Michael Skelly knows it’s hard to build a huge transmission line that connects different regions of the grid. He has spent a decade trying to get one up and running. But Skelly, now CEO of Grid United, thinks his current attempt to build a first-of-its-kind transmission line is on the right track. And he’s gotten...
Articles by Canary Media
The US built more grid batteries last quarter than ever before
There’s never been a better time to build energy storage in the U.S. than right now. Grid batteries — which sop up power when it’s abundant and discharge that energy when it’s needed — have been ascendant for a decade, as the price of the underlying lithium-ion cells fell precipitously. Bolstered by plummeting costs and...
How much of a threat do heat waves pose to nuclear plants?
Europe’s increasingly hot summers come with a worrying trend. The air conditioning that the continent long eschewed as an American indulgence is becoming a necessity, and some of the nuclear reactors needed to run those cooling units are tapping out right as thermometers spike. This summer was especially bad: The series of extreme heat waves...
California Legislature passes balcony solar bill
Californians could soon put solar panel kits on balconies and in backyards to lower their electric bills — without utility approval. On Wednesday, state lawmakers passed the Plug and Play Solar Act (Senate Bill 868) to legalize balcony solar, a form of DIY clean energy that’s taken off in Germany. The bill, which garnered bipartisan...
Arizona is having a grid battery growth spurt. Will that last?
California and Texas have led the charge on America’s grid battery revolution. Now, a third state is racing to catch up: Arizona. The Grand Canyon State installed more battery capacity than every state besides Texas over the first half of 2026, per a Canary Media analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data. It’s the continuation...
Sage Geosystems brings its first next-gen geothermal plant online
Sage Geosystems has hit a big milestone out on a rugged tract near San Antonio: The startup is producing power from its first next-generation geothermal plant. The system is just the third of its kind to come online in the U.S. as the sector races to commercialize the source of on-demand clean electricity. The novel...
This software firm has a plan to take grid-enhancing tech nationwide
A major grid-tech company is asking the Trump administration to fund a project it says could significantly boost the nation’s ability to move power around — without building a single new transmission tower or line. Open Access Technology International (OATI) is a Minneapolis-based firm whose software is used by nearly every North American transmission grid operator to manage the flow...
The hidden innovation behind Antora’s massive new heat battery
A giant energy-storage project in South Dakota will soon turn cheap wind energy into clean industrial steam for a neighboring biofuels facility. The startup Antora Energy said it recently began booting up a 5-gigawatt-hour thermal energy storage system at Poet’s ethanol-production plant near Big Stone City, close to the Minnesota border. With a fleet of more than 200 batteries, Antora’s project is expected to become...
Connecticut and Maine team up to fast-track renewables
Maine and Connecticut are considering working together to build renewable-energy projects faster, a strategy that could be repeated throughout the region as states with ambitious emissions-reduction goals race to take advantage of federal tax credits before they disappear. “They’re trying to collaborate, trying to coordinate,” said Francis Pullaro, president of clean-energy trade association Renew Northeast. “This is...
California can’t get out of its own way on geothermal
In the early 2000s, the owners of the Mammoth Pacific geothermal station proposed expanding the plant into an area just east of California’s Yosemite National Park. The project boasted on its website in 2004 that the potential new wells, which would be located in one of the state’s richest heat resources, had been “carefully chosen to reduce or avoid potential environmental...









