Drafting vs. Engineering: Choosing the right partner for commercial projects

In September, Destructable delivered a retired nacelle to UTI's Dallas Skilled Trades Building. By turning this complex component into a classroom resource, Destructable is helping future wind technicians train safely and hands-on, while extending the life of equipment beyond the field.

This project, led by Director of Business Development, Ashley Helmstetter, reflects our commitment to repurpose, recycle, and recover in ways that strengthen communities and build the next generation of skilled workers.

Destructable | www.destructable.com

Energy is one of the most critical industries for today’s society— and one of the most unpredictable. That fact can make life difficult for those involved in greenfield energy projects, including wind farms subject to international market and domestic policy changes. Whether your wind project is on hold or going strong, corrosion protection is the "yaw and pitch" control that can stabilize greenfield projects facing unexpected changes. Cortec shares some of those strategic tips to keep wind turbine components preserved and ready-to-use for the short haul or indefinite storage period. 

Corrosion Challenges for Greenfield Projects 

Greenfield projects face corrosion challenges during shipping and storage, as components travel from different parts of the world and await installation. Without protection (especially in harsh coastal conditions), wind turbine shafts, rings, and nacelles can begin to corrode before they arrive onsite or are ready to install. This can hold up the entire project until the components are restored or replaced at high costs of time and money. 

Corrosion Strategies for Wind Turbine Components 

Just a few quality preservation materials can go a long way for efficient and effective corrosion protection. Starting at the manufacturer is ideal, since a protective shield of VpCI-126 HP UV Shrink Film or (for especially harsh or long durations) MilCorr VpCI Shrink Film can protect components in transit and during extended storage of a year or two. Supplementary protection may include a removable coating for the most sensitive parts (accompanied by a supply of VpCI-414 for easy removal later), or some Cor-Pak 8-MUL Pouches as an extra source of Vapor phase Corrosion Inhibitors inside the package. The same strategies can be employed for assets that are already onsite and need protection when a wind construction project is halted. 

Weather the Winds of Change 

While it is difficult to predict the harshness of an environment or the length of storage for a wind turbine component, Cortec VpCI packaging adds stability to the picture by bringing durable, easy-to-use preservation materials onto the scene. Contact Cortec for more ideas on prepping your wind components to safely weather the unpredictable winds of energy market change.

Cortec | https://www.cortecvci.com/

Spruce Power Holding Corporation (NYSE: SPRU), a leading owner and operator of distributed residential solar energy assets across the United States, announced a strategic partnership with Treehouse, a software-enabled installation platform for electrification projects, to accelerate Spruce’s expansion of offerings into the rapidly growing home battery storage (BESS) market. The partnership builds on the company’s Spruce Pro servicing platform, extending its reach beyond solar into battery energy storage.

Strategic Highlights

• Expands Total Addressable Market: Enters the rapidly scaling home battery storage market, one of the fastest-growing sectors in clean energy.
• Capital-Light Growth Model: Monetizes Spruce’s existing solar fleet through battery upgrades without requiring asset ownership or heavy capital investment.
• New Recurring Revenue Streams: Expands Spruce’s revenue potential through its partnership-driven battery storage (BESS) program, creating long-term value through installation activity and enhanced customer engagement, while enabling homeowners to benefit from emerging grid participation opportunities.
• Customer Retention & Value Lift: Deepens customer relationships, boosts lifetime value, and enhances long-term brand loyalty.
• Strategic Positioning: Reinforces SPRU’s leadership in distributed clean energy while setting the stage for homeowner participation in future grid-balancing and virtual power plant initiatives.

This partnership unlocks a powerful new growth engine for Spruce, one that delivers high margin, capital-light revenue by enabling battery upgrades and long-term customer value creation through its partnership with Treehouse. Together, the two companies will roll out a nationwide program to offer Spruce’s extensive customer base a seamless path to upgrade existing solar systems with energy storage, delivering resilience, control, and long-term energy savings.

“Battery storage is the next wave of value creation in distributed energy, and Spruce is built to lead it,” said Chris Hayes, CEO of Spruce Power. “Our partnership with Treehouse gives us the ability to rapidly activate our massive installed base and capture the upside of storage adoption, without the capital intensity of traditional deployment. It’s a strategic win that accelerates both growth and profitability.”

Through Treehouse’s proprietary software and proven hands-on expertise in home electrification, Spruce customers will gain access to best-in-class battery solutions with a turnkey, streamlined upgrade experience, from system design and permitting through to installation by Treehouse’s team of licensed electricians. Spruce customers can get started at https://pages.treehouse.pro/spruce

"Treehouse is proud to partner with Spruce in pursuit of our shared vision of home energy systems that deliver backup power and lower energy costs for customers," said Eric Owski, Co-Founder and CEO at Treehouse. “With ever lower battery prices and Treehouse’s software-enabled installation process, there's never been a better opportunity for Spruce customers to protect their homes from outages and increase the value of their energy systems.”

With more than 85,000 residential solar systems under management nationwide, Spruce Power is uniquely positioned to drive battery adoption at scale, creating new opportunities for growth and value creation, while empowering homeowners to participate in emerging grid services opportunities such as virtual power plants (VPPs).

Spruce Power | www.sprucepower.com

Treehouse | https://resources.treehouse.pro/

Sustainability Partners, a Public Benefit Company and leader in sustainable infrastructure funding, deployment and ongoing maintenance, is a key participant in Schneider Electric's new Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative. More than 20 firms, including Microsoft, Zurich Resilience Solutions and Sunrock Distributed Generation, along with Sustainability Partners, are joining forces to support public and private sector organizations with innovative solutions and funding to strengthen community-based critical energy systems.

"Sustainability Partners is poised to play a crucial role in the success of Schneider Electric's new Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative," said Jason Hewitt, managing partner of infrastructure. "Our unique Infrastructure as a Service® model allows clean, reliable energy to be quickly and efficiently deployed to facilities as diverse as federal and state agencies, municipalities, airports, K-12 education facilities, police and fire stations, and hospitals."

With Infrastructure as a Service®, or IaaS, Sustainability Partners coordinates the entire deployment of a clean energy infrastructure project, including full or partial funding, along with technology installation and ongoing preventive maintenance. There is zero upfront cost to the customer, which pays a monthly usage-based fee aligned with its revenue streams.

The objective of Schneider Electric's Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative is to rapidly deploy resilient energy infrastructure for communities while federal incentives remain available. With the confluence of rising energy demand and aging infrastructure, along with extreme weather and potential cyber attacks, communities are facing unprecedented pressure to maintain power that is both affordable and reliable.

According to Schneider Electric , the U.S. power grid could reach a critical inflection point in 2028, where peak electricity may no longer meet peak demand. Therefore, the Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative will reduce grid stress and energy costs by scaling distributed energy resources (DERs) like battery energy storage, solar panels and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. In this way, communities can reduce reliance on the centralized grid.

"With power outages costing the U.S. economy an estimated $150 billion each year, the need for resilient energy infrastructure has never been more urgent," said Jana Gerber, North American president of microgrids for Schneider Electric. "This initiative brings together industry leaders to accelerate the deployment of local, future-ready energy solutions, helping communities reduce risk, control costs and ensure continuity of critical services."

Schneider Electric | https://www.se.com/us/en

Sustainability Partners | https://www.sustainability.partners/

A review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data just released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reveals that the combination of solar and wind accounted for 90% of new U.S. electrical generating capacity added in the first seven months of 2025. In July, solar alone provided 96% of new capacity, making it the 23rd consecutive month in which solar has held the lead among all energy sources.

Solar was 96% of new generating capacity in July and 74% year-to-date:

In its latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through July 31, 2025), FERC says 46 “units” of solar totaling 1,181 megawatts (MW) were placed into service in July, accounting for over 96.4% of all new generating capacity added during the month.

The new facilities include the 202.8-MW Estonian Solar & Storage Expansion Project in Delta County, TX; the 200.0-MW Eland Solar Farm and the 150.0-MW Northern Orchard Solar PV project both in Kern County, CA; and the 150.0-MW Coldwater River Solar Project in Branch County, MI.

The 434 units of utility-scale (i.e., >1-MW) solar added during the first seven months of 2025 total 16,050-MW and were almost three-quarters (74.4%) of the total new capacity placed into service by all sources.

Solar has now been the largest source of new generating capacity added each month for twenty-three consecutive months: September 2023 – July 2025. During that period, total utility-scale solar capacity grew from 91.82 gigawatts (GW) to 153.09-GW. No other energy source added anything close to that amount of new capacity. Wind, for example, expanded by 10.68-GW while natural gas increased by just 3.74-GW.

Renewables were 90% of new capacity added year-to-date:

Between January and July, new wind has provided 3,288-MW of capacity additions – significantly more than the new capacity provided by natural gas (2,207-MW). Wind thus accounted for 15.2% of all new capacity added during the first seven months of 2025. Other than solar, the largest project to come on-line in July was the 15.5-MW Tehachapi Wind Resource II Expansion in Kern County, CA. It provided eight times more capacity than the 2-MW of new gas added in July.

For the first seven months of 2025, the combination of solar and wind (plus 4-MW of hydropower and 3-MW of biomass) was 89.6% of new capacity while natural gas provided just 10.2%; the balance came from coal (18-MW), oil (17-MW), and waste heat (17-MW).

Solar + wind are almost a quarter of U.S. utility-scale generating capacity; all renewables combined are over a third:

Utility-scale solar’s share of total installed capacity of (11.42%) is now almost equal to that of wind (11.81%). Taken together, they constitute nearly one-fourth (23.23%) of the U.S.’s total available installed utility-scale generating capacity.

Moreover, at least 25-30% of U.S. solar capacity is in the form of small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data. [1] Including that additional solar capacity would bring the share provided by solar + wind to more than a quarter of the nation’s total.

With the inclusion of hydropower (7.61%), biomass (1.07%) and geothermal (0.31%), renewables currently claim a 32.22% share of total U.S. utility-scale generating capacity. If small-scale solar capacity is included, renewables are now more than one-third of total U.S. generating capacity.

Solar remains on track to become the second largest source of U.S. generating capacity:

FERC reports that net “high probability” additions of solar between August 2025 and July 2028 total 92,631-MW – an amount more than four times the forecast net “high probability” additions for wind (22,528-MW), the second fastest growing resource.

FERC also foresees net growth for hydropower (579-MW) and geothermal (92-MW) but a decrease of 131-MW in biomass capacity.

Taken together, the net new “high probability” capacity additions by all renewable energy sources over the next three years - i.e., the bulk of the Trump Administration’s remaining time in office - would total 115,120-MW.  

On the other hand, there are only 35-MW of new nuclear capacity in FERC’s three-year forecast while coal and oil are projected to contract by 25,017-MW and 1,576-MW respectively. Natural gas capacity would expand by just 8,276-MW. [2]

Should FERC’s three-year forecast materialize, by mid-summer 2028, utility-scale solar would account for more than 17% of installed U.S. generating capacity – more than any other source besides natural gas (40%). Further, the capacity of the mix of all utility-scale renewable energy sources would exceed 38%. Inclusion of small-scale solar systems would push renewables ahead of natural gas.

"With one month of Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ now under our belts, renewables continue to dominate capacity additions," noted the SUN DAY Campaign's executive director Ken Bossong. "And solar seems poised to hold its lead in the months and years to come." 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission | https://ferc.gov/

Sources:  

FERC's 7-page "Energy Infrastructure Update for July 2025" was posted on September 30, 2025. The link to the full report can be found at: https://cms.ferc.gov/media/energy-infrastructure-update-july-2025.

For the information cited in this update, see the tables entitled "New Generation In-Service (New Build and Expansion)," "Total Available Installed Generating Capacity," and "Generation Capacity Additions and Retirements."

Notes:   

[1] In a September 12, 2023 news release, EIA stated: “More than one-third of U.S. solar power capacity is small-scale solar. … We expect small-scale solar capacity … will grow from 44-GW in June 2023 to 55-GW by the end of 2024.”

See: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/BTL/2023/09-smallscalesolar/article.php

[2] Generating capacity is not the same as actual generation. Fossil fuels and nuclear power usually have higher "capacity factors" than do wind and solar. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports capacity factors in calendar year 2024 for nuclear power, combined-cycle natural gas plants and coal were 92.3%, 59.7%, and 42.6% respectively while those for wind and utility-scale solar PV were 34.3% and 23.4%. See Tables 6.07.A and 6.07.B in EIA's most recent "Electric Power Monthly" report. 

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright announced the Loan Programs Office (LPO) has restructured its deal with Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC) with support from General Motors (GM) to further protect taxpayers and solidify the launch of the only domestic source of lithium carbonate here in America.  

The new terms provide the U.S. Government with 5% equity ownership in the form of LAC warrants as well as an additional 5% ownership in the form of warrants in the LAC/GM joint venture. LPO utilizes warrants as part of the overall collateral package on a loan, helping to reduce repayment risk for taxpayers. DOE was able to work with both parties to ensure greater loan resilience. The revised agreement includes robust loan amendments as well as more than $100 million of new equity.     

The U.S. Government’s stake in the project delivers on President Trump’s agenda to better steward taxpayer dollars, and ensures the project will go forward, spurring the creation of manufacturing jobs and securing our nation’s access to the largest confirmed lithium deposit in North America. 

“Despite having some of the largest deposits, the United States produces less than 1% percent of the global supply of lithium. Thanks to President Trump’s bold leadership, American lithium production is going to skyrocket,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. “Today’s announcement helps reduce our dependence on foreign adversaries for critical minerals by strengthening domestic supply chains and ensures better stewardship of American taxpayer dollars. President Trump promised to do both and he is delivering.”

LPO and LAC entered into a financial loan agreement in October 2024. The new terms of the deal will help finance the construction of facilities for manufacturing lithium carbonate at Thacker Pass. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to produce approximately 40,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate for use in lithium-ion batteries, helping ensure the Trump Administration’s priority of onshoring U.S. supply chains will be realized.   

U.S. Department of Energy | https://www.energy.gov/

ABB has been named a Leader in the Verdantix Green Quadrant: Industrial AI Analytics Software 2025, a benchmark report that evaluates the capabilities and momentum of the most prominent industrial AI analytics software solutions on the market. The report ranked ABB among the top leaders in the Quadrant.

The Verdantix report, based on rigorous analysis of 19 vendors, highlights ABB’s Genix Industrial IoT and AI Suite for its comprehensive data integration, advanced model development and industry-leading energy management capabilities.

“We are honored to be recognized as a Leader in the Verdantix Green Quadrant report for industrial AI analytics software,” said Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer, Process Automation, ABB. “We are committed to empowering our customers across energy- and resource-intensive industries with scalable, AI-driven solutions that deliver operational excellence and measurable improvements in efficiency, reliability and sustainability. Genix is helping industrial operators – from the shop floor to the top floor – unlock the value of their data, accelerate digital transformation and achieve tangible business outcomes with industrial AI.”

Genix is an enterprise grade platform that provides seamless integration and contextualization of real-time data from operational technology (OT), information technology (IT) and engineering technology (ET) systems. Its semantic contextualization layer – Industrial DataOps – empowers multi-system analytics, earning ABB a top score in the Verdantix report for data acquisition and integration. As part of its modular industrial AI portfolio, Genix offers Genix AI Express and Genix Copilot, enabling scalable and flexible deployment of AI across industrial operations.

The report also recognizes ABB’s strengths in advanced model development capabilities. For model development and training, ABB combines low-code/no-code tools – such as automated machine learning (AutoML) flows, feature stores and reusable templates – with notebook-based workflows and machine learning operations (MLOps) for deployment and monitoring, garnering the company a top score.

ABB’s resource and energy management solutions received the highest score among all analyzed vendors, with offerings such as Genix Datalyzer CEMS and Genix Digital Twin Hub delivering measurable sustainability results, such as helping a UK-based construction materials company reduce CO₂ emissions by 8–12 percent at monitored sites.

ABB’s ongoing advancements in agentic automation are also highlighted, noting active pilots and a clear roadmap for deploying autonomous agents across industrial operations. The Genix Agentic Automation framework enables real-time monitoring, contextual interpretation and autonomous action, while ABB’s human-in-the-loop, semi-autonomous approach ensures users remain in control throughout the process.

The report finds ABB’s Genix platform with its pre-build industrial applications particularly well-suited for multi-site manufacturers and heavy process industries such as chemicals, metals, cement, power, water, and oil & gas – seeking to scale predictive maintenance, optimize energy use, and unify data governance.

“ABB Ability Genix Industrial IoT and AI Suite unifies data and accelerates industrial AI at scale,” said Henry Kirkman, Industry Analyst at Verdantix. “Teams with clear data governance standards and an appetite to operationalize AI can use ABB Ability Genix to scale from site-level to enterprise-scale models, with measurable performance and sustainability outcomes.”

ABB | www.abb.com