House Republicans introduce bill to extend renewables tax credits
Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives are trying to restore tax credits for wind, solar and other clean energy technologies that were curtailed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
The American Energy Dominance Act, introduced last week, would remove the accelerated deadlines that the OBBBA placed on the renewable energy production and investment tax credits.
Under current law, key renewable energy incentives are scheduled to expire on June 30th of this year. The proposed legislation would "fully restore" many of these credits eliminating the scheduled expiration.
Political observers note that this bill is unlikely to gain support under this Congress; however, if the Democrats take the House and/or the Senate later this year,it is anticipated that clean energy tax credits would be restored. Democratic lawmakers introduced a similar bill in March.
PJM opens interconnection queue after 4 years on hold
Grid operator PJM has reopened its standard interconnection process to new generation projects, after closing the queue to new applicants in 2022. During the past four years the regulator has cleared its application backlog and is now ready to begin looking at new project proposals.
PJM Interconnection, serving the grid region that stretches from Chicago to New Jersey, reported that 811 projects have applied for interconnection studies under its newly reopened standard interconnection process.
Critics argue the new rules favor natural gas in its interconnection and planning processes. Last year PJM selected 51 projects for expedited, "fast-track" approval to address potential supply shortfalls, with 69 percent of that capacity coming from natural gas-fired generation.
As a result, natural gas projects dominate PJM's new interconnection queue, at 106 GW of capacity. Battery storage is next at 67 GW, then nuclear at 17 GW. Solar generation comes in fourth at 15 GW, solar-plus-storage at 9 GW, and wind at 5 GW.
PJM, whose new process uses a first-ready, first-served approach, is now validating which projects have made up-front financial commitments and demonstrated site control, qualifying them to move forward.
Based on historical data, only around 20 percent of the projects in the PJM interconnection queue will actually reach commercial operation.
Trump DOE proposes 52 percent budget cut for National Laboratory of the Rockies
Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) changed the name of the National Renewable Energy Lab (or NREL) to the National Laboratory of the Rockies - seeking to signal a shift away from research into renewable energy. Now it has issued a fiscal year 2027 budget that seeks to slash $264 million or a 52 percent funding cut, from the nation's leading energy research center.
The National Laboratory of the Rockies is not the only target in the crosshairs. The DOE also proposed a 20 percent reduction for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, alongside similar cuts for the Oak Ridge and Argonne facilities. These labs are leading the research and development of the next generation of long-duration energy storage (LDES) and high-efficiency cell architectures that the domestic manufacturing sector relies upon to compete globally.
While cutting budgets for renewable energy, the department proposed nearly $1.94 billion in fresh support for the coal, oil, and gas industries.
Clean power captures 91 percent of new U.S. grid capacity as 2025 installations
The U.S. clean energy sector set a blistering pace in 2025, with utility-scale solar, wind, and energy storage accounting for 91 percent of all new power capacity added to the domestic grid, according to the American Clean Power Association (ACP) 2025 Annual Market Report.
The report further states that these renewable energy projects serve as a significant revenue gain for rural America, generating approximately $3 billion annually in state and local tax revenue as well as $3.2 billion in land lease payments.
Employment figures released in the report show that the sector is also a significant driver of the domestic labor market. In 2025, the clean power industry directly employed more than 437,000 Americans. When accounting for the broader economic activity surrounding project development and supply chains, the industry supports more than 1.4 million jobs nationwide.
And the success of renewable energy appears to be continuing, despite policy headwinds coming from Washington DC. New data from S&P Global Market Intelligence indicates that Solar, Wind and Storage will account for approximately 93 percent of all new power capacity that will be added to the grid in 2026.
Utility-scale solar remains the largest driver of new capacity, with 43.4 GW planned for 2026, a 60 percent increase over 2025 installations.
Natural gas accounts for the other 7 percent of new generation - but net natural gas generation will actually be flat, when factoring in older gas plants that will be retired this year.
Solar perovskites finally hitting mass production
Perovskite-silicon solar technology company Tandem PV has begun demonstration manufacturing in Fremont, California. In a 65,000-sq ft facility, Tandem PV is producing tandem perovskite-silicon solar panels. The line can accommodate up to 40 MW of annual capacity.
Tandem PV's proprietary technology combines a thin perovskite light-absorbing layer with a conventional silicon solar cell. By capturing more of the solar spectrum than silicon alone, tandem panels generate more electricity from the same footprint.
There's a theoretical limit to how efficient real-world silicon solar panels can be at converting sunlight to electricity, and that's just under 30 percent. For tandem panels with perovskites, the theoretical limit is much higher, closer to 45 percent
The race to actually bring perovskites to market has accelerated in recent years, pursued by companies such as Oxford PV, Swift Solar, and others. So far, startups have publicized stunning efficiency records in the laboratory that have not made their way into commercial products.
The commercial development of perovskite panels has been hampered by concerns that the panels are not robust enough to handle the harsh environments they would be subject to in real world installations.
Tandem PV claims that these concerns have been addressed by recent R&D progress. Their latest-generation high-efficiency panels show less than 1 percent average annual power loss, about a tenfold improvement versus the company's results from just a year ago. Tandem PV is targeting 25+ year performance consistent with industry standards and warranty requirements for utility-scale solar projects.