Julian is a senior reporter at Canary Media, where he covers batteries and emerging technologies to store clean energy and unlock a carbon-free grid. He also reports on the clean hydrogen industry, and chases down clean energy breakthroughs in far-flung locales.
Prior to the launch of Canary Media in 2021, Julian covered the rise of the grid storage industry for much-loved industry news outlet Greentech Media. Previously he covered clean energy and transportation for CityLab at The Atlantic, and conducted grant-funded climate journalism in Bangladesh. His stories have appeared in The Guardian, HuffPost, Al Jazeera America, and other outlets. He speaks regularly at energy-related events and on podcasts. He graduated from Duke University and still misses Carolina barbecue, but enjoys investigating local cuisine wherever his reporting takes him.
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Long-duration energy storage
Used EV batteries could upend the race for long-duration storage
Redwood Materials says second-life batteries are the cheapest form of long-duration storage. If true, battery startups are in trouble — and renewables are in luck.By Julian Spector .
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Energy storage
A pioneering ‘second-life’ battery startup begins major Texas expansion
Armed with lessons from five years of hooking up used EV batteries to the grid in California, B2U is making a 100-MWh foray into Texas’ volatile energy market.By Julian Spector .
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Energy storage
Powin fueled the US grid storage boom. Then the company crashed.
The Oregon-based battery firm filed for bankruptcy this summer, jeopardizing its 11.3 gigawatt-hours of storage projects installed around the world.By Julian Spector .
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Utilities
Will the AI boom be powered by big, slow energy projects?
This week’s AI summit deepened a trend of datacenter developers hitching their hopes to old-school energy sources, from gas power plants to hydropower.By Julian Spector, Dan McCarthy .
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Clean energy manufacturing
US solar manufacturers face steeper hill despite some wins in budget law
Manufacturing incentives survived in the GOP budget law, but solar factories will have to navigate subdued demand and detailed new anti-China rules.By Julian Spector .
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Solar
The solar house is on fire, but Dean Solon is rushing back in
The self-made solar billionaire is forging on with a new U.S. manufacturing business, despite tariff uncertainty and the loss of tax credits.By Julian Spector .
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Energy storage
Redwood Materials built record grid storage project using old EV batteries
The EV battery recycler determined it could make good money by repurposing old battery packs for the grid, and found an eager data center customer.By Julian Spector .
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Energy storage
LG opens massive Michigan factory to make LFP batteries for the grid
The $1.4 billion investment onshores production of a popular battery chemistry that had been almost exclusively made in China, amid tariff and tax policy uncertainty.By Julian Spector .
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Energy storage
Could the Senate budget throw a lifeline to energy storage?
Grid batteries have surged since they got their own tax credit in 2023. The Senate could spare grid storage projects while cutting incentives for wind and solar.By Julian Spector .
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Hydrogen
The billion-dollar US green hydrogen boom ended before it ever began
Even before Trump and fellow Republicans began pulling the financial rug out from under the industry, green hydrogen megaprojects were collapsing. Here’s why.By Julian Spector .
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