Georgia Power broke ground on a massive 260 MW/1 GWh battery energy storage system near Wadley

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

• Georgia Power Builds 1 GWh Battery Near Solar Site: The Southern Company subsidiary began construction on a 260 MW/1 GWh battery energy storage system co-located with an existing solar facility in Wadley, Georgia, with completion targeted for 2027. Read More: PV Magazine USA.
• San Francisco Area Gets Nation's Largest Urban Battery: A major battery storage project is moving forward at the historic Cow Palace site near San Francisco, positioning Northern California as a proving ground for urban-sited grid infrastructure. Read More: Canary Media.
• Reno Approves 200 MW Battery Storage Project: The Reno Planning Commission granted a conditional-use permit for the Trego Grid BESS project, advancing Nevada's push to pair storage with its growing renewable generation fleet. Read More: Energy Storage News.
• Trump Budget Takes Aim at Federal Climate Programs: The administration's latest budget proposal targets climate spending, though analysis suggests several key clean energy provisions — including elements of the Inflation Reduction Act — may survive congressional negotiations. Read More: New York Times.
• Western States Merge Cap-and-Trade as New York Stalls: California and Washington are unifying their carbon trading programs into a single regional market, while New York's cap-and-invest initiative remains stalled over affordability concerns. Read More: Ohio Capital Journal.

Solar & Storage

Battery storage had a banner week, and Friday's news only added to the momentum. Georgia Power's groundbreaking on a near Wadley, Georgia, is notable not just for its scale but for its design: the project is co-located with an existing solar facility, reflecting an industry-wide shift toward integrated solar-plus-storage deployments that maximize grid value. Burns & McDonnell is serving as contractor, and the Georgia Public Service Commission previously signed off on the build. Completion is expected in 2027, which would make it one of the largest operating storage assets in the Southeast. Read More: 260 MW/1 GWh battery energy storage system.

This is a follow-up to news first reported earlier this week, but the project's significance bears emphasizing. Georgia Power parent Southern Company has historically leaned heavily on gas and nuclear generation. The Wadley battery represents a concrete bet that storage will play a central role in managing peak demand and integrating variable renewable output across the utility's service territory — a signal that even traditionally conservative Southern utilities see the economics shifting.

Out West, the storage buildout is advancing on two fronts. In Nevada, the of a conditional-use permit for the 200 MW Trego Grid BESS project clears a critical permitting hurdle. Nevada has become a magnet for battery storage as the state races to support growing renewable generation capacity — including massive utility-scale solar farms in the desert — with dispatchable storage resources. The permitting approval, granted in early March but confirmed this week, positions the project for construction to begin later this year. Read More: Reno Planning Commission's approval.

Meanwhile, near San Francisco, what is being billed as the is taking shape at the Cow Palace site. The project is a test case for whether large-scale energy storage can be sited in dense metropolitan areas — a question that will increasingly define the clean energy transition as utilities seek to place storage closer to the load centers where it is most needed. Northern California's grid has struggled with reliability during extreme heat events, and urban-sited batteries could reduce transmission bottlenecks that have plagued the region. Read More: nation's largest urban battery.

Taken together, this week's storage news — including Michigan's approval of 1.3 GW in battery projects earlier this week — suggests that grid-scale energy storage deployment is entering a new phase of acceleration, driven by utility procurement mandates, declining battery costs, and the practical demands of integrating ever-larger volumes of solar generation.

Wind Energy

Wind energy news was quieter on the domestic front Friday, though internationally, Canadian developer Innergex commissioned a. The modest project is a reminder that while U.S. headlines are dominated by gigawatt-scale solar and storage announcements, small and mid-scale wind development continues steadily abroad. Domestically, the wind sector remains in a holding pattern as developers await clarity on permitting timelines and federal tax credit stability under the Trump administration's evolving budget proposals. Read More: 13.2 MW wind project at La Cense.

One infrastructure development with significant implications for wind and other renewables: the into the Western Interconnection, effective April 1. SPP's enlarged service territory now spans a broader swath of the central and western United States, which could streamline transmission planning and interconnection processes for wind farms across the Great Plains and Mountain West — regions with some of the best wind resources on the continent. Grid operators have long argued that larger balancing areas improve reliability and lower costs for integrating variable renewables, and SPP's westward push is the most concrete example yet of that theory being put into practice. Read More: Southwest Power Pool's expansion.

Policy & Markets

The Trump administration's budget proposal is dominating the policy conversation in Washington. According to , the White House is targeting a range of climate programs for cuts or elimination, though several key provisions — including IRA tax credits that have driven private investment into red and blue states alike — appear likely to survive the congressional appropriations process. The political durability of those credits, which have funneled billions into manufacturing and deployment in Republican districts, has created an unusual dynamic in which some GOP lawmakers are quietly working to preserve incentives the administration publicly opposes. Read More: the New York Times.

The federal picture stands in sharp contrast to the state-level action unfolding across the country. California and Washington are into a unified carbon market — a move that will create the largest sub-national emissions trading system in North America. The merger is expected to deepen market liquidity and lower compliance costs for covered entities. But the optimism on the West Coast is tempered by frustration in New York, where Governor Hochul's cap-and-invest proposal remains stalled amid concerns that carbon pricing could raise energy costs for consumers already strained by inflation. Read More: merging their cap-and-trade programs.

In other state capitals, the action is equally intense. Maryland's legislature is competing versions of the Utility RELIEF Act, with the Senate adding substantive amendments — including Republican-backed provisions — that diverge from the House version. With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, the bill's fate is uncertain. In California, the legislature's approval of creates a new framework for managing the state's aging gas pipeline infrastructure while attempting to lower utility bills — a delicate balancing act as the state pushes building electrification. Read More: struggling to reconcile, SB 1221.

Two other policy developments are worth tracking. The EPA's decision to and waive certain clean air regulations is the Trump administration's latest response to elevated gas prices — a move that benefits corn-state Republicans but has drawn criticism from environmental groups concerned about air quality impacts. And in , Utah has enacted legislation shielding oil companies from climate liability lawsuits, with Republicans developing a nationwide version. That effort could reshape the legal landscape for climate litigation that dozens of cities and states have pursued. Read More: raise the ethanol blend in gasoline to 15%, a significant development for the fossil fuel industry.

On the utility front, a new report from found that Florida Power & Light's profit margins rank among the highest of any utility nationally, fueling scrutiny of the company's rate structure at a time when Florida ratepayers are already contending with rising electricity bills and increasing hurricane-related costs. The findings could intensify pressure on the Florida Public Service Commission, which sets FPL's allowed rate of return. Read More: Inside Climate News.

LOOKING AHEAD

• Maryland Energy Bill Deadline Looms: The state legislature has fewer than two weeks to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the Utility RELIEF Act, with significant policy differences still unresolved — watch for a potential conference committee or last-minute deal.
• Trump Budget Hits Congress: Congressional appropriators will begin marking up the administration's budget proposal in coming weeks, and the fate of IRA clean energy tax credits will be the single most consequential question for the industry's near-term trajectory.
• Western Cap-and-Trade Merger Details Expected: California and Washington regulators are expected to release implementation timelines and market rules for their unified carbon trading system, which could set the template for other states considering regional climate cooperation.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Grid-scale battery storage is rapidly becoming the backbone of America's clean energy buildout — with gigawatt-hour projects now breaking ground from Georgia to Nevada — even as federal policy uncertainty forces the industry to rely on state-level momentum and private capital to maintain its trajectory.