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Steve Macshane, CESSWI
President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) on July 7, 2025, regarding "Ending Market Distorting Subsidies for Unreliable, Foreign Controlled Energy Sources." The EO follows the signing into law of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB). (A summary of the energy tax provisions in the law can be found in Holland & Knight's previous alert, "One Big Beautiful Bill Act to Scale Back Clean Energy Tax Credits Under Inflation Reduction Act," June 30, 2025.)
Among other things, the EO requires the U.S. Department of the Treasury secretary – within 45 days following enactment of the OBBB – to:
The initial U.S. House of Representatives version of the OBBB included provisions that terminated the Section 45Y and Section 48E tax credits for wind and solar facilities that were not placed in service by the end of 2027. The version of the OBBB passed by the U.S. Senate and House and signed into law by the president phased down and out the Section 45Y and Section 48E tax credits for wind and solar based on a beginning-of-construction standard. This EO follows news reports that the president promised such an order to secure the final votes needed in the House.
Holland & Knight | https://www.hklaw.com/en
Following the recent passage of the "One Big Beautiful Bill", GameChange Solar is ready to support utility-scale solar developers to establish "start of construction" for new projects to secure their eligibility for the full Investment Tax Credit (ITC). To preserve future project options, GameChange emphasizes the critical importance of designing projects with module flexibility to accommodate potential future module changes.
A key challenge for developers is how to proceed with procurement when final module selection has not been made. GameChange Solar addresses this issue with the module-flexible design of its Genius Tracker system. Featuring unpunched torque tubes, low-profile bearings, and SpeedClamps or flexible purlins, the system accommodates changes in module dimensions or mounting hole patterns without requiring costly field rework. This built-in flexibility allows developers to procure equipment early to secure ITC qualification, while preserving the option to finalize module selection at a later stage.
"Purchasing tracker components early, before final module selection, is one of the smartest ways developers can maintain ITC eligibility without locking themselves into a specific module supplier prematurely," said Phil Vyhanek, President of GameChange Solar. "Our flexible designs allow developers to move forward with confidence, knowing they won't face costly redesigns or construction delays later. In addition, we offer the protection of a fully USA domestic supply chain."
This design approach supports both financial predictability and long-term ROI, especially in a landscape where evolving trade rules and market dynamics continue to affect module availability and pricing.
"The GameChange team is ready to help customers navigate these changes," Vyhanek added. "Early action, paired with flexible hardware, can protect project economics and reduce regulatory uncertainty."
For more information on safe harbor strategies and how GameChange Solar equipment supports flexible procurement and tax credit compliance, contact Brad Sherman, VP Business Development, GameChange Solar.
GameChange Solar | www.gamechangesolar.com
Maryland's Howard County community celebrated a ribbon cutting ceremony to recognize the energization of a new 3.2 megawatt (MWdc) community solar project in Fulton. The Lime Kiln project was developed by Chaberton Energy, a leading Maryland-based renewable energy developer, and is owned and operated by Pivot Energy, a national, Colorado-based renewable energy provider and independent power producer.
Local Howard County leaders, members of the community and partners in the development and construction of the project attended the ribbon cutting. Also, during the event, Chaberton Energy, through Chaberton Cares, presented the Bright Minds Foundation, Howard County Public Schools' education foundation, with a $10,000 check to fund a STEM scholarship for graduating seniors the next five years.
"We are so proud to bring new renewable energy generation to Maryland and Howard County," said Stefano Ratti, founder and CEO of Chaberton Energy. "With growing energy demand and rising electric bills, projects like Lime Kiln help ease pressure on the power grid and save families money."
The project is part of the Maryland Community Solar program and is fully subscribed. Community solar enables area residents and businesses to gain access to lower-cost, renewable energy generated locally. Subscribers to Lime Kiln will save an average of 10% off their electricity bill each year.
"Renewable energy projects like this one are critical to the continued success of Howard County," said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball, who spoke during the ceremony. "Solar is bringing locally generated energy to our community, while helping meet Maryland'sambitious goal of reaching 100% renewable energy by 2035."
This project also incorporates agrivoltaics, which is the practice of combining solar energy generation with agricultural activity on the same land.
"Lime Kiln will support sheep grazing, native pollinator planting, and other efforts to ensure the long-term productivity of this land," said Richard Gilker, Senior Vice President, Technical Operations, Pivot Energy. "We are bringing real benefits to the Howard Countycommunity."
The Lime Kiln project will use 15 acres on a 57-acre tract of land and include local pollinators such as:
These carefully selected native plants will attract insects, butterflies and birds, helping support the surrounding area's biodiversity and agriculture.
Chaberton has more than 200 MWdc of community solar projects in Maryland in operation, construction or active development. Pivot and Chaberton have partnered on approximately 40 MWac of solar projects in the U.S.
Lime Kiln is one of two Pivot / Chaberton projects expected to be energized in Maryland this summer. Project Greyrock, a 3.3 MWdc solar project in Wicomico County, will start providing electricity to local residents in the near future.
Chaberton Energy | https://www.chaberton.com/
Pivot Energy | https://www.pivotenergy.net/
Vicinity Energy, the nation’s largest owner and operator of district energy systems, has been recognized with the North America Utilities Deal of the Year Award by Proximo Infra, a leading B2B market intelligence provider serving the project, energy, and infrastructure finance sectors.
Vicinity Energy, a clean energy company that owns and operates the largest portfolio of district energy systems was recently recognized alongside Antin Infrastructure Partners with the North America Utilities Deal of the Year Award by Proximo Infra. Vicinity’s President and CEO Kevin Hagerty, Chief Commercial Officer Pamela Clark, and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Walsh were joined by the Antin team to accept the award at the latest Proximo Congress conference in Nashville earlier this summer. Kevin also participated in an engaging panel of industry leaders, exploring the topic of “Reimagining American Infrastructure”.
The award was presented at Proximo Congress 2025 in Nashville, which brought together top financial institutions, law firms, and corporate leaders to explore key trends and opportunities in U.S. energy and infrastructure finance. Vicinity accepted the Proximo Infra award alongside partner Antin Infrastructure Partners, marking a milestone in their shared commitment to advancing clean energy infrastructure across the United States.
Based in Boston, Vicinity Energy is a leading clean energy company committed to decarbonizing its operations and leading the transition to carbon-free thermal energy. The company operates 19 district energy systems across 12 major U.S. cities delivering reliable, sustainable steam, hot water, and chilled water to more than 250 million square feet of building space.
Vicinity Energy | https://www.vicinityenergy.us/
Homerun Resources Inc. (TSXV: HMR) (OTCQB: HMRFF) ("Homerun" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the receipt of a second budgetary offer to build Latin America's first dedicated solar glass manufacturing facility with a production capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day of low-iron solar glass. The Company has received a comprehensive offer from GS Engineering GmbH ("GS"), a consortium between Grenzebach – a market leader for glass annealing lehr equipment and cutting lines (cold ends) and Sorg – a leading provider of glass melting technology, two family owned and Germany-based leaders in glass manufacturing technology.
The GS project budget is estimated at approximately EURO 150 million for the solar glass manufacturing technology. As detailed previously, in addition to this amount, there will be an industrial construction, utilities and electrical supply budget for the solar glass manufacturing facility located on the government granted land next to the Company's silica resources in Belmonte, Bahia, Brazil. The output of the manufacturing facility will be the production of ultra-clear solar glass with very low iron content, ideal for high-efficiency and high-quality solar glass for PV modules, based on rolled glass technology.
The Company has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Municipality of Belmonte, in the State of Bahia, Brazil, and other key public entities, for the donation of land and full infrastructure, for the installation of the industrial facilities for the solar glass manufacturing plant (see press releases here and here).
This is a competitive offer to the budgetary offer received from HORN Glass Industries AG, a leading global supplier of state-of-the-art glass production plants (see press release here). The company has sustained detailed technical and commercial discussions with both contenders, in order to refine and compare the two offers and is now focused on the decision making process of selection between these two very experienced firms.
The Company is on schedule with its plans, having completed the pre-feasibility data capture and is now in the process of selecting a short-list of engineering firms to bid for the Bankable Feasibility Study ("BFS").
"Moving from the idea origination, through planning and development and toward construction has been a fast-track process for our internal team and our external consultants. We congratulate these professionals on achieving these deliverables within our expedited timelines. Seeing our design layouts rendered over land use plots is exciting and we now enter the final stage of development with a massive internally developed pre-feasibility data set to reduce the timelines to a completed BFS," said Brian Leeners, CEO of Homerun.
GS Engineering | https://gse-glass.com/
Homerun | www.homerunresources.com
Siltrax, a pioneering company in fuel-cell innovation, announced it has achieved the highest recorded volumetric and gravimetric power densities for hydrogen fuel cells.
Independent third-party testing conducted by TÜV Rheinland validated Siltrax’s proprietary 150kW G-100 Fuel Cell, which delivered 9.77 kW/L volumetric and 9.7 kW/kg gravimetric power density, surpassing known industry records.
This breakthrough enables the development of lighter, more compact and more efficient fuel cells poised to accelerate the decarbonization of industries where space and weight are critical, such as electric aircraft, heavy-duty trucks and shipping.
At the core of the achievement is Siltrax’s patented silicon-based fuel cell architecture. By integrating a world-first silicon bipolar plate (Si-BPP) and a micro-flow channel design, previously unachievable with conventional materials, Siltrax enables higher power output from fewer materials. This represents a crucial step toward scaling fuel-cell adoption in weight- and space-constrained markets.
“Our latest results showed a 30% performance gain over the best industry benchmarks, underscoring the extreme benefits of our silicon BPP and micro-channel designs,” said Dr. Zhengrong Shi, founder of Siltrax. “This breakthrough translates directly into more power-dense, more reliable and more cost-effective fuel cells by extracting more power from fewer materials.”
This performance milestone underscores the strength of the company’s core innovation: its proprietary bipolar plate and precision-engineered flow channels. Notably, the achievement was made using only commercially available components—highlighting the significant untapped potential still ahead.
“What’s especially exciting is that this high-efficiency result was achieved solely through the optimization of our proprietary bipolar plate and flow channel design, while all other components were off-the-shelf from commercial suppliers,” said Dr. Zhengrong Shi. “These numbers represent just the beginning—by integrating customized gas diffusion layers and membranes tailored to our high-precision architecture, we see significant additional performance gains on the horizon,” said Daniel Zafir, Director of Global Partnerships at Siltrax.
Power Density that Unlocks New Markets
While traditional hydrogen fuel cell systems often fall short of the performance required for demanding applications, Siltrax’s G-100 sets a new benchmark. The results not only exceed long-term international performance targets but also redefine what’s possible in next-generation zero-emission mobility and power systems. For example, the G-100’s 9.7 kW/L volumetric density and 9.7 kW/kg gravimetric power density exceeds Japan's NEDO Organization’s targets for volumetric power density, 6.76 kW/L (2030), 8.42 kW/L (2035), 10.38 kW/L (2040) and those of the U.S. Department of Energy’s USDRIVE program for stack specific power: 2,000 W/kg (status), 2,700 W/kg (2025 Target).
By surpassing power density milestones others are still striving to reach, the G-100 is poised to accelerate commercial adoption across industries where every kilogram and cubic centimeter counts. As industries seek cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels, compact and powerful fuel cells, such as the G-100, offer a viable path forward.
Enabling the Future of Zero-Emission Power
With this record-setting performance, Siltrax is expanding the boundaries of what’s possible in applications where traditional stacks face critical limitations:
The G-100 milestone builds on Siltrax’s previously announced silicon fuel cell platform, developed with support from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Virescent Ventures. By leveraging mature photovoltaic industry supply chains and high-throughput silicon fabrication methods, Siltrax’s approach also holds the potential to significantly reduce the cost of advanced fuel cells.
Siltrax l www.siltrax.net
Ameresco, Inc., (NYSE: AMRC), a leading energy solutions provider dedicated to helping customers navigate the energy transition, announced the appointment of Spyros Kairis as General Manager for South, East, and Central Europe. Based in Athens, Greece, Spyros will be responsible for overseeing operations, driving business growth, and managing key projects across the region.
This strategic appointment underscores Ameresco’s commitment to expanding its footprint in Europe and delivering innovative, sustainable energy solutions to a growing customer base. Spyros brings over two decades of leadership experience in the energy and technology sectors, having held senior roles at Artemis ITS SA, FieldCore (a GE company), and General Electric. His expertise spans P&L management, operational excellence, digital transformation, and strategic growth initiatives across multinational environments.
With a strong foundation of successful clean energy projects and trusted partnerships across Europe, Ameresco is well-positioned to accelerate its regional momentum. The addition of Spyros Kairis to the team enhances the ability to scale operations, deepens local engagement, and executes on strategic priorities—further advancing the commitment to support Europe’s ambitious climate and energy transition goals.
“Spyros is a proven leader with a deep understanding of the European energy landscape and a strong track record of driving operational performance,” said George Sakellaris, President and CEO of Ameresco. “His appointment marks a pivotal step in our European growth strategy, and we are confident that his leadership will accelerate our mission to deliver clean energy solutions that make a meaningful impact.”
Spyros holds an MSc in Digital Communications and Signal Processing from Imperial College London, an MEng in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, and a BSc in Economics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is also a certified Program Management Professional (PgMP)® and has completed extensive executive training in leadership, digital transformation, and change management.
“I am honored to join Ameresco at such an exciting time in its European journey,” said Spyros Kairis. “I look forward to working with our talented teams and partners to drive innovation, operational excellence, and sustainable growth across the region.”
Spyros Kairis’ leadership ignites a new era of growth for Ameresco in Europe, accelerating the path to a cleaner, smarter energy future.
Ameresco | www.ameresco.com
Alternative Energies Jul 15, 2025
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