in control systems is discussed in Appendix A. The conclusions of a number of studies are compared.

Here is a quote describing the issues discussed in the rest of the paper:

“While these topics have been studied for decades, incorrect application and misinterpretation of CO2 concentration as an indicator of IAQ and ventilation is common in the HVAC industry, research community, and the public. Despite many efforts to address these concerns in standards, guidance documents, technical publications, and conference presentations, significant misunderstanding of the application and meaning of indoor CO2 remains.”

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Image Source: Grok

I was in the commenting section on a blog and I was challenged on several points of my view of energy, one point at a time. I wrote out this response. It includes some of my personal history starting with the oil embargo of 1973.

I wrote:

Here is my view of things.
- I was on the receiving end of an embargo in 1973. It hurt me personally. I was a healthy college student. There were vulnerable people who were hurt worse.
- We all in the US are now on the receiving end of an embargo of rare earths. It hurts. We are trying to be independent in rare earths. I see a direct analogy to being independent of energy suppliers. The sun and wind have no suppliers who can cause us a shortage.
- Depending on suppliers makes you dependent. You give up freedom. Their actual shortages are your shortages. Their imposed shortages on you are your shortages.
- There are things you can do to mitigate the damage.
- I think we should do them.
- When it comes to energy, I have been doing calculations on solar photovoltaics every once in while for over 30 years. Rarely would a customer say the package of hard savings and soft benefits were worthwhile. The prices changed but the decision was always the same. I agreed - in fact that was my advice, just buy electricity from the utility company and buy a diesel backup generator for outages. The return on your investment is below your hurdle rate so far that it would be irresponsible to invest that way as a financial decision.
- One day in 2017, about 10 years ago, I was working in my company's Salt Lake City office and someone who was watching the wholesale price of electricity saw it go negative. He said, "Hey California is paying us to take their electricity!" Wow. My world changed. Energy was now abundant, not scarce. The Energy Crisis was over. It started in the 1970s and ended in the 2010s, about 40 years later. Fuel-cost-free solar power pushed the price negative. Fuel-fed power plants have never done that.
- One day in 2025 at my house in Houston I accepted the offer of a door-to-door solar salesman to calculate a preliminary pro forma financial analysis. I got my utility bills, he ran them through his program, and I found I could break even. My roof was competitive with the entire ERCOT grid. Wow. That meant we were at a turning point. It was possible for me to be a competitor to the utility company. I did not buy any solar panels. My bills are low with Texas' below-average rates and I think 8 years is the upper limit for me to stay in this house.
- I am in touch with a man younger than me whose house is about 20 miles from mine, in ERCOT, who has solar panels on his roof, a battery in his garage, a bigger battery in his car, a contract with a Retail Electricity Provider to buy his excess kWh and a contract with a Virtual Power Plant to buy kW from him at their request. It is all automated but it was a lot of work to get the controls from different manufacturers to communicate with one another. He spent about $40,000 on the solar panels and garage battery. He can afford it, he paid cash, and he sees it as buying several years worth of electricity in advance. He leased the car when it was time to move on from his oldest car. He has not paid a utility bill in over a year since he got this all set up. His motivation is in soft benefits. It was for outage protection after the 2021 freeze and multi-day outage. His neighbors bought gas generators for probably $15,000 and they just sit there earning nothing.
- Solar and wind power are fuel savers that do their thing in generating electricity when the input energy of sunshine and wind are available. They are not dispatchable for use at peak demand, but in places like Texas where the peak demand is on summer afternoons they help in the multi-source solution to meeting the aggregate load.
- A grid needs dispatchable resources; usually natural gas is used. ERCOT does that.
- The biggest energy source in ERCOT, summing up over time, is natural gas. Second is wind. Third and fourth are pretty much a tie between coal and solar. Nuclear is last. This works day after day, for 20 years now.
- ERCOT has five main sources where not too many years ago it had only three. Batteries are dispatchable sources where the energy source is the other sources, but at a different time. They are the sixth source used at peak times. Deep-well geothermal for electricity generation may become the seventh. The character of the grid is changing.
- I watch the ERCOT.com dashboard showing the fuel mix. Can large loads like steel mills be run on solar and wind? Well if they can be run on electricity we often have 20 GW or more of solar and wind power at the same high transmission voltages as every other source. For perspective, the Vogtle nuclear plants in Georgia are 1 GW each. Every day we run Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and lots of smaller towns on one-third to two-thirds solar and wind power. My judgement is that large loads are being served now. If steel mills work better on coke, coal, or natural gas they should keep doing it.
- I don't say a grid can be run completely on solar and wind. But that day is coming, at least in certain places. In both the UAE and Saudi Arabia they are building 1 GW power plants with solar as the only energy source. They have a lot of sunshine. Why let it go to waste? The setup is roughly 1 GW of solar panels, the nameplate rating standard in the industry, and 19 GWh of battery capacity. The design is to provide 1 GW constantly, 24/7/365. The cost is $6 per watt, competitive with the cost of other new power plants. I am watching to see if it works.
- Nuclear is great, safe, and produces large quantities of power for a small amount of fuel. The footprint is smaller than solar panels, but also off limits for any concurrent use. I am using 10% nuclear power at my house right now. I am not complaining. The nuclear people are saying Small Nuclear Reactors will be ready in the 2030s. The fusion people say the 2040s. People are building $80 billion in new construction nuclear plants using the Westinghouse design already in service many places. This is a result of an Executive Order. These people are just getting started on new plants of old, proven design. I haven't seen that they have stuck their necks out and predicted a date for their first kWh. Grid operators will blend in their energy when it comes to pass they can produce it. Go ahead, nuclear people. Build some plants and I will be your customer.

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https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-largest-loan-department-history-delivering-over-7-billion

I don’t see how $300 million per year in interest savings on Southern Comany’s books translates to $7 billion savings for consumers, but I guess that is the nature of press releases.

I can calculate a rule of thumb. The $26.5 billion gets us 16 GW of new capacity. That works out to $1.65 billion per GW, or $1656 per MW. My old rule of thumb was $1000 per MW for new generation.

The list looks mostly like routine replacement of capital equipment that will provide no new capacity. Hopefully Southern Company already had a plan for replacement of equipment as it reaches the end of its useful life.

Secretary Wright always emphasizes that a grid’s primary function in his mind is to meet the peak load. He speaks derisively of solar and wind sources of electricity, which save fuel which is needed during times of peak generation if they happen to occur when photons are not available for photovoltaics or wind kinetic energy is not available.

On many summer days photovoltaics produces electricity at the peak in the afternoon. On many winter nights wind energy produces at the peak during the night. In Texas, we credit solar-sourced electricity as the key to getting through the summer of 2025 with no emergencies.

Secretary Wright’s position for electricity emphasizes sources that are dependent on fuel. His position on oil and gas production emphasizes we export it. Many of us who lived through the embargo of 1973 when the US was a buyer of oil think saving fuel is good for national security and serves American citizens well.

It appears to me that battery storage is now been grouped as “firm reliable power” even if solar and wind are left out.

Here is a quote from the press release.

“The two loans will build or upgrade over 16 gigawatts (GW) of firm reliable power to the electrical grid. This includes 5 GW of new gas generation, 6 GW in nuclear improved through uprates and license renewals, hydropower modernization, battery energy storage systems and over 1,300 miles of transmission and grid enhancement projects.

These loans represent the largest government investment aimed at directly lowering consumer energy costs and increasing grid reliability. Once all funds are received through the program, the loans are estimated to reduce Southern Company’s interest expenses by over $300 million per year, helping expedite lower electricity costs for customers.”

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Here are the top 10 importing countries. But who are the manufacturers? TradeImeX has the answer. See below for the summary graph. See the article for details.

Source: https://www.tradeimex.in/

https://www.tradeimex.in/blogs/global-solar-panel-import-data-2024-25-top-importers-by-country

The top manufacturers are:

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Source: The Economist, February 26, 2026

https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2026/02/26/donald-trumps-oil-embargo-reveals-a-solar-boom-in-cuba

Here is a quote from the article:

Yet things are not as bad as they might be, and not only because the island meets 40% of its fuel needs with its own heavy, sulphurous crude. Mr Trump is obsessed with oil, bu…

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Image: Grok

Today I was discussing energy sources with a correspondent on X. What started the conversation was a government report which mentioned batteries as a generator.

Not too long ago we had three main sources in Texas. Now we have five. None of them are interchangeable and they all are useful tools for grid operators.

They work together nicely as…

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