It's Monday. A rooftop solar quote used to stop at the panels. In 2025, more than a third of new systems came with a battery, and the batteries got punchier.
In today's edition:
🔋 Big Story: Batteries ride on 37% of new US rooftop solar
⚡ Quick Hits: a 365 m turbine, a 195-tonne transformer haul, SSE's offshore drones, AWS drops NDAs, SPP battery revenue
💰 Capital: Brazil's 56 GW of battery headroom
📋 Policy Watch: 21 states sue EPA, California studies nuclear and fusion, Victoria fast-tracks wind
📊 Chart of the Day: a Queensland wind farm's two-year climb
Build energy apps with AI without exposing critical data.
Turn your operational data (SCADA, OMS, PI, etc.) into validated, audit-ready apps. Analysts ship in weeks without complicated IT workflows.
100% CIP and cybersecurity safe.
The Big Story
Batteries now ship with 37% of new US rooftop solar
Battery storage was paired with 37% of new US residential solar installations in 2025, up from 25% in 2024, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory data reported by pv magazine. The dataset covers about 450,000 systems installed in 2025, an estimated 93% of the US distributed solar market. The rate excludes retrofits and standalone home batteries, the lab notes.
California's residential attachment rate rose to 74% from 58%, after the state's 2023 Net Billing Tariff cut the value of exported rooftop power.
Outside California, attachment more than doubled, from 7% to 17%, led by Arizona and Texas, as net metering changes and time-of-use rates reward storing solar over exporting it.
Median residential battery capacity held at 13.5 kWh, but median discharge power rose from 6 kW to 11.4 kW, largely due to wider deployment of the Tesla Powerwall 3, per the report.
Source: pv magazine
Quick Hits
Technology milestones from across the grid
Five milestones from a quiet weekend, from a record tower to a very slow truck.
GICON raised its 3.8 MW telescoping-tower turbine in Schipkau, Germany, to a 365 m (1,197 ft) tip height, a pilot it says can produce about twice the energy of a conventional turbine with the same rotor. Commissioning is set for November. Electrek
Ampyr Energy hauled a 195-tonne Siemens transformer 1,300 km by road from near Adelaide to its 400 MW/1,000 MWh Bulabul battery in New South Wales, and says high-voltage testing and commissioning are now underway. RenewEconomy
Cyberhawk, owned by Ondas, won a three-year SSE contract, extendable by two years, for drone inspections and its iHawk AI data platform across thousands of km of British networks and, for the first time, SSE's offshore wind turbines. T&D World
AWS will stop using nondisclosure agreements with the local government agencies it works with on data center projects, CEO Matt Garman said, following a similar Microsoft pledge, with more than 100 US data center moratoriums under consideration by his count. DCD
Modo Energy estimates batteries in SPP could have earned $12.3/kW-month in September, 14% below August, as ancillary services retook the majority of the revenue stack. Modo Energy
The Capital Stack
Brazil's battery auctions get 56 GW of grid headroom
Brazil's grid has room for about 56 GW of battery connections ahead of December's capacity reserve auctions, storage association Absae calculated from a technical note by grid operator ONS, pv magazine reported. Absae projects a power shortfall of 4.5 GW to 10 GW for 2028 to 2030, so the headroom runs roughly five to twelve times the need. For developers and lenders pricing bids, grid access looks unlikely to be the binding constraint.
Source: pv magazine
Reach 3,000+ energy professionals. Partner with Grid Innovation Hub.
No filler audience. Every subscriber opted in for the latest in grid innovation.
To talk placements, dates, and pricing, contact Lucas Cheney at [email protected].
Policy Watch
Twenty-one states and cities including New York City and Chicago sued in the D.C. Circuit on Oct. 1 to overturn EPA's repeal of most greenhouse gas standards for coal and gas plants, which EPA says saves $95 billion to $160 billion over 20 years. Utilities planning carbon capture or retirements now face a moving target. Inside Climate News
Victoria gave Atmos Renewables' 850 MW Macorna wind project the state's first planning pathway decision of 2026, swapping a full Environmental Effects Statement for a lighter environmental report. Atmos says the project can connect through an existing 220 kV line if the contested VNI West interconnector is cancelled. RenewEconomy
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2647, ordering the California Energy Commission to assess the cost, reliability and potential siting of new advanced nuclear by Jan. 1, 2028, and SB 925, requiring a strategic plan for fusion energy by Dec. 31, 2029. Neither lifts California's 1976 moratorium on new reactors, but both start formal planning. ANS Nuclear Newswire
Chart of the Day
MacIntyre wind farm hits 641 MW, two years after registering
Acciona's 923.4 MW MacIntyre wind farm in Queensland reached a project-high 641 MW on Sept. 28, more than two years after registering, as AEMO raised its commissioning hold point to 670 MW, per WattClarity's analysis of market data.
Source: WattClarity · October 4, 2026
Like our newsletter?
Or forward this link: {{rp_refer_url}}
You currently have {{rp_num_referrals}} referrals. We're building out rewards for our most active subscribers, including merch and exclusive content!
Who We Follow
And you should too!
Loved it? Forward it.
And reply back with some news and stories we should include tomorrow!