Today’s headlines: A renewables record on the horizon, Vineyard Wind starts selling power, and more

This roundup of U.S. energy news headlines is part of our Canary Media Daily newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

CLEAN ENERGY

• Reports find the U.S. renewable energy sector could install a record amount of new capacity in 2026 and attract $120 billion in investment as developers race to meet demand growth and claim expiring federal tax credits. (Latitude Media)

SOLAR

• California’s Energy Commission overrides local and environmental opposition to approve the proposed 300-MW Soda Mountain solar-plus-storage project in the Mojave Desert at the urging of climate advocates. (San Bernardino Sun, news release)

ENERGY STORAGE

• Tennessee Valley Authority inks a deal with Plus Power for a 200-MW battery in Alabama, a facility that would be one of the first large-scale battery projects in the utility’s territory. (Utility Dive)

• Chinese battery maker CATL signs its first major deal to provide sodium-ion battery storage to a power equipment manufacturer, a step forward for the technology that the International Energy Agency says could have a ​“pivotal year” in 2026. (Bloomberg)

WIND

• Vineyard Wind begins selling power to Massachusetts at a rate officials say will save residents 1.4 cents per kilowatt-hour. (New Bedford Light)

GRID

• PJM opens its interconnection queue for the first time since 2022 after pausing requests to deal with a massive backlog. (E&E News)

MIDDLE EAST ENERGY SHOCK

• Even though the U.S. is the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, it has no spare capacity to make up for the loss of Qatari gas caused by the Strait of Hormuz’s closure. (New York Times)

• Crude oil futures hit their highest levels in weeks on Tuesday in the absence of a deal that opens up the Strait of Hormuz. (Axios)

• U.S. gasoline prices hit a record high since the start of the war with Iran, jumping to a national average of $4.23 per gallon. (The Guardian)

MINING

• President Donald Trump signs a measure that strips protections from land around Minnesota’s Boundary Waters wilderness area and opens it up to mining. (The Hill)

DATA CENTERS

• The data center boom is poised to spike demand for power equipment, Wood Mackenzie reports, warning that the AI buildout could be thwarted by an inadequate supply of that tech. (E&E News)

• Organizers who defeated a data center development in a small Wisconsin city have built a toolkit to help other communities do the same. (Next City)

INDUSTRY

• Pennsylvania will use $267 million in Biden-era climate funding to support 31 projects cutting industrial emissions. (E&E News)