But in the U.S., the end of federal EV tax credits has taken its toll, Rhodium Group’s latest Clean Investment Monitor shows. EV investments, which include retail sales, plummeted in the last three months of 2025 after the incentives expired, and stayed flat through the first quarter of 2026.
Batteries are solving renewables’ fundamental flaw
The U.S. keeps building more batteries — and they’ve never been more important.
The country installed 9.7 gigawatt-hours of battery storage in the first three months of 2026, according to a report out Thursday from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. That’s a record for the first quarter of the year, and progress isn’t slowing down. Analysts expect that by 2030, the U.S. will be installing 110 GWh of batteries every year.
Another fresh report from the International Renewable Energy Agency reveals just how valuable these electricity storage systems have become. As you’ve no doubt heard, wind and solar have a fundamental flaw: They can’t produce power all the time. That’s long held them back from being a 24/7 source of power, but as Canary Media’s Julian Spector reports, batteries are solving that intermittency issue by storing power for when the sun isn’t shining and wind isn’t blowing. Even better? They’re doing so at a cost that’s competitive with, and in many cases lower than, new gas power plants.
Clean energy news to know this week
Coal order in the court: The Trump administration argues to a panel of federal judges that it has unilateral authority to declare an “energy emergency” and force retiring coal plants to stay open, a claim the state of Michigan and environmentalists are fighting. (Inside Climate News)
Solar struggle: A Vermont town’s fight against a solar farm is just one example of how the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals are butting up against concerns about losing its rural character. (Canary Media)
Building clean: A new American Clean Power Association report expects the U.S. clean energy manufacturing industry will include more than 950 factories supporting 374,000 jobs by 2030, up from 825 plants and 215,000 jobs today. (report)
Solar’s gigascale future: The world’s biggest solar projects are now being measured in gigawatts rather than megawatts, showing how the shrinking price of panels is enabling development that would’ve sounded inconceivable just a few years ago. (Canary Media)
Air grievances: California’s top air regulator wants to overhaul the state’s cap-and-invest program, but lawmakers and environmentalists say the proposed changes would put state decarbonization goals out of reach. (Canary Media)
Home green home: Berkeley, California, implements a rule that leverages real estate transactions to reduce carbon emissions by requiring home sellers and buyers to replace natural gas appliances with electric ones as a condition of sale. (Bloomberg)
Winds of change: Two Massachusetts port cities that were counting on the expected offshore wind boom for an economic boost are now struggling to change course as the industry falters. (CommonWealth Beacon)
{
if ($event.target.classList.contains(‘hs-richtext’)) {
if ($event.target.textContent === ‘+ more options’) {
$event.target.remove();
open = true;
}
}
}”
>
