TODAY'S LEAD: TotalEnergies has abandoned two U.S. wind farm projects in a billion-dollar retreat that raises pointed national security questions, even as federal permitting uncertainty continues to cloud the solar build-out despite a court victory for developers just days ago. The French energy giant's pullback signals that policy headwinds under the Trump administration are reshaping multinational investment calculus for American renewables.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

TotalEnergies Drops Two U.S. Wind Farms: The French oil major scrapped plans for two American wind projects worth roughly $1 billion, raising national security concerns about foreign companies retreating from U.S. clean energy infrastructure. CleanTechnica
Plus Power Signs 800MWh Alabama Battery Deal: Plus Power secured a 20-year energy storage agreement with TVA for a 200MW/800MWh battery system in Alabama, marking another major grid-scale storage win in the Southeast. Energy Storage News
Federal Permitting Delays Threaten Solar Pipeline: Despite this week's court injunction against the Interior Department's permitting freeze, systemic uncertainty continues to raise costs and slow utility-scale solar deployment nationwide. PV Tech
NYSERDA Launches Major Renewables Solicitation: New York's energy authority opened its tenth annual REC procurement, urgently targeting projects that can capture expiring federal tax credits before the window closes. PV Magazine USA
Michigan Solar Backlash Grows on Health Myths: Unfounded health concerns are fueling local ordinances that block large-scale solar farms across Michigan, threatening the state's emergence as a top-tier solar market. Michigan Advance

Solar & Storage

The Tennessee Valley Authority is rapidly becoming the nation's most active utility buyer of grid-scale battery storage. Just days after its 20-year agreement with Plus Power for the 200MW/800MWh Crawfish Creek battery energy storage system in Alabama, the federal utility now has multiple massive BESS contracts in its pipeline — including the 225MW/900MWh Tenaska deal in East Tennessee reported earlier this week. The Plus Power project alone will rank among the largest standalone battery installations in the Southeast, a region historically dominated by coal and natural gas generation. TVA's aggressive pivot toward energy storage signals that even utilities in fossil-fuel-heavy territories see batteries as essential infrastructure for grid reliability.

Tesla, meanwhile, offered a mixed picture on the storage front. The company's energy division deployed 8.8 GWh in the first quarter, a 15% decline from Q4 2025 that the company attributed to the inherent lumpiness of large-scale project timelines. But the underlying fundamentals remain strong: Tesla reported a $10.15 billion revenue backlog and 40% gross margins in its energy storage business, and the company projected that full-year 2026 deployments will surpass the 46.9 GWh it achieved last year. On the residential side, Tesla unveiled the Powerwall 3P, a three-phase home battery system with 13.4 kWh capacity designed for high-demand applications like heat pumps and EV charging — a product aimed squarely at the growing electrification-of-everything market.

On the solar project front, Advanced Green Technologies completed a 2.2-MW rooftop solar installation atop the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, one of the largest rooftop systems in Florida. The project doubles the venue's solar energy production and supports its LEED Gold certification. While a commercial rooftop installation may lack the scale of utility-grade projects, it underscores how large institutional energy consumers continue investing in on-site solar regardless of federal policy turbulence.

In Maryland, an innovative model for solar development is gaining traction. Chaberton Energy issued RFPs seeking agricultural partners for two community solar projects in Montgomery County totaling 9.1 MWdc. The agrivoltaics model — which offers farmers free access to 27 acres of land between solar panel rows for crop production or animal grazing — represents a pragmatic approach to the land-use conflicts that have stalled solar projects elsewhere. The Sugarloaf (5.23 MW) and Ramiere (3.88 MW) projects could serve as a template for developers facing community resistance, particularly in states where farmland conversion has become politically toxic.

That political toxicity is on full display in Michigan, where unfounded health concerns are fueling a potent local backlash against utility-scale solar development. Despite no scientific evidence supporting claims that solar panels cause health problems, local governments across the state are passing ordinances that effectively block large agricultural solar projects. The irony is stark: Michigan is positioned alongside Texas, Arizona, and California as one of the nation's most promising solar markets. But siting battles at the township and county level threaten to strangle that potential, echoing a pattern seen in rural communities from Virginia to Indiana where local opposition has become the single greatest barrier to solar deployment.

Wind Energy

TotalEnergies' decision to walk away from two American wind farm projects is the most consequential wind energy story of the week — and it carries implications that extend well beyond the company's balance sheet. The roughly $1 billion retreat by the French energy major raises uncomfortable national security questions: as foreign developers pull back from U.S. wind projects, the nation's energy independence agenda — ostensibly a pillar of the Trump administration's energy policy — suffers a self-inflicted wound. TotalEnergies is reportedly shifting its renewable energy investment focus to other regions globally, suggesting that the current U.S. policy environment is actively pushing capital offshore.

The pullback comes amid a broader chill in the American wind sector. Federal permitting uncertainty, ongoing tariff exposure on imported components, and the administration's well-documented hostility toward wind energy have combined to create an investment climate that multinationals increasingly view as untenable. For the domestic wind supply chain — turbine manufacturers, steel suppliers, construction crews — every abandoned project represents jobs and economic activity that won't materialize. This is precisely the kind of foreign capital flight that energy security hawks in both parties have warned about, though legislative action to address it remains stalled.

Policy & Markets

The persistent uncertainty surrounding federal permitting for solar projects continues to weigh on the industry, even after this week's significant court victory. A federal judge earlier this week blocked the Department of the Interior's directive that had been delaying solar and wind project approvals on federal lands — a ruling celebrated by developers. But the underlying permitting apparatus remains tangled in bureaucratic uncertainty, with developers reporting that project timelines have stretched and soft costs have risen substantially. The gap between a favorable court ruling and smooth on-the-ground execution remains wide.

In New York, NYSERDA launched its tenth annual renewable energy solicitation, seeking Renewable Energy Certificates from mature wind, solar, and hydroelectric projects across the state. The timing is telling: the procurement specifically targets projects positioned to access expiring federal tax credits, with submissions due between May and July 2026. It's a tacit acknowledgment by state officials that the federal incentive landscape is shifting, and New York wants to lock in as much renewable capacity as possible before that window narrows further. The solicitation is open to land-based projects only, reflecting continued caution around the state's embattled offshore wind program.

Meanwhile, in Oregon's Washington County, voters will decide on a $280 million parks bond that includes energy efficiency upgrades to public recreation facilities — a reminder that clean energy investment increasingly flows through local ballot measures rather than federal channels. With 45% of county voters eligible to weigh in, the measure represents the kind of ground-level clean energy policy that often flies under the radar but collectively moves billions of dollars into building efficiency and electrification.

LOOKING AHEAD

NYSERDA Submission Window Opens in May: Developers eyeing New York's REC procurement have a narrow May-to-July window to submit proposals for projects that can capture expiring federal tax credits — expect a rush of applications for shovel-ready solar and wind projects.
TVA Battery Storage Pipeline Accelerates: With the Plus Power and Tenaska deals now signed, watch for TVA to announce additional grid-scale battery procurements as the federal utility races to modernize its generation fleet across the Southeast.
Michigan Siting Battles Intensify: As township-level solar moratoriums spread across Michigan, state lawmakers face growing pressure to establish uniform siting standards that override local restrictions — a legislative fight likely to heat up this summer.

Today's Quick Answers

Q: What does TotalEnergies' wind farm retreat mean for foreign investment in U.S. renewables?

A: It's a flashing red warning sign. When a $150 billion European energy major concludes that American wind projects aren't worth the risk, smaller foreign developers take notice. The roughly $1 billion in abandoned projects is significant on its own, but the signaling effect is far larger — expect other multinational developers to quietly shift capital toward markets with more predictable policy environments in Europe, Australia, and Latin America. Domestic developers with existing pipelines may benefit from reduced competition, but the overall investment pool shrinks.

Q: Why should developers watch NYSERDA's tax-credit-focused REC solicitation closely?

A: Because it reveals how state procurement agencies are adapting to federal policy uncertainty in real time. By explicitly targeting projects that can capture expiring federal tax credits, NYSERDA is essentially creating a lifeline for mature projects at risk of losing their economic viability. Developers with shovel-ready solar, wind, or hydro projects in New York should treat this as an urgent opportunity — the May-to-July submission window is tight, and competition for these RECs will be fierce.

Q: What does TVA's battery storage buying spree signal for the broader Southeast market?

A: TVA has now committed to over 1.7 GWh of grid-scale battery storage in recent weeks across Alabama and Tennessee, transforming the Southeast into one of the most active utility-scale storage markets in the country. For developers and battery manufacturers, TVA's 20-year contract structures offer the kind of revenue certainty that is increasingly rare in today's policy environment. Expect co-ops and municipal utilities across TVA's seven-state service territory to follow suit with their own storage procurements.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Foreign capital is fleeing U.S. wind while state agencies and regional utilities race to lock in solar and storage deals before federal incentives erode — a bifurcated market where the winners will be developers with shovel-ready projects and the patience to navigate an increasingly state-driven clean energy landscape.