Around the world, a wave of large battery installations is lining up to be connected to the grid this year — from solar hubs in Texas to grasslands in Inner Mongolia and the site of a former coal plant north of Sydney.
Falling costs and soaring energy demand from data centers had already set the stage for rapid growth. The war in the Middle East has accelerated the trend by boosting demand for alternatives to expensive fossil fuels, setting 2026 up to be the year batteries become influential in the global energy system. BloombergNEF analysts had already expected installations to jump by about a third this year, led by expansion in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. That momentum could build further if fuel disruptions persist.
Signs of the ramp-up are already emerging. A Chinese battery manufacturer has forecast a sharp rise in first-quarter profit as global demand picks up. In Vietnam, a developer is seeking approval to replace a planned LNG-to-power project with a renewables-and-storage project, citing the surge in fuel costs linked to the war.
“We’ve now crossed into a point where anytime anyone is looking at investing in the power system, batteries are one of the most attractive options,” said Brent Wanner, head of the power sector unit at the International Energy Agency. “Battery storage systems will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.”
Delta Air Lines Inc. quietly scrubbed a pair of key environmental targets from its sustainability web page .
The Atlanta-based carrier deleted its pledge to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for 10% of its jet fuel by 2030. It also rephrased its quest to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 as an “aspiration,” rather than a “goal.”
A Delta spokesperson said the carrier still sees SAF as one of the most important ways to decarbonize flight, but its slow development threatens the industry’s climate ambitions. “While we have successfully increased use of SAF every year, we recognize that the technology has not advanced as rapidly as the industry requires,” said the spokesperson.
Delta generated about 60 million tons of heat-trapping emissions in 2024. That’s equivalent to the entire climate footprint of Ireland or Hungary. Like most airlines, it has long touted sustainable jet fuel — made from feedstocks like animal fat or used cooking oil — as a critical lever to cut its emissions.
The case holds particular relevance in Louisiana, where the oil and gas industry remains a major employer and the coastal region has steadily vanished in recent decades.
The Supreme Court on Friday sided with oil giant Chevron, ruling that it can fight an environmental damage lawsuit in federal court — a decision that could affect the outcomes of nearly a dozen other lawsuits that make similar allegations about the oil and gas industry.
The unanimous decision puts into question a $745 million state court judgment against Chevron to help restore coastal wetlands in Louisiana that were damaged as long ago as World War II. Chevron had asked the Supreme Court to order the case moved to federal court, where legal experts say judges and juries are less likely to have a bias toward local interests. A move to federal court also means the massive judgment could be vacated.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. did not participate in the case. Shortly before arguments in January, he recused himself, citing financial interests in ConocoPhillips, the parent of Burlington Resources Oil & Gas, a party in a related case.
Batteries are reshaping the U.S. energy system, not to mention the automotive and defense industries. But the movement to unlock affordable battery recycling just hit another setback.
The startup Ascend Elements has outlasted several rival battery recycling firms that ran out of money. It has operated a battery-disassembly plant near Atlanta since 2023, and is building a facility in Kentucky to turn ground-up batteries into useful ingredients for new units. Now, however, the company’s future is up in the air: It filed for bankruptcy on April 9, with company leadership citing “insurmountable” financial difficulties.
Ascend’s descent is indicative of the broader travails of the would-be battery-recycling industry, which was supposed to figure out what to do with all the old batteries that will pile up from the electric-vehicle revolution.
In the early years of the Biden administration, it looked like the venture capitalists were about to instigate a lithium-ion recycling revolution. Safely shredding old batteries was time-consuming and laborious, and retrieving valuable components was even harder. VCs funded a class of latter-day alchemists who bragged about shredding faster and cheaper, retrieving nearly 100% of the useful material from spent batteries, and then selling it right back into the supply chain. But those entrepreneurs struggled to achieve that performance at real, commercial-scale recycling facilities. Several diminished their ambitions for what they could actually recycle, a retreat that typically presaged corporate collapse.
The Trump administration created an even more challenging environment for these companies. Last year, it killed electric vehicle incentives for consumers, prompting many U.S. automakers to lose their nerve and pivot away from assertive EV plans.
The faltering American demand for EVs — and the batteries that power them — has rippled through the supply chain. Ascend faced financial headwinds as buyers of recycled battery materials pushed back their timelines, company leadership told Canary Media last year. The firm also nixed plans to produce cathode active material after agreeing to give up a $164 million federal grant in 2025, and then lost another $110 million from a separate federal grant.
It’s possible that Ascend has viable technology but never got to fully unleash it. The company “had a long history of fiscal and operational mismanagement,” as its own president and CEO, Linh Austin, wrote in a LinkedIn post last week. He promised to use Chapter 11 proceedings to “reset and move forward,” not give up.
Some legacy recyclers are still shredding away, like Cirba Solutions, which launched 35 years ago. And at least one recycling startup is making news for reasons unrelated to bankruptcy.
Redwood Materials has been grinding up gigawatt-hours of used batteries for years at its campus outside Reno, Nevada, down the road from a Tesla Gigafactory. However, the new initiative that Redwood has been proudly touting is not a recycling breakthrough but a clever reuse of lightly worn EV packs as cheap grid storage. Redwood recently confirmed that it will expand its flagship used-battery installation, which powers modular data centers, and announced this week that it will repurpose 100 Rivian packs to store energy for the EV company’s factory in Illinois.
State Rep. Perry Warren said that his legislation to reduce plastic bottle waste by encouraging the use of reusable water bottles has passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and now advances to the Senate for further consideration.
House Bill 1139 would require the installation of water bottle filling stations in newly constructed and substantially renovated Pennsylvania government buildings, helping reduce reliance on single-use plastic bottles while improving public access to clean drinking water.
“This legislation is about reducing waste, improving public health, and setting an example for sustainable practices across Pennsylvania,” Warren said.
The concept for the bill, Warren recalled, began with a conversation in his district office with a student intern about the growing prevalence of disposable plastic water bottles. That conversation prompted deeper reflection and research.
“Soon after, I traveled to Grand Teton National Park, used a water bottle filling station at Philadelphia International Airport on the way, and visited a display at the national park visitor center highlighting plastic water bottle waste,” Warren said. “Those three experiences led me to conceive a bill that would reduce plastic water bottle waste by encouraging an alternative to disposable bottles.”
States are starting to embrace plug-and-play solar. Get up to speed on the cost, payback, and safety bona fides of the systems before they hit shelves near you.
Plug-in solar could be coming soon to a balcony near you. (Yuma Solar/Unsplash; Binh Nguyen/Canary Media)
The DIY systems, which you can hang on a balcony and plug into a normal 120-volt outlet, help lower energy bills and carbon emissions. Already huge in Germany, solar that’s as easy to install as an appliance would be a game changer for the four out of 10 U.S. households that can’t get rooftop systems for financial or logistical reasons.
In 2025, deep-red Utah became the first state to pass a bill making it easier to adopt plug-in solar systems. So far this year, four more states have all advanced similar measures — and nearly two dozen others are weighing bills of their own.
Considering a balcony power plant yourself? Check our tracker to see the status of plug-in solar legislation in your state, and keep reading for some FAQs on the tech.
What is balcony (or plug-in) solar?
Balcony solar systems are modest in size, ranging from just one to a few solar panels. Most states, including California and New York, are considering capping systems at 1,200 watts — a sixth of the average home-solar installation.
The panels connect to an inverter that converts their direct current into alternating current, the kind our homes use. A plug from the inverter fits into a typical 120-volt outlet (15 or 20 amps), pumping the power of the sun directly into a home’s existing wiring.
The systems can cover a small but meaningful fraction of a home’s electricity use: An 800-watt unit can power the equivalent of a fridge or a few small appliances when the sun’s shining.
