Denmark’s Orsted wins $680 million JPMorgan backing for U.S. solar and battery projects
Aerial view of Eleven Mile Solar in Coolidge, Az.
Photo: Van Applegate
Danish renewable energy developer Orsted won a $680 million investment from JPMorgan in two U.S. projects as incentives from the Biden Administration’s signature climate law — the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — spur a clean energy boom in the U.S.
JPMorgan will provide tax equity financing for Orsted’s Eleven Mile Solar Center, a 600-megawatt solar and storage project near Coolidge, Arizona, and the 250-megawatt Sparta Solar project in Mineral, Texas.
Eleven Mile Solar, which includes more than 857,000 solar panels and 2,000 batteries from domestic manufacturers First Solar and Fluence, respectively, as well as tracking systems from Nextracker, qualifies for a one-time investment tax credit for the storage system, as well as an annual credit from a production tax credit for the solar array. Both credits were extended under the IRA.
Clean energy projects have relied on tax equity partnerships for years. Put simply, large financial institutions provide part of the financing for a renewable energy project, in exchange for the project’s tax credits. Developers themselves rarely have high enough tax bills, so a partnership allows them to monetize their credits.
But the partnerships are complex and the markets are limited. Smaller developers don’t always have the means to enter into these partnerships, and the appetite from large financial institutions to take stakes in renewable energy projects is limited.
The IRA sought to change that by adding in a provision allowing the credits to be transferred to a third party, creating a new pool of potential capital from corporations looking to offset tax bills. The project developer can either sell the credits themselves, or the tax equity partner — in this case JPMorgan — can decide to sell the credits to another party.
Prior to the IRA, the tax equity market was between $18 billion and $20 billion per year, according to the American Council on Renewable Energy. That’s “[s]till far short of what is needed in the post-IRA clean energy investment landscape,” the investment bank Evercore ISI noted. The bank estimates the potential market for tax credit transfers hitting $47 billion in 2024, and rising to more than $100 billion annually by 2030.
Aerial view of Eleven Mile Solar in Coolidge, Az.
Photo: Van Applegate
“This is the first time we’ve been able to do something like this…and it really opens the doors for a lot more corporates and companies with tax liability in the United States to come in and help support clean energy projects,” Melissa Peterson, head of onshore and origination at Orsted, told CNBC. “It’s really a unique structure that we hope to replicate over and over again.”
Construction at the $1 billion Eleven Mile Solar site began in January 2023 and, once operational later this year, it will be able to power roughly 65,000 homes. Two-thirds of the power will be used for a new Meta Platforms data center under construction nearby. Orsted is selling the power to Salt River Project — the local utility — who’s then selling it to Meta.
Boston Consulting Group estimates that between 2022 and 2030 data center electricity consumption will more than triple, requiring the same amount of power as 40 million households by the end of the decade. This comes on top of load growth from increased use of electricity, meaning U.S. power demand is now growing significantly for the first time in decades.
“We’ve been working in the United States for over 10 years, and this is probably the best time as a renewable energy developer to be working here in the U.S.,” said Orsted’s Peterson. “We see tons of opportunity with the increasing demand we’re seeing from reshoring manufacturing, big tech companies, paired with things like the Inflation Reduction Act, paired with lots of corporates who have ambitious climate targets.”
“We really see this as the pinnacle of opportunity for us,” she added.
– CNBC’s Harriet Taylor and Van Applegate contributed reporting.
No matter how badly a fleet wants to electrify their operations and take advantage of reduced fuel costs and TCO, the fact remains that there are substantial up-front obstacles to commercial EV adoption … or are there? We’ve got fleet financing expert Guy O’Brien here to help walk us through it on today’s fiscally responsible episode of Quick Charge!
This conversation was motivated by the recent uncertainty surrounding EVs and EV infrastructure at the Federal level, and how that turmoil is leading some to believe they should wait to electrify. The truth? There’s never been a better time to make the switch!
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Vermont’s EV adoption has surged by an impressive 41% over the past year, with nearly 18,000 EVs now registered statewide.
According to data from Drive Electric Vermont and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, 17,939 EVs were registered as of January 2025, increasing by 5,185 vehicles. Notably, over 12% of all new cars registered last year in Vermont had a plug. Additionally, used EVs are gaining popularity, accounting for about 15% of new EV registrations.
To put it in perspective, Vermont took six years to register its first 5,000 EVs – and the last 5,000 were added in just the previous year.
Rapid growth, expanding infrastructure
In just two years, Vermont has doubled its fleet of EVs, underscoring residents’ enthusiasm for electric driving. To support this surge, the state now boasts 459 public EV chargers, including 92 DC fast chargers.
The EV mix in Vermont is leaning increasingly toward BEVs, which represent 60% of the state’s EV fleet. The remaining 40% consists of PHEVs, offering flexible fuel options for drivers.
Top EV models in Vermont
Vermont’s favorite EVs in late 2024 included the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Nissan Ariya, Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV, Tesla Model Y, and the Ford F-150 Lightning. These vehicles have appealed to Vermont drivers looking for reliability, performance, and practical features that work well in Vermont’s climate.
Leading the US in reducing emissions
This strong adoption of EVs earned Vermont the top ranking from the Natural Resources Defense Council for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation in 2023. “It’s only getting easier for Vermonters to drive electric,” noted Michele Boomhower, Vermont’s Department of Transportation director. She emphasized the growing variety of EV models, including electric trucks and SUVs with essential features like all-wheel drive, crucial for Vermont’s climate and terrain.
Local dealerships boost EV accessibility
Nucar Automall, an auto dealer in St. Albans, is a great example of local support driving this trend. With help from Efficiency Vermont’s EV dealer incentives – receiving $25,000 through the EV Readiness Incentive program – it recently installed 15 EV chargers for new buyers and existing drivers to use.
“Having these chargers on the lot makes it easier for customers to see just how simple charging an EV can be,” said Ryan Ortiz, general manager at Nucar Automall. Ortiz also pointed out the growing affordability of EVs, thanks to more models becoming available and an increase in pre-owned EVs coming off leases.
Read more: Vermont becomes the first US state to pass a law requiring Big Oil to pay for climate damage
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
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Elon Musk said Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing to the company’s profits… wait for it… “next year” with “millions of Tesla robotaxis in operation during the second half of the year.”
The claim has become a running joke, as he has made it for the last decade.
During Tesla’s conference call following the release of its Q1 2025 financial results, Musk updated shareholders about Tesla’s self-driving plans, which he again presented as critical to the company’s future.
He made a series of claims, mainly updating timelines about Tesla’s self-driving efforts.
Here are the main comments:
- The CEO reiterated that Tesla will launch its paid autonomous ride-sharing service in Austin in June.
- He did clarify that the fleet will consist of Model Y vehicles and not the new Cybercab.
- Musk also confirmed that Tesla is currently training a fleet specifically for Austin.
- As we previously reported, this internal ride-hailing fleet operating in a geo-fenced with teleoperation assist is a big change from Tesla’s approach.
- Musk said “10 to 20 vehicles” on day one.
- Musk said that Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing positively to the company financially in the middle of next year, and “There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of next year.”
- Musk has literally said something similar every year for the past decade and therefore, it’s hard to take him seriously.
- The CEO claimed that Tesla would get “a 90-something percentage market share” in the autonomous market.
- Musk again claimed that no one else is getting close to Tesla’s capacity, and he criticized Waymo for being too expensive.
- Musk is “confident” that the first Model Y will drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home later this year.
- The CEO said that he is confident that Tesla will deliver “unsupervised full self-driving” in consumer vehicles by the end of the year.
Despite Tesla missing earnings expectations by a wide margin, the company’s stock rose 4% in after-hours trading following Musk’s comments, indicating that shareholders still believe Musk’s self-driving predictions, despite his predictions having been incorrect for almost a decade.
Electrek’s Take
The first point I believe will happen. Tesla needs it to happen. It badly needs a win on the self-driving front.
However, as we previously explained, while Tesla will claim a win in June, it will be with a limited geo-fenced and teleoperation-assisted system that won’t scale to customer vehicles, which is what has been promised for years.
Tesla was even asked how it plans to launch this in Austin in June, when FSD in consumer vehicles currently requires frequent interventions from drivers, and Ashok, Tesla’s head of autonomous driving, admitted his team is currently focused on solving the intervention specifically related to driving in Austin.
With training on specific Austin routes and using teleoperations, Tesla can make that happen, but the road between that and unsupervised self-driving in consumer vehicles and “million of Tesla robotaxis” in the second of next year is a long one.
Basically, other than the first point, I believe Tesla will not achieve any of the other on anything close to the timelines announced by Musk today.
I’m willing to take bets on that.
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