2,600+ GW
of clean power projects in US interconnection queues
20%
of US electricity from nuclear, the largest clean baseload source
projected grid storage capacity growth by 2030
$10T+
energy transition investment by 2050 (BloombergNEF)
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FERC Docket EL26-39-000, May 21 2026 Commission meeting summary solarinterconnection

FERC affirms PJM at-risk readiness deposits, denies solar developer withdrawal complaint

FERC on May 21 denied a complaint by Gaston Green Acres Solar and Bethel NC Hwy 11 Solar against PJM Interconnection, leaving in place the at-risk Readiness Deposit framework that holds Transition Cycle No. 1 developers to their cost allocations even when network upgrade costs jump materially between Phase III and the final retool study. The ruling is a procedural denial but a substantive signal: late-stage queue economics are now harder to walk away from, which raises the bar on developer cost discipline and reduces cost-shift risk for the projects that remain in the cycle.

Energy-Storage.News (May 20 2026) storagesecond-life

Second-life BESS finds a FEOC workaround as Moment Energy lands a UL-certified BMS

Moment Energy announced on May 19 that its battery management system for second-life energy storage has been awarded UL functional safety certification, with Energy-Storage.News reporting it as a world first for a repurposed-cell BMS. The company is staking the claim that cells already in the United States, harvested from retired EV packs, escape the prohibited-foreign-entity sourcing rules that took effect this year under IRS Notice 2026-15. Second-life is not a primary supply lane for grid storage, but the FEOC compliance crunch keeps narrowing the lithium options that pencil for IRA tax credits, and this is the first formal regulatory bridge under the new rules.

Utility Dive / Fortune / ANS nuclearai-demand

NextEra to acquire Dominion in $67B all-stock deal, creating second-largest US nuclear operator

NextEra Energy announced on May 18 an all-stock acquisition of Dominion Energy at roughly $67 billion, a 23% premium to Dominion's market cap. The combined company would be the largest US regulated electric utility by customer count (~10 million), the second-largest US nuclear operator, and would consolidate the dominant generation footprint behind Northern Virginia's data center load. Boards have approved; closing requires FERC, NRC, and three state PUCs, with management guiding 12 to 18 months.

Autonocion (May 2026) critical-mineralslithium

Independent lab finds hexavalent chromium and arsenic in discharge from Tesla's Texas lithium refinery

A 24-hour water sample commissioned by a Nueces County drainage district detected hexavalent chromium, arsenic, strontium, vanadium, and ammonia in discharge from Tesla's $1 billion Robstown lithium refinery. The substances were not in Tesla's TCEQ permit and were not tested for in the state's February 2026 investigation. The refinery is the most visible US-domiciled lithium hydroxide processing facility and a key node in the domestic critical-minerals supply chain.

Energy-Storage.News (May 13 2026) storagelong-duration

Hydrostor's Quinte A-CAES enters Ontario long-duration procurement, the third non-lithium long-duration capital event in eight days

Hydrostor unveiled the Quinte Energy Storage Centre on May 13: a 500 MW / 8,000 MWh adiabatic compressed-air project in Greater Napanee, Ontario, sited next to OPG's Lennox Generating Station, with the first 4 GWh phase targeted at the IESO's long lead-time RFP and a 40-year contract structure. The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte are an equity partner. This is the third institutional capital event landing on the non-lithium long-duration storage risk vector in eight days, after Alsym + Juniper (May 12) and Eos + Cerberus Frontier Power USA (May 13). The framework reweight from the May 17 weekly digest is now load-bearing on three data points, not two.

Sigma Lithium Q1 2026 results (press release + earnings call, May 15 2026) earningsbrazil

Sigma Lithium Q1: Brazilian hard-rock concentrate prints the fourth cost frame in the rebalance

Sigma Lithium reported Q1 2026 results pre-market on May 15. Revenue $42M (up 150% quarter-on-quarter), 61% gross margin, 39% EBITDA margin, 26% net margin on 23,000 tonnes of 5% Li2O concentrate. Realized price US$1,790/t SC5 (US$2,150/t SC6 equivalent), up from US$630/t in Q3 2025. Disclosed all-in sustaining cost stack: $710/t Phase 1, $620/t Phases 1-2, $610/t Phases 1-3. Phase 2 (520kt) and Phase 3 (770kt) capacity targets held at year-end 2027. With ALB, Ganfeng, and LAR already on the page, SGML adds Brazilian hard-rock concentrate as the fourth distinct cost frame inside the same rebalance signature.

Analysis

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Rows of utility-scale lithium-ion battery storage containers at a US grid site (file photo)
storagebatteries

US battery storage hit a record 9.7 GWh in Q1 2026, with 71% of utility-scale capacity going up in red states

SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reported Q1 2026 US energy storage installations at 9.7 GWh, the strongest first quarter on record and a 32% year-over-year gain. Utility-scale accounted for 7.8 GWh of that. Texas, Arizona, and California led; together with the next handful of conservative-leaning states they hold 71% of utility-scale installs, even as federal policy uncertainty grows.

Nuclear power plant cooling towers (file photo)
thesisnuclear

Nuclear's comeback is real. The timeline isn't what the headlines say.

AI power demand, Palisades proving brownfield economics, and the NRC advancing multiple advanced-reactor permits have made nuclear the most-discussed energy story of 2025. The tailwinds are real. But new-build timelines run 8–15 years, SMRs won't move the needle before 2032, and the near-term investment thesis is brownfield restart and power uprates, not greenfield.

Battery storage containers at a US utility-scale site (file photo)
weekly-digestrebalance

Weekly digest, May 11–17, 2026

Three more operator prints completed the four-leg rebalance cross-confirmation (LAR, SGML, plus the bilateral read on Ganfeng); Lithium Americas put Thacker Pass capex on the guide line with an open $80–120M tariff bill disclosed; two named-risk events showed up in the same week (Alsym + Juniper 500 MWh sodium-ion procurement, Eos + Cerberus Frontier Power USA zinc-bromide IPP). The thesis frame holds. Risk #4 (alt-storage capturing grid share) gets re-weighted from named-but-unfunded to named-and-partially-funded.

Frequently asked

Why not just read general energy news?

Because generalist coverage buries the supply-chain and policy texture. A permitting decision on a transmission project, a DOE loan commitment to a lithium refinery, an NRC licensing milestone for an SMR, a FERC rulemaking on interconnection reform: these move capital in ways that earnings coverage misses. Clean Power Press is built for the people who track those signals.

Is this for traders or long-horizon investors?

Long-horizon. The thesis is a multi-decade buildout. The daily briefs work for tactical positioning, but the analytical frame is structural: supply-chain, policy, project-pipeline. If you're trading micro-moves on spot prices, this isn't your tool.

What verticals do you cover and how do they connect?

Energy storage and lithium, solar, nuclear and SMRs, grid and transmission, and critical minerals. Climate policy is the connective tissue. The verticals are separate editorial frames but they share a common insight: the bottleneck on every one of them is permitting, supply-chain concentration, and policy implementation, not the underlying technology.

What's your stance on climate change?

Climate change is established science. We don't give false balance to fossil-fuel-industry framing on the science. Our editorial stance is climate-forward: the clean energy transition is necessary, urgent, and one of the most consequential investment stories of the next several decades. That's not advocacy. We report facts, cover setbacks as well as progress, and don't oversell the pace of transition.

What's your analytical frame across verticals?

Track marginal, watch policy, ignore most price noise. The marginal capex dollar, the marginal project entering permitting, the marginal regulatory decision: these are where the structural story moves. Average inventory levels, spot price tapes, and quarterly headlines follow later and with lower signal value.

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