James F. Lavin

From Forbes Reprints: Project developers now specializing in thermal energy storage - capturing nearly FREE renewable energy as heat for industry. 100% first-year depreciation is back - the same tax advantage that fueled the renewable boom. Learn More: https://lnkd.in/gVpPmCeE 

18

SEIA/Wood Mackenzie’s latest data shows U.S. community solar installations fell 25% in 2025 after a record 2024, but the forward outlook is more nuanced than the headline suggests. Virginia is a market to watch. Data center load growth, especially in Dominion territory, is increasing pressure on how generation, transmission, and distribution costs are recovered. That dynamic can make community solar subscriber economics more compelling, but only if your rate assumptions actually capture what is happening at the component level. Markets like New Jersey are still expanding; installations there grew 31% last year. In contrast, Virginia’s shared solar market is moving beyond pilot-scale constraints through ongoing legislative and regulatory changes. And Wood Mackenzie expects rising retail rates to remain an important support for distributed solar economics as federal tax support becomes less central. The flat 2-3% escalator that most models default to does not tell you much when capacity riders, T&D recovery mechanisms, and policy overlays are all moving in different directions. The developers and investors who decompose those components are the ones pricing projects accurately. #CommunitySolar #RetailRateForecasting #ProjectFinance #DistributedEnergy #EnergyIntelligence

4

2 Comments

The DOE funding pullback is clarifying for climate tech investments, not catastrophic. The Department of Energy's decision to return over $13 billion in unobligated clean-energy funds has spooked founders who built capital strategies around grant timelines. Reality check: this is a policy reprioritization toward fewer discretionary grants and longer timelines, not a sector shutdown. What hasn't changed: projects with real economics still get funded. The Loan Programs Office continues approving disbursements for revenue-generating projects—manufacturing scale-up, grid infrastructure, nuclear restarts. DOE's Mine of the Future initiative and critical minerals programs remain active, supporting technologies that secure domestic supply chains. At MFV Partners, we stayed disciplined while others chased 2021-2023 IRA momentum. Those bets are struggling now. We focused on energy deep tech that works without subsidy dependency—solutions that pencil out regardless of administration. Our portfolio reflects this: Conifer builds rare-earth-free powertrains using ferrite magnets, directly addressing supply-chain bottlenecks while improving power density and enabling cleaner HVAC and mobility applications. SUN Mobility operates battery-swapping infrastructure for commercial fleets across India, Africa, and Southeast Asia—accelerating EV adoption in emerging markets while delivering ROI through better asset utilization. We have several other companies in stealth building similar economics-first solutions that drive real climate impact. What founders should do now: Use grants to derisk R&D where available, but build your scale path around customer pilots and project finance. Treat supply-chain resilience as a product feature. Prove the economics: predictable throughput, demonstrated reliability, and numbers that work with conservative assumptions. The fundamentals haven't changed. Electrification and grid modernization are productivity upgrades—lower costs, higher availability, better payback. That's where capital flows, regardless of headlines. We're continuing to invest actively in energy and electrification deep tech. If you're building solutions with strong unit economics that accelerate the energy transition, reach out. https://lnkd.in/gUfdzRXH https://lnkd.in/gNGm9zyM

49

3 Comments

PowerBank Advances 2.8 MW Day Hollow Solar Project in New York, With Capacity to Power 374 Homes PowerBank Corporation (NASDAQ: SUUN) (Cboe CA: SUNN) proudly announces that its 2.8 MW Day Hollow ground-mount solar project in upstate New York has secured site control, enabling progression to the interconnection study phase. #powerbank #SUUN #solarpower #solarproject #renewableenergy #communitysolar #NewYork https://lnkd.in/g6nGN-px

21

The US renewable energy market is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, driven by those who can expertly combine #innovation with a #globalvision. The consolidation of EBC Energy in the United States represents a significant milestone for technological excellence in the field, bringing advanced solutions to a highly competitive market. Here are the details of this expansion 👇🏻 Dario Biagi 🇺🇸🇮🇹 #Biogas #RNG #USMarket #RenewableEnergy #CleanTech #ProcessOptimization #Sustainability #Bioeconomy #WasteToEnergy

26

Part 2 of my blog series on why solar analysts understating forecasts is a big thing for metals markets. Here we look at #copper and #aluminium. And, while investors clearly appreciate the concerns for a copper supply/demand gap, the impact on aluminium is really not being appreciated enough. Next time I'll look at #silver and #antimony. https://lnkd.in/eZsNQJB4

5

1 Comment