Solar News This Week - November 8, 2026

Rooftop solar and batteries could save the grid $614 billion

The power industry is spending billions building new plants and power lines for surging demand. But a new analysis from The Brattle Group, notes that a big share of that spending could be avoided by using resources already sitting at customers' homes and businesses.

Removing regulatory and market barriers could more than quadruple distributed energy — rooftop solar, batteries, and flexible demand — effectively adding more than 400 gigawatts to the grid by 2050. That could displace about 70 gigawatts of planned natural gas plants, roughly 175 of them, and eliminate the need for about 105 gigawatts of utility-scale storage.

This would save approximately $614 billion in power system costs through 2050, and about $122 a year off the average household electric bill according to the study.

Three reforms alone account for about 43 percent of the savings. These include,: folding distributed resources into utility planning, cutting local permitting costs, and streamlining the interconnection process.

Relying more on distributed resources could also serve as a hedge against the risks of an AI bubble. If the data-center demand boom falls short of forecasts, utilities could be stuck paying for plants nobody needs. The report says distributed resources could cut the cost of that overbuild by $33 billion.

It's nearly unanimous - Voters said no to data centers

On Nov 3, Americans voted overwhelmingly to restrict data centers in their communities. As of last Friday, 44 ballot measures to limit data center construction had passed, with two more leading but not yet called. Only one, in North Dakota, went down to defeat.

In Ohio alone, 21 municipalities put the question to voters, from outright bans to moratoriums and voter-approval requirements. And in all cases, voters determined to put the brakes on the data center buildout.

An NBC exit poll found 56 percent of voters said AI and data centers were a crucial or major factor in their vote for Congress. A UMass Amherst poll this year found only 11 percent of those responding would support an AI data center in their community.

Is the solar tax credit coming back?

Even before the midterm results, investors were hearing that the solar tax credit or ITC was still on the minds of politicians in Washington. It was rumored that Republicans were open to extending the ITC and the 45X manufacturing credit — backtracking away from some of the restrictive anti-renewable energy measures enacted just last year.

And the election may now make that a reality. Since the One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law last July, at least seven bills have been filed to bring back some or all of the Inflation Reduction Act's solar credits. None has had a committee hearing, and all of them expire when this Congress ends on January 3rd — so anything that might result in change would have to be refiled next year.

One proposed bill would simply restore the old phaseout. Another would go further, dropping the foreign-entity rules and bringing back grant money. A Republican-submitted bill would restore the credits without the EV and manufacturing pieces. And yet another would tie the credits to rising electricity prices or load demand, extending credits until at least 2032.

Power lines along the highways — six states say yes

There's a lot of open land along America's highways and rail lines — 48,000 miles of interstate and 140,000 miles of freight rail. And there is a growing push arguing that it is along those systems where new electric transmission should be located.

Underground high-voltage lines along those existing rights of way could help meet a projected need for 47,000 more gigawatt-miles of transmission by 2035, according to an Energy Department study.

The advocacy group NextGen Highways reports six states have passed laws allowing transmission along highways. But only Wisconsin has built any so far, with 28 new lines totaling more than 200 miles. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa are contiguous, so lines there could one day cross all three states.

Walmart is now selling home batteries

Texas-based Base Power has struck a deal with Walmart to bring its home battery offerings to stores across the country, starting this November. Customers who enroll get 20 percent off the standard installation fee.

The pitch is simple: affordable electricity when the grid is working, and dependable backup when it isn't. The rollout starts in Texas, Base's home market, where it already serves more than 35,000 customers with over 20,000 home batteries installed within that state.

Base Power's model is a battery subscription: the company installs, owns, and maintains a large home battery and the homeowner pays a modest upfront installation fee plus a monthly lease of roughly $19 to $29. Base also becomes the home's retail electricity provider, making its money by aggregating thousands of home batteries and discharging them into the grid when wholesale prices spike.

The new deal comes in part as a response to the growing demand for plug-in, balcony, and residential solar in the U.S. As utility rates continue to spike around the country, consumers are looking for potential savings through a variety of low-cost means.