#redsun

#redsun

"A stellarator is a thing that is objectively very difficult to design, objectively very difficult to build, but if it works, it can control the burning hot plasma better than a tokamak."

First Solar closed FY2025 with $9.54 billion in shareholder equity, $2.80 billion in cash, and total liabilities that fell 8.77% year over year, showcasing a stable and strengthening balance sheet.

"The nuclear power technology that is most common - light water reactors - was originally invented for nuclear submarines. There has actually always been a history of basically pre-fabbing it and looking at it in a shipyard context."

Zero eliminates diesel engines entirely, replacing them with an all-electric power and propulsion system with a DC grid at its core, and photovoltaic-thermal panels that capture the light and heat of solar energy.

"We were considering multiple forms of capital when we started. It just felt like the opportunity is so large that venture capital gives us the opportunity to take those risks upfront and have the possibility to generate an outsized return."

Data centers accounted for around 50% of all electricity demand growth in the U.S. last year, according to the IEA, far surpassing the rise in electricity usage in the residential, industrial, and transport sectors.

The most consequential shift for anyone considering rooftop solar in 2026 is the expiration of Section 25D, the Residential Clean Energy Credit. That 30% credit, which was worth up to $9,000 on a $30,000 system, is no longer available for home solar installations. The One Big Beautiful Bill, signed July 4, 2025, accelerated the phase-out that the Inflation Reduction Act had originally extended through 2034.

People who could afford to do it at that time realised that it was much cheaper and cost-effective and better for them in the long run to do a one-time investment in rooftop solar as opposed to keep paying high electricity bills from a grid that is also unreliable, said Nabiya Imran, an associate at Renewables First, a Pakistani thinktank.

"Americans deserve to know how much energy data centers are sucking up and what that's doing to their utility bills. The EIA's mandatory survey is an important first step towards holding data centers accountable, but people are hurting right now."

Photovoltaic (PV) solar energy represents a modular technology that can be manufactured in large-scale facilities, generating economies of scale, while also being adaptable to small-scale applications. From residential rooftop systems to large-scale power generation installations, photovoltaic solar energy has established itself as a cost-effective option for electricity production in many countries around the world.

When Specian dug into the data, he discovered that implementing energy-efficiency measures and shifting electricity usage to lower-demand times are two of the fastest and cheapest ways of meeting growing thirst for electricity. These moves could help meet much, if not all, of the nation's projected load growth. Moreover, they would cost only half-or less-what building out new infrastructure would, while avoiding the emissions those operations would bring.

We can keep tethering ourselves to volatile geopolitics, to fossil fuel prices we'll never control, and to an energy system built on instability and extraction-or we can choose the alternative that's right in front of us: harnessing the sun here at home on our own rooftops. By rapidly accelerating local solar in New York, we can build power right here in our communities, beyond the reach of coups, cartels, and commodity shocks.