Transition Finance Weekly - March 12, 2026
America First Refinery?, New Laws Facilitating Interconnection, Emergency Coal Orders
1. America First Refinery?
Desperate for a fix for its oil price shocks, the Trump Administration looks to a refinery project that has failed to get off the ground for years.
As the administration is scrambling to find solutions to the price shocks arising from its war in Iran, President Trump announced a “$300 billion” refinery project backed by Indian refiner Reliant Industries and America First Refining, led by John Calce. This is Calce’s fourth time trying to build a new refinery in Brownsville, with at least one of his past attempts leading to bankruptcy.
This would be the United States’s first major refinery in 50 years, but has faced significant, sustained opposition from local residents, environmental advocates, and local business owners in Brownsville. Despite Trump’s claims that the refinery would be the “cleanest,” refineries of its kind are highly polluting and damaging to local communities. The facilities release toxins linked to cancer, heart disease, and neurological and reproductive damage.
Still, the deal is extremely thin on details, and is vaguely reminiscent of Trump’s first administration’s promise to Wisconsinites: that Foxconn would bring billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs in development, which never materialized.
2. Texas County Pushes Renewables Ban
Steeped in anti-renewables disinformation, Van Zandt County, Texas moved to ban all renewable and battery project development.
The Van Zandt County Commission in February approved a moratorium on all clean energy projects, including battery storage projects. The Commissioners cited AG Ken Paxton’s new “investigation” into “CCP-aligned” products used in Texas. Paxton has previously used tools of his office to threaten companies investing in the energy transition.
The moratorium was heavily pushed by a newly-formed anti-renewable energy organization called the “Legislative Energy Action Foundation.” LEAF’s founder, Nancy White, has used extensive disinformation to attack clean energy.
Despite, not because of, political leaders like Paxton, Texas has emerged as an unlikely standard-bearer for the energy transition. That progress is now at risk if the state’s leadership continues to prioritize culture war politics over sound energy policy.
3. Policymakers Move To Maximize Existing Grid Connections
Legislators in Indiana and Virginia moved bills to allow energy developers to take advantage of “Surplus Interconnection.”
Indiana and Virginia lawmakers passed two bills to create Surplus Interconnection Service, which will allow energy developers to connect to the grid at an existing facility’s interconnection point. The Indiana bill is now law, while Virginia’s version awaits Governor Abigail Spanberger’s signature.
The SIS bills will allow energy developers, especially renewable and battery developers, to connect to the grid much faster, since grid operators typically study SIS much more quickly than standard interconnection requests.
Existing evidence shows that projects connected via surplus interconnection are typically significantly cheaper than those needing a full interconnection review, largely due to the much shorter time frames.
Virginia Delegate Phil Hernandez, who sponsored Virginia’s bill, said, “We believe this could be one of the fastest, lowest-cost ways to add power to the grid.”
4. Culture Warriors Step Into Arizona Utility Elections
Far-right political organization Turning Point USA is endorsing candidates in the Arizona Salt River Project public utility races.
The far-right advocacy group Turning Point USA endorsed a slate of candidates in Arizona’s Salt River Project Board elections. The Salt River Project is an Arizona-based public utility, and is one of the largest public utilities in the country.
TPUSA’s slate is led by current Vice Chair Chris Dobson, who is also being backed by Arizonans for Responsible Growth. ARG has long positioned itself, and its candidates in Salt River Project, as being “growth-minded people.” ARG itself is backed largely by SRP contractors and companies with financial interests in the outcome of the races.
TPUSA, co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, is most known for its rambunctious campus tours. With ties to fossil fuel funding and networks, TPUSA-led student organizing supported campus opposition to pro-climate fossil free divestment campaigns and Kirk’s content often highlighted climate denial.
As utility analyst Paul Walker put it, “The worry I have, and many others have, is that Turning Point wants SRP to stop building what’s economically rational and start building what scores political points. They have nobody with any background or training in the water or electric sectors, but that’s not stopping them from trying to tell Arizona voters how to shape the water and power future.”
5. Production Restarts At Georgia Solar Plant
Qcells restarted production at its Georgia solar plants after their cells were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
Late last week, solar maker Qcells announced that it was once again back to “normal production” at its two factories in Dalton and Cartersville, Georgia, with a production capacity of 5.1 GW and 3.3 GW of solar panels respectively.
In 2023, Qcells announced a $2.5 billion expansion of its investments in manufacturing in Georgia. Its expansion would bring the total solar manufacturing capacity to 8.4 GW a year and will create the first fully-integrated American solar supply chain.
The QCells facilities are an example of the Inflation Reduction Act’s success in driving a renaissance in clean energy-oriented regional economic growth. Since the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” such projects have faced tough headwinds, with more than $35B in investments evaporating as a result. The domestic solar supply chain is critical to building long-term energy security, as recent weeks have demonstrated.
6. TransAlta Won’t Run Washington’s Last Coal Plant
Despite a DOE order delaying Washington’s last coal plant’s retirement date, IPP TransAlta says it likely won’t run the plant.
TransAlta, which owns Washington’s last coal power plant, was planning to retire Centralia Unit 2 in December 2025, until Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an “emergency” order requiring it to stay online. Despite the order, TransAlta says the plant probably won’t need to run because the state is “flush” with other, mostly clean, power.
It’s not the first time the administration has used this power to keep coal plants open past their planned retirements. Other utilities, including Tri-State in Colorado and Consumers Energy in Michigan, have been required to do the same and have opposed the administration’s moves, saying the named plants are economically uncompetitive.
Washington State isn’t sitting on its hands either: the state is suing the administration to block the order, and it passed legislation to heavily tax Centralia’s energy output, with the intent of keeping it shut off.
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson: “Washington is not going backward on clean energy. [This] keeps the state on track to phase out coal power as we have been planning to do so for the last 15 years.”