At a July 10 conference, "The Great Transformation: A Data Center and Energy Innovation Summit," three panelists and attendees answered the question: Where do renewables go from here, given that the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill," will phase out the investment tax credit for solar and wind? Separate from the conference, longtime solar industry member Mike Hall, CEO at Anza, answered the question and provided details about how to deal with President Trump's tariffs.

More on the industry members interviewed for this podcast episode:

Adib Nasle, CEO and co-founder, Xendee

Thomas Lang, CTO and director of business development, AccuSolar

Laurel Hamilton, head of growth at Mayfield Renewables

Mike Hall, CEO at Anza

Musician AY Young has produced more than 950 renewable-energy powered concerts.

The artist, who was recognized as one of 17 U.N. Youth Leaders for Sustainable Development Goals, was inspired by his parents, who were community leaders and activists. His father transformed his neighborhood--which had four drug houses--block-by-block and created a neighborhood development plan. His mother became a state representative.

Young's aim is to produce 1,000 renewable-energy powered concerts and create an album, along with other artists. Each of 17 tracks will focus on a U.N. sustainable development goal. He also donates proceeds from his concerts to pay for clean energy in the communities he visits.

His work is important to the music industry, which generally powers off-grid events with diesel and fossil-fuel generators. For example, producing the Coachella Music and Arts Festival requires about 26 MW of power for site lighting, sound systems, video walls, production offices and catering infrastructure for a site that's 1 mile wide and 1.5 miles long.

Background reading:

Visit Young at AYmusik.com

To learn about the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill's" effect on clean energy, check out Bob Keefe's posts on LinkedIn

Also, this is an interesting take on the measure from Elisa Wood: Energy Trends Inadvertently Unleashed by the Big Beautiful Bill

Lower or Higher Prices for Renewable Energy in 2025? Energy Changemakers

Flexible Interconnection Programs from Utilities on the Rise Microgrid Knowledge

DER develoeprs, frustrated by interconnection delays, see the potential for cost and time savings through flexible interconnection programs.

Pilot projects from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and other utilities are demonstrating the value of flexible interconnection programs in which utilities allow customers to interconnect to the grid much more quickly than they would under traditional interconnection programs. In exchange, the customers agree to scale back or eliminate consumption when the utility needs power. Jessie Bauer, ComEd's manager of DER engineering and capacity planning, and Alex Collins, PG&E's manager of DERMS execution and operations, describe their pilot programs. Two hardware and software providers explain what's needed on the customer side, and a customer deploying fast chargers points to the benefits of such programs.

Background reading:

The Latest Version of the Big Beautiful Bill in One Chart : Energy Changemakers

With New Microgrid Funding, Texas Seeks to Avoid the Devastation of Storms Like Winter Storm Uri : Microgrid Knowledge

Recent Climate Setbacks Will Not Derail the Green Transition: World Resources Institute

Visit CleanEnergyWriters.com to learn about host Lisa Cohn. Email her at Lisa@CleanEnergyWriters.com with clean energy news and trends.