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Good morning and happy Friday,

With the midterms just weeks away, the President is embarking on a red-state tour that’s “raising eyebrows and anxiety among Republicans;” and as GOP senators prepare for a pre-election recess, they’re “fending off some final curveballs” from POTUS.

Fortunately, Senate negotiators were in fact able to reach an agreement on permitting language; a vote on the legislation is expected after the election (see Must Read, below). The Senate also voted on the Ratepayer Protection Act, which failed 57-43, “short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.”

Global oil and U.S. gasoline prices have softened slightly, but diesel prices remain high, and President Trump said this week that an export ban is still on the table, as the U.S. told France and Germany to release diesel stocks to help ease prices.

Meanwhile, the administration has proposed new fuel efficiency standards that are expected to lower the cost of a 2031 vehicle by about $1,300, but the cost of additional fuel needed “through the life of the vehicles would increase by about $1,600 on average.”

As for renewables, in a recent interview with Axios, ACP CEO Jason Grumet underscored the high stakes of permitting reform, noting that while wind and solar development is expected to remain strong through at least 2027, "If the administration continues to block the permitting of clean power, you'll start to see a cliff."

Read on for more.

417 Pages, 100 Gigawatts

In a reversal from last week’s reports that permitting reform was stalled until after the midterm recess, Senate negotiators have now reached a bipartisan deal and are positioning the legislation for a vote when lawmakers return after the midterm elections. Here’s a Cliffs Notes version of the sweeping, 417-page Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA):

Faster, more predictable permitting: BAAJA would narrow certain environmental reviews, impose tighter timelines, shorten litigation windows, and make it harder to revoke approved permits. It also creates potential remedies for certain patterns of federal delay, and proposes a centralized digital permitting portal to coordinate agency reviews.
Wind and solar: BAAJA would explicitly protect wind and solar projects from blanket federal delays or discriminatory permitting practices, including restrictions on agencies blocking an entire class of energy projects (e.g., offshore wind). However, negotiators are still seeking assurances from the administration that wind and solar permitting will return to “regular order.”
Transmission and interconnection: BAAJA would expand FERC’s role in interstate transmission approvals, streamline regional planning and interconnection, clarify cost allocation, and promote grid-enhancing technologies and virtual power plants. Modeling suggests the reforms could enable nearly 100 GW of additional wind, solar and storage and 40 GW of interregional transmission by 2035.
Targeted support for geothermal and hydro: Geothermal would receive streamlined exploration and leasing rules, while hydropower would gain regulatory relief and expedited pathways for smaller projects.
Significant potential economic impact: C2ES analysis estimates roughly $7 billion in lower electricity-delivery costs by 2035, after accounting for $1.9 billion in additional transmission investment.
Environmental safeguards remain contested: Clean energy and transmission groups generally support the changes, while enviro NGOs argue they could weaken community participation and environmental protections.
Broader than clean energy: BAAJA would also streamline permitting for natural-gas generation and pipelines, making it a broad infrastructure reform rather than a clean-energy-only bill.

⚡️ The Takeaway

BAAJA to the future. The Senate is expected to consider BAAJA after the November 3 midterm elections, with amendments and further negotiations likely. Senate Democrats are still seeking greater certainty on wind and solar permitting. The bill could also “face a buzz saw” in the House, where several Democrats oppose it as written and key Republicans have yet to endorse the Senate package. For developers, BAAJA could materially change permitting and project economics—but its ultimate impact will depend on what survives Congress and how agencies and courts implement it.

New York Makes Storage Bankable

New York just put nearly 1.7 GW of new clean energy under contract, including 950 MW of utility-scale batteries and 719 MW of solar, wind, and hydro. The scale matters, but the procurement structure matters more. Plenty of states have ambitious storage targets. Almost none have solved the problem that keeps those targets on paper: batteries earn volatile wholesale revenue, lenders hate volatile revenue, and so the projects don't get financed. New York's answer is worth studying because other states will copy it. Here's how it works, and what it takes to win:

A 15-year revenue floor, with a ceiling. NYSERDA's contracts pay developers when wholesale earnings fall short of a project's required return, and claw back value when the market overperforms. That two-way structure is what turns a storage target into a financeable asset. Expect it to show up in other states' RFPs.
Price and position decide who wins. Winning bids had to show competitive pricing, project maturity, viability, and demonstrated system benefits. But the contract only backstops revenue; it doesn't replace it. Projects at congested or high-value nodes, with a sharp dispatch strategy, earn more on top of the floor. Interconnection point selection is now a bid strategy question, not just an engineering one.
Storage and generation were procured together. New York awarded renewables alongside the batteries, building a pool of low-cost clean generation that storage can shift into higher-value hours. Developers with hybrid or co-located pipelines are well positioned if the paired-procurement model spreads.
The target was set years ago. The money arrived this week. New York's 6 GW storage goal dates to 2019 and spent years stalled on exactly the financing gap this RFP solves. The gap between target and steel in the ground is where the opportunity sits, and it's where developers should be pushing their own state regulators.

⚡️ The Takeaway

The floor is the story. Storage doesn't get built on ambition; it gets built on contracts a bank will underwrite. New York's two-way, long-dated structure is the clearest template yet for bridging that gap, and the states with storage mandates and no deployment to show for them are watching. For developers, the bar in these procurements is now legible: a bankable revenue structure you can model, a node you chose on purpose, a mature project, and a grid benefit you can prove. It’s welcome progress in a state where it’s historically been difficult to get BESS built.

Fas-to and Loose-o With the Fact-so: An unlikely power player in the fight over solar on farmland
New Study: The great solar repowering
“Orbital Baseload Clean Power:” A data center company signed a PPA for solar power from space
Detailed Analysis: Twenty-two U.S. solar PV manufacturers included in first domestic Ratings Pyramid
Solar + Storage: Why Texas' power grid handled record electricity demand this summer
New Study: Competitive transmission in Texas could save ratepayers billions
BESS Buddies: US utilities Ameren Missouri, DTE Energy in Michigan, and Black Hills Energy in Colorado submit IRPs with highlighted BESS additions
Pricing In Uncertainty: Facilities are using 48E ITCs to make energy projects pencil out
Lasting Impacts: Most new US power is clean — but utilities are choosing gas for data centers
17.5 GW: Eight new gas plants will power Amazon's next wave of data centers
Glass Half Empty? Despite big Texas solar purchase agreement, Meta still uses lots of gas
Dig It: Could abandoned mines house Pennsylvania’s unwanted data centers?
A New Phase: The data center boom continues apace, but projects face mounting obstacles
A Three-Step Test for Voters: Should you trust a politician’s pivot on data centers?
Clinched It: Tennessee Valley Authority gets approval to build small nuclear reactor
465 SMRs: A startup wants to build a massive nuclear-powered data center on public land in Utah
$3 Billion Makeover: Large upgrade planned at Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant after power deal signed with Amazon
A 339-page Tome: A ‘wholesale revision’ of US nuclear rules is on the table
Filling a Gap: How to measure grid utilization
24,300 Times Stronger Than CO2: Climate super-pollutant from China’s electric grid is cooking the planet
News Roundup: The challenges and opportunities of clean energy in rural America

Batteries Hang Out

Commercial buildings may soon get a new kind of battery — one that doesn’t need a utility room, parking lot, or backyard. Startup Novele has raised $17 million to scale its unusual approach: two-inch-thick, fire-safe lithium-ion batteries that mount directly onto interior walls of offices, hospitals, and big-box stores.

The clever part isn’t just the form factor. Novele networks batteries distributed throughout a building and uses AI to learn its energy patterns — taking into account occupancy, weather, schedules, and other factors — then predicts when electricity demand is about to spike. Just before the peak, the system switches the building from grid power to stored energy, helping customers avoid expensive demand charges that can account for more than half of a commercial electricity bill.

Because the batteries can be scattered throughout a building rather than concentrated in one giant installation, Novele sees an even bigger opportunity: turning fleets of commercial buildings into virtual power plants. Instead of asking tenants to change when they use electricity, the batteries can automatically respond to grid needs.

That could make the technology a rare triple win: lower bills for building owners, less strain on the grid, and fewer carbon-intensive “peaker” power plants firing up during demand spikes — not to mention that distributed batteries could also absorb surplus solar and wind generation when supply outpaces demand.

Novele is already installing systems for Fortune 50 customers and is targeting high-cost markets including California, New York, New England, and PJM. We’ll be watching to see if behind-the-meter storage emerges as an important tool for getting more value from the clean generation we’re already building.

Thanks for diving into the Developer Dispatch with us.

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