/daily ·22 SEPT 2026 ·TUESDAY ·2 MIN READ ·6 STORIES

Making Things Real

A cathode plant opened, Ohio's biggest solar project cleared permitting, a battery chemistry paper doubled discharge capacity, and a court gave $7 billion back to affordable solar — a day about things that actually get built.

01 / The Day

TUESDAY 22 SEPT 2026, ranked

Tesla's Austin Gigafactory Begins Lithium Battery Cathode Production

Tesla confirmed its Austin Gigafactory has started large-scale lithium battery cathode manufacturing — described by Elon Musk as the only facility of its kind in the Americas — marking a key step toward domestic supply chain independence for US battery cell production.

Cathode material is typically 30-40% of a lithium-ion cell's cost; domestic production reduces reliance on Asian-sourced cathode material, primarily from Chinese suppliers
Austin cathode production is a prerequisite for Tesla eventually closing the full cell manufacturing loop in the US, from raw material processing to finished pack
Timing aligns with Tesla's $10.1B Project Crystal Sun solar gigafactory in Texas, signalling a broader domestic clean-energy manufacturing push

Why it mattersDomestic cathode production shifts battery supply chain risk in a way that neither policy incentives nor tariffs alone can achieve — it physically moves a critical manufacturing step to the Americas.

01 electrek.co↗

Korean Lab Achieves 166% Capacity Gain by Adding Trace Carbon Nitride to Lithium Cathode

Scientists at Korea's KRICT incorporated a small amount of graphitic carbon nitride into a standard lithium-ion cathode and achieved 166% higher capacity at high discharge rates alongside a 2.85x improvement in power density — results that could translate to faster-charging, longer-range batteries with no new raw materials.

The modification works at trace concentrations and is compatible with existing LFP and NMC cathode chemistries, without requiring new manufacturing equipment
High-rate discharge performance is the key constraint for fast-charging applications; doubling capacity at high rates directly improves how much range a fast-charge session delivers
Results are laboratory-scale; the path from lab cathode modification to commercially produced cells typically takes 3-7 years

Why it mattersA cathode additive that works in trace amounts against existing chemistries is precisely the kind of advance that can migrate into production lines without rebuilding the manufacturing process.

02 krict.re.kr↗

Ohio's 800 MW Solar + 300 MW Battery Project Clears Final Permitting

The Oak Run Solar project in Madison County, Ohio — 800 MW of solar paired with 300 MW of battery storage — received its construction permit after years of legal and regulatory challenges, clearing the final hurdle before construction contracts can be executed.

The co-located 300 MW of storage makes Oak Run a dispatchable project capable of shifting generation to meet peak demand, not just producing when the sun shines
Multi-year opposition from local landowners and the county had delayed permitting well beyond comparable projects in neighbouring states
Ohio's large flat farmland gives it among the highest utility solar potential in the Midwest; Oak Run establishes a new scale precedent for the state

Why it mattersOhio's biggest solar project getting through years of opposition is a useful signal about what the permitting environment now tolerates — especially in a Midwest swing state.

03 canarymedia.com↗

Federal Court Overturns Trump Administration's Cancellation of $7B Solar For All

A Rhode Island federal judge ruled that the EPA's cancellation of the Solar For All programme — which funds affordable solar in low-income communities — was unlawful, ordering the $7 billion in IRA funds to be reinstated to grant recipients whose awards were suspended mid-process.

Solar For All was a $7B IRA programme funding community solar and residential rooftop systems in underserved areas across 49 states
The ruling is the latest federal court pushback against the administration's attempts to freeze IRA clean energy funding; earlier rulings reinstated other IRA programmes
Reinstatement does not guarantee rapid deployment; some grant recipients will need to rebuild implementation capacity after months of administrative suspension

Why it mattersCourts reversing IRA cancellations are creating a durable legal floor under the clean energy buildout — making the funding more resilient than its opponents anticipated.

04 cleantechnica.com↗

US Solar Capacity Reaches 299 GW — 300 GW Hours Away

The United States reached 299.4 gigawatts of installed solar capacity at the end of Q2 2026, with 11.4 GW added in the quarter — a 45% year-over-year increase driven by utility-scale projects racing to lock in IRA tax credits.

11.4 GW in Q2 is the largest single quarter of US solar installation on record; utility-scale projects account for the majority of the addition
The 300 GW milestone will almost certainly be crossed with July data, making 2026 the year US solar crosses that threshold
45% YoY growth reflects developers front-loading projects ahead of uncertainty about future IRA tax credit availability under the current administration

Why it mattersAt 300 GW, solar stops being a supplement to the US grid and becomes a load-bearing part of it — a structural shift in how grid operators have to think.

05 pv-magazine.com↗

US Energy Storage Coalition Sets 225 GW / 1 TWh Deployment Target for 2032

The Energy Storage Coalition published a roadmap targeting 225 gigawatts and one terawatt-hour of deployed battery storage across the US grid by end-2032 — a six-year buildout requiring more than tripling current installed capacity.

Current US grid storage stands at roughly 60-70 GW; reaching 225 GW implies deploying 25-30 GW per year for six consecutive years
The Coalition represents developers, integrators, and cell manufacturers; the target is aspirational, not a regulatory requirement
Supply chain constraints — highlighted by Fluence's recent guidance cut — remain the binding ceiling, with capital availability and customer demand less of a limitation

Why it mattersAn industry body publishing a specific, ambitious deployment target with a six-year horizon creates a public benchmark against which annual progress and supply chain readiness can be measured.

06 energy-storage.news↗

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The Daily Archive

/TUE 22 SEPTMaking Things Real /MON 21 SEPTOklo splits atoms, courts push back on coal, and China's solid-state surge /SAT 19 SEPTFires, Fusion, and a Very Big Factory /FRI 18 SEPTThe Iran premium and the geothermal surge /THU 17 SEPTThe Cost Collapse Accelerates /WED 16 SEPTFCC Inverter Ban, America's Solar Milestone, and Sodium-Ion at Scale /TUE 15 SEPTThe battery era, still accelerating /MON 14 SEPTSolid-State Sunday /SUN 13 SEPTSolid State Sunday /FRI 11 SEPTTandem Record, Grid Alert /THU 10 SEPTScotland's GWh Day, Trump's Battery Order /WED 09 SEPTNuclear Returns, Battery Prices Rise /TUE 08 SEPTRecord Books /MON 07 SEPTSolid-state goes live, silicon anodes converge, Archer flies cities /SUN 06 SEPTGrid plumbing and chemistry /SAT 05 SEPTEnergy Tech /FRI 04 SEPTCharge Forward /THU 03 SEPTSodium-Ion Double-Down /WED 02 SEPTWednesday 2 September 2026 /TUE 01 SEPTRecord quarter, import ban, perovskite pivot /MON 31 AUGDendrites Solved, Curtailment Banked