Welcome to the Electrek Green Energy Brief. Put together by our Electrek authors, the Energy Brief is a daily technical, financial, and political review of important green energy news.
Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, which will be the US’s largest wind farm when it’s complete, has sent its first power to the grid.
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Renewable energy provided over a quarter of US electrical generation in January 2026 – 11% more year-over-year – and accounted for over 36% of installed generating capacity, according to data just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
In 2026, the EIA reports that solar, wind, and batteries added over 55 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity while the net total from fossil fuels and nuclear was less than 1 GW. Projections for 2026 are even more dramatic, according to the SUN DAY Campaign, which reviewed the data.
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The US needs a lot more electricity fast, and one company thinks robots can help build it quicker.
Berkeley, California-based Terabase Energy says its next-gen Terafab automated solar construction system has finished field testing and is now ready to ship commercially. Terafab V2 brings autonomous robotics and AI into the way massive solar farms are built.
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The world just added a record amount of wind and solar in 2025, and it’s not even close.
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The LEGO Group is installing a large solar array at its new US factory in Chesterfield County, Virginia, as it moves toward powering the site with 100% renewable energy.
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Avantus and Toyota Tsusho America have completed construction of a 159 MWdc solar project in Texas, adding another large-scale clean energy asset to the state’s fast-growing solar fleet.
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China’s clean energy boom is saddled with a major challenge: what to do with all its old wind and solar equipment.
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A new type of battery storage is about to be deployed on the Midwestern grid for the first time.
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The US installed 43 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity in 2025, marking the fifth straight year that solar has been the largest source of new power added to the grid.
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In early November 2025, solar panel giant Qcells announced that it was temporarily furloughing 1,000 US workers – 25% of its workforce – and reducing pay and shifts at its Georgia factories due to supply chain delays caused by US Customs. Today – four months later – Qcells announced that its solar panel output is finally back to normal production.
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GE Vernova has landed orders to repower 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of onshore wind turbines across the US.
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Vestas has finished installing its wind turbines in New Mexico at Pattern Energy’s SunZia, the largest clean energy project in the US.
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Aikido Technologies has unveiled a concept that combines floating offshore wind turbines, battery storage, and AI data centers on a single platform.
The offshore infrastructure company says its new platform, called AO60DC, is designed to co‑locate AI-grade computing directly with renewable energy generation at sea.
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European energy giant Vattenfall has started construction on a new hybrid renewable energy project in southwest Germany that combines wind and solar power at a single site.
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The US residential clean energy market just went through one of its wildest six‑month stretches ever, according to EnergySage’s latest Home Electrification Marketplace Report.
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Xcel Energy says it will supply electricity to a new Google data center in Pine Island, Minnesota, and the deal includes nearly 2 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy and a 100-hour iron-air battery.
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Fifteen schools in Wayne County, West Virginia, are getting solar power, and the district says the energy savings will fund teachers’ salaries.
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Factories waste vast amounts of electricity every time heavy machinery slows down. This Scottish company says it can capture that lost power and slash energy bills by up to 20%.
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US solar giant First Solar signed a patent licensing agreement with the UK’s Oxford PV, a University of Oxford spin‑off, giving it access to issued and pending patents covering perovskite materials, one of the most important next‑gen solar technologies.
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Calibrant Energy has signed a definitive agreement with Iron Mountain to build, own, and operate a 23-megawatt-hour (MWh) battery at the latter’s New Jersey data center.
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European solar roofing company Roofit.Solar has completed its first US project, marking its official entry into the North American market with a residential installation in Michigan.
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South Dakota just approved what will become its biggest wind farm yet — a 333‑megawatt (MW) project planned across 68,300 acres in Haakon County, about 85 miles east of Rapid City.
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Octopus Energy Generation is investing almost $1 billion in California clean tech projects, the latest move by the UK‑based renewable investor as it scales up its presence in the US market.
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TotalEnergies just landed a massive solar deal to power Google’s expanding Texas data centers. The company signed two long‑term power purchase agreements (PPA) totaling 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity, or about 28 terawatt‑hours of electricity over 15 years.
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