Florida just opened a statewide pipeline for floating solar on highway stormwater ponds

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

• Florida Signs Statewide Floating Solar Lease: D3Energy secured a master lease with Florida's Department of Transportation to develop floating solar across FDOT stormwater ponds, with a 1 GW-capable Orlando project already commissioned. Read More: PV Magazine USA.
• Court Forces GE Vernova to Continue Vineyard Wind: A Boston judge rejected GE Vernova's legal challenge, compelling the company to fulfill its turbine and service obligations on the nation's first large-scale offshore wind farm. Read More: Wind Power Monthly.
• Illinois Approves Massive Prairie Solar Plant: Will County's board greenlit Earthrise Energy's Pride of the Prairie solar facility, while DESRI broke ground on 270 MW of solar and 720 MWh of storage in New Mexico. Read More: Solar Builder.
• Trump Energy Dept. Moves to Phase Out IRA Rebates: New Department of Energy guidance would wind down Inflation Reduction Act rebates for home appliance swaps, signaling continued federal rollback of clean energy incentives. Read More: New York Times.
• Yakama Nation Fights Pumped Storage for Data Centers: A proposed pumped-hydro project along Washington's Columbia River faces fierce tribal opposition over sacred site impacts, spotlighting the collision between clean energy ambitions and Indigenous rights. Read More: Renewable Energy World.

Solar & Storage

Florida has never been an easy place to build solar at scale — roof-by-roof adoption dominates, and available land competes with development, agriculture, and conservation. That's what makes D3Energy's new statewide master lease with the Florida Department of Transportation so striking. The deal gives the floating solar developer access to FDOT-managed stormwater ponds across the entire state highway system, with the and a pipeline the company says is capable of reaching 1 GW. It's a novel siting model that could be replicated by other states struggling with land constraints, and it sidesteps the local zoning fights that have stalled ground-mount projects elsewhere. Read More: first project already commissioned in Orlando.

The traditional utility-scale pipeline, meanwhile, continues to churn. In Illinois, the Will County Board approved Earthrise Energy's Pride of the Prairie solar plant — a major win for the developer after navigating local permitting hurdles in the Chicago exurbs. The project is one of , including DESRI and Tierra Adentro's groundbreaking on two co-located solar-plus-storage projects in New Mexico — Foxtail Flats and Four Mile Mesa — totaling 270 MW of solar capacity paired with 720 MWh of battery storage. That storage component is notable: at nearly three hours of duration per megawatt of solar, it reflects the growing expectation that new solar assets must deliver dispatchable power, not just daytime generation. Read More: several advancing across the country this week.

In Texas, Vesper Energy locked in for a 201 MW solar plant, a deal that underscores continued lender confidence in ERCOT-connected solar despite the grid operator's well-documented congestion challenges. The financing closed even as uncertainty around the Inflation Reduction Act's long-term trajectory weighs on project economics — a tension that's becoming the defining backdrop for every deal in the space. Read More: $236 million in debt financing.

On the storage front, Pennsylvania lawmakers heard testimony that their state ranks a dismal 28th nationally in battery storage deployment. Witnesses at the argued that broader battery deployment could relieve stress on the PJM grid and lower electricity costs for ratepayers — a pitch that resonates as PJM capacity prices hit record highs. Whether the hearing translates into legislative action remains to be seen, but it signals growing bipartisan interest in storage as a grid reliability tool rather than a purely climate-driven investment. Read More: state legislative panel.

Wind Energy

GE Vernova's attempt to walk away from Vineyard Wind is officially dead — at least for now. A Boston judge to its contractual obligations on the $4.5 billion, 800 MW offshore wind project south of Martha's Vineyard, a ruling as a full dismissal of GE Vernova's renewed appeal. The turbine manufacturer must continue delivering and servicing its Haliade-X machines on the project, which has endured blade failures, construction delays, and persistent questions about the viability of the U.S. offshore wind supply chain. Read More: rejected the company's legal challenge, confirmed by Reuters.

The ruling matters beyond Vineyard Wind itself. GE Vernova's willingness to litigate its way out of an offshore wind contract sent a chilling signal to developers and investors watching the handful of U.S. projects still moving forward under the Trump administration's skeptical posture toward offshore wind. With the court closing that exit, the company will need to resolve its concerns — reportedly centering on blade quality and cost overruns — at the negotiating table rather than in the courtroom. For the broader industry, the decision reinforces that contractual commitments in offshore wind carry legal teeth, even as the political and economic environment shifts beneath developers' feet.

Policy & Markets

The Trump administration's Department of Energy issued new guidance that would phase out IRA rebates for home appliance swaps — the electrification incentives that helped consumers offset the cost of heat pumps, induction stoves, and electric water heaters. As , the move continues the administration's methodical unwinding of IRA consumer-facing programs, even as the law's production tax credits for utility-scale renewables have proven harder to dismantle given their Republican-district beneficiaries. The phase-out will land hardest on states that had only recently begun distributing the funds. Read More: the New York Times reported.

In California, state air regulators approved a controversial overhaul of the cap-and-invest program that will allow polluting industries to by investing in facility decarbonization — a change critics say could slash climate revenue and weaken overall emissions reduction targets. The move, which follows last week's reporting on the same debate, represents a significant concession to industrial interests and may reduce the pool of cap-and-trade revenue that has historically funded clean energy and environmental justice programs across the state. Read More: earn free emissions allowances.

Meanwhile, data center energy demand continues to reshape local politics in the Pacific Northwest. Skagit County, Washington citing concerns about the facilities' voracious electricity consumption and grid impacts. The decision echoes similar moves in Michigan and Virginia — and arrives just as the Yakama Nation protests a on the Columbia River designed explicitly to power data centers. "Going green now for who?" tribal members asked, a pointed question that captures the growing tension between clean energy buildout and the communities asked to host it. Read More: passed a moratorium on data center development, proposed pumped-hydro storage project.

On the transmission side, for a 765 kV, 115-mile high-voltage line stretching from outside Lynchburg to Culpeper County, Virginia. The project — a joint venture of Dominion Energy, Transource, and FirstEnergy — is designed to move power from the Ohio River Valley to Northern Virginia, where data center proliferation has pushed grid capacity to its limits. The new route options aim to address landowner concerns, but the project still faces a long and contested permitting road. Read More: Valley Link Transmission released reworked route options.

LOOKING AHEAD

• Vineyard Wind Operational Timeline: With GE Vernova's legal exit closed, watch for updated commissioning schedules and any renegotiation of commercial terms between the turbine maker and project owners Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
• IRA Rebate Phase-Out Fallout: State energy offices that received federal allocations for appliance rebates will need to clarify how the DOE guidance affects funds already committed — expect pushback from governors in both parties who marketed the programs to constituents.
• Data Center Moratoriums Spreading: With Skagit County joining a growing list of localities hitting pause on hyperscale facilities, the energy industry should track whether Washington state moves toward a statewide framework for managing data center siting and grid impact.

THE BOTTOM LINE: From Florida's stormwater ponds to Vineyard Wind's courtroom, today's news reveals an industry finding creative new paths to build — even as tribal opposition, data center politics, and federal incentive rollbacks remind developers that every megawatt now requires navigating an increasingly complex human landscape.