Thursday, 9 July 2026

Four supertankers hauling roughly 8 million barrels of crude have exited the Strait of Hormuz or are transiting it now, among them the first Saudi-owned vessels since the war began. Iran has pledged to restore traffic through the waterway to prewar levels within 30 days, according to Rigzone.

The strait carried about 20% of global energy before the war, according to Rigzone. Iran had declared the passage closed after the country came under attack by the US and Israel on Feb. 28.

The two crude benchmarks split as cargoes moved. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery slipped 0.3% to close at $76.60 a barrel, while Brent for August settlement rose 0.4% to $79.85 a barrel.

Goldman Sachs said Persian Gulf exports should now normalize by the end of next month, an earlier timeline than its previous estimate of the end of August. The bank cautioned that flows through the strait may recover to only 70% of prewar levels.

Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma have fallen to about 20 million barrels, a threshold traders treat as an operational minimum, according to Rigzone. The drawdown at the largest US commercial hub keeps physical supply thin even as seaborne barrels resume moving.

At the pump, average nationwide US gasoline has retreated to $3.999 a gallon from a peak of $4.564 last month, according to figures from the American Automobile Association.

WOOD & Company and Delta Capacity completed a battery energy storage system that Centrica Energy will run as the project's trading and dispatch optimizer, providing round-the-clock services, according to the companies cited by ESS News.

The two-hour duration system was acquired as a ready-to-build asset from RES in February 2025, according to ESS News. Sungrow supplied the battery system, with Stenger & Ibsen Construction serving as balance-of-plant contractor and Rejlers providing construction management support.

Centrica Energy will handle trading and dispatch optimization for the project, providing round-the-clock services, according to the companies.

Delta Capacity, founded in 2022 and based in Switzerland, has nearly 800 MWh of storage under construction, according to ESS News. The company is targeting more than 6 GWh of flexible assets in operation by 2030.

WOOD & Company Renewables Sub-Fund has a net asset value of EUR 76 million, or USD 86.3 million, according to ESS News.

Rosatom is running investment feasibility and site selection studies for a used nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, with a decision due by the end of 2026, according to World Nuclear News. The facility would start with an initial capacity of 400 tonnes per year.

Rosatom said the first module would have a capacity of 400 tonnes of fuel per year, and the company aims to reach that capacity within a decade.

The facility will be the largest spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Russia and capable of processing fuel from both thermal and fast reactors, Rosatom said.

Andrey Nikipelov of Rosatom said global reserves of spent nuclear fuel reach 360,000 tonnes.

Russia's lead-cooled BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor is a 300 MWe unit that will be the main facility of the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex at the Siberian Chemical Combine site, according to World Nuclear News.

MODEC will supply a SOFEC internal turret mooring system for the Coral Norte floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project sited offshore Mozambique, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Eni leads the development, with CNPC, ENH, XRG and KOGAS as partners, OEDigital reported.

Backers cleared the final investment decision in October 2025, and the hull entered the water in January 2026 at Samsung Heavy Industries' shipyard in Geoje, South Korea, according to OEDigital. The developers are aiming to produce first LNG in 2028.

OEDigital reported that Coral Norte follows the design of the earlier Coral Sul FLNG unit and will bring on 3.6 million tonnes per annum of liquefaction capacity.

On the mooring work, MODEC is teaming with the Technip Energies-JGC joint venture to handle integration and execution, according to OEDigital.

Chinese solar maker Microquanta showed a perovskite-silicon tandem module built for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) at the Smarter E event in Munich, Germany, pv magazine reported.

The launched unit pairs a perovskite top layer with TOPCon silicon cells arranged in a four-terminal setup, according to pv magazine. Engineers rated the design for strings running at up to 1,500 V and carrying 15 A.

On warranties, Microquanta covers linear power output for 25 years and product workmanship for 12 years, pv magazine reported. The specification sheet lists a 2% drop in the first year, then 0.7% each year after, leaving a guaranteed 80% of starting output at the 25-year mark.

Durability testing put the modules through front and rear static loads of 2,400 Pa, alongside a hail trial using 25 mm hailstones fired at 23 m/s, according to pv magazine.

Microquanta has track record behind the launch. Its 810 cm2 perovskite module cleared a 21.86% efficiency certification from China's National PV Industry Measurement and Testing Center in January 2025, pv magazine reported.

Production is scaling at a gigawatt-scale perovskite line the company is building in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, targeting mass production, according to pv magazine.

Sweden's solar sector is showing early signs of stabilization after two consecutive years of contraction, according to Ludvig Bydén of Svensk Solenergi, as reported by ESS News.

Utility-scale solar led the recovery. Installed capacity in the segment rose roughly 60% year-on-year, according to ESS News.

The recovery follows a policy change. Sweden removed the 60-öre (USD 0.06) micro-production tax credit that previously compensated surplus electricity exported to the grid, according to ESS News.

Demand is now built on a different foundation. "Today, the key driver is no longer subsidies, but resilience against highly volatile electricity prices," Bydén said, according to ESS News.

To support connections, Svensk Solenergi published a new handbook for flexible grid connections, aimed at improving transparency and encouraging the use of modern grid management tools, according to ESS News.

The stabilization marks a turn for a market that had contracted in each of the two prior periods, according to Bydén.

Zijin Mining produced its first proprietary battery-electric mining dump truck, the LK220E, which rolled off the production line by the end of 2025, according to electrive.

The company now operates nearly 300 battery-electric dump trucks, electrive reported. Depending on configuration, the vehicles weigh up to 140 tonnes and use swappable batteries with a capacity of 776 kWh.

Zijin stated the trucks achieved an availability rate of over 90 percent and cut energy consumption by more than 17 percent compared to similar models, according to electrive.

At the Xinjiang-Zijin zinc mine, more than 290 battery-electric mining trucks from various manufacturers are in operation, including vehicles from Lingong Heavy Machinery, electrive reported. Those trucks handle over 80 percent of the mine's transport volume.

The mine runs an automated battery-swapping system that uses artificial intelligence to perform over 180 battery swaps per day, according to electrive. A swap on the roughly 90-tonne vehicles takes around four minutes.

Two Bangladeshi automakers have committed to local electric vehicle assembly following new government incentives, with Runner Automobiles planning phased investments of 2.6 billion taka to develop a 'made-in-Bangladesh' EV in partnership with BYD, according to electrive.

Runner Automobiles CFO Shanat Datta said the company plans to begin EV assembly by the middle of 2027, following the government incentives, electrive reported.

Rancon Motors has confirmed plans to invest 3 billion taka in EV assembly, according to electrive.

The moves come as Bangladesh targets a 30% EV market share by 2030, electrive reported.

Charging infrastructure remains thin. Bangladesh currently has only 32 public charging stations, according to electrive.

Colombia's coal export volumes fell 23% in 2025, its national association of coal producers reported. The decline tracks a government push to steer the economy off the fuels that drive its export revenue.

Colombia ranks as the world's sixth-largest coal exporter and the fourth-largest oil exporter in Latin America, according to Climate Home News.

Gustavo Petro's government took power in 2022 and moved quickly against new fossil output, halting fresh oil and gas exploration contracts, suspending hydraulic fracking pilots, and promising to stop building new unabated coal plants, according to Climate Home News.

Colombia recently hosted the world's first international conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, according to Climate Home News.

The country's power system relies heavily on water. Close to 70% of Colombia's electricity comes from large hydro-electric dams, according to Climate Home News.

Colombia's renewable energy association forecasts that the country may hold more than 4.2 GW of installed variable renewable capacity by the end of 2026, according to Climate Home News.

Holtec International and EDF have put forward a joint plan for as many as four SMR-300 small modular reactors at the Cottam power plant site in Nottinghamshire, UK, according to World Nuclear News.

The pair signed Heads of Terms to form a joint venture for the project, which sits on a former coal station that halted electricity generation in 2019 and retains existing grid connections, World Nuclear News reported.

A 1 GW data centre tied to the site is targeted to come online by the end of the decade, while the reactors themselves would enter service in the 2030s, according to World Nuclear News.

Holtec's SMR-300 cleared stage 2 of the UK's Generic Design Assessment, a review that found no fundamental safety, security, safeguards or environmental protection shortfalls that would block deployment in Great Britain, World Nuclear News reported.

The SMR-300 is a pressurised water reactor rated at about 300 MW of electrical output, or 1050 MW of thermal output for process uses, according to World Nuclear News.

Simone Rossi, CEO of EDF UK, said the Cottam plan backs the UK government's aim to grow nuclear capacity and could support economic renewal in a region shaped by its coal history.

The UK's first SMR scheme, at Wylfa in North Wales, is set to carry at least three Rolls-Royce SMRs, a design picked through an official UK government contest, with a final investment decision expected in 2029, according to World Nuclear News.

Zenobe has secured a AUD 400 million financing facility to fund the deployment of electric commercial vehicles across Australia and New Zealand, according to electrive.

The company describes the facility as the region's first integrated, multi-site heavy vehicle fleet electrification financing platform.

The platform will launch with four operational seed projects, according to electrive. These include electric fleet depots in Leichhardt in Australia, and in Dunedin, West Auckland, and Greater Wellington in New Zealand.

Gareth Ridge is Country Director, Australia and New Zealand at Zenobe.

Saipem is selling the shallow-water jack-up rigs held through Saudi Arabian Saipem Ltd, a fleet of three owned units and two leased ones, according to Rigzone. The owned rigs are Perro Negro 7, Perro Negro 8 and Perro Negro 10; the leased pair are Perro Negro 11 and Perro Negro 13.

Saipem said the sale fits its plan to concentrate on deepwater and harsh-environment offshore drilling.

Once the deal closes, a bareboat charter will let Saipem keep running its work in Mexico using the Perro Negro 10 rig and meet its current contract obligations.

The disposal lands as Saipem works to merge with Subsea7 SA into a combined company called Saipem7, a tie-up announced July 24, 2025 and set to complete in the second half of 2026, Rigzone reported. The terms hand Subsea7 shareholders 6.688 Saipem shares for each Subsea7 share.

NatPower and Tesla have signed a multi-year supply and execution agreement to add more than 25 GWh of battery energy storage systems in Italy and the United Kingdom, according to Rigzone.

The facilities will be owned and operated by Luxembourg-registered NatPower, Rigzone reported.

Under the agreement, Tesla will supply its Megapack battery energy storage system, along with engineering, procurement and construction services and bankable trading services carrying long-term revenue warranties through Tesla's Autobidder platform.

NatPower estimated aggregate construction value across the full scope at USD 4 billion to USD 5 billion, with expected project revenues exceeding USD 15 billion over 20 years.

NatPower said the deployed assets will provide grid stabilization, renewable generation optimization, and dispatchable capacity for high-demand end users including data centers and energy-intensive industrial operations.

"Tesla is excited to partner with NatPower on this long-term agreement," said Mike Snyder, Tesla vice president for energy and charging.

Ford's first vehicle built on its new Universal Electric Vehicle platform is a four-door midsize electric pickup that will start at around $30,000, according to Electrek.

Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company found efficiency gains of 20-30% on the program, but had to recruit people from motorsport to achieve them, Electrek reported. The starting price of about $30,000 anchors the pickup at the entry end of the segment.

The carmaker plans to use gigacasting, which it calls "unicastings," to cut the part count on the upcoming pickup, Electrek reported. Ford will reduce the number of parts from 146 in the current Maverick to just two for the new vehicle.

For the batteries, Ford is using prismatic lithium iron phosphate cells built in the US, according to Electrek. The cells rely on licensed technology from China's CATL.

The platform launch lands against a shift in European registration figures. BYD registered more than 26,000 vehicles in Europe last month, up 158% from May 2025, according to ACEA data cited by Electrek. Over the same stretch, Ford registered 18,105 vehicles in Europe in May, down 32% from a year earlier.

Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson launched the country's new Nuclear Energy Strategy in Newmarket, Ontario, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Hodgson said Canada is a Tier One nuclear nation but has not had a national nuclear energy strategy for a very long time, framing the launch as a new beginning for the sector. He described the strategy as a direct complement to the government's upcoming National Electricity Strategy.

Hodgson traced Canada's nuclear history to the ZEEP reactor at Chalk River Laboratory, which became the first nuclear reactor outside the United States to achieve criticality in 1945. Canada's first nuclear power demonstration plant came online in 1962.

China shipped a record $9.2 billion worth of electric vehicles overseas in May, up 49% year over year and just ahead of the previous monthly record of $9.1 billion set in April, according to Ember data.

Exports totaled around 448,000 electric passenger vehicles for the month, split between roughly 279,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and about 169,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Ember reported.

Shipments to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries reached a record $1.2 billion in May as governments across the region push to electrify transportation, according to the same data.

Thailand led regional demand, importing more than 36,000 Chinese EVs during the month, while shipments to the Philippines topped 33,000 vehicles, per Ember.

Policy moves across the region have widened the market. Cambodia cut customs duties on BEVs to zero in late March and reduced tariffs on PHEVs from 35% to 7%.

Laos now requires transportation companies to have EVs make up at least 10% of their fleets by the end of 2026, and in May the country temporarily banned imports of internal combustion engine cars through the end of the year as it works to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.

The European Commission and the UK government opened a new platform on Tuesday to coordinate electrification efforts across national governments, according to Climate Home News. The platform is meant to align how countries track and advance the shift toward electric power worldwide.

Dozens of governments, with the EU and UK at the front, have committed political backing to a faster electrification of the world economy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, Climate Home News reported. Backers cast the drive as a "powerful weapon" against fossil fuels.

COP31 co-hosts Türkiye and Australia have placed a target at the center of this year's UN summit agenda: electricity supplying 35% of final energy demand by 2035, up from around 20% now, Climate Home News reported.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says hitting that 35% share is needed to keep the 1.5C warming limit within reach.

Several governments signed on when the platform opened, including Brazil's COP30 presidency, the joint Australia-Türkiye COP31 presidency, Ethiopia's incoming COP32 presidency, Canada, the Philippines and South Korea, according to Climate Home News.

At a Santa Marta conference on moving away from fossil fuels, 60 governments led by the Netherlands and Colombia identified electrification as an area where their work can line up with the UN climate talks, Climate Home News reported.

Export Development Canada facilitated $8.3 billion in cleantech business in 2025, with a substantial share going to renewable energy including solar, according to EDC spokesperson Anil Handa cited by Solar Builder. The agency has supported nearly $50 billion in cleantech exports to date.

B.C.-based Stardust Solar tapped EDC in June for $2 million in export trade credit insurance coverage on receivables tied to its 30 MW solar project in Zambia, Solar Builder reported. The $90 million project is being built for ZESCO Ltd, which signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) at 7 cents per kWh for the array's output.

In 2025, Innergex began work on the 200 MW Palomino Solar Energy project in Lynchburg, Ohio, expected to begin operations in 2027, according to Solar Builder. The project was supported in part by about $30 million in insurance lines that EDC has provided the company.

Leeward Renewable Energy, owned by OMERS, began commercial operations in 2024 at the 200 MW Horizon Solar Energy farm near Pearsall, Texas, Solar Builder reported. The facility supplies electricity to Verizon.

Sunrun stock climbed as much as 26% on Wednesday after the residential solar company unveiled a virtual power plant partnership targeting data center demand, according to Electrek.

Aggregated home batteries and thermostats already give the venture more than 300 megawatts available for immediate use in Virginia, with the participants forecasting at least 500 MW by 2030, Electrek reported.

The timing tracks a steep demand curve. Electrek reported US data center power needs are projected to reach 41 GW in 2026 and 66 GW in 2027, with interconnection queues running years long.

The companies cite a Brattle Group analysis estimating that fuller use of the existing grid could trim US electricity bills by USD 110 billion to USD 170 billion over the next decade and shorten data center interconnection by several years, according to Electrek.

Renew Home, a Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners company that counts more than 6 million connected households, said it brought the group together, Electrek reported.

Sunrun chief executive Mary Powell tied the pitch to grid age, saying "the grid of the 1800s cannot power the innovation of 2026".

Red Eléctrica has begun construction of a new 200 kV Costa de la Luz-Puebla de Guzmán electrical axis in the province of Huelva, according to the Redeia subsidiary responsible for transmission and operation of the Spanish electricity system.

The line runs through the municipalities of Lepe, Cartaya, Villanueva de los Castillejos, El Almendro and Puebla de Guzmán, all in Huelva province, according to Red Eléctrica. A 0.9-kilometre section at the Costa de la Luz substation end will run underground.

The works include two new bays at the 220 kV Puebla de Guzmán substation, corresponding to Costa de la Luz 1 and 2, according to Red Eléctrica. The project also expands the 220 kV Costa de la Luz substation using a smaller gas insulated substation (GIS) enclosed within a building for better integration into the surroundings.

The axis is intended to drive mining and industrial developments in the Iberian Pyrite Belt in the El Andévalo region, in the north of Huelva province, according to Red Eléctrica. The company said it will also reinforce electricity supply for new business and residential projects on the Huelva coast.

The European Commission is set to adopt its Circular Economy Act this autumn, part of what Climate Home News describes as the EU's target to lead on circularity by 2030.

Recycled feedstock has barely grown across a decade. The European Environment Agency put the secondary material share of total use at 12% in 2024, up 1.5% from the 2010 level.

Import reliance stays narrow. Climate Home News reported that every unit of Europe's heavy rare earth metals arrives from China, while South Africa supplies 71% of its platinum.

A World Economic Forum survey of 491 manufacturing executives found 79% called circularity crucial to their business now, and 95% expected it to matter within three years.

Carsten Wachholz, business-policy engagement lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, called the act "a critical opportunity to turn circular solutions from a niche proposition into a mainstream market choice," according to Climate Home News.

Some producers already rework old equipment. Signify strips down lighting systems as old as 10 years and rebuilds them, often below the price of new units, Climate Home News reported. At Tuborg Havn in Copenhagen, crews cleaned, upgraded and refitted more than 80 fixtures with LEDs that will run 3.5 times more efficiently than the units they replaced.

Vesper Energy has broken ground on its Nazareth Solar utility-scale project in Tulia, in northern Texas. The 201 MW project is expected to be fully operational by late 2027, according to Vesper Energy officials.

The project spans about 1,000 acres of private land adjacent to Vesper's 600 MW Hornet Solar site. Vesper secured a $236 million financing round for Nazareth Solar following Hornet Solar's performance.

According to Vesper Energy, Hornet Solar delivered more than $5 million in local tax revenue and 1.5 million MWh to the ERCOT grid in its first year of operation.

Nazareth Solar is expected to generate about $34 million in long-term tax revenue for Swisher County and enough electricity to power 53,000 Texan homes annually. Vesper Energy officials say construction will create more than 200 jobs for contractors across northern Texas.

The groundbreaking ceremony included a $30,000 donation from Vesper Energy to the Tulia Fire Department.

Faster electrification is the best way to secure lower energy bills and stronger energy security in the United Kingdom, according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

CCC chair Nigel Topping said the country could save up to 80m barrels of oil and 1.5bn therms of gas each year, worth almost GBP 8bn at current oil and gas prices, according to Carbon Brief.

The CCC notes that UK greenhouse gas emissions are now roughly 50% below 1990 levels.

Despite that progress, the committee warns that 17% of the emissions cuts required to meet the UK's Paris Agreement climate target are not addressed by any government plans at all, according to Carbon Brief.

The CCC states that government plans for meeting future targets leave a significant gap to the UK's international climate pledge, per Carbon Brief.

The MSX pipeline would carry up to 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas across 199 miles from Greenville, Mississippi to Butler, Alabama at an estimated cost of USD 1.7 billion, according to IEEFA. IEEFA argues the demand forecasts behind the project and a companion line lean on overstated data center growth.

The second project, SSE4, would add about 1.3 bcf/day of capacity on the Southern Natural Gas Company's South Main Line at an estimated USD 3.5 billion, according to IEEFA. Both lines are proposed to enter service in late 2028, according to IEEFA.

Utilities have locked in most of the capacity ahead of construction. Atlanta Gas Light, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Southern Company Services, Oglethorpe Power, and the Tennessee Valley Authority hold contracts for more than 90% of the MSX pipeline's capacity, according to IEEFA. For SSE4, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Southern Company, and Oglethorpe Power have contracted for more than 98% of the capacity, according to IEEFA.

IEEFA disputes the underlying growth assumptions. Natural gas demand in the southeast fell by an average of 0.78% a year between 2017 and 2025, with peak demand spikes variable rather than trending upward, according to IEEFA.

IEEFA states that Kinder Morgan's projections of data center-driven electricity demand growth in the southeast run significantly higher than those of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the regulatory body focused on grid reliability.

Nigerian environment minister Balarabe Abbas Lawal said the loss and damage fund currently looks like a mirage, according to Climate Home News. His criticism comes as the fund's board prepares to decide which projects to finance from a pool of bids worth $250 million.

A call for funding requests launched at COP30 closed on June 15, with projects bidding for a combined $250 million, Climate Home News reported. The fund's board will decide which projects to fund at its next board meeting in the Philippines, starting on July 8.

Wealthy nations have promised the fund $822 million and delivered just $449 million, according to Climate Home News. A briefing paper prepared by the fund's secretariat warned that, unless fresh contributions are secured, the fund could run out of resources by the end of 2027.

The fund was agreed at COP27 in 2022 and officially set up the following year. Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, a banker from Senegal, was appointed CEO in 2024.

PJM will open its annual capacity auction on June 30 for the delivery year beginning June 2028, according to PJM Inside Lines. The offer window closes July 7, with results posted after 4 p.m. on July 14.

Prices in the auction are capped at approximately $325/MW-day, with a floor of $175/MW-day, according to PJM. PJM said it implemented the price cap and floor for the previous two auctions in coordination with the governors of all 13 PJM states, then extended those parameters to this auction and the next one in December 2026 to help limit volatility for consumers and investors.

The parameters follow a supply gap in the most recent auction. In the December 2025 auction for the 2027/2028 delivery year, procured capacity fell 6.6 GW short of PJM's reliability requirement, according to PJM.

To address the anticipated shortfall for the 2028/2029 delivery year, PJM has proposed a backstop central procurement process, similar to an auction, to be conducted in September and October.

PJM has also opened a separate contracting route. On June 9, PJM began facilitating new bilateral, long-term agreements between large load customers and generation providers, often spanning 10 years or more, letting buyers secure supply from new generation, storage or demand-side resources.

PJM ties the supply pressure to demand from data centers. New data center facilities and expansions can be developed up to two to three times faster than many of the electricity generation technologies necessary to serve them, according to PJM.

Arizona Public Service (APS), Salt River Project (SRP) and Tucson Electric Power (TEP) have begun a preliminary nuclear siting study to evaluate locations across Arizona, according to Power Engineering Nuclear.

The three utilities disclosed they were not selected for a Department of Energy (DOE) grant they applied for in early 2025 to support the effort, Power Engineering Nuclear reported. The funding request was submitted under the DOE's Generation III+ Small Modular Reactor program and would have helped offset the cost of early site evaluation work.

The study will use a phased screening methodology over six months to narrow potential locations, according to Power Engineering Nuclear. Existing and retired coal-fired power plant sites are among those under consideration for possible future reactor development.

Demand pressures underpin the work. APS, SRP and TEP each set peak demand records during 2025, driven by population growth and continued data center development, Power Engineering Nuclear reported.

Arizona already hosts the largest power generator in the western United States. Palo Verde Generating Station has the capacity to produce 4,200 MW, according to Power Engineering Nuclear. APS is seeking to extend the operating licenses for all three units at the station, a move that could extend operations from the mid-2040s through the mid-2060s.

Nuclear reactors were taken offline in France as extreme heat pushed river temperatures into a danger zone, according to RenewEconomy.

RenewEconomy reported that people cooled off along the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris on June 25, 2026, during the heat.

A judge dismissed a legal bid to prevent gas fracking in the Top End, according to RenewEconomy.

More Americans than ever are cooling their homes with heat pumps, according to Canary Media.

The shift marks a change from a decade ago, when two conventional air-conditioning systems were sold in the US for every one heat pump, according to Canary Media.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant will rise 20% to GBP 9,000 from GBP 7,500 starting July 21, targeting rural households switching from heating oil to a heat pump, according to UK DESNZ.

Leaflets explaining how to claim the extra funding will reach 200,000 eligible homes in England and Wales this week, UK DESNZ said.

The government has confirmed over GBP 50 million in support for vulnerable customers on heating oil, according to UK DESNZ.

The Social Housing Fund will receive a GBP 100 million boost to support the delivery of up to 57,000 solar installations for households in England this financial year, UK DESNZ said.

The government is backing Great British Energy to extend rooftop solar support to a further 100 schools and colleges this year, according to UK DESNZ.

A Swiss commodity trader has received approval to acquire Zen Energy's retail business and its power purchase agreement (PPA) deals, according to RenewEconomy.

Zen Energy's Templers battery energy storage system (BESS) is under construction, according to Zen Energy.

The UK government announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind expert taskforce on 26 June 2026 to advise on how to anticipate and respond to the growing risks climate change poses to national security, according to UK DESNZ.

The taskforce is co-chaired by Climate Minister Katie White and Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle, UK DESNZ said. It will meet to pinpoint gaps in the UK's preparedness and identify the most serious climate and nature threats to national security.

The government pointed to recent domestic damage from extreme conditions. The UK Health Security Agency estimated over 1,500 heat related deaths last summer, according to UK DESNZ. Analysis cited by the government showed that in 2025 hot and dry conditions led to GBP 800 million in crop losses for British farming.

The launch follows the UK's 2025 National Security Strategy, which identifies climate and nature loss as core drivers of global instability, economic disruption and security risk, according to UK DESNZ.

The government has also set a target for the seventh Carbon Budget, cutting emissions by 87% between 2038 and 2042, according to UK DESNZ.

A rapid-response attribution study named climate change as a primary driver of Europe's late-June heatwave, finding that temperatures at this level would have been "virtually impossible" 50 years ago, according to Carbon Brief.

The same research put this week's overnight temperatures at 100 times more likely now than in 2003, the year of a deadly European summer heatwave, Carbon Brief reported.

France broke its national temperature record on two consecutive days. Its national heat index, an average of day- and night-time highs from 30 weather stations, hit 30C on 24 June, according to Le Monde. A day later, Meteo-France placed 72 of the country's 96 mainland administrative districts under a red heatwave alert.

More than 845 French schools stayed shut on Monday 22 June, and another 1,800 rescheduled classes, Le Parisien reported.

The United Kingdom passed its June temperature record three times. The mark reached 36.1C at Gosport on 24 June, 36.7C at Merryfield on 25 June, and 37.3C at Santon Downham in Suffolk on 26 June, according to Carbon Brief.

Switzerland's national weather agency said temperatures topped 38C in June for the first time, ending a record that had stood since 1947, according to RTS.

World Weather Attribution scientists measured wet-bulb globe temperature in 854 cities across 30 European countries. They found 45% had broken, or were on track to break, their June heat-stress record since 18 June, Carbon Brief reported.

Avangrid has announced plans to build a 41 MW / 82 MWh battery storage project called Shutler Energy Storage in Gilliam County, Oregon, according to Solar Builder.

The battery will be able to discharge 41 MW for two hours, officials told Solar Builder, enough to power about 3,000 average American homes in a single discharge. Avangrid representatives said the project is likely to come online sometime in 2027.

Solar Builder reported that construction will create about 35 local union jobs in the northern region of Oregon. The project will add to Avangrid's existing 3 GW footprint in the Pacific Northwest.

Alongside the project, Avangrid pledged to donate $110,000 every year to two Gilliam County nonprofits, split evenly with $55,000 each going to the Condon Early Learning Center and the Arlington Childcare Center, until the project is decommissioned, according to Solar Builder.

Avangrid currently operates more than 11 GW of renewable energy capacity across nearly 100 projects, Solar Builder reported.

The Consumer Liaison Group met June 2 in Lowell, Massachusetts, to examine data center growth on the New England power system, according to ISO New England Newswire.

David Lapp, people's counsel for Maryland, delivered a closing keynote featuring insights from the PJM Interconnection region, where data center growth has been highly concentrated, according to ISO New England Newswire.

Eric Johnson, ISO New England's executive director of External Affairs, gave an overview of the 2025 Annual Markets Report, according to ISO New England Newswire. The report was issued by the ISO's Internal Market Monitor in May, ISO New England Newswire reported.

During a panel, Victoria Rojo, supervisor of load forecasting at ISO-NE, discussed new components of the 2026 Forecast Report of Capacity, Energy, Loads, and Transmission, according to ISO New England Newswire.

The next Consumer Liaison Group meeting is scheduled for September 24 in Portland, Maine, and will focus on energy storage and its role in supporting reliability and integrating renewable resources into the New England power system, according to ISO New England Newswire.

Germany awarded 482 MW of capacity in its latest innovative renewables tender at an average price of €0.0534/kWh, with final prices spanning €0.0475/kWh to €0.0559/kWh, according to ESS News.

The exercise drew 46 bids totaling 749 MW, and authorities selected 29 projects, ESS News reported. Every winning project paired a PV plant with energy storage.

Bavaria took the largest share of awarded capacity at 287 MW, according to ESS News. Schleswig-Holstein secured 53 MW and Brandenburg 51 MW.

The result tracks closely with the previous round of the same kind, held in October, when the Federal Network Agency awarded 485 MW at final prices between €0.0479/kWh and €0.0559/kWh, ESS News reported.

Prices have fallen sharply against an earlier round. In a tender held in October 2024, the agency selected 50 projects totaling 587 MW at final prices from €0.0674/kWh to €0.0745/kWh and an average of €0.0709/kWh, according to ESS News.

France's energy regulator CRE is seeking bids for as much as 30 MW of battery storage in French Guiana, ESS News reported. Bids must arrive by June 15, 2027.

Each battery must run for two hours, and CRE has set 30 MW as the ceiling for the round. Bids will be ordered by their cost per unit of service, with awards continuing until the ceiling fills.

The scheme rewards several grid functions, among them energy arbitrage, primary frequency reserve, and inertia from spinning machines, according to ESS News. Synthetic inertia delivered by power electronics is shut out.

Batteries sited near the Cayenne network and running primary reserve could loosen local operating limits and cut how much the grid leans on the Larivot thermal plant, CRE said.

CRE has left pumped hydro out of this round, pointing to the lack of any deployment target for the technology in France's draft 2024-2033 multiannual energy plan ahead of the bid cutoff, according to ESS News.

The regulator intends to set out terms for a further storage round covering Mayotte in the first half of 2027.

U.S. total energy consumption will drop in 2026 before climbing again in 2027, according to the latest short-term energy outlook from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The agency puts total consumption at 95.77 quadrillion British thermal units (qBtu) this year and 97.02 qBtu next year, against 96.21 qBtu in 2025, according to the EIA.

Liquid fuels run against that dip. The EIA projects U.S. liquid fuels consumption will average 20.68 million barrels per day in 2026 and 20.73 million barrels per day in 2027, up from 20.61 million barrels per day in 2025.

Natural gas demand follows a similar upward path. The EIA sees it averaging 92.1 billion cubic feet per day in 2026 and 95.0 billion cubic feet per day in 2027, compared with 91.9 billion cubic feet per day in 2025.

Renewables post the sharpest gains in the forecast. The EIA expects renewables demand at 9.42 qBtu in 2026 and 10.04 qBtu in 2027, up from 8.78 qBtu in 2025.

Coal moves the other way across the outlook period. The agency's June short-term energy outlook sees U.S. coal demand falling from 452 million short tons in 2025 to 419 million short tons in 2026 and 403 million short tons in 2027, according to the EIA.

Dozens of governments, led by the EU and the UK, committed to backing a rapid electrification of the world's economy at London climate action week, according to Carbon Brief.

A high-level summit at London's Mansion House brought together energy ministers and business leaders, joined by António Guterres, calling for faster action to curb demand for oil, coal and gas by powering homes, industry and transport with clean electricity, Carbon Brief reported.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on artificial intelligence companies to reveal their environmental impact and source their power solely from renewables by 2030, according to Carbon Brief.

The COP31 presidency is calling for countries to back a global goal for 35% of final energy to come from electricity by 2035, Carbon Brief reported.

The UK Climate Change Committee's latest progress report emphasises that faster electrification is the best way to secure lower energy bills and stronger energy security, according to Carbon Brief.

The UK parliament has approved its seventh carbon budget, aimed at cutting emissions 87% below 1990 levels by 2040, Carbon Brief reported.

Four out of five residential solar systems installed in Italy last year came paired with storage, according to Federico Brucciani, secretary of Italia Solare. He said 80% of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems were installed with storage in 2025.

The residential storage market is driven by the eco-bonus, an income tax rebate under the IRPEF regime, according to Brucciani.

Brucciani said Italy has built a distributed storage base estimated at around 18 GW of installed capacity.

The commercial and industrial (C&I) segment tells a different story. Brucciani said around 300 MW per year are being installed in that segment, but with continuous stop-and-go dynamics. He stated that C&I in Italy does not yet have a real storage market.

Large batteries in Italy are managed by grid operator Terna, according to Brucciani.

Brucciani projected that by 2030 Italy will be close to 50 GWh of standalone storage.

Equinor has decided to end its offshore wind business activities in Japan and close its Tokyo office by the end of 2026, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The company had operated in the market since 2018 but failed to win any leases in successive auctions.

Equinor said the decision reflects a reassessment of its strategic direction, with a strengthened focus on integrated power markets, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The withdrawal follows a broader pullback in the company's renewables portfolio. Equinor scrapped its 2030 installed capacity target on June 16, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital. In May, the company cancelled its Bandibuli floating offshore wind project off South Korea, though it remains a partner in the Donghae 1 project.

Equinor has previously scaled back offshore wind development in markets including Vietnam, Spain, Portugal and France, citing rising costs, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. Orsted, described by the outlet as the world's largest offshore wind developer, exited Japan in 2024.

Other developers have retreated from the Japanese market. Mitsubishi Corp-led consortia pulled out of Japan's first three offshore wind projects last year, citing surging costs, in a setback for efforts to reduce reliance on energy imports, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

BasiGo has added 18 intercity buses to its electric fleet in Rwanda, according to electrive. The delivery brings BasiGo Rwanda's battery-electric fleet to 52 vehicles, electrive reported, citing bus-news.com.

The locally assembled i8 intercity buses run on CATL battery packs and offer a range of up to 350 kilometres, according to electrive. The new vehicles will serve routes linking Kigali with Musanze, Rubavu, Huye, Rusizi and Nyagatare.

BasiGo aims to deploy a total of 1,000 battery-electric buses in East Africa by 2027, electrive reported. Last year, CATL appointed BasiGo as an authorised service partner for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Strait of Hormuz stayed closed for over 100 days during the crisis, a shutdown that Offshore Engineer OEDigital said could prove a turning point in global energy markets.

Nearly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies typically pass through the waterway, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The prolonged closure stripped that flow from the market.

Asia carries the heaviest exposure. The region depends on the Middle East for 60% of its oil and gas imports, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

European buyers entered the disruption with weaker underlying demand. European gas demand dropped by over 20% between 2021 and 2023 and has only recovered modestly since, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in April called for exploring alternative supply chains, pursuing mid- to long-term industrial restructuring, and moving toward a plastic-free economy as key national projects, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The response echoes the institutional legacy of an earlier shock. The International Energy Agency (IEA) was formed in 1974 to coordinate global responses to major oil disruptions, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Sales of new electric vehicles dropped sharply last fall after federal tax credits for EVs ended, according to Canary Media.

Canary Media reported that a nationwide buildout of EV chargers has been slow to get rolling.

OpenAI unveiled a custom inference chip called Jalapeño earlier this week, according to Semafor.

Semafor reports that by designing a custom chip, OpenAI can bring down the cost of serving its models to consumers.

OpenAI has gobbled up more compute than Anthropic, Semafor reports. Anthropic is now partnered with SpaceX for compute resources, according to Semafor.

Neoen won a 20-year deal with the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in Ontario, committing 190 MW of eight-hour capacity from a planned battery storage project, ESS News reported.

The procurement ran through the IESO's Long-Term 2 Capacity Services tender. Neoen's winning project pairs a 200 MW power rating with 1,600 MWh of energy, according to ESS News.

Site plans place the battery roughly 15 km west of Dryden in northwestern Ontario, ESS News reported. Crews are set to break ground in 2028, and the facility should reach commercial operation in 2030.

Ownership will be split between Neoen and Eagle Lake First Nation, an Ojibwe Indigenous community, according to ESS News.

With this award counted in, Neoen's secured Ontario capacity reaches 918 MW, lifting its Canadian total to 1,168 MW, ESS News reported.

Iranian Offshore Oil Co. placed its 6,200-mt P4 processing platform at the Reshadat field in the Persian Gulf, moving the structure into position through a float-over operation, according to Offshore Magazine.

P4 should lift oil production capacity at Reshadat by roughly 35,000 bbl/d, according to Offshore Magazine. To hold reservoir pressure and back continued development, the platform can pump as much as 80,000 bbl/d of water into the field.

Reshadat lies roughly 90 km from Lavan Island and first flowed oil in 1969, according to Offshore Magazine.

The South Pars infill drilling program runs to 35 wells spread across 17 platforms and is set to bring 36 MMcm/d of new gas production capacity, according to Offshore Magazine.

Pars Oil and Gas Co. secured an environmental permit for Platform A of South Pars Phase 11, a development slated to yield 2 Bcf/d, according to Offshore Magazine. The scheme calls for two wellhead platforms on four-legged jackets in 70 m of water, a 135-km 32-inch subsea pipeline, and 4-inch piggyback return lines that carry three-phase hydrocarbons to the Phase 12 processing facilities at the onshore South Pars Gas Complex.

At the SPD3 border platform, a freshly completed well was sunk to counter pressure decline after more than 23 years of steady output, according to Offshore Magazine. Operators expect it to raise flowing pressure and keep gas production stable.

Financial bids in Argentina's AlmaSADI battery storage auction landed between $7,397/MW-month and a level just under the $12,500/MW-month price cap, pv magazine reported.

Qualified projects produced a weighted average bid of $10,568.4/MW-month, about 15.5% below the auction ceiling, according to pv magazine.

Bidding opened after 37 domestic and international companies cleared qualification with 232 proposals totaling 8,230 MW of proposed capacity, well beyond the 700 MW procurement target, pv magazine reported.

Argentina's Energy Secretariat estimated the procurement could support around $700 million in investment, according to pv magazine.

The tender, launched in March, targets battery facilities able to deliver at least four consecutive hours of discharge for capacity and operating reserve services in the wholesale electricity market, pv magazine reported.

A low bid does not guarantee selection, according to pv magazine. Market operator CAMMESA will weigh offers against bid prices, regional and nodal capacity limits, and the allocation rules written into the tender.

Aker Solutions signed a five-year service agreement with Cenovus Energy Inc. for engineering and maintenance services on White Rose field assets, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The company classified the deal as "sizeable," which it defines as a value between USD 50 million and USD 150 million.

The scope covers the new West White Rose platform and the SeaRose Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The work includes engineering, maintenance, and operations support.

Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported that the West White Rose platform is expected to start production in 2026.

Aker Solutions will lead the work from its office in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, with approximately 120 employees involved onshore and offshore, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The contract will be booked as order intake in the second quarter of 2026 in the Life Cycle segment, per the same report.

The White Rose field lies approximately 350 km east of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, on the eastern edge of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Aker Solutions has delivered offshore engineering services to the White Rose field since 2005, the report said.

Once new small-scale solar projects enter the count, U.S. renewable capacity may surpass natural gas by early 2027, according to SUN DAY Campaign research reported by Solar Builder.

Through the first third of 2026, renewables led by solar supplied about 30% of total U.S. generation, Solar Builder reported, a stretch when overall electrical generation grew more than 10%.

Utility-scale solar added about 27.6 GW between May 2025 and April 2026, the SUN DAY Campaign says, with small-scale solar contributing another 6.5 GW across the same window.

The group's projection hinges on small-scale solar adding roughly 6,000 MW by May 1, 2027. On that path, renewable installed capacity would reach about 537,606.9 MW against natural gas at 515,744.9 MW, with solar alone holding 20.1% of the U.S. total.

Conventional fuels split three ways over the year-long sample cited by Solar Builder. Coal capacity dropped about 3.5 GW, nuclear edged up just 18.4 MW, and natural gas gained about 7.8 GW.

Battery storage is set to expand more than 47% by April 2027, roughly 22.8 GW of added capacity.

"The steadily accelerating march of solar, wind, and battery storage continues," said Ken Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed an emergency order requiring a Colorado coal plant to remain operational, the U.S. Department of Energy said. The department cited grid reliability and electricity cost concerns as the basis for the order.

Under the order, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Platte River Power Authority, Salt River Project, PacifiCorp, and Public Service Company of Colorado must take all steps needed to keep Craig Unit 1 available to run at the direction of the Southwest Power Pool, the department said. Public Service Company of Colorado operates as a subsidiary of Xcel Energy.

The order runs from June 29, 2026, through September 26, 2026.

Craig Station Unit 1 had been set to close at the end of 2025. Wright directed Tri-State and the co-owners to keep the unit available in two earlier emergency orders, in December 2025 and again in March 2026.

The department said more than 17 gigawatts of coal-power generation were kept operational in 2025.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation's 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment flags the WECC-Rocky Mountain assessment area as exposed to risks from an aging thermal resource fleet, the department said. That fleet can trigger unplanned outages, worsened by supply chain problems and limited vendor availability, according to the assessment.

Paris temperatures topped 103 degrees Fahrenheit during the recent heat wave, and average temperatures across France reached their highest level ever last week, according to Grist.

More than 40 people drowned while swimming in France while seeking respite from the heat, many of them teenagers, Grist reported. A Spanish local monitoring agency estimated that more than 200 deaths in the past week could be attributed to high temperatures.

The toll follows a far larger disaster earlier this century. In 2003, more than 14,800 people died in France as summer temperatures hovered above 95 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks, according to Grist.

Adaptation remains limited. Only about 25 percent of French households have air conditioning. On its current trajectory, temperatures in Europe are expected to rise by 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, according to Grist.

Some jurisdictions have moved to formalize heat response. In 2021, Florida's Miami-Dade County hired the world's first-ever dedicated chief heat officer.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson pledged up to CAD 73 million for 12 projects across Canada to speed mining work and build links carrying Canadian critical minerals to global markets, according to Natural Resources Canada.

The largest slice, up to CAD 51.57 million, flows through the First and Last Mile Fund to five projects backing critical minerals production and supply chains, Natural Resources Canada said. That fund draws on CAD 1.5 billion in federal money set out in Budget 2025.

Another CAD 19.6 million runs through the Energy Innovation Program, split among five clean energy and industrial decarbonization projects, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Hodgson made a set of separate commitments at the 2026 Energy and Mine Ministers' Conference in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. At the conference, he also committed over CAD 16 million for clean energy infrastructure projects in British Columbia, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Alongside provincial and territorial ministers, Hodgson named five interties across the country to move forward, Natural Resources Canada said.

The department will put up to CAD 15 million toward building the Canadian Digital Core Library, a national digital platform.

Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe was in central London during the city's peak temperature of 36.1 Celsius, roughly 97 degrees Fahrenheit, which Inside Climate News reported as a June record for the city.

The heat forced a change to the program itself. Organizers scrapped a session on extreme heat and mitigation because the near century-old library booked for it at the London School of Economics had no air conditioning, according to Inside Climate News.

Buffaloe holds the post of vice chairman at Climate Mayors, which Inside Climate News described as a bipartisan network of nearly 350 U.S. mayors.

Columbia adopted a climate action adaptation plan in 2019, under Trump, with emission-reduction targets across transportation, residential energy efficiency, and community resilience, Buffaloe told Inside Climate News.

On transit, the mayor said Columbia used a federal grant to fund its electric bus fleet and upgrade the depot where the buses are stored overnight, according to Inside Climate News.

Residents can also claim city rebates for home solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations, Buffaloe said.

Field data from a large-scale review of UK heat pump installations diverges from modeled performance, pv magazine reported.

To explain how installers can lift seasonal performance factor (SPF) ratings, pv magazine put questions to Jan Rosenow of Oxford University and Trystan Lea of Heat Pump Monitor.

Any UK heat pump seeking grant support under the government's Boiler Upgrade Scheme has to be fitted by an MCS Certified installer, according to pv magazine.

Two locally built battery-electric articulated buses are due to enter service with the Transperth fleet in Western Australia, according to electrive. Volvo Buses describes the vehicle as Australia's first locally built battery-electric articulated bus.

The model runs on Volvo's low-floor BZL Electric articulated chassis, with bodywork by Australian manufacturer Volgren at its Malaga facility near Perth, electrive reported. Mark Fryer, Director, Product & Industry at Volvo Buses Asia Pacific, said the vehicle is "a genuine 'Australia first'" and was built in Perth.

Each bus stretches 18 metres and seats 57 passengers, with room for about 105 people once standing riders are counted, according to electrive. Power comes from Volvo's dual-motor EPT802 driveline, pairing two 200 kW motors, while twelve LFP battery packs supply a combined installed capacity of 497 kWh. Charging uses the CCS2 standard, with a recharge time of around four hours.

Across the Transperth network, more than 150 battery-electric buses now operate, and roughly eleven more join each month, electrive reported. A A$250 million programme, funded jointly by the Australian and Western Australian governments, underpins the shift, delivering an initial fleet of 130 electric buses along with charging infrastructure and depot upgrades.

The Panama Canal expects fiscal 2026 revenue to run past its $5.2 billion forecast, with higher traffic during the closure of the Strait of Hormuz cited as a factor, according to Rigzone.

Daily transits climbed to 40 or 41 ships at the height of the Hormuz shutdown, up from a usual 34 or 35, Espino de Marotta said. Wait times for unbooked crossings stretched during the surge, and in April a single vessel paid a $4 million premium to move to the front of the line, Rigzone reported.

LNG tankers increased transits through the route as buyers in Japan, China and Korea shifted to US suppliers in place of Middle East producers such as Qatar, which were hit by the war in Iran, according to Rigzone. Even after a deal reopened Hormuz, US cargoes have kept moving to Asia, and the canal now averages one LNG tanker a day.

The canal's board picked Espino de Marotta in May as the authority's next administrator for the 2026 to 2033 term, Rigzone reported, and she begins her term in September. Her remit includes a package of major projects, a new dam and reservoir, two ports and an LPG pipeline, carrying a combined cost of roughly $8.5 billion.

Work on the reservoir and the canal's port terminals is set to start in late 2027 or early 2028, Espino de Marotta said.

Land and environmental defenders made up nearly a quarter of activists killed last year, according to Grist, which counted 84 people slain over their work, much of it unpaid, defending land and the natural world.

Separately from that count, Grist reported that Front Line Defenders logged Indigenous-rights defenders at 17 percent of the killings it documented.

Beyond the deaths, the report tallied close to 4,000 nonlethal attacks on human rights defenders spread across 119 countries in the same period, according to Grist, a total that sometimes counts more than one violation against the same person.

One of those killed was Efraín Fueres, a 46-year-old community leader from Ecuador who had joined nationwide protests the previous fall, Grist reported. In Ecuador, the report found most criminalisation cases arose in socio-environmental disputes over mining projects pushed onto communities without their free, prior and informed consent.

More than 165 countries have now recognized the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, which Grist described as giving communities firmer ground to challenge environmental harm.

The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a conditional loan commitment through its Office of Energy Dominance Financing to finance long-lead time items needed to rebuild the country's commercial nuclear supply chain, according to Neutron Bytes.

Westinghouse and its partner must each commit $500 million in project equity before accessing DOE loan funds, Neutron Bytes reported. That comes to $1 billion per project, or $10 billion across all 10 reactors, and the equity must be committed upfront.

Westinghouse said in a press statement it has signed letters of intent with seven potential partners, each with an identified project site, but did not name them, according to Neutron Bytes.

The commitment follows a difficult recent record for the AP1000 design. The two Vogtle AP1000 plants in Georgia took 15 years to build and cost $35 billion to complete, according to Neutron Bytes. The V C Summer AP1000 project in South Carolina was abandoned in 2017, leaving rateholders with $9 billion in debt.

In October 2025, Brookfield, the Canadian private equity fund that owns Westinghouse, announced a plan to complete the two partially built AP1000s at V C Summer, Neutron Bytes reported. A final investment decision is not expected before 2028.

Europe avoided the jet fuel crisis that some had feared heading into its summer-vacation season, drawing on higher local refinery output and increased imports from suppliers outside the Middle East, according to Rigzone.

The continent's reliance on Persian Gulf imports had raised concern after the Iran war blocked cargo flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping corridor tankers must pass to reach global markets, Rigzone reported.

Refiners across the continent responded by pushing more barrels toward jet fuel. Two months into the conflict, Shell plc said every oil refinery in Europe was maximizing jet fuel output to help cope with the Hormuz blockage, according to Rigzone.

Spanish refiner Repsol SA said it managed to increase jet fuel yields by up to 25%, according to an emailed response cited by Rigzone.

The supply gap left by falling Middle East cargoes was filled from elsewhere. Jet fuel arrivals into Europe soared from the United States and Nigeria as imports from the Middle East plunged, Rigzone reported.

Demand held up through the disruption. European air traffic remained healthy and surpassed 2025 levels in recent weeks, according to figures from Eurocontrol cited by Rigzone.

Airlines reported no expected strain on supply. "Our fuel suppliers don't expect problems this summer," said Thomas Thessen, chief analyst at SAS AB, according to Rigzone.

The combination of surging local production and higher imports from non-Middle East suppliers helped Europe avert the shortage some had anticipated, Rigzone reported.

Lent Hill Dairy Farm in Steuben County, New York, is powering an on-site cryptomine using biogas made from cow manure and food waste, according to Grist. The operation, run by Pennsylvania-based Ag-Grid Energy, is the first of its kind in the country.

The farm houses about 4,000 cows and uses anaerobic co-digesters to break down manure and local food waste into biogas, Grist reported. The project claims to recycle more than 45,000 gallons of food waste per day alongside the manure of the 4,000 cows, according to Grist.

Other operators are pairing digester gas with computing infrastructure. In California, Microsoft has partnered with Enchanted Rock to use renewable natural gas for backup data center power, according to Grist.

The digester sector is expanding. Vanguard Renewables, a portfolio company of BlackRock, is developing and operating more than 50 co-digesters across the country and aims to have more than 100 completed projects by the end of 2028, Grist reported.

The feedstock supply is large. Animals raised on factory farms in the United States produce an estimated 941 billion pounds of manure each year, according to Grist.

Not every project has advanced. After more than a year of community opposition, the town of Lind, Wisconsin denied Vanguard's co-digester application in the spring of 2024, Grist reported.

Crude output at Kazakhstan's Karachaganak oil and gas field fell by more than a quarter after a drone strike shut a Russian plant that processes the field's gas, World Oil reported.

Output has dropped to 25,000 tons of crude per day from a normal 34,000 tons, Interfax reported, citing Kazakhstan Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov. Bloomberg calculations put the reduced rate at just above 180,000 bpd.

The field is one of Kazakhstan's three largest hydrocarbon projects and supplies roughly 10% of national oil production, according to World Oil.

The supply cut traces to Wednesday's drone strike on the Orenburg gas-processing plant in Russia, sited around 170 kilometers from the Kazakh border, World Oil reported. Ukraine's General Staff said the plant stopped operating after the strike, though Bloomberg has not independently confirmed that account.

Kazakhstan is sticking with its target to pump 98 million tons of oil this year, Interfax reported.

Magnolia is set to win the auction for WildFire Energy, a driller backed by private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Kayne Anderson, according to World Oil.

Magnolia fell 1.5% to $26.78 in New York trading Friday, giving the company a market value of about $5.1 billion, World Oil reported.

WildFire's management team previously operated WildHorse Resource Development Corp. before selling to Chesapeake Energy Corp. in 2019 for $1.9 billion, according to World Oil.

Zero-emission truck (ZET) deployments in the United States climbed 37% year-over-year in 2025, according to CALSTART's Zeroing in on Zero-Emission Trucks report. Cumulative deployments reached 72,309 nationwide by the close of the year, up from 52,787 at the end of 2024.

Of the 2025 total, 12,996 units were deployed in the second half, CALSTART reported. ZETs accounted for 4.14% of all new truck deployments in that period, according to the report.

That share set a record. It surpassed the previous high of 3.13%, which CALSTART said was reached in the first six months of 2023.

The gains came against a shrinking overall market. Total US truck sales in the second half of 2025 fell 35% year-over-year to 314,067, according to CALSTART.

The report cited the arrival of the Tesla Semi as a factor, entering the market at $290,000 for a 500-mile tractor.