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

Foss & Company, a leading tax equity syndicator, announced the successful closing of a $54.4 million tax credit transfer for Hale Kuawehi Solar and Storage Project, a newly commissioned solar and battery energy storage facility developed by Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. located on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The project features a 30-megawatt AC photovoltaic solar array co-located with a 30.7 MW / 122.8 MWh (four-hour) battery energy storage system.

Hale Kuawehi represents Foss & Company's third successful transaction in Hawaiʻi, reinforcing the firm's leadership in structuring innovative tax equity solutions for clean energy infrastructure in complex and remote markets.

"The Hale Kuawehi project showcases our ability to deliver seamless execution even under evolving circumstances," said Bryen Alperin, managing director at Foss & Company. "This transaction affirms our commitment to enabling energy resilience in island communities through flexible and scalable financing."

Innergex served as the project sponsor, responsible for its development, commissioning, and ongoing operations. CRC-IB served as exclusive financial advisor to Innergex on the transaction.

"We are pleased to partner with Foss & Company on the Hale Kuawehi project," said Michel Letellier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Innergex. "By combining solar energy with advanced storage technology, we are helping Hawai'i transition to a resilient and carbon-free electric system."

The tax credit transfer was executed under the Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) direct transfer provisions, which allow clean energy developers to monetize federal investment tax credits (ITCs) more efficiently.

Hale Kuawehi also reflects Foss & Company's expanding role in Hawaiʻi's evolving grid landscape, where dispatchable storage is vital and land constraints require integrated solar-plus-storage systems. Foss & Company continues to be a trusted partner in delivering scalable clean energy solutions in challenging markets.

Foss & Company | www.fossandco.com

Innergex | https://www.innergex.com/en

The American Clean Power Association (ACP) released the following statement from ACP CEO Jason Grumet after a preliminary injunction was granted for Revolution Wind, allowing the project to resume construction: 

“This ruling puts 1,000+ American workers back to work, finishing what they started and unlocking the energy potential of the region. This is how smart energy investment creates lasting value—good jobs today, affordable and reliable electricity for New England families at a time when it’s needed most.”

American Clean Power Association | cleanpower.org

DENIOS Canada has launched a new website, with all text in French, to better showcase their hazardous material storage containers, spill containment pallets and sumps, spill control products, facility maintenance and workplace safety products. The intuitive design, faster loading time, attractive graphics, and succinct descriptions allow users to quickly locate and purchase items of interest. A search function permits searching by term or product number, and a chat function, manned by French speaking personnel during normal business hours, is available from all pages, for immediate assistance. Users can save products to a personal notepad section then print them, forward them to colleagues, or request additional information or pricing from DENIOS. 

The new site, which features thousands of workplace safety products including a “best sellers” section which identifies the most popular products, can be viewed at https://bit.ly/New_DENIOS_Canada_website .  

While the site is designed to allow users to find products quickly, it also offers in-depth information on a wide range of workplace safety topics. A link to DENIOS Magazine allows one-click access to detailed articles, case studies, and FAQs from industry experts on topics such as hazardous materials handling and storage, workplace safety, and more.  Viewers can also sign up for the DENIOS newsletter to stay informed on industry events and company news.  

“Now our customers in Quebec and other areas can more easily find the workplace safety and environmental compliance products they are looking for,” said DENIOS representative Shannan Jones.  “This new site was designed to allow users to quickly find the best product solutions as well as detailed information, white papers, and reference materials if desired. A convenient chat feature connects users to immediate assistance.”

The new site lists thousands of workplace safety and environmental protection products for sale, with new items added weekly.  

DENIOS Canada | www.denios.ca

Monta, the EV charging software platform, announced the launch of its AI-powered Network Operation Center Agent (NOC Agent), illustrating how the company is embracing AI to transform charging network operations. Monta is already deploying it everywhere across its platform with the NOC Agent as a clear example of how automation can deliver reliability at scale and make autonomous operations a reality for network operators.

By combining advanced AI with a simple user interface, Monta is lowering the barrier for operators to benefit from automation. On any charger session, you can now get actionable insights in seconds, making AI adoption straightforward, without complex training.  Backed by one of the industry’s largest data sets, 200,000+ connected chargers, millions of monthly sessions, and hundreds of hardware integrations, Monta is taking AI to the next level.

Monta’s CEO Casper Rasmussen framed the strategy:

“The industry is excited about AI but still figuring it out, and some actors fear AI is too complex to implement. At Monta, we’re not experimenting, we’re deploying. With our AI Agent and our data backbone, we’re proving how AI makes networks smarter and easier to operate every day. This will transform the industry: small teams running thousands of chargers at higher quality than ever before. The time is now to get ready.”

AI agent turning hours into seconds

The NOC Agent is Monta’s first AI feature designed specifically for network operations. Instead of manually analyzing thousands of logs, firmware histories, and hardware manuals, operators can now ask Monta’s AI Agent to pinpoint root causes, deliver evidence, and suggest fixes instantly.

One operator in the US saw their success rate on a DC charger jump from 31.2% to 98.3% in just 25 seconds of NOC Agent analysis. This process would otherwise have taken hours of technical investigation. The breakthrough came when the agent identified a firmware mismatch that had caused recurring failures, allowing the operator to resolve the issue immediately and restore reliability.

Casper Rasmussen commented:

“Troubleshooting used to mean long nights with engineers digging through endless logs. With the NOC Agent, those hours turn into seconds. It’s not just about fixing chargers faster, it’s about redefining what operational excellence looks like in EV charging.”

AI at Scale – Not Just Experiments

Monta is not experimenting with AI. The company has embedded it across its platform, building on a unique data backbone spanning 200,000+ connected chargers, 3M monthly sessions, 700+ hardware models, and 14,000 monthly support requests.

Already today, 75% of customer support tickets are solved by Monta’s AI before reaching a human agent.

Monta’s AI models continuously learn from every charging session, firmware update, and user interaction, making the platform smarter and more autonomous over time.

Casper Rasmussen underlined Monta’s competitive edge:

“Every AI use case we’ve built got 10x better with full-stack access. Monta has an unfair data advantage and that’s exactly why our AI delivers real results in production while others are still experimenting.”

What’s Next for Charging Operations

Casper Rasmussen will share this forward-looking perspective at MOVE America in Detroit this week:

“Every industry has its inflection point where automation moves from optional to essential. In EV charging, that moment is now. Operators should no longer ask how many people they need to run a network, they should ask how small a team can run thousands of chargers with better quality than before. That is the future Monta is building.”

This new chapter marks Monta’s intent to redefine the role of network operators. Rather than being stuck in reactive troubleshooting, operators can focus on strategy, partnerships, and customer growth while Monta’s AI ensures uptime, efficiency, and resilience at scale. 

Monta | https://monta.com/en-us/

Wind Lidar has evolved with ZX Lidars’ global release of ZX 300e and the world’s first 21-200 m IEC Classification at the independent test sites of wind engineering consultants with the best possible final accuracy class and standard uncertainty of 0% at all heights. The announcement confirms that ZX 300e has exceeded the full conditions to satisfy the IEC 61400-50-2 standard, demonstrating no environmental variables to be significant and validating again that ZX Lidars are an acceptable technology for inclusion in the wide variety of wind campaigns and applications including resource assessment, site calibration and power curve measurements. An industry first; the IEC Classification has been achieved on data measured up to 200 metres from ground level including data down to just 21 m – the widest, most comprehensive Classification range of any Lidar covering 3 Lidars and 5 campaigns in total and at test sites operated by DNV, GeoNet and Pavana.

The new ZX 300e ground-based Continuous Wave wind Lidar from ZX Lidars

ZX 300e is the culmination of 15 years of evolution of the 300-series Lidar from ZX and is founded on the industry’s most validated Lidar with its own existing IEC Classification, tens of thousands of deployments, and 1,000’s of Performance Verifications at test sites around the world.

New features of ZX 300e include enhanced wind data with a new generation of Continuous Wave wind Lidar algorithms for superior accuracy, wind direction sensing, data availability and Cup-Equivalent Turbulence Intensity. With a reduced power consumption of just 44W even at -25°C, off-grid power supply fuel is better preserved and autonomy extended. A new powerful and secure web-based User Interface supports local and remote, multi-user access and system status checks.

In addition to the extensive IEC Classification that retains ZX 300e position as the industry benchmark for wind Lidar, a fleet of ZX 300e units have been verified using ‘Midar’ technology – a novel mast + Lidar approach where a vertical-profiling Lidar mounted to a 91 m mast extending traceable reference measurements far above the mast itself, and up to 300 m. The results were compelling: correlation slopes consistently within ±1%, R² greater than 0.985, and repeatability across the fleet within the narrowest ranges yet reported for a ground-based Lidar. 99.8% - 94.2% availability was achieved consistently from 20 to 300m. At 250 m, data availability exceeded 96%, and at 300 m it remained above 94%, with correlation slopes within ±1.1% and R² values again remaining greater than 0.985. This represents the first independent demonstration of a ground-based Lidar delivering consistent, low-uncertainty data at heights up to 300 m.

“It’s certainly a special moment for ZX in achieving the world’s first and best possible 21-200 metre IEC Classification for a wind Lidar along with Performance Verification up to a staggering 300 m. Moreover, I am incredibly proud of the continual product evolution that we have strived for over the past few decades. ZX 300e is the result of a passionate team who recognise that product performance and customer experience are paramount” commented Ian Locker, Managing Director at ZX Lidars. “As those of you who know ZX, we always try and take our existing owners and friends along the journey with us too, so I am delighted that ZX can support recent proud owners of ZX 300 with some exciting options too.” explained Locker.

In a very ‘ZX’ way, existing owners of ZX 300 from 1st January 2025 up to present day are invited to discuss with ZX directly options for embracing ZX 300e immediately; you can ask ZX to ‘Turn-Me-On’ as you already have the ZX 300e specification, it’s just not yet enabled!

“With ZX 300e, we raise the benchmark again” concluded Locker.

ZX 300e’s IEC Classification in addition to a full Introduction & Performance Credentials document are available by request to [email protected]

ZX Lidars | www.zxlidars.com

The Maryland Energy Administration announced the availability of $8 million to help the state’s higher education institutions install solar energy systems. Through the Higher Education Clean Energy Program, the agency aims to create sustainable, energy-efficient campuses that serve as practical learning environments and hubs for renewable energy education and job creation.

Now in its second year, the Fiscal Year 2026 Higher Education Clean Energy Program grants support solar installations, campus-level clean energy and sustainability planning, curriculum development, and workforce training across Maryland’s colleges and universities. These investments reduce carbon emissions and can prepare students with the skills and experience needed to thrive in the renewable energy and sustainability sectors.

“Higher education institutions are engines of innovation and progress, where the next generation of leaders, researchers and professionals are prepared to shape our future. They represent the cutting edge of technology and learning, and their campuses can serve as living laboratories for the ideas that move society forward,” said Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul G. Pinsky.  “By investing in clean energy and sustainability curricula, Maryland is positioning its colleges and universities to lead the transition to a decarbonized future.”

This year’s program offers up to $1 million for solar installation, $145,000 for Campus Clean Energy Master Planning, and additional bonuses for Clean Energy Sector Course Development and student internships. 

The agency is accepting applications now through November 14, 2025, at 3:00 PM ET. Full details on eligibility, program guidelines, and the application process can be found on the program webpage.

Maryland Energy Administration | https://energy.maryland.gov/Pages/default.aspx

A review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that despite Donald Trump’s signing the Republican Congress’ anti-renewables legislation (i.e., the so-called One Big Beautiful Act) in early July, solar-generated electricity ballooned by over 30% during the month while wind grew by almost 14%.

Solar electrical generation set new records in July and the first seven months of 2025:

EIA’s latest monthly "Electric Power Monthly" report (with data through July 31, 2025), once again confirms that solar is the fastest growing among the major sources of U.S. electricity.

In July alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar (i.e., >1-megawatt (MW)) ballooned by a more than one-third (36.9%) compared to July 2024 while “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV increased by 12.7%. Combined, they grew by 30.4% and provided nearly one-tenth (9.4%) of the nation’s electrical output during the month, up from 7.5% a year ago. [1]

Moreover, utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 37.4% while that from small-scale systems rose by 11.0% during the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by almost a third (29.9%) and was almost 8.9% (utility-scale: 6.7%; small-scale: 2.2%) of total U.S. electrical generation for January-July - up from 7.0% a year earlier.

As a consequence, solar-generated electricity year-to-date (YTD) easily surpassed - by over 54% - the output of the nation’s hydropower plants (5.7%). In July alone, solar-generated electricity more than doubled the output of the nation’s hydropower plants. In fact, in both July and YTD, solar produced more electricity than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined. [2]

Moreover, for apparently the first time ever, 4% more electricity was generated in July by utility-scale solar than by the nation’s wind farms. Including small-scale systems, solar out-produced wind by over 35% during the month. [3]

Wind also made a strong showing in July and YTD:

Wind turbines across the U.S. produced almost one-ninth (10.8%) of U.S. electricity in the first seven months of 2025 – an increase of 3.5% compared to the same period a year earlier and almost doubled electrical generation by the nation’s hydropower plants.

In July alone, wind-generated electricity was 13.8% greater than a year before.

Wind + solar are almost one-fifth of total U.S. electrical generation – a larger share than that provided by either coal or nuclear power:  

During the first seven months of 2025, electrical generation by wind plus utility-scale and small-scale solar provided almost a fifth (19.6%) of the U.S. total, up from 17.8% during the first seven months of 2024.

Further, the combination of wind and solar provided 19.1% more electricity than did coal during the first seven months of this year, and 14.1% more than the nation’s nuclear power plants. In fact, as solar and wind grew rapidly, nuclear-generated electricity dropped by 1.0%.

Electrical output YTD by the mix of all renewables was almost 27% of total U.S. generation:

The mix of all renewables (i.e., wind and solar plus hydropower, biomass and geothermal) produced 9.9% more electricity in January-July than they did a year ago and provided (26.7%) of total U.S. electricity production compared to 25.1% twelve months earlier.

Electrical generation by the combination of all renewables grew three times faster than that of total U.S. electrical generation (9.9% vs. 3.3%). Renewables’ share of electrical generation is now second to only that of natural gas whose electrical output actually dropped by almost 3.5% during the first seven months of 2025.  

"Notwithstanding enactment of the anti-renewables provisions in the Trump megabill, solar and wind continue to power ahead," noted the SUN DAY Campaign's executive director Ken Bossong. "Meanwhile the electrical output YTD by the Republicans’ preferred technologies – nuclear power and natural gas – has actually fallen." [4]

EIA | https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly

[1] In its “Electric Power Monthly” report, EIA refers to small-scale or distributed solar as “Estimated Small Scale Solar Photovoltaic.” Unless otherwise indicated, all calculations presented in this release include electrical generation by small-scale solar which EIA estimates to have totaled 56,998-GWh in January-July 2025 and 9,973-GWh in July alone. Utility-scale solar totaled 175,735-GWh for the first seven months and 33,119-GWH in just July.  

[2] In January-July 2025, wind produced 284,063-GWh (10.8%) of total U.S. electrical generation while utility-scale and small-scale solar combined produced 232,733-GWh (8.8%), hydropower produced 151,068-GWh (5.7%), biomass produced 26,645-GWh (1.0%), and geothermal produced 9,108-GWh (>0.3%).

[3] In July alone, wind produced 31,831-GWh while utility-scale solar produced 33,119-GWh. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar totaled 43,092-GWh.

[4] For the first seven months of 2025, electrical output by nuclear power totaled 453,065-GWh compared to 457,681-GWh during the same period a year earlier. Electrical generation by natural gas totaled 1,026,811-GWh for the period January-July 2025 compared to 1,063,651-GWh a year earlier.