Sunday, 14 June 2026

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team stationed at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) observed damage to the exterior of a turbine building that plant staff said was hit by a drone strike, with the agency's observations consistent with the impact of a drone.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said attacks on nuclear sites are unacceptable and must stop to prevent the risk of a nuclear accident.

The agency has maintained a permanent expert presence at the Zaporizhzhia plant since September 2022. The on-site team's role includes monitoring nuclear safety and security conditions and reporting back to the agency's headquarters in Vienna.

Zaporizhzhia is Europe's largest nuclear power station and has been under Russian military control since early in the war in Ukraine. Its six reactors are in shutdown states, but the site still requires reliable off-site power, cooling, and trained staff to maintain safety functions. Damage to turbine buildings, while outside the reactor containment, sits within the wider plant perimeter that the IAEA monitors for incidents that could escalate into a nuclear safety event.

Grossi has repeatedly warned through the IAEA's regular updates that military activity in and around the site raises the risk of an accident. According to the agency, his latest statement reiterates that position following the observed damage.

The drone-strike report adds to a series of incidents logged by the on-site IAEA mission since it was established. The agency has not, in the material cited here, attributed the strike to a specific party.

Bangladesh has set a 0% tax rate for its solar power sector until 2035 and cut import-related duties on solar components to zero, according to pv magazine.

Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury announced the changes while presenting the national budget in parliament on Thursday, issuing a notification that takes import duty, regulatory duty, supplementary duty, and advance tax on essential solar components down to 0%.

Consumers will also receive a 5% tax rebate on payments made against their solar electricity bills.

Chowdhury linked the measures to Dhaka's renewable targets. The government aims to source 20% of total electricity demand from renewable energy by 2030, and between 30% and 50% from clean energy by 2050.

Bangladesh currently operates 1,797 MW of renewable generation capacity. Solar accounts for 1,504 MW of that total, with the remainder split across other renewable sources.

Reaching the 2030 target from the current 1,797 MW base implies a substantial capacity build over the rest of the decade, with the wider 30% to 50% range for 2050 leaving room for later policy choices.

The budget package combines three measures aimed at the solar value chain: the headline corporate tax rate held at 0% through 2035, zero duties on imported components, and the 5% consumer rebate. Bangladesh has long depended on natural gas for most of its power generation, and pv magazine reported the new notification as part of the national budget presented Thursday.

Origin Energy's first stage of the Eraring battery energy storage system has completed commissioning and is now trading electricity on the National Electricity Market, the company said. The opening stage is rated at 460 MW and 1,770 MWh, according to pv magazine.

The project sits on the New South Wales Central Coast, co-located with Origin's 2,880 MW Eraring coal-fired power station. The plant currently supplies about 18% of the state's electricity and is scheduled to retire in August 2027, with closure possibly pushed to 2029.

When all four stages are complete, the battery will reach 700 MW and 3,160 MWh, delivering an average duration of 4.5 hours, according to pv magazine.

Origin has committed AUD 80 million (USD 53.87 million) to build the fourth stage, pv magazine reported. Wärtsilä will supply the battery equipment for stage four, with Enerven handling design and construction. Origin said stage four is expected to come online in the first quarter of the 2027 calendar year, and that the remaining stages are on schedule.

Origin is targeting up to 5 GW of renewables and energy storage by 2030.

The Eraring site illustrates a pattern across Australia's grid, where developers are siting large batteries at retiring coal plants to reuse existing transmission connections. Stage one's entry into commercial operation gives Origin a 460 MW dispatchable asset already participating in NEM trading, ahead of the coal station's scheduled August 2027 closure date. The full 700 MW build, once commissioned, would represent a near one-to-one swap in nameplate terms for a fraction of the Eraring coal plant's 2,880 MW output, though over a 4.5-hour duration window rather than baseload.