Reading and Podcast Picks is a collection of what we’ve been reading and listening to over the last week or so about energy topics.

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Report: Developers Have Cancelled 1,891 Power Projects in 2025 | Cleanview

Here’s a brutal report from Michael Thomas, the CEO of Cleanview: a variety of factors, including but definitely not limited to federal anti-energy policies, wiped out nearly 1,900 power projects in 2025. As the chart above shows, nearly all of those were renewables projects. The combined generation from these projects would have been 266 gigawatts — roughly 150% the size of the ERCOT grid.

Factors behind the cancellations include local opposition, inadequate transmission, battery saturation and tariffs, and, yes, the Trump Administration’s attacks on renewables (Thomas also notes that grid operators have cleaned up their interconnection queues). He writes:

These project cancellations will affect nearly every American. The 266 GW of lost capacity threatens higher electricity prices for households and businesses as supply fails to keep pace with surging demand…

Beyond higher bills, the cancellations represent a massive economic loss. We estimate that the 1,891 projects canceled this year would have generated $400 billion in investment—capital that would have flowed disproportionately to rural communities in need of economic revitalization.

The current trajectory is unsustainable: America is simultaneously approving unprecedented electricity demand while canceling the generation needed to meet it, creating policy incoherence that threatens grid reliability, affordability, and the country’s competitiveness in the global AI race.

You can, and should, check out the full study here.

ERCOT approves $9.4B grid ‘superhighway’ crossing Houston region. Here’s what it means for your bill | Houston Chronicle

Texas officials are taking important steps to fortify the ERCOT grid. This month, the ERCOT Board approved construction of a “superhighway” of high-capacity transmission lines across the eastern swath of the grid. The 765-kilovolt lines would more than double the capacity of existing 345-kilovolt lines.