Friday, 10 July 2026

Draft terms for the fourth auction of the European Union Hydrogen Bank (EHB) should reach the public before June closes, pv magazine reported, setting the rules that will govern how subsidy support is allocated to hydrogen producers. Hydrogen Europe expects the auction itself to open before the end of the year.

The backdrop is a mounting bill for wasted renewable power. Hydrogen Europe CEO Jorgo Chatzimarkakis said electricity curtailment across Europe cost EUR 5.6 billion in 2025, a figure he expects to climb to EUR 24 billion by 2030.

On the bilateral front, Australia and Germany have agreed a memorandum of understanding on hydrogen cooperation, according to pv magazine. The pact pairs the two governments in a joint H2Global auction scheme, with each side committing as much as EUR 200 million.

In metering, Italgas reported that its installed base of Nimbus units has passed 200,000, pv magazine said.

Indonesia had installed 853 MW of rooftop solar capacity as of 2025, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). That total trails regional peers by a wide margin.

IEEFA reported that Vietnam reached around 6.9 GW of rooftop solar in 2025, Thailand around 3.6 GW, and Malaysia around 1.8 GW.

A power outage in Sumatra on May 22, 2026 followed a failure on the 275-kV Muara Bungo-Sungai Rumbai transmission line in Jambi, which led to extensive blackouts across the island, according to IEEFA. The state-owned utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has since confirmed that constrained coal supply contributed to the outages.

Households accounted for 42% of the 318 TWh of electricity sold by PLN in 2025, with households in Java consuming around 82 TWh, IEEFA said.

More than 130 companies in Indonesia have pledged to source 100% renewable energy, according to IEEFA.

A nuclear-heat hydrogen production concept at the Kalpakkam site could cut electricity needs for electrolysis by as much as 30% compared with conventional electrolyzers, according to Hydrogen Fuel News, though the exact efficiency gains at the facility have not been disclosed.

The rationale rests on operating temperatures. Research cited by Hydrogen Fuel News suggests running electrolyzers between 600°C and 800°C can boost efficiency by 20-40%.

The Kalpakkam site hosts the Madras Atomic Power Station and the Fast Breeder Test Reactor, according to Hydrogen Fuel News. The Department of Atomic Energy has led India's nuclear program since the 1950s, operating under the office of the prime minister.

The interest in higher-temperature electrolysis routes tracks demand projections. Hydrogen Fuel News reports that global hydrogen demand is expected to potentially more than triple by 2050 for uses in shipping, chemicals, and heavy industry.

Amogy Inc. has partnered with Kowa Company, Ltd. to explore hydrogen supply solutions using ammonia cracking in Japan, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The two companies formalized the collaboration as a memorandum of understanding, with plans for joint feasibility studies, site evaluations, and technical trials with potential industrial partners, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

The approach relies on moving ammonia in liquid form using existing infrastructure at major ports, then cracking it on site into hydrogen and nitrogen, according to Hydrogen Fuel News. Amogy's process vaporizes liquid ammonia, heats it, and passes it over a metal-based catalyst to produce a hydrogen-rich stream, the outlet reported.

Kowa Company was originally rooted in pharmaceuticals and textiles and has expanded into renewable energy and alternative fuels, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Rolls-Royce powered a modified Pearl 15 turbofan on 100% hydrogen fuel through a simulated flight cycle at NASA's Stennis Space Center, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The engine test drew on prior work across England and Germany. Hydrogen Fuel News reported that Rolls-Royce ran an AE2100 turboprop on green hydrogen with easyJet at Boscombe Down in 2022, and carried out full combustor trials at the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne.

Rolls-Royce brought in the UK's Health and Safety Executive to add high-flow hydrogen control and monitoring, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

At Cologne, the DLR facility is still running full-annular combustors under maximum takeoff conditions on the same Pearl 15 platform, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Hydrogen carries about three times the energy per kilogram of kerosene, but only a quarter of that energy per unit of volume, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Aviation produces about 2.5% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

King Felipe VI inaugurated the Centro de Innovación de Agua y de Energía in Pinto, a green hydrogen and e-methane demonstration hub sited at a Canal de Isabel II wastewater treatment plant, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The King unveiled a plaque at the Arroyo Culebro Cuenca-Media Alta wastewater treatment plant, which serves over a million people in Madrid's southern suburbs, Hydrogen Fuel News reported. That plant has been in operation since 2006, primarily focused on advanced wastewater treatment.

The pilot facility can produce up to 400 kg of hydrogen per day using electrolyzers powered by on-site solar and wind energy, according to the company cited by Hydrogen Fuel News. The hydrogen can be compressed, stored, and dispatched to refuel vehicles or supply industrial clients.

The center also runs an experimental system that combines hydrogen with carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere to produce a methane-like gas, Hydrogen Fuel News reported. That e-methane is injected into the facility's internal network to help generate heat and electricity.

Regional authorities point to potential to use nearly half of the hydrogen produced to decarbonize truck fleets, according to Hydrogen Fuel News. Negotiations over specific offtake agreements and pricing structures are still underway.

Every unit of new electricity supply worldwide in 2025 came from low-carbon sources, with clean power contributing more than any other source to the year's energy growth, according to the Energy Institute statistical review of world energy as reported by Carbon Brief.

Total energy supply hit a record, rising 10 exajoules, or 1.7%, to pass 600EJ for the first time, the review found. Electricity demand outpaced that expansion, growing 3% against overall energy use of 1.7%, and low-carbon generation covered the entire gain, Carbon Brief reported.

Among all sources, wind and solar posted the sharpest rise at 18.3% year-on-year, the review found. That shift pushed the fossil-fuel share of global primary energy down to 86.2%, a record low, according to Carbon Brief.

Coal still climbed to a new high of 166EJ, 0.7% above the prior year and 2.8% higher than the 2014 level once viewed as a possible peak for the fuel, the review found.

Data centres remained a small slice of demand, at 2% of all electricity use and 15% of the year's increase, Carbon Brief reported.

The Energy Institute, a professional membership body, assumed responsibility for the annual review from BP in 2023.

Duke Energy accepted $129 million in taxpayer money to buy out an offshore wind lease, according to CleanTechnica. The report describes the company as the latest to accept a lease buyout offer from Trump's Department of the Interior.

CleanTechnica reported that Northeast states and California have filed lawsuits in recent weeks against the federal government over similar offshore wind lease agreements.

Earthrise Energy brought its 270 MWac Archtop Solar Project online in Illinois by using the existing grid connection at its Gibson City natural gas peaking plant, rather than waiting in the interconnection queue for a new connection, according to Electrek.

The project, made up of Gibson City Solar 1 and Gibson City Solar 2, entered commercial operation on June 9, Electrek reported.

Archtop is the first project to use Earthrise's surplus interconnection strategy, securing approval through MISO's surplus interconnection process rather than the traditional queue, according to Electrek.

Earthrise says it is developing roughly 1.5 GW of additional solar projects in Illinois using the same surplus interconnection strategy, Electrek reported.

"Illinois needs additional energy resources now, and this project demonstrates that innovative use of existing infrastructure can accelerate deployment timelines," said Earthrise CEO Jeff Hunter, according to Electrek.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, signed a law earlier this month carrying several policies meant to boost solar energy, according to Canary Media.

The law extends the state's renewable energy incentives, according to Canary Media. It calls for the creation of a new community solar program. The measure also authorizes plug-in solar and requires automated residential solar permitting.

Canadian startup Reflect10 has unveiled a photovoltaic module design that it says raises energy production by 20% against a conventional solar module by integrating light-reflecting geometry into the module, according to pv magazine.

The company claims the design can increase power output by a factor of 2.66 during early morning and late afternoon, when irradiance is lower, according to pv magazine. It also claims a 19% improvement in energy yield under diffuse-light conditions such as cloudy or smoggy weather.

Reflect10 said the reported figures rest on optical simulations and proof-of-concept field tests, according to pv magazine. Those tests ran in Quebec and Morocco over a nine-month period between late summer 2025 and May 2026.

The company launched a sealed-bid licensing process on June 30, according to pv magazine. It is offering 50 non-exclusive licenses for its intellectual property to module manufacturers, sovereign wealth funds and investment funds.

Reflect10 plans to present the technology at a press conference in Paris on July 7, according to pv magazine.

Goldbeck Solar won The smarter E Award 2026 in the Photovoltaics category for its self-developed automation system, HeliomatiX, according to pv magazine.

The HeliomatiX Assembly Hub consists of six 40-foot containers and requires a 55 m installation area, pv magazine reported. Pre-assembled modules leave the Assembly Hub every 60 seconds.

Ralf Steinheiser, Head of Innovation & Technology at Goldbeck Solar, said the system could in theory install up to 1 MW of PV capacity within eight hours. The automation approach could reduce man-hours for module assembly by up to 85%, according to pv magazine.

Development took around three years and was carried out in cooperation with a mounting structure manufacturer. Goldbeck Solar plans to test HeliomatiX in a real-world project in the second half of 2026 and is currently seeking a suitable PV site.

For the first two years, the system will be used exclusively in-house before Goldbeck Solar offers it to external customers.

Swiss solar startup Sun-Ways has built rail-based solar panel systems that fit onto existing standard rails and feed power to the grid, stations, terminals, or the train itself, according to Electrek.

The panels sit along the track and route their output back to the grid or to nearby infrastructure, Electrek reported. In a working pilot, Sun-Ways founder Joseph Scuderi said more than 11,000 trains passed over the panels, and the installation stayed stable and safe during each passage.

Installation runs on a purpose-built machine developed by rail servicing firm Scheuchzer AG, according to Electrek. The machine can lay up to 300 meters of PV panels per hour, or more than 500 panels per day.

Electrek estimates that pace at roughly 190 kW of installed capacity per day, based on about 380 W for each roughly 2 meter commercial panel.