This Week in Solar

What’s New:

Back in August, the EPA pulled funding for Solar for All, which we spoke about in a previous video.

The grants would have helped more than 900,000 households save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year by installing rooftop solar on low-income homes and investing in community projects.

Last week, several groups, including Solar United Neighbors and cities all across the country, filed lawsuits against the EPA for canceling the project and attempting to claw back the funds.

Why it Matters:

It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers with stories like this. We hear “900,000 households” and think “wow, that’s a lot of people,” without ever realizing what that actually means for the towns and families impacted by this.

I wanted to take today’s episode to zoom in on the human impact of cancelling Solar for All.

Earlier this week, on October 11th, The New York Times published a piece featuring the story of Jennifer McCoy, a single mother of three from Georgia. I’ve linked the article below in today’s email.

Ms. McCoy works two jobs, as a delivery driver for Walmart and a manager at a tire store. She uses food stamps for groceries, and often struggles to pay her bills. Electricity has become one of her biggest monthly costs, because Georgia residents have seen electricity prices rise by 33% in the last two years.

In August, Ms. McCoy’s electricity bill was $548.

It’s situations like this that Solar for All was designed for. It was federal money earmarked to help our most vulnerable citizens save money on electricity. Imagine what a single mother of three could have done with an extra $500/month freed up.

Of the $156 million that was awarded to the state of Georgia in Solar for All funding, the Georgia Bright Communities Coalition planned to use $12 million to give solar energy systems to more than 900 low-income households like Ms. McCoy’s, so they could put the money they were forced to spend on out-of-control electricity bills to better use.

Georgia Bright held a randomized drawing to find homeowners interested in putting solar on their roofs and received more than 500 entries within 24 hours of opening it up on their site. The McCoy family applied.

Three days later, when the EPA pulled funding, Georgia Bright was forced to pause the program, leaving hundreds of households like the McCoy’s feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under them.

Later that day, in a social media video, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the program a “boondoggle” from the Biden Administration, which would waste “billions of green slush fund dollars.”

Among the organizations now suing the EPA for cancelling Solar for All is Harris County, Texas, which had planned to use the money to cut power bills and keep vulnerable neighborhoods safe during outages and extreme weather events.

The county would have deployed rooftop solar and battery systems for tens of thousands of low-income households and invested in “community energy hubs” at rec centers, colleges, and administrative buildings.

Those hubs were designed to double as safe havens during Gulf Coast heat waves and storms, providing backup power for cooling, medical devices, and communications when outages hit.

Harris County, Texas, sued the EPA to restore roughly $400 million in grants that the county and partner cities had lined up to cut power costs for low-income residents and to use solar energy to make community facilities less susceptible to outages.

Solar for All wasn’t some frivolous climate initiative. It was built to lower bills for people who routinely choose between groceries, gas, and their electricity payment.

The program had also enjoyed bipartisan interest and support. States that went red in the 2024 election, like Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina, applied for or received awards. Several conservatives publicly acknowledged the appeal of giving working families access to rooftop solar and batteries they could never otherwise afford.

Solar for All was designed so that our most vulnerable citizens could keep more of their desperately needed money. It was intended to stop single moms from having to choose between food and electricity.

As this story unfolds over the next few months, and cities all over the country fight for the grants they were promised, please don’t forget the human cost in all the numbers.

Sources:

Solar for All Program Cuts Hit G.O.P and Democrat Voters Alike - The New York Times

Harris County sues Trump EPA to restore $400M in Texas solar energy funding

POLITICO Pro | Article | Fallout from EPA’s Solar for All termination

Groups sue EPA over canceled $7 billion solar program intended to help poorer Americans

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

In this episode of This Week in Solar, Aaron Nichols sits down with Pennsylvania solar pioneer Ron Celantano, a consultant, engineer, and long-time policy advocate who helped shape the state’s net metering and Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS).

Ron has been working in renewable energy since the Carter administration, and brings four decades of solar experience to this episode (hard for Aaron to imagine, having just crossed the two-year mark).

Expect to Learn:

* Why Pennsylvania stalled while New Jersey went full steam ahead on clean energy goals.

* How net metering started in Pennsylvania

* The origins of Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, and what makes it different from traditional renewable portfolio standards.

Quotes from the Episode:

“We wrote net metering into the first deregulation tariff in Pennsylvania. Nobody thought people would ever overproduce back then.” – Ron Celantano

“Pennsylvania met its goals in 2021 — and then stopped. Meanwhile, every other state kept raising the bar.” – Ron Celantano

You can listen to this episode here, or on:

* YouTube

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

Transcript:

Aaron Nichols: Hello everyone, and welcome back to This Week in Solar. I’m your host, Aaron Nichols, the Research Policy Specialist here at XactSolar in Newtown, Pennsylvania. And today, we are interviewing Pennsylvania solar royalty. Ron Celantano has been doing this for as long as anyone can remember. Your name comes up all the time. Ron, welcome to the show, and please tell us a bit about yourself.

Ron Celantano: Yeah, I appreciate being here. Thank you very much. I usually start with how long I’ve been doing solar. I go back to a CETA job under the Carter administration in the late ’70s—a program that funded recent grads to work in their field. For me, that was solar. I started at Stockton State College in South Jersey for about a year, then moved into solar thermal installation work. When Reagan came in, everything fell apart, so I went to grad school for mechanical engineering (my bachelor’s was in physics). After that I worked in demand-side management in the early ’80s—energy efficiency programs and cost-effectiveness modeling for utilities (lighting, HVAC, cool storage, etc.), mostly through a consultant near Philadelphia, with many clients in California where EE was mandated. By the mid-’90s I refocused on photovoltaics, did my first PV project (steep learning curve; not much training material then—just panels, batteries, figure it out). At the same time I got into policy, learned about net metering (shoutout to Tom Starrs at IREC), and watched Pennsylvania deregulate (’98–’99). I helped spearhead getting net metering into PICO’s first deregulation tariff—drafting language so customers got full value credited. Back then solar was expensive and rates weren’t high, so “oversizing” was rare. As deregulation spread, we later got a net metering law as part of the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS). I was involved in shaping the framework and especially the in-state solar carve-out percentages. PA called it “alternative” (Tier I and Tier II) rather than just “renewable,” which brought in some odd resources—but Tier II did include energy efficiency, which was good.

Aaron Nichols: For anyone without context, why has Pennsylvania been so difficult for renewables compared to neighbors like New Jersey?

Ron Celantano: We were actually near the front in 2004 when AEPS passed, but we didn’t keep updating it, while New Jersey kept ratcheting up. Our Tier I target was 8% renewables with just 0.5% in-state solar; Tier II was 10% of alternative resources. We met those goals by 2021 and stopped—meanwhile other states kept climbing. Even so, PA solar kept growing; we’re approaching ~2 GW, about half of New Jersey despite PA’s lower population density and more land. NJ sometimes hits 50% solar on certain days; PA is roughly ~2% today. Resistance here stems from being a gas-driven state (Marcellus fracking) with many legislators prioritizing gas. Even with Democratic governors (Wolf, now Shapiro) it’s been hard to pass bigger updates. Our community has drafted bills (through PA Solar Center and PASSA under MAREA/Mid-Atlantic Solar & Storage) to strengthen AEPS, but success has been limited. One win was “closing the borders” roughly seven years ago so the 0.5% solar carve-out had to come from in-state rather than anywhere in PJM/D.C.—Republicans liked the “don’t subsidize out-of-state” logic. By 2021, that 0.5% was essentially in-state.

Aaron Nichols: Let’s unpack SRECs quickly for listeners and how PA handles penalties versus NJ.

Ron Celantano: SRECs—solar renewable energy credits—are the “green attributes” your system generates alongside kWh that lower your bill. In PA, utilities (or default suppliers) must buy credits equal to a percentage of their supply; owners typically sell via aggregators. Historically our Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) penalty for solar was tied to 200% of the historical weighted SREC price. If a utility chooses not to buy when there is adequate supply, they pay that penalty. If there isn’t enough supply, PA ratepayers aren’t dinged to make up the gap—unlike some other states—so that’s a positive quirk. Prices have swung wildly: early 2010s saw $300–$600 equivalent signals, then the Sunshine Program (~2011–2014) injected $100M, we overshot, money ran out, saturation hit, and SRECs crashed to ~$5 before slowly recovering. Today PA SRECs are relatively low (recently ~$25 and even ~$40 at points last year) despite oversupply—puzzling, but that’s where we are. NJ, by contrast, uses fixed SREC/Successor incentive values for set terms, which makes investment planning much easier. Clear goals and clear penalties matter; newer PA bills proposed hard-dollar penalties to create pricing transparency, moving away from purely historical formulas.

Aaron Nichols: Rate pressure also matters for homeowners. PJM capacity prices are rising again, which usually flows through to bills. Regardless of incentives, that helps the solar economics, right?

Ron Celantano: Yes. We’ve got a lot of moving parts—federal tax changes, FEOC/supply-chain rules, domestic-content adders—some headwinds, some tailwinds. But retail rates will keep drifting up (data centers, electrification, transmission constraints), which supports solar’s bill-savings case and stabilizes part of your bill for 20+ years. I even encourage modest oversizing if you can—future EV charging shifts “fuel” to PV at a much lower effective cost than buying gasoline. Think of it like buying decades of power in bulk at today’s price.

Aaron Nichols: I entered the industry in late 2023—rosy IR-era vibes at first, then a rough policy cycle. As the baton passes to my generation, how do we keep the energy to push when it feels like bashing our heads against a rock?

Ron Celantano: There are many lanes: policy (often unpaid), and the day-job side—consulting, design, commissioning, installation. Cycles come and go; we’ll dip and then climb. Downcycles can be ideal for sharpening skills with less crowding. One silver lining: without easy money, the customers who stick around tend to be great to work with (like the early 2000s—motivated by reliability, resilience, values). Another: the shakeout can sideline bad actors and scammers who left half-finished projects and unfiled interconnections—rebuilding trust helps the good firms. Residential will feel the near-term hit hardest; commercial follows. In the interim, rising rates ironically “help” the savings math. Electrification will raise consumption, so pairing it with solar is key. My advice: hang in, skill up, collaborate. I team regularly with groups like PA Solar Center (e.g., Sharon Pillar) and PennEnvironment/PASEIA allies—coalition work matters because we each bring different strengths.

Aaron Nichols: Quick bright spot—Solar for Schools. What’s happening there?

Ron Celantano: A real win. Last year we got a $25M “Solar for Schools” program through—our first significant pass in seven years. The agency had to stand it up in record time (about two months). We provided guidance; I did some assessments (separate from bidding, per rules). Roughly 74 districts were awarded funds. With elective pay still available for tax-exempt entities, schools can stack 30% ITC (subject to FEOC/domestic content issues) plus state support—effectively bringing net costs way down in many cases. There’s nervousness about federal timelines and component sourcing, but overall it’s a great opportunity.

Aaron Nichols: Bringing it home: what should installers and industry folks do in a leaner, post-incentive world to keep moving the ball?

Ron Celantano: Focus on quality, trust, and fundamentals—tight interconnection work, realistic designs, solid O&M. As the hype fades, durable businesses stand out. Residential will be choppy first; commercial later. We won’t root for higher rates, but those increases are coming and they will sustain the value proposition. Electrification without solar just raises bills; with solar it’s manageable. Don’t abandon ship—this will swing back. Be patient and position yourself for the upcycle.

Aaron Nichols: Final “moonshot” I ask every guest. My grandma turned 80 this year—born just after Rural Electrification. Solar PV wasn’t invented until 1954; Carter put solar thermal on the White House in ’79; most progress has happened in just the last 25 years. What does clean energy look like 80 years from now?

Ron Celantano: Solar will be dominant, but probably not exactly in today’s form. We’ll evolve in how we harvest and convert sunlight, and we’ll tap more geothermal electricity—leveraging deep drilling tech from fracking to reach high-temperature resources. Efficiency will keep cutting loads. “Paintable” thin-film concepts have existed for years (terrible efficiency historically, but massive surface area changes the calculus); if commercialized at scale, coverage could matter more than peak efficiency. The point is: cheaper conversion, ubiquitous collection, and smarter use. It’s hard to predict 80 years out—maybe we’re on Mars—but solar’s vast resource and falling costs make its long-term dominance inevitable.

Aaron Nichols: Ron, thank you so much. Where can people find you?

Ron Celantano: I’m based in Wyndmoor, just outside Philadelphia. Email: [email protected]. Cell: 215-740-0439. I’m around—happy to help.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

What’s new

In the first half of 2025, wind and solar made more electricity than coal worldwide for the first time ever. Clean power grew faster than the world’s rising need for electricity, meaning that demand for coal was ever so slightly driven down.

Solar led the way. It jumped by about one-third from last year and met 83% of the new electricity demand worldwide.

The International Energy Agency says renewables could more than double globally by 2030, with 80% of that new capacity coming from solar.

Why it matters

This is a turning point, and China and India did most of the lifting. China added more clean power than the rest of the world combined and used 2% less fossil fuel than the previous year. India’s renewables grew more than three times faster than its electricity demand, leading to a 3.1% decrease in coal generation and a 34% decrease in gas generation across the country.

In the U.S., however, demand outran clean power growth, and coal generation rose 17% in the first half of the year. In Europe, a weak year for wind and hydropower meant gas rose 14% and coal ticked up 1.1%, even as solar kept growing.

Global energy think tank Ember says that more than half of the world’s economies have already passed their peak use of fossil fuels for electricity. Ember’s experts called the clean transition “unstoppable,” since costs for solar, wind, and batteries continue to fall, while the price of fossil fuels remains steady or continues to rise.

So far, 2025 has shown that clean power can keep up with and even outpace demand.

EIA Data Shows That States With More Solar and Wind Power Pay Less for Electricity

What’s new

POLITICO dug into federal Energy Information Administration data and found a clear pattern: on average, states that deploy more wind and solar pay less for electricity.

Of 22 states that get higher-than-average shares of power from wind/solar, 17 had below-average prices in June. 13 of those states voted red in 2024.

In states where wind and solar were deployed faster over the past four years, many saw price increases below the national average, even as U.S. power costs rose 23.4% since 2021.

Why it matters

The current administration is citing high prices as reasons to pause or cancel clean-energy projects, while market data continues to show that new power from solar and wind is cheaper than that from new fossil fuel generation.

When he spoke at the U.N. last month, President Trump labeled wind “the most expensive energy ever conceived,” said “all green is all bankrupt,” and vowed, “We’re getting rid of the falsely named renewables.” His energy secretary, Chris Wright, claimed that Texas has “the most expensive electricity” in the south, even though EIA data shows the opposite. Texas’s power is cheaper than in most neighboring states, and states adding lots of clean energy are more likely to post lower prices or smaller hikes.

The grid needs new capacity fast as data centers and electrification drive demand and higher prices. By far the cheapest way to meet that need is with solar and storage. Blocking those projects will mean higher energy bills for more Americans across the board.

Using price fears to roll back renewables, when they’re the cheapest form of new power, puts consumers on the hook for even more expensive power in the future.

SEIA Launches New Solar Recycling Resource

What’s new

This week, SEIA (the Solar and Storage Industries Association) launched SolarRecycle.org, a free hub to help the industry recycle panels, batteries, and related gear. The site, released alongside SEIA’s first sustainability conference, offers an interactive map of used solar panel collection sites, SEIA-vetted recycling partners, and a tracker of state and local end-of-life laws for solar components.

Why it matters

Since solar + storage make up most new U.S. power additions, planning for the end-of-life of these systems as we install them is essential. Unfortunately, a lot of old solar panels are landfilled currently since recycling isn’t available in most areas. But old solar panels contain components that can be reused.

SEIA’s new site gives companies a real-time resource they can use while they’re out in the field replacing old systems. Hopefully, we see more and more companies taking advantage of this resource.

Sources

World Nearing ‘Crucial Turning Point’ as Clean Energy Outpaces Power Demand - Newsweek

Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time

The government’s own data rebuts Trump’s claims about wind and solar prices - POLITICO

Solar and Storage Industry Launches New Online Resource to Enhance Solar Recycling, Support Long-Term Sustainability

https://www.solarrecycle.org/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

This week, I sat down with Cesar Barbosa, founder & CEO of Nulife Power Services. I’ve been curious (and admittedly undereducated) about solar recommissioning and repowering, and today’s interview caught me up.

This was eye-opening for me. Exact Solar builds solar energy systems that actually last 25-30 years, but this is not the case across the entire solar industry.

Cesar explains why so many solar energy systems need major retrofits sooner than promised, what’s actually failing in the field, and how his team is helping fix systems that weren’t installed right the first time.

Expect to learn

* The three failure windows for solar energy systems (and what typically breaks in each one).

* Horror stories Cesar has seen in the field, and what causes them.

* Why experienced midsized solar companies are best positioned to win market share in the next few years.

Quotes

“What would you say if I told you, Aaron, we are doing half a million dollar P.O.s (half a million dollars’ worth of work) just going around and replacing MC4 connectors?... I can talk to you about central inverters blowing up… but it can be the more minute things that can cause major wiring management issues, bad terminations… at scale can be a multi-million-dollar disaster.”

You can listen to this episode here, or on:

* YouTube

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

Transcript

Aaron Nichols:Hello everyone, and welcome back to This Week in Solar. I’m your host, Aaron Nichols, the Research and Policy Specialist here at Exact Solar in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Today we have someone I’m really excited to talk to — Cesar Barbosa, founder and CEO of New Life Power. I’ve been really interested in recommissioning, and it’s something I don’t know a lot about. So Cesar, I’ll let you introduce yourself and we can go from there.

Cesar Barbosa:Thanks, Aaron. I’m Cesar Barbosa, founder and CEO of New Life Power. Like you said, I’ve been in the solar industry for about 17 years now — and it’s starting to sound a little crazy to say that out loud, but that’s where we are.

I started in 2008 installing residential systems here in California, then quickly moved into the commercial space. Fast forward a bit — I moved into service, O&M, and now I’ve come full circle, going back to the systems I installed in 2008 to retrofit and repower them. It’s been a fascinating journey to see how far this industry has come.

Aaron Nichols:Seventeen years is wild. I’ve only been in the solar space for about two years, and it’s amazing to think about how much the industry has changed in that time — you’ve been on the solar coaster for way longer than I have.

Cesar Barbosa:Yeah, it’s been quite a ride. Around 2012, I was with SunPower, traveling across the country assessing some of the largest systems in the world at that time. And something became very clear to me — these systems were already failing or needing major retrofits, yet we were selling them with 20–25 year expectations. Something wasn’t adding up.

In reality, solar systems go through three major life cycles:

* Infant failure (1–3 years): design flaws or faulty technology.

* Mid-life issues (5–7 years): usually inverter replacements or design defects showing up.

* End of life (15–20 years): where we are today — widespread aging assets.

When you add all that up, you realize we’re standing at the start of what the Department of Energy calls a $100 billion crisis. We like to call it a $100 billion opportunity.

Aaron Nichols:That’s such an interesting way to frame it. And a lot of that comes down to installation quality, right? What causes these early failures?

Cesar Barbosa:Yeah — the “shiny install” problem is real. Every operator thinks they do the best work, but the truth is, you only get there by learning hard lessons. During the booms in 2005 and 2010, we had more work than we had qualified labor. So it’s not always bad intent — sometimes it’s just the industry growing faster than the workforce can keep up.

Failures can come from bad engineering — like using a tracker design not suited for local wind conditions — or from new technologies that hit the market before being fully tested. A bad batch of semiconductors or connectors can lead to massive recalls. We saw that with inverters, and we’re starting to see it now with batteries.

Aaron Nichols:So with all those issues in play, what does New Life Power actually solve?

Cesar Barbosa:We’re licensed electrical contractors — electricians by trade. What we do is bring together asset owners who have aging systems and qualified local contractors who can do the work right.

For years, I couldn’t confidently recommend a contractor outside our region because I didn’t know their quality. Now, through our new program — The New Life Method — we’re building a national network of vetted operators.

It’s a licensing partnership where local contractors can join, get our full playbook — everything from estimating, pricing, compliance, to execution — and access pre-qualified projects from our asset manager relationships. We provide oversight and ensure quality control. It’s a win-win.

Aaron Nichols:That’s huge. So if a contractor joins the program, what do they get that they didn’t have before?

Cesar Barbosa:First, they get the playbook — the exact systems and processes that helped us execute over $25 million in repowering and decommissioning work.

Second, they get lead flow — real, pre-qualified opportunities. A lot of contractors waste time chasing deals that might not materialize for five years. We filter that out and deliver viable projects, plus support and oversight to make sure the work meets standards.

Aaron Nichols:That makes so much sense. And I assume this isn’t just a U.S. issue?

Cesar Barbosa:Exactly. The U.S. is just one market facing this. Australia, Europe, and Asia are seeing the same failures. It’s a global issue. Our focus is the U.S. for now, but that could change based on demand.

Aaron Nichols:I have to ask — do you have any horror stories from the field?

Cesar Barbosa:Oh, plenty. Here’s one: we’ve done half a million dollar purchase orders just to replace MC4 connectors — that’s it. Imagine spending $500,000 just replacing connectors across a site.

We’ve also seen central inverters blow up, trackers collapse, junction box lids falling off the backs of modules. I mean, if I were an asset owner and got a $500,000 bill five years into the life of my system, that’s not the ROI I was promised.

It’s a combination of manufacturing issues, engineering oversights, and poor installation practices.

Aaron Nichols:That’s wild. I’m grateful to work for a company that’s been around 20 years and prioritizes service and long-term quality. But for people just getting started — what should they know so they don’t end up needing New Life Power?

Cesar Barbosa:Good question. I always say — we’re like the funeral coordinators nobody wants to call, but eventually, they will.

If you’re new to solar:

* Partner with experienced professionals. Bring in people who understand maintenance and failure points.

* Get independent third-party commissioning and QA. Don’t rely on your own team to grade their own work — that’s too biased.

* Learn from operators who’ve seen it all. Small mistakes at scale become million-dollar problems.

At New Life, we’re building a national network of trusted operators who can assess each system case-by-case. Every repowering job is unique — you can’t treat them like new builds.

Aaron Nichols:That’s great advice — and super timely. Especially now that we’re facing a post-IRA world with less federal support. What should clean energy leaders be focused on in this new landscape?

Cesar Barbosa:We’re definitely in a new chapter. Like the saying goes, “When the tide goes out, you find out who’s still wearing their shorts.”

When incentives disappear, it exposes who built sustainable businesses and who didn’t. The large, over-leveraged players will struggle. The very small shops will feel it too.

But the mid-sized operators — the ones who’ve been in business 5–15 years, bootstrapped, ran lean, learned from the ups and downs — they’re in a great position. This is their time to gain market share, and the repowering and decommissioning sector is a huge part of that.

It’s a $100 billion industry that’s only just beginning.

Aaron Nichols:So true. And to close, I always ask this: my grandma just turned 80, and she was born into a world without renewable energy. What do you think clean energy will look like 80 years from now?

Cesar Barbosa:Eighty years — wow. Hopefully I’ll still be around!

I think we’ll see flying and elevated vehicles, nuclear playing a bigger role, and solar evolving with new materials — maybe still silicon-based, but more efficient.

The big question is: will we still have the same blue-collar labor force? With automation and AI, I wonder how much fieldwork will still be done by humans. We might need new ways to deploy and maintain systems.

But one thing’s certain — clean energy will be smarter, smaller, and everywhere.

Aaron Nichols:That’s a great vision. Cesar, thank you so much for joining us today.

Cesar Barbosa:Thank you, Aaron. It’s been great talking with you, my friend.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

What’s new:

90% of new U.S. power plant capacity added from January–July 2025 came from solar + wind. In July, solar provided 96% of new capacity.

Why it matters:

The vast majority of new power being added to the grid in 2025 is from renewable sources, not fossil fuels. Through July, 9 out of 10 new U.S. power-plant megawatts came from solar + wind. July kept the streak alive, with solar supplying 96% of new deployed energy, marking the 23rd consecutive month that solar has been in the top spot of new deployed sources of energy.

The three-year outlook suggests that this shift will continue, with more solar and wind energy coming online, while coal and oil production decline. However, deployment is likely to be slowed by the administration’s repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act incentives as they start phasing out over the next few years.

Energy Storage Also Sets Record (5.6 GW Installed in Q2).

What’s new:

In Q2 2025, developers added 5.6 GW of energy storage. Most of it was big, grid-scale projects (4.9 GW), enough to help power about 3.7 million homes at peak. Texas, California, and Arizona each put in over 1 GW of storage.

608 MW of that total was home batteries, more than double the amount installed last year.

Why it matters:

Batteries are key to the energy transition. Because renewable energy sources are intermittent (they produce more energy when the sun shines and the wind blows), we must have large amounts of storage deployed to save that energy for when we need it most.

During hot evenings, storms, or power outages, utility companies can draw from that storage to steady prices and keep the lights on.

U.S. factories are currently on track to produce enough grid batteries to meet 100% of domestic demand, but new rules regarding the origin of battery cells could slow some major projects after 2025.

A Short Tribute to Jane Goodall

It’s not going to be breaking news to anyone listening that Jane Goodall passed away two days ago at the age of 91. But I wanted to take a moment to talk about what she meant to me, because I know she meant a great deal to many of us who have worked in conservation or clean energy.

According to the Jane Goodall Institute, Dr. Goodall was on a speaking tour focused on the climate when she passed. Even in her later years, she spent more than 300 days a year on the road, spreading her message of respect and tolerance for the natural world and for one another.

If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t be working in clean energy right now.

Back in 2020, when I was still working as a teacher in a Title I school, isolated during the pandemic, miserable and far away from my family, and with no idea of what I wanted to do with my life, I listened to an interview of hers. It was her appearance on The Tim Ferriss Show, which I’ve attached below in the sources section.

In that interview, she talks about the need for clean energy and how important it is that we don’t steal the future of the generations that come after us by continuing to rely so heavily on fossil fuels. She mentioned that my generation had challenges ahead of us, that we needed to have that indomitable human spirit, to never give up, and that we’d succeed in building a better world.

It was that interview that planted the seed in my mind that led me to clean energy as a career. So even though I never met Dr. Goodall, she had an outsized effect on my life, and I owe her a debt of gratitude.

Jane Goodall was an incredible force for good in the world, and she will be missed.

Sources:

Solar and wind make up 90% of new US electricity capacity so far this year

FERC: Solar + wind made up 90% of new US power generating capacity to July 2025 | Electrek

US Energy Storage Installations Reach New Quarterly Record in Q2 with 5.6 GW | Wood Mackenzie

U.S. energy storage sets new record with 5.6 GW installed in Q2 2025

Dr. Jane Goodall — The Legend, The Lessons, The Hope (#421) - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

This week, Aaron Nichols sits down with Joe Tassone, co-founder of Oncore Origination.

Joe shares how Oncore carved out a niche by sourcing land for solar, storage, and EV projects across the U.S., what he’s learned from decades in development, and why he’s still bullish on renewables despite the uncertainty created by the repeal of the IRA.

Here’s his LinkedIn

Expect to Learn:

* How Oncore Origination finds and vets land for utility-scale and distributed generation (DG) projects nationwide.

* The impact of the Inflation Reduction Act’s repeal on developers

* Why some customers are pivoting toward storage.

Quotes from the Episode:

“At the end of the day, no matter what policies or technology come and go, if you can’t secure good land, nothing happens.” – Joe Tassone

“If you don’t believe in this business, then get out of it. But if you do, keep developing—even in times of chaos.” – Joe Tassone

Transcript:

Aaron Nichols:Hello, everybody, and welcome back to This Week in Solar. I'm your host, Aaron Nichols, the Research and Policy Specialist here at Exact Solar in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

And as part of our short interview series that we're doing with veterans of the clean energy industry, today we have brought on Joe Tassone. Joe, will you introduce yourself, talk a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Joe Tassone:Yeah, Aaron, thank you very much—very honored to be on your cast here, especially as you are an influencer in our industry and doing great things. So thank you.

I'm one of the founders of Encore Origination. We started the company—I originally started back in 2017, and we rebranded in 2022. I have two partners, Ryan and Corey, and we found a niche in the industry for clean energy renewables to actually go out and find land, find projects for solar and battery storage, and now we’re doing a lot of EV all around the country.

We don’t consider ourselves landmen, we’re not full-scale developers, but all of the partners and even most of the management team have an extensive development background. We come from wireless telecom since the mid-90s—we probably have done 5,000 projects in very intense environments with short timelines, lots of pressure, even litigation. We learned the development game and how to process and get projects done in a timely manner, and how to understand land very well.

This business doesn’t always do a great job with that. A lot of developers are good people, but we saw the opportunity to use our skills to find good projects, working with IPPs and developers. For years we had one client—now we have 15 to 20 across nearly 20 states, doing everything from utility-scale battery storage to solar and distributed generation. I’m based in upstate New York.

We offer a higher value by finding good projects. At the end of the day, no matter what happens with policy, equipment, or financing, you can’t do anything without good land or rooftops. If I can sit with a landowner, get the signature, and build that relationship, then you can make projects happen.

In the last six months alone, we’ve originated over a gigawatt of projects—legitimate signed landowner contracts, vetted projects with 50 data points approved by our customers. Not all of those will make it through interconnection or due diligence, but that’s the business.

Aaron Nichols:My career so far has been in “behind the meter,” where business or homeowners own the system. What Joe does is originate land for projects that are utility-scale. Forgive me if I’m wrong there.

Joe Tassone:Yeah—utility-scale or distributed generation. Most of it is DG, which stands for distributed generation. Think of a five-megawatt AC community solar project, or a five-megawatt, 20-hour battery site—that’s probably 60–70% of our business. Utility-scale DG and even behind-the-meter are conceptually the same: you need good projects, you need land control, and you need to build relationships.

Aaron Nichols:So how are you expecting the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act to affect what you do at Encore Origination?

Joe Tassone:Obviously it’s not a feel-good moment. It’s disruptive. Some of our solar customers have paused or pivoted more toward batteries. But there are still shoes to drop—like Treasury’s safe harbor rules. Experts think they won’t be too bad, but we’ll know soon.

For our company, we’re doing fine. We’re getting new customers every week, expanding, and hiring. I’ve been through tough times before—after 9/11 in telecom, the entire industry stopped building for two years. It was painful. But the business survived.

So while this hurts, I still believe in renewables. You can’t run a business forever on a 30% credit. Costs inflated and people got comfortable. Short term, it’s painful. Long term, if government pulls out, businesses will adapt and have to be profitable. Energy demand keeps rising, utility rates are going up, and renewables are too big to fail.

Even now, companies are securing $50–300 million in development capital despite the chaos. That tells you this business is not going away.

Aaron Nichols:That’s so good to hear. I’ve also heard people frame today’s antagonism as proof that we’re a real threat to the fossil fuel industry.

Joe Tassone:Absolutely. The antagonism shows how disruptive we are. Energy isn’t perfect—solar and wind are intermittent—but the truth is, we can’t do without them. Utilities, construction firms, even big banks know this. Governors are petitioning federal agencies to release land because projects mean jobs. This isn’t going away.

Aaron Nichols:There’s a quote I love: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” I think we’re firmly in step three. For young people like me, who came in during a rosy time after the IRA, how do we build the stamina to keep bashing our heads against this rock like veterans have?

Joe Tassone:Great question. First, persistence. Day by day. Fear can motivate you, but it can also paralyze you. Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep on going.” That applies here.

Second, be a sponge. Learn everything—finance, interconnection, policy, land. The more you understand, the more adaptable you’ll be.

Third, don’t stop developing. Development takes years. One of my projects in Massachusetts took seven years from origination to compensation. If you stop developing during downturns, you won’t have assets in the pipeline when things recover.

Finally, be smart with resources. Don’t overspend and flame out, but don’t be too conservative either. The winners are the ones who kept going when no one else did.

Aaron Nichols:That’s so helpful. And it’s true—state and local policy have always driven the majority of progress. Federal news gets attention, but states move the needle.

Joe Tassone:Exactly. Look at New York—strong programs and incentives. States adjust as needed, because they need the energy and the jobs. And internationally, countries like China are building solar and storage at massive scale. We’re competing globally. Cool heads will prevail—we just need to be smart.

Aaron Nichols:So to close, I’ve been asking guests a moonshot question. My grandma was born in 1945—into a world without renewable energy. Within her lifetime we went from no PV cells to affordable solar. What do you think clean energy will look like 80 years from now?

Joe Tassone:Technologies always get smaller. I see microgrids—communities powered independently with solar, batteries, maybe technologies we don’t even know yet. Gas lines to houses may look as outdated as telephone lines.

I think we’ll see un-tethered, grid-independent communities. Maybe we’ll be painting solar cells onto surfaces. Hard to imagine exactly, but the direction is clear: more independence, more decentralization, and much more efficiency.

Aaron Nichols:Hopefully so. Joe, thank you so much for coming on today. Where can people find you?

Joe Tassone:On LinkedIn—Joe Tassone Jr.—or at Encore Origination’s website.

Aaron Nichols:Thank you, Joe. And for everyone listening, that’s been This Week in Solar.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

What’s New

Governors from 11 states across the mid-Atlantic and Midwest are fed up with PJM, the non-profit entity that manages the region’s electricity grid. PJM’s capacity auctions (the system that pays power plants to promise future supply) have hit record highs two years in a row.

At a multi-state summit in Philadelphia to address concerns over PJM, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro warned that PJM has “months, not years” to reform.

If they don’t see change, Pennsylvania and possibly other states could take the extraordinary step of pulling their utilities out of PJM altogether. The demands from state governors include:

* Formal seats for states in PJM’s governance structure.

* Faster interconnection for new energy projects.

* A stronger focus on consumer costs in PJM’s decision-making.

* Transparency in how capacity and transmission costs are set.

Why It Matters

PJM’s Capacity Auction is one of the major contributing factors to consumers seeing double-digit bill increases last summer.

Because of these increases, in the last two years, hundreds of thousands of people across the country (especially in PJM’s 13-state region that includes PA and NJ) have heard of PJM Interconnection for the first time as bills have shot up.

State Governors in PJM’s region argue that PJM’s slow approval of new projects and its closed governance structure are making things worse.

“We need states to have more of a say in how PJM operates. We need to move more quickly on these energy-producing projects, and we’ve got to hold down costs. If PJM cannot do that, then Pennsylvania will look to go it alone…. If PJM refuses to change, we will be forced to go in a different direction. That is not a path that I am eager to chart, but I am not willing to stand idly by and let PJM dictate our future… “We can produce enough energy for us, and we can produce enough energy at a far quicker rate than PJM is able to right now.”

- PA Governor Josh Shapiro

So What is PJM, and What is a Capacity Auction?

PJM Interconnection is the largest regional transmission organization (RTO) in the United States, managing electricity for more than 67 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C.

They cover Illinois to the Atlantic coast and from Michigan down into Virginia and North Carolina. Headquartered outside Philadelphia, PJM has been coordinating electricity flow for nearly a century.

They essentially do two things:

* They act as the air traffic controller of the grid. PJM directs electricity from generators to utilities, who then deliver it to homes and businesses.

* They run the wholesale markets where utilities buy electricity. Those markets determine which power plants operate, how new projects connect, and how much electricity ultimately costs.

One of its most important tools is the capacity auction. In this auction, PJM looks several years ahead and pays power plants simply to promise they’ll be available in the future.

This guarantees electricity will be available and reliable during times of peak demand, like summer heat waves or winter storms. Nearly a quarter of the charges on monthly bills in PJM states come from capacity payments alone.

The Problem

Unlike other regional grids, states have no formal role in PJM’s governance, a gap that state governors are now demanding be fixed.

PJM’s decisions go far beyond reliability. They set many rules relating to how to value renewables, storage, or demand response compared to gas and coal; how to allocate the cost of transmission upgrades across states, and how it forecast future demand.

Unsurprisingly, states want more of a voice in that process than they’ve previously had.

How PJM’s Auction Has Driven Up Bills

For years, PJM’s markets kept prices relatively steady. But in the last two years, we’ve seen record increases in the region.

Capacity auction prices, once as low as $30 per megawatt-day, jumped to around $270 in 2024 and then cleared even higher in 2025, right at a $329 price cap negotiated after Pennsylvania filed a complaint in 2024.

In simple terms, that’s eight to ten times higher than typical levels. Households across their 13-state region have seen double-digit percentage increases on their power bills, with utilities warning of more hikes in 2026.

There are several reasons for this:

* PJM began tightening how it credits renewables and storage for reliability, meaning 100 megawatts of solar might only count as 8–10 megawatts of dependable supply.

* At the same time, demand exploded, led by the AI and data center boom centered in Northern Virginia but spreading to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and beyond.

* Clogged interconnection queues, aging gas plants, and supply chain problems for new natural gas turbines have all contributed as well.

* New solar, wind, and battery projects wait years in line to connect to PJM’s grid. That means cheaper resources can’t enter the market quickly enough, keeping supply tight and prices high.

PJM’s CEO has said the organization is “open to discussions” but warned reforms could “take some time.”

There are a lot of unknowns that need to be answered about what it would look like if states wanted to strike out on their own. But the fact that governors are even considering it shows that this is a crisis.

Where Solar Fits Into The Puzzle

PJM’s rules make it harder for solar to show its full value. In recent capacity auctions, PJM tightened the way it credits renewable energy toward reliability.

A solar project that can generate 100 megawatts of electricity is only counted as 8–10 megawatts of dependable capacity because PJM assumes it won’t always be producing at peak times. This conservative math means it takes far more renewable bids to meet the region’s demand curve, which drives auction prices higher.

But because it’s so fast to deploy, solar is the fastest-growing and most affordable source of new energy in PJM’s territory.

Solar is a way to bring new supply online quickly, lower long-term costs, and reduce reliance on older coal and gas plants that depend heavily on capacity revenues to survive.

Governors are frustrated that PJM’s slow approval process leaves new solar projects stuck in interconnection queues for years, delaying their ability to compete and drive down prices.

In short, families across the PJM region are seeing higher bills partly because solar and other clean energy projects aren’t being connected fast enough.

Governor Shapiro has argued that because Pennsylvania is a net energy producer, it can host new energy-hungry industries and expand renewables like solar, but only if PJM clears the backlog and lets solar projects move forward.

Under the current rules, the value solar provides is discounted, its growth is slowed, and the region remains more dependent on older, more expensive generation. Most Governors pressing PJM for reform see solar as central to both cutting bills and meeting the demand surge from AI and electrification.

Sources:

PJM Explained | NRDC

PJM and the capacity crunch | Latitude Media

Pennsylvania leaving regional electricity grid is still on the table, Shapiro says

Pennsylvania Threatens to Go ‘Own Way’ If Grid Won’t Change

Soaring Power Bills in Largest US Grid Pose Risk for Republicans - Bloomberg

Governors push PJM to hold down power costs - E&E News by POLITICO

States threaten to leave PJM without expanded role in grid operator | Utility Dive

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

This week, Aaron Nichols sits down with Zoë Gaston, Principal Analyst for Distributed Solar at Wood Mackenzie, to dig into her data. Zoë shares what her team is seeing in 2025 installation trends, how the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act RA is shaping the market, and why third-party ownership (TPO) is likely to surge.

Here’s her LinkedIn

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

* How Q1 and Q2 2025 residential solar installs compare to last year.

* Why third-party ownership (leasing and PPAs) are expected to grow rapidly starting in 2026.

* How great installers differentiate themselves through trust, service, and diversification.

Quotes from the Episode:

“Our modeling showed installs could be as much as 40% lower in a low case scenario. But the industry will adapt.” – Zoë Gaston

“The best installers are the ones who care about their customers and can come back later with storage or other products.” – Zoë Gaston

Transcript:

Aaron Nichols:Hello, everyone and welcome back to This Week in Solar. I'm your host, Aaron Nichols, the Research and Policy Specialist here at Exact Solar in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

And today’s episode is very special because it’s literally brought to you by solar. I’m out on the road—my girlfriend and I are doing a working road trip—and this wouldn’t be possible without an off-grid solar setup, a battery bank, and Starlink. So I’m very grateful for that.

You may hear some nature noises; that’s because I’m recording outside today. Now, today’s guest is someone I’ve had nothing but positive interactions with and I’m happy to have gotten to know in person. She’s an analyst at Wood Mackenzie and covers distributed solar. It’s just been a delight to interact with you every time. It’s Zoë Gaston, ladies and gentlemen.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Welcome to the show. I’d love if you could give listeners a broad overview of who Wood Mackenzie is and what you all do in this space.

Zoë Gaston:Definitely. Wood Mackenzie is a global research and consulting firm, but my team and focus is the U.S. distributed solar research team.

Primarily, we publish research reports on the state of the U.S. solar market—how installations have trended. We put out forecasts for where we expect the market to go over the next five to ten years. We talk to many folks across the industry to gather data and trends—really, what’s going on right now.

Aaron Nichols:Okay, and what’s on most people’s minds lately has been the effective repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act. Since I work for a distributed solar company and you cover distributed solar nationwide, I’m curious what you’re seeing and how you think distributed solar companies can prepare.

Zoë Gaston:We’re finalizing our Q2 installation data now. We have Q1 2025 data—Q1 is typically the lowest quarter for residential solar due to seasonality, but this Q1 was particularly low: down about 10–15% versus Q1 2024, and Q1 2024 was already low.

We don’t have all of Q2 yet, but we do have Arizona, and installs there were down about 20% quarter-over-quarter in Q2. I’m anticipating Q2 will remain pretty low overall.

The first half of 2025 was strange: continued high interest rates impacting demand; bankruptcies of two major financing players, Mosaic and Sunnova; and uncertainty about whether tax credits would go away. That uncertainty made the customer sales pitch tougher.

Now that the bill has been signed into law, I’m hearing from installers that sales are ticking up—there’s urgency for homeowners with 25D to qualify before year-end. So I expect an uptick in Q3 and a strong Q4.

Aaron Nichols:Yeah, on our end the lead volume and sales spike has been amazing. Incentives going away is, in the short term, the best imaginable marketing for solar—though long term, we’ll see. We’re booking into January now, so a nice backlog is forming, but we are navigating a new world.

What are you all preparing for at Wood Mackenzie? Many said we needed a reasonable phase-down, not a cliff. Some call this a cliff—residential loses incentives after decades, and commercial phases out faster. What are you preparing for?

Zoë Gaston:In Q2 (around May), after the House bill came out, we updated our forecast modeling. We built a low case assuming a worst-case scenario: after 2025, no residential systems qualify for 25D or Section 48 ITC. Under that scenario, we expect a sizable drop-off in 2026–2027.

Comparing 2025 to 2029 capacity, that low case could be ~40% lower than our base case (which assumes no ITC changes), and it also assumes more pessimistic interest and retail rate outcomes. Think of that as the floor.

There is upside: based on the bill’s language, third-party-owned (TPO) systems can continue to qualify for the ITC after 2025. That’s up in the air pending the executive order and Treasury guidance. If retail rates rise and interest rates ease, that also adds upside.

Assuming TPO qualifies, I expect a 25D-driven uptick in 2025, a contraction in 2026 once 25D is gone, and then a significant rise in TPO market share starting in 2026 that could last several years. I’m hearing many loan-/cash-only installers are shifting to TPO. I also expect more diversification—storage, small commercial, service, HVAC, roofing—anything to offset the slowdown.

Aaron Nichols:As someone looking at the market in depth, what do great installers do that others don’t? What helps them stand the test of time and weather downturns?

Zoë Gaston:From the installers I speak with, smaller local companies often build real relationships and trust with customers and can return later to offer storage or other products. Companies that genuinely care about customer outcomes—saving money, clear communication—stand out.

Aaron Nichols:What are you optimistic about going forward? Personally, I think telling Americans they can’t have something they used to have creates a backlash—some will go solar out of defiance, which oddly makes me optimistic.

Zoë Gaston:I think the industry will adapt. Even installers who don’t plan to offer TPO are looking to cut costs. Some say they’ll “eat” that 30% next year to offer customers IRA-like pricing—how they’ll do it remains to be seen, but I’m hearing consistent determination to keep solar affordable.

This could weed out bad actors who can’t operate in the new environment. Longer term, costs can come down, and the sector can emerge stronger.

Aaron Nichols:I’m fired up. It was fun entering solar during strong incentives, but I’m a contrarian—it’s energizing to have a fight. I’m excited for the next few years and to have my job be active defiance instead of the accepted norm.

Zoë Gaston:I started this role in 2022 right when the IRA passed—so a lot has changed. It’s been a tough few years, but residential solar will come out the other side.

Aaron Nichols:It’s been going a long time. When I interviewed Nico Johnson for the first episode (airing in a couple weeks), I said I’ve been blown away by how close-knit the long-timers are—same conferences, best friends, godparents to each other’s kids. That’ll be us in ten years. I’m excited to work with these people.

As younger folks now receiving the baton, what can we do to carry it forward?

Zoë Gaston:In my role, I aim to be objective: track trends, explain what’s happening, and offer informed expectations. My goal is to keep providing data that helps the industry understand conditions, adapt, and move forward.

Aaron Nichols:Sounds good. I’ll be over here fighting. Last one—a moonshot question I’m asking everyone. At my grandma’s 80th birthday, I realized she was born into a world without what we now call renewable energy. Ten years after the Rural Electrification Act, nine years before the first PV cell (1954). Carter put solar on the White House in 1979. Within her lifetime we went from nothing to affordable renewables.

If we’re extrapolating—and we’ll both be gone—what does renewable energy look like in 80 years?

Zoë Gaston:Great question. Technology could be far more advanced—maybe entirely different. Panels will be much more efficient. Maybe truly solar-powered cars. Maybe we can project solar power onto buildings instead of installing it. Full electrification. We’ll see.

Aaron Nichols:Thank you so much for doing this, Zoë. It’s been fun to talk to friends for work, and I’m grateful you made the time. Where do you like to be found?

Zoë Gaston:On LinkedIn—search my name, Zoë Gaston. I periodically post updates about our research.

Aaron Nichols:I realize I said your name wrong at the beginning—I’ll try to edit that out. Thanks again for making the time. You can find Zoë’s work on LinkedIn—she posts educational charts from her analyst work and is worth following.

Zoë Gaston:Thanks for having me.

Aaron Nichols:That’s This Week in Solar. See you next week.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

Hello readers and listeners of This Week In Solar! I’m out on vacation, so I thought now would be the perfect time for a check-in.

We just published our 28th episode of This Week In Solar. I’d love to know how we’re doing, so I wrote a few survey questions. I don’t expect anyone to answer all of them, but any feedback, no matter how brutal, is welcome.

See you next week!

One:

Two:

Three:

Four:

Five:

Six:

Seven:

Is there anything we’re not doing that you’d love to see? Leave a comment below!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com

This week, Aaron Nichols sits down with Nicole Burford, VP of Market Development and Sustainability at Clean Energy Credit Union.

Here’s her LinkedIn

Expect to Learn:

* How the loss of the federal tax credit is pushing solar financiers toward simpler, more transparent loans for homeowners.

* How state incentives in places like New Jersey and Colorado are driving adoption, even without federal support.

* What makes Clean Energy Credit Union different from commercial lenders.

Quotes from the Episode:

“Solar is still extremely affordable. Compared to utilities, it’s going to win every time.”

– Nicole Burford

“Every dollar deposited in Clean Energy Credit Union directly funds another member’s clean energy project.”

– Nicole Burford

You can listen to this episode here, or on:

* YouTube

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

Transcript:

Aaron Nichols:Hello everyone and welcome back to This Week in Solar. I'm your host Aaron Nichols, the Research and Policy Specialist here at Exact Solar in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

And today, we have someone from a world that we haven't spoken to yet—financing for clean energy. It's obviously a very important piece, and it's something that I know very little about, so I'm excited for today's conversation.

Nicole Burford, if you'd like to introduce yourself.

Nicole Burford:Absolutely. I'm Nicole Burford, VP of Market Development and Sustainability at Clean Energy Credit Union. We're a credit union solely focused on clean energy financing.

Aaron Nichols:Okay, and now that the IRA has effectively been repealed, there’s a lot of people running in different directions, wondering what the future of clean energy looks like. From your perspective, what are the problems you’ve been dealing with since early July?

Nicole Burford:Absolutely. Well, it was a quick change for the industry. Solar has a long tail—it usually takes six months from financing to completing a loan, from pre-approval through installation and PTO.

So, when we found out what was really going to happen, we only had about five months. That made it a challenge to quickly get new products to market.

Since July, we’ve been evaluating what financing looks like without a tax credit. Up until now, all of our products have been designed to accommodate the tax credit—30% balloon loans, 15-month amortization, products that floated that 30% until the customer got their tax credit.

Clean Energy Credit Union started lending in 2018, and all that time the tax credit was always there. So now, we’re asking: what does financing look like without it?

One opportunity is simplification. Balloon loans and combo loans are hard to explain. Now, we can move to more straightforward installment loans—like a mortgage—what consumers already know and are comfortable with. It’s more transparent and easier to understand.

Aaron Nichols:Okay, and for anyone listening who doesn’t know about balloon or combo loans—correct me if I’m wrong—the idea was you’d have an 18-month period where 30% of the loan was floated until you claimed the tax credit, then you’d pay that off, and the rest would stretch over 12, 15, or 20 years?

Nicole Burford:Exactly. The installment portion was the other 70%. We were supporting customers during that period while they applied for and received their tax credit.

Aaron Nichols:So other than simplicity, what benefits do you see coming for homeowners or project owners?

Nicole Burford:At the end of the day, solar is still extremely affordable compared to utilities. Financing comes with fixed rates—you know your payment for the next 20 years. Utilities, on the other hand, are unpredictable.

Projections show rate increases across the country, especially in PJM’s region. So solar is still the most affordable option. Even without the federal tax credit, state-level incentives are strong—like here in Colorado, or in New Jersey. Hopefully, utilities themselves will also step in.

Aaron Nichols:Yeah, I’m presenting tomorrow on how New Jersey’s state incentives helped it outpace Pennsylvania. New Jersey keeps updating its requirements, while Pennsylvania hasn’t updated theirs since 2005.

So, how do you see this impacting installers?

Nicole Burford:It’s an opportunity for installers to educate homeowners on costs—hard vs. soft costs—and on payback over time. Financing has been complicated, but simpler loans will help.

As a member-owned organization, we’ve always focused on transparency, but people still got caught off guard when their 18-month balloon period ended. Simpler, straightforward installment loans will eliminate that confusion.

Aaron Nichols:Talk to me about what makes Clean Energy Credit Union unique, because I love your story. I even recommended you to my parents when they considered financing their system.

Nicole Burford:Absolutely—my favorite topic. Clean Energy Credit Union got its charter in 2017, started lending in 2018, and was built to fill a gap in the marketplace. Before us, homeowners faced liens on their houses or high-interest loans.

Our vision is a world where everyone can participate in the clean energy movement. Inclusivity is core—we want everyone to have access to affordable capital.

As a cooperative, we’re member-owned. Our field of membership is mission-based: you join because you want to advance clean energy. We work with 22 organizations like ASES and Solar United Neighbors.

Every dollar deposited into the credit union directly funds another member’s clean energy project. On our website, every photo is from real members. We even send them t-shirts in exchange for their photos!

Aaron Nichols:So you’re investing people’s capital in clean energy rather than in the stock market?

Nicole Burford:Exactly. Traditional banks invest deposits in whatever will make them money. We invest deposits into members’ solar, efficiency, and green home projects.

Aaron Nichols:That’s so amazing. And you finance DIY solar projects too, which most lenders don’t.

Nicole Burford:Right. In addition to solar loans, we offer loans for green home improvements—things like energy efficiency upgrades. We’re always looking to expand as new technologies emerge.

Aaron Nichols:Yeah, it’s an incredible time for innovation. I’ve been describing this moment as the “Empire Strikes Back” of our industry—we just had our hand cut off, but we’ll move forward stronger.

Nicole Burford:I like that. The good thing is, adoption is higher than ever. If this had happened 10 years ago, it would’ve been very different. Today, most people know someone with solar, which will help lessen the impact of losing the tax credit.

Aaron Nichols:Exactly. It’s crazy to think we’re still digging up and burning stuff for power when we have better technologies.

Nicole Burford:Yeah, dead dinosaurs! We know sustainable methods exist, and the sun isn’t going anywhere. Harnessing it at low cost and high efficiency is the future.

Aaron Nichols:Well, to bring it home, I’ll ask you my moonshot question. At my grandma’s 80th birthday, I realized she was born in 1945—into a world without renewable energy. Within her lifetime, we went from no PV cells to affordable solar.

So, 80 years from now, what does clean energy look like?

Nicole Burford:I hope in 80 years clean energy is just energy—that the grid is entirely renewable. Solar, wind, and technologies we haven’t even discovered yet.

I hope it’s not politicized, that storage and efficiency solutions are widespread, and that it’s simply the norm. I won’t be here in 80 years, but hopefully in 50, we’ll see those implications as we move toward a truly clean grid.

Aaron Nichols:That’s a beautiful vision. Where can people find you if they want to connect?

Nicole Burford:You can find me on LinkedIn under my name, Nicole Burford, or at the Clean Energy Credit Union website. We’re always looking to expand partnerships and spread our message.

Aaron Nichols:Awesome. And for anyone listening, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel or Substack. We send out weekly emails with these episodes and a Friday news roundup.

Thanks again, Nicole.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com