nick.nigro@atlaspolicy.com

As a new academic year gets underway at Caltech, part of the excitement on campus centers around the opening of the Institute's newest building: the Resnick Sustainability Center (RSC), which has been five years in the making. Located on the western edge of campus along Wilson Avenue, the striking four-story building will serve as a defining component of a major sustainability thrust at Caltech and strives to do something truly unique—to bring the entire campus together to address the warming planet's most pressing problems related to energy and resource utilization.

This project will install a 112-kW solar PV system on the roof of the SMATE Building [Science, Math and Technology Education]. Grant funding was received from the Department of Commerce to fund 80% of the project cost, and the remaining costs are expected to be covered by federal IRA tax credits. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-December 2024. The contractors are Axiom D7 and Western Solar. The SMATE solar project will feature innovative bifacial solar modules with photovoltaic cells on both sides of the panels to capture reflected light from the roof. The 193-module solar array will generate over 102,000 kilowatt hours of clean electricity annually, enough to power 11 homes. It is projected to save Western $17,144 per year in electric usage and demand charges, increasing over time as electric rates rise. This project will be visible from neighboring buildings and offer experiential learning opportunities to students. Source: https://trustees.wwu.edu/sites/trustees.wwu.edu/files/00All-In-OneDecember132024BOTMeeting.pdf

Texas entrepreneurs are investing $1.23 billion into an offshore wind farm along the Gulf Coast. The facility is historic because it is being built by an independently black-owned company, Diligence Offshore Services, LLC. According to a news release from District 22 Texas Representative Christian Manuel, this offshore wind energy initiative will be powering nearly 1 million Texas homes with affordable clean energy. The energy will be channeled into Port Arthur. This new facility that will supply the community of Port Arthur with up to 4,000 construction jobs and more than 100 permanent jobs.

Tesla's in-house lithium refinery broke ground in May of 2023. Once complete, the facility will represent an investment of greater than $1 billion in the greater Corpus Christi, Texas area.

Tesla is going to build a new megafactory near Houston to operate a battery storage facility, Electrek reported in March 2025, citing a tax abatement agreement with Waller County in Texas. The electric vehicle company is going to build and manage its Megapack energy products in over a 1-million-square-foot building near Katy, Texas, according to the report.

Synapse provided expert witness services to Kingstree East 230 to support its application before the South Carolina Public Service Commission for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Convenience and Necessity (CECPCN) for construction and operation of a 249 MW solar facility in Williamsburg County, South Carolina.

May Renewables LLC announced in February it is building a $70 million solar farm and storage facility near Cope in Orangeburg County. The facility will have a 100-megawatt solar farm. It will include a 100 megawatt/400-megawatt battery energy storage system

Georgetown County, South Carolina is witnessing a rural revival through clean energy. The Lambert Solar Farm, a 250 MW energy infrastructure project from Silicon Ranch, is transforming 3,200 acres of former timberland into an economic engine for the community. The project has been in the works for a long time. In 2020, Silicon Ranch contracted with local utilities Santee Cooper and Central Electric Power Cooperative, which will pay for the generated solar power. Reagan Farr, co-founder and CEO at Silicon Ranch, told Inside Climate News that it was “a very heavy lift to get through the permitting process. But because of the collaboration with the community, the third project was a very streamlined effort.”

The Clean Energy Fund of Texas (TxCEF), in partnership with the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University (BCECJ; jointly, CEFBC), will deploy technical assistance, private capital, and grants to minority serving institutions. Together, these organizations will facilitate the development of residential-serving community solar projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities on the frontlines of energy policy and grid vulnerability challenges. Projects will drive expected emissions reductions, household utility bill savings, generate direct shared revenues through community ownership, and mobilize private capital. Projects will deploy solar and energy storage, delivering grid and community benefits by powering community resilience centers. These outcomes will deliver the benefits of greenhouse gas and air pollution-reducing projects to American communities. Based in Texas, TxCEF will operate in 19 states across the United States South and Southeast (EPA Regions 3, 4, and 6).

Awarded $29.7 million to significantly expand the scientific and production capabilities of this world-class facility, delivering impact on fundamental physics and delivery of rare isotopes critical to our economic, energy, health, and national security.