Saturday, 11 July 2026

SBM Offshore closed USD 465 million in project financing for FSO Chalchi, a storage and offloading vessel destined for Woodside Energy's Trion deepwater project off Mexico, World Oil reported.

The vessel is now under construction and will serve Woodside Petróleo Operaciones de México under lease and operate contracts running 20 years. Its design targets water depths near 2,500 m, with a storage capacity of roughly 950,000 bbl of crude oil.

Trion sits about 180 km off the Mexican coast and 30 km south of the U.S.-Mexico maritime border, where the FSO will be stationed, according to World Oil. Woodside runs the field with a 60% stake, while Pemex holds the remaining 40%.

A consortium of international banks and institutional investors put up the money, backed in part by insurance from China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation.

Douglas Wood, chief financial officer of SBM Offshore, called it the company's "first transaction combining commercial banks, institutional investors and support from an export credit agency".

Brent crude fell under USD 73/bbl once the US and Iran committed to stop attacking each other, according to World Oil.

The Strait of Hormuz handles about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas flows, World Oil reported. Vessel traffic through the waterway had picked up after the June 17 memorandum meant to end fighting, then eased again over the weekend when fresh military exchanges tested the ceasefire, the outlet said.

Iranian officials said no meeting had been formally set and would not confirm Qatar as a venue.

Tehran recently discussed the future management of the strait with Oman, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, per World Oil. The US, European governments and Gulf Arab states have pushed back against any plan that would levy transit fees on ships crossing the strait, the report added.

Chinese dealers told Lanjinger that buyers can still order the Ferrari Luce EV by putting down a deposit of 400,000 to 500,000 yuan to claim a place in the first production batch, with quotes ranging from 400,000 yuan at some dealerships to 500,000 yuan at others.

Early orders move buyers up the queue, several dealers said, and the first batch of customers should get their cars starting in the third quarter of next year.

Ferrari showed the Luce in May, calling it the first regular production sedan in the company's history and the brand's first car penned by ex-Apple designer Jony Ive, according to Electrek.

Ferrari's stock fell more than 6% in a single day after negative feedback on the Luce, according to Electrek. The company then removed chief marketing and commercial officer Enrico Galliera and installed former BMW Italy boss Massimiliano Di Silvestre.

CEO Benedetto Vigna said the Luce is "clocking up orders" despite the negative reception.

Talos Energy and an affiliate of Ridgewood Energy struck a deal to jointly buy deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets from a Shell subsidiary for USD 1.7 billion, Oil & Gas Journal reported. The price carries customary adjustments and contingent payments.

At the center of the deal are two holdings, according to Oil & Gas Journal. The buyers take Shell Offshore Inc.'s 50% non-operated working interest in the Na Kika semi-submersible platform and its associated fields, plus the full 100% interest in the Coulomb subsea tieback.

Affiliates of bp hold a 30-day preferential purchase right over the Na Kika interests, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

The Na Kika platform can handle up to 130,000 b/d of oil and 550 MMcfd of natural gas, Oil & Gas Journal reported. It sits 140 miles southeast of New Orleans in 6,340 ft of water.

Entitlement output for Shell from the assets is projected to average 37,000 boe/d in 2025, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

Year-end 2025 proved reserves stood at 4.3 MMboe for Na Kika and 7.2 MMboe for Coulomb, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

Production tied to the interests Talos expects to acquire averaged about 16,000 boe/d in the first quarter of 2026, with oil making up roughly 77% of that figure, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

Electrify America is expanding its North American Charging Standard (NACS) pilot to more of its busiest charging stations in California and along the East Coast, according to Electrek.

Electrek reported that later this month the network will begin adding NACS connectors to five large-format charging hubs in California by converting some existing CCS connectors. Later this summer, Electrify America will convert four California charging stations to use only NACS connectors, according to Electrek.

On the East Coast, the company will convert some CCS connectors to NACS at five additional locations later this summer, per Electrek. The network currently runs NACS pilot stations in Connecticut and Florida.

Electrek reported that Electrify America has the largest open non-Tesla DC fast-charging network in the US and is treating the rollout as a pilot rather than a network-wide conversion. The move marks the next step in its shift to NACS.

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has hired SLB for seven years under its Ahmadi Innovation Valley (AIV) initiative, a deal aimed at putting advanced technologies to work across Kuwait's upstream oil and gas sector, according to World Oil.

The two companies will jointly run close to 100 technology projects during the term, World Oil reported. The work is weighted toward artificial intelligence (AI) and production optimization, alongside industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications, reservoir technologies, water management and energy transition initiatives.

SLB will build a dedicated Ahmadi Innovation Valley facility inside Kuwait to house the effort. Construction should start this year, and the center is set to open in 2028, according to World Oil.

SLB and KOC have worked together for more than 85 years, World Oil reported.

SLB chief executive Olivier Le Peuch framed the task as one of scale rather than invention. "The challenge is deploying it at scale and turning innovation into operational impact," he said.

US officials arrived in Qatar for talks on the Iran war but will meet with mediators rather than Iranian negotiators, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The indirect format leaves the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz unresolved. The Guardian reported that every inch of the 24-mile-wide waterway is being contested in a test of wills and patience.

Divisions within Iran's leadership shape the negotiating posture. The Wall Street Journal reported that hardline military officials are pushing for full control of Hormuz, while civilian leaders including President Masoud Pezeshkian are aiming to secure access to billions in frozen assets.

Extreme weather and efforts to mitigate it will shape the future of competition between the United States and China, two experts wrote in Foreign Affairs, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The two countries are the world's largest carbon emitters and face climate change-fueled disaster risks that threaten the physical foundations of their power, Semafor reported. Those foundations include critical infrastructure, supply chains, and growth drivers such as data centers.

China in 2025 delivered another record year for both solar and wind, more than the rest of the world combined, according to a new report cited by Semafor Net Zero.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission acted late last week to replace the existing disposal plan for the most radioactive category of low-level waste with one that can actually be licensed, according to Power Magazine.

For decades, that waste category in the United States has relied on a disposal plan that existed only on paper, Power Magazine reported. The plan called for a deep geologic repository that was never built.

Tesla has been dispatching Cybercabs across the United States for early testing and Full Self Driving calibration, according to CleanTechnica.

CleanTechnica reported that some of the Cybercabs observed during this early testing have carried steering wheels, resembling normal cars, even though the vehicles are not supposed to have steering wheels, pedals, and stalks.

The federal government has presented its Solar Sharer scheme as a way for renters and households without rooftop solar to share in Australia's clean energy boom, according to RenewEconomy.

RenewEconomy notes that the households most likely to take up the scheme, and to benefit most from it, are those who already own home batteries, rooftop solar and electric vehicles.

Ronald Brakels of SolarQuotes argues the scheme may be what Australia's electricity grid needs, according to RenewEconomy.

An uncamouflaged Rivian R2 fitted with LiDAR was photographed near Rivian's headquarters in Irvine, CA, according to Electrek. The sighting comes as Rivian ships early R2 units without the sensor.

Rivian said the first few months of R2 production will not include LiDAR sensors, according to Electrek. The R2 began shipping on June 9, per the same report.

LiDAR is expected to come to R2 vehicles in late 2026, according to Electrek.

In place of the sensor, launch R2 vehicles come with a launch package that includes an exclusive color, a tow package, and a lifetime subscription to Autonomy+, Rivian's driver-assist software, according to Electrek.

Rivian sent emails to reservation-holders stating that R2 Performance with Launch Package will remain available until it is their time to order, according to Electrek.

Malawi is building a 20 MW/30 MWh battery energy storage system in Lilongwe with support from the Global Energy Alliance (GEA), under the Mission 300 initiative, according to Climate Home News.

The project aims to stabilise the country's grid, smooth its intermittent power supply and reduce reliance on diesel generators, according to Climate Home News. The outlet reported it would avert about 10,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

More than 80% of Malawi's electricity comes from renewables, according to Climate Home News, and the country has been adding solar power while decommissioning 78 MW of diesel generation.

The grid's exposure to weather shocks is recent. When Tropical Storm Ana made landfall in 2022, it destroyed a third of the country's hydropower capacity and caused nationwide system shutdowns, according to Climate Home News.

Mission 300 is led by development banks and their partners, with the aim of connecting 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030, according to Climate Home News. About 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity, the outlet reported.

Damola Omole, director of the 'Grids of the Future, Africa' programme at the GEA, said battery storage offers the "flexibility needed to smoothly integrate high levels of variable renewables" into the power grid, according to Climate Home News.

Amarenco has broken ground on a lithium-ion battery storage plant rated at 100 MW in the south of France, according to ESS News.

The Osmo installation lies between Os-Marsillon and Mourenx, within the Lacq industrial basin in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, ESS News reported. Amarenco is siting it on a former industrial plot with existing infrastructure and a grid connection already in place.

Storage duration runs to two hours, according to ESS News. Financing closed with Société Générale.

Amarenco said the plant will feed several services to RTE, among them capacity market participation for peak winter demand and both primary and secondary reserves.

The work comes after Amarenco commissioned and repowered its 105 MW Claudia battery project, ESS News reported.

BW ESS has started construction on a 1 GW/5.7 GWh battery energy storage project at Klostermansfeld in central Germany, its first German asset to enter construction, according to ESS News.

The developer broke ground after taking full ownership of the project earlier in 2026, ESS News reported. A BW ESS spokesperson told ESS News the battery is expected to enter commercial operations in 2028.

The project sits in the Mansfeld-Sudharz region of Saxony-Anhalt and was initially developed by Zelos Energy Developments, according to ESS News. It is thought to be the largest battery energy storage project to enter construction in Germany and would provide more than four hours of deployment capacity.

BW ESS told ESS News it had taken Klostermansfeld into construction without external finance to date, and that its revenue strategy for the project is under review.

"Klostermansfeld BESS will be our first German asset to enter construction," said BW ESS executive director Roberto Jimenez, adding the company would continue an active approach to knowledge transfer across its portfolio, drawing on its experience in global markets.

The developer has more than 540 MWh of operating battery storage capacity, with around 11 GWh of assets under construction, according to ESS News.

Researchers at Mälardalen University in Sweden tested how a vertical agrivoltaic system affected oat yield during the 2024 growing season, according to pv magazine. The field trials ran at Kärrbo Prästgård, with oats sown in May 2024 under rainfed conditions.

The vertical setup used 60 bifacial photovoltaic modules arranged in north-south-oriented rows, according to pv magazine. A ground-mounted comparison system held 32 bifacial modules in two rows.

Corresponding author Arash Khosravi said oat development through the season, measured by leaf area index, was greater under the vertical system than under ground-mounted conditions. Even after accounting for the 10% land loss tied to the PV panel structure, the agrivoltaic system produced more total oat biomass than the open field in one year, according to Khosravi.

In the other year, the agrivoltaic treatment produced 106 kg/hectare less biomass than the open-field treatment, according to pv magazine. No statistically significant differences in crude protein and crude fat were observed between the two treatments.

The findings were published in Data in Brief in a paper titled "Data on the effect of vertical agrivoltaic systems on the crop performance of oat (Avena Sativa L.) cultivated in Sweden".

A senior administration official said US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held constructive meetings with regional leaders in Qatar, while technical-level talks with Iran continue to advance.

The interim agreement signed earlier this month set up a 60-day window for negotiations, though talks stumbled in recent days following clashes over the Strait of Hormuz, according to Rigzone.

Under that interim deal, Iran agreed to waive tolls for 60 days, while leaving room to charge ships fees once the window closes, Rigzone reported.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed US officials, reported that Trump ruled out restarting a broad military campaign. He told staff he had no objection to negotiations running past the Aug. 18 deadline, the newspaper said.

Management of the strait sits at the center of the talks. Before the fighting, the passage carried about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, according to Rigzone.

Oil moved up in early Asia trading after falling the previous session on expectations the ceasefire would hold.

Australia's total generation and storage capacity would climb from 99 GW in 2026 to 308 GW by 2050 under AEMO's 2026 Integrated System Plan, according to ESS News. Dispatchable storage carries much of that build.

Storage from batteries, virtual power plants and pumped hydro would need an 11-fold increase, rising from 6 GW to 64 GW, according to ESS News. That path averages 2.6 GW of new storage per year to 2050.

Grid-scale wind and solar would grow fivefold over the same period, from 23 GW in 2026 to 117 GW in 2050, according to ESS News. Reaching that level requires 3.9 GW of added capacity each year.

The expanded renewable fleet replaces retiring coal. Australia's coal fleet capacity is projected to reach 0 GW by 2049, when all plants are scheduled to close, according to ESS News.

The build responds to rising consumption. The ISP forecasts electricity demand will nearly double from 205 TWh in 2026 to 390 TWh in 2050, according to ESS News.

Even under a tougher scenario, around 45 GW of renewables and 31 GW of storage would need to connect by 2030, said AEMO Group System Planning Manager Eli Pack, according to ESS News. Pack tied that requirement to the importance of transmission across the NEM.

Transmission also shapes costs. Without a continued, rapid rollout of new transmission, grid-scale investment costs would balloon by AUD 17 billion and system operating costs would rise by AUD 12 billion, said Smart Energy Council CEO David McElrea, according to ESS News.

The entry-level Dacia Spring now lists at GBP 11,990 in the UK, a price that undercuts every current EV and new car on sale, according to electrive.

At that level the Spring sits GBP 1,005 under the Leapmotor T03 and close to GBP 2,800 beneath the petrol Dacia Sandero, whose UK pricing opens at GBP 14,765, electrive reported.

The GBP 11,990 figure covers the Spring Expression trim, which runs a 52 kW motor and claims a range of up to 140 miles, or 225 kilometres, according to electrive. The more powerful Spring Extreme opens at GBP 12,990 and carries a 75 kW motor plus extra equipment.

A technical update at the end of 2025 gave the current Spring upgraded brakes, retuned suspension and a 24.3 kWh LFP battery, electrive reported. Dacia says that pack recharges from 20 to 80 per cent in under 30 minutes.

Neither the Spring nor the T03 clears the UK's Electric Car Grant, both being built in China, which leaves the current cuts financed by the carmakers themselves, according to electrive. On the T03 side, that support takes the form of a manufacturer-backed 'Leap Grant' trimming GBP 3,000 off the model's original list price.

RWE and PPC have finalized three large-scale solar clusters in northern Greece with a combined capacity of 930 MW, according to pv magazine. The solar farms sit within the boundaries of the former Amynteo open-cast lignite mine in western Macedonia, northern Greece.

Each farm was developed, constructed and commissioned by joint venture Meton Energy, in which RWE holds a 51% share and PPC holds a 49% share, pv magazine reported. Sopna Sury, CEO of RWE Renewables Europe & Australia, said the sites can generate enough electricity to power 400,000 Greek households.

The joint venture has more capacity in the pipeline. The Kotyli and Neo Syrakio solar farms will carry a total capacity of 567 MW and are scheduled for commissioning in 2027, according to pv magazine.

The projects add to a wider push to build solar on former lignite land. In April, PPC announced it had finished constructing a 2.13 GW solar portfolio in northern Greece across sites on former lignite mines around Amyntaio and Ptolemaida, pv magazine reported.

Greece's solar base has expanded sharply. According to IRENA, the country's cumulative solar capacity rose from 8.82 GW at the end of 2024 to 11.5 GW by the end of 2025, an addition of over 2.2 GW during the year.

ESB eCars has raised charging tariffs across its public electric vehicle network in Ireland and Northern Ireland, increasing costs for both pay-as-you-go users and subscribers, according to electrive.

In the Republic of Ireland, pay-as-you-go drivers now pay EUR 0.60/kWh at AC chargers up to 50 kW and EUR 0.72/kWh at DC chargers above 50 kW, electrive reported. The subscription plan costs EUR 4.79 per month and requires a 12-month commitment, according to electrive, and cuts the rates to EUR 0.55/kWh for AC and EUR 0.67/kWh for DC.

In Northern Ireland, subscribers pay GBP 0.57/kWh up to 50 kW and GBP 0.70/kWh above 50 kW, according to electrive, while pay-as-you-go users are charged GBP 0.60/kWh and GBP 0.74/kWh respectively.

Drivers connected to rapid or high-power chargers for more than 45 minutes face overstay fees of GBP 0.50 or EUR 0.50 per minute depending on the jurisdiction, up to a maximum of GBP 22.50 or EUR 22.50, electrive reported.

The revised pricing simplifies the tariff structure by grouping all DC chargers above 50 kW into a single category, according to electrive.

ESB stated that its public charging rates had remained unchanged since July 2025, when it also raised prices because of rising costs, according to electrive.

Lending for fossil fuel expansion reached $508 billion in 2025 from the world's top 65 banks, up 27 percent from 2024, according to Grist citing RAN's analysis. No year since at least 2016 has recorded a higher figure.

RAN's analysis named Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Mizuho Financial among the banks that raised their fossil fuel expansion financing during the year.

Petrochemicals run through much of that lending. From January 2019 through June 2025, big banks extended at least $591 billion in loans and underwriting to the world's top 15 petrochemical companies, Grist reported. CIEL tied $252 billion of that sum directly to petrochemical activities, with the balance flowing to integrated oil and gas corporations.

"Petrochemicals are not just a general growth area for fossil fuel companies," said Ximena Banegas, a plastics campaigner for CIEL and author of the group's report, according to Grist. "They are a deliberate and pivotal strategy to ensure that we continue using fossil fuels".

The International Energy Agency projects that plastics, agrichemicals, and other petrochemical products could make up more than one-third of oil demand growth through 2030 and nearly half by 2050.

Petrochemicals' annual greenhouse gas emissions reached 1.9 billion metric tons as of 2020, more than double the combined total of aviation and shipping, according to Grist.

The rise in lending came after a voluntary climate coalition unravelled. All six of the largest U.S. banks left the Net-Zero Banking Alliance across 2024 and 2025, and the alliance shut down in October, Grist reported.

Shell has agreed to sell its interests in the Na Kika platform and the Coulomb field to Talos Energy and an affiliate of Ridgewood Energy Corporation for USD 1.7 billion, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Of that total, USD 850 million is a cash payment net to Talos, subject to customary purchase price adjustments, the company said in the OEDigital report.

The interests carry roughly 23 million barrels of oil equivalent in proved reserves and another 10 million barrels of probable reserves, net to Talos. Output from the assets ran at about 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2026, with oil making up around 77% of the volume.

Talos lined up USD 150 million in incremental commitments from its existing lenders to help finance the deal, lifting its borrowing base to USD 850 million from USD 700 million on closing, according to OEDigital.

BP holds a 30-day preferential purchase right over the Na Kika interests.

The deal takes an effective date of July 1, 2025, and the parties expect to close by the end of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Arevon's Eland solar-plus-storage project in Kern County, California, ties 758 MW of solar to a battery system rated at 300 MW and 1,200 MWh, according to Power Magazine. At full output it supplies roughly 7% of the electricity used in Los Angeles.

The site spans 4,600 acres and carries 1.36 million solar panels, with storage housed in 172 Tesla Megapack enclosures, Power Magazine reported. Capital spending on the project passed USD 2 billion.

Developers split construction across two stages. Eland 1 entered commercial operation in December 2024, followed by Eland 2 in August 2025, according to Power Magazine.

A 25-year power purchase agreement covers the output, signed with Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) members that include the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and Glendale Water and Power (GWP).

Mayor Karen Bass said the project will serve more than 266,000 homes in Los Angeles and contribute to the city's clean energy share, which exceeds 60%, within a target of 100% clean energy by 2035.

Over its first eight months, Eland 1 logged more than 1,550 hours of critical peak-time operation and delivered power for more than 1,450 hours after dark, Arevon reported to Power Magazine. Its battery was called on more than 350 times in under a year during the priciest, highest-demand periods.

The 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project has cleared the full U.S. permitting stack, according to Power Magazine.

Power Magazine reported that Dominion Energy secured a federal lease off Virginia Beach a decade before the project completed that permitting process.

The project also survived a federal stop-work order, according to Power Magazine.

Only five of 30 California battery storage assets beat their revenue benchmark over two years, according to Gridmatic's CAISO Storage Report 2024-2025, published in June 2026. The study reconstructed the performance of 30 battery energy storage systems representing 2.3 GW of capacity using public market inputs, regulatory filings, and a proprietary shadow-clearing engine.

The sample showed a median capture rate of 82.3% against the TBx benchmark, per the Gridmatic report. Revenues ranged from less than $1 per kW-month to more than $6 per kW-month, against a fleetwide median of $2.67 per kW-month.

Availability across the sample averaged 79.7%, according to Gridmatic, which attributed prolonged downtime to hardware failures and safety incidents. The Millikan Avenue asset experienced roughly 56% total downtime during the study period.

The top performer was the 100 MW / 400 MWh Caballero battery in Nipomo, California, owned by Alpha Omega Power and optimized by Gridmatic. The asset reached a 141% TBx capture rate and earned 2.45x the median asset's revenue per kW-month.

Gridmatic calculated that if all 30 batteries had matched Caballero's 141% capture rate, the fleet would have generated an additional $98 million in collective energy and ancillary services revenue over the two-year period.

The study pointed to static bidding as one driver of the gap. Gridmatic found that 20 of the 30 assets used a static Regulation Down bid curve in 75% or more of active months, and 12 of those held a completely static curve 100% of the time.

California's battery storage capacity has expanded to 17.4 GW over the past six years, according to ESS News.

Red Eléctrica is beginning work next week on a project to repower the double-circuit 400 kV Moraleja-Villaviciosa and Morata-Villaviciosa line, according to Red Eléctrica. The work includes modifying the route through the towns of Arroyomolinos, Móstoles and Moraleja de Enmedio in the Community of Madrid.

Red Eléctrica said the route modification involves dismantling the current line between transmission towers 115 and 135 once the new section is operational, across the municipal areas of Arroyomolinos, Móstoles and Moraleja de Enmedio.

The company said the initiative's inclusion in the current electricity planning cycle, approved by the Council of Ministers, allows it to invest EUR 5.5 million in the project.

According to Red Eléctrica, the new route was designed to avoid impact on the Natura 2000 Network and the Guadarrama Regional Park, working with other developers to keep the various infrastructure compatible.

Aker Solutions has secured a substantial contract to deliver a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) substructure for a European offshore wind project, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The customer was undisclosed.

The scope covers engineering, procurement and construction, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Aker Solutions will book the award as order intake in the second quarter of 2026 within its Renewables and Field Development segment, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Aker Solutions defines a substantial contract as one valued between USD 250 million and USD 400 million, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Orlen Synthos Green Energy has signed a cooperation agreement with the City of Włocławek covering plans to build as many as six BWRX-300 small modular reactors in the central Polish city, according to World Nuclear News.

The design behind the plan is GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300, for which OSGE holds exclusive rights in Poland, World Nuclear News reported. The choice of Włocławek dates to August 2025, when Orlen said the country's first SMR would go there.

OSGE Vice President Bartosz Fijałkowski called the site the company's "number one investment in Poland," according to World Nuclear News.

OSGE put figures on the local fiscal effect. The company estimates that a single BWRX-300 reactor would yield more than PLN8 million (USD2.1 million) in annual personal income tax, PLN80 million in corporate income tax, and more than PLN360,000 in property tax. OSGE also estimates each unit would support close to 200 direct jobs, plus several hundred indirect ones.

On the technology, the BWRX-300 rates 300 MWe and uses water cooling, natural circulation, and passive safety systems, World Nuclear News reported. The reference for deployment is Ontario Power Generation, which aims to bring its first Darlington unit onto the grid by the end of 2030.

Australia installed 221,000 residential battery systems in 2025, adding nearly 5 gigawatt-hours of storage, according to RenewEconomy.

SunWiz reports that the 221,000 systems installed in 2025 compared with 72,500 the previous year, delivering an additional 4,790 MWh of new storage capacity to the grid.

The total number of home battery systems installed through the federal rebate has surpassed 450,000 as the scheme enters its second year, according to RenewEconomy.

Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Humboldt-Universität achieved a 25.5% power conversion efficiency for a perovskite-CIGS tandem solar cell, according to pv magazine. The result was confirmed by the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI), pv magazine reported.

The cell pairs a top perovskite device with a bottom cell based on copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS). According to pv magazine, the previous record of 25.17% was set by Tokyo City University in Japan in mid-May and verified by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

The German team explored CIGS-based bottom cells with band gaps of 1.05 eV and 1.1 eV, pv magazine reported. The scientists also fabricated a 2.25 cm² module that reached an efficiency of approximately 19.7%.

HZB researcher Farias Basulto told pv magazine that in-house testing of similar designs has already achieved efficiencies of up to 27.5%. "The physics underlying our current cell architecture indicates that 25.5% is only an initial milestone," Basulto said, according to pv magazine.

Transocean has reached a conditional deal with Equinor to supply three harsh-environment semi-submersible rigs on the Norwegian continental shelf, lifting its contract backlog by more than USD 1 billion, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The arrangement runs to seven rig years and hinges on license approvals, with additional services falling outside the scope, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The base day rate stands at USD 399,000, Transocean said, and adjustment provisions kicking in before the contracts start push the effective rate above USD 400,000 at commencement.

Under the deal, the Transocean Enabler will start a three-year assignment in the first quarter of 2028 once it wraps up its current work, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The Transocean Endurance is set to run a two-year program from the second quarter of 2027, following a move back to Norway from Australia.

Chief executive Keelan Adamson said the seven-rig-year award reflects demand in Norway's high-specification harsh-environment market.

Transocean operates and holds full or partial ownership in 27 mobile offshore drilling units, including 20 ultra-deepwater floaters and seven harsh-environment floaters, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Iberdrola and BP have wrapped up construction of a 25 MW green hydrogen plant at BP's Castellon refinery in Spain, pv magazine reported. The two built it through a joint venture called Castellon Green Hydrogen.

Once running, the plant should turn out roughly 2,800 tonnes of green hydrogen a year, according to pv magazine, replacing some of the grey hydrogen the refinery now consumes.

Five containerized proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser modules of 5 MW each make up the installation, supplied by Plug Power, pv magazine reported.

Investment in the scheme tops EUR 70 million, according to pv magazine, with EUR 15 million secured under Spain's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition, acting through the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), signed off on shifting up to EUR 211 million in IPCEI Hy2Use funding to the Castellon project, pv magazine reported.

The partners expect output to begin before the end of this year, and they say the site will rank as the largest operational green hydrogen facility in Spain by 2026, according to pv magazine.

A technical review by DNV of the BRIZO floating solar system built by Fred. Olsen 1848 has concluded with a Statement of Compliance, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

BRIZO uses a flexible rope-mesh and tensioning system that lets it run in inland, coastal and near-shore sites facing more exposed wave conditions than conventional floating solar, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Geir Grimsrud, Chief Technical Officer at Fred. Olsen 1848, said the Statement of Compliance marks a milestone for BRIZO and advances the bankability of the solution.

Grimsrud said the document verifies the technical approach and its suitability for more demanding conditions.

Prajeev Rasiah, Senior Vice President and Regional Director for Northern Europe, Energy Systems at DNV, said floating solar was entering a new phase of maturity in which the industry had to move beyond sheltered waters to reach meaningful scale.

CATL resumed operations at its lithium mine in Jiangxi on 29 June, ending a shutdown that lasted almost a year, according to electrive.

Chinese authorities had refused to renew the company's licence to mine lithium in Jiangxi province after it expired in August 2025, electrive reported. The resumption came significantly later than the three-month suspension originally communicated.

The mine and its associated refinery have an annual production capacity of around 100,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, according to electrive. Before the previous licence expired, Chinese media reported the mine accounted for between eight and ten per cent of China's total lithium carbonate production.

The company had previously obtained the required safety approval from the authorities before resuming operations, electrive reported. That step is also seen as an indication that the Chinese government is satisfied with the now stabilised lithium price environment.

Scotland's cumulative solar capacity reached 0.9 GW by the end of Q1 2026, according to an update posted by the Scottish government and reported by pv magazine.

Total renewables capacity across Scotland stood at 18.1 GW at the end of Q1 2026, according to pv magazine, up 3.2% from the 17.6 GW registered at the end of Q1 2025.

The country's renewables fleet generated 13.4 TWh of electricity in Q1 2026, according to pv magazine, the highest figure recorded in a single quarter and a 22% increase on Q1 2025.

Scotland's solar pipeline stands at 3.4 GW, according to figures released by the Scottish government. Of that total, 0.2 GW is under construction, 1.7 GW is awaiting construction and applications have been submitted for the remaining 1.5 GW.

On storage, Scotland had 24 operational electricity storage projects with an estimated capacity of 1,583 MW by the end of Q1 2026, according to pv magazine. That total includes 22 battery projects at 843 MW and two pumped hydro projects at 740 MW.

The battery storage pipeline is larger still. According to pv magazine, 3 GW of battery projects are under construction, a further 19.1 GW await construction and 10.7 GW sit in the early stages of planning.

Across the wider United Kingdom, total solar capacity reached 22.3 GW by the end of April 2026, according to pv magazine, with more than two million solar installations registered across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Two mandatory safety standards took effect in China on July 1, 2026, raising safety requirements for traction batteries and electric vehicles, according to electrive. The two standards are GB 38031-2025 for traction batteries and GB 18384-2025 for electric vehicles.

The battery standard requires that systems must not catch fire or explode even in the event of thermal runaway, electrive reported. Previous regulations only required manufacturers to provide a warning signal at least five minutes before a potential battery fire or explosion.

Under the new safety assessment procedure, batteries must withstand 300 fast-charging cycles before being subjected to a short-circuit test, according to electrive.

The Safety Requirements for Electric Vehicles standard requires EVs to feature a manual one-touch mechanism for disconnecting the entire high-voltage system.

Compliance with the new requirements could raise battery system costs by 15 to 20 per cent, according to China Auto News citing estimates from a market research company.

CATL markets its No Thermal Propagation (NP) Technology and says it already has the necessary technologies in place to meet the new standards, electrive reported.

Greenvolt Power will use BYD Energy Storage's BYD Haohan battery system at its Siedlce storage site in Poland under a supply deal the two firms announced on July 1, according to ESS News.

The Siedlce installation is rated at 600 MW/2.4 GWh, which ESS News says would rank as Poland's largest battery storage project.

Groundwork is due to start in the third quarter of 2026, and the developer is aiming for commercial operations by end-2027, according to ESS News. Revenues for the site are already locked in through Poland's capacity market mechanism.

The two companies have partnered before. Back in March 2025 they closed supply contracts for the Turośń Kościelna and Nowa Wieś Ełcka projects, each sized at 200 MW/800 MWh, adding up to 1.6 GWh, ESS News reports.

In Poland, Greenvolt Power is developing 238 MW of wind, 657 MW of solar, and 2,595 MW of battery storage, part of a 12.8 GW portfolio worldwide, according to ESS News.

President Donald J. Trump ordered U.S. gasoline retailers to cut their prices immediately in a statement posted on his Truth Social page, according to Rigzone. He told retailers to start targeting around USD 2.50 a gallon and warned that big problems lie ahead if they do not comply.

The demand sits well above current pump levels. AAA data showed the average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. at USD 3.8470 per gallon on July 1, according to Rigzone. GasBuddy put the national average at USD 3.78 per gallon, down 6.9 cents over the past week and the lowest since mid-March.

GasBuddy reported that average gasoline prices fell in 46 states over the last week, while diesel declined in 49. Colorado recorded the biggest weekly reduction at 20.4 cents, followed by Washington at 19.4 cents and Oregon at 18.4 cents, according to GasBuddy.

Retailers control only a thin slice of the pump price. NACS said about 90 percent of the cost of a gallon of gas is determined before the retailer takes possession of the fuel. After expenses, especially credit card fees, retailers typically make about five percent profit before taxes on the fuel they sell, according to NACS.

Norway registered 18,875 new battery-electric cars in June, giving EVs a 96.5% share of all new passenger car registrations, according to electrive. The country's electric vehicle fleet has now surpassed one million vehicles.

Across the first half of 2026, EVs accounted for 97.6% of new registrations, up from 93.7% in the first half of 2025, electrive reported.

The Tesla Model Y led the market in June with 2,257 new registrations, according to electrive.

Electric vans also gained ground. Registrations rose 11.3% to 6,303 vehicles in the first half of 2026, lifting the electric van share from 45.2% to 54.5%.

Uptake varied by region in June. Telemark reached an EV share of 99.8% and Rogaland 99%, while Oslo recorded 93.7% and the surrounding Akershus region 92%, per electrive.

Geir Inge Stokke of OFV said the electric car market is entering a new phase in which customers choose between brands, models, prices, and usage needs rather than between electric and combustion vehicles, a shift he said is intensifying competition.

Nepal's May 29 fiscal policy imposed a 5% value-added tax on heavy electricity users and levied fresh taxes on imported electric vehicles, Mongabay reported. Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle set out the measures in his first budget speech.

The VAT proceeds are earmarked for upgrades to the national electricity transmission network, Prime Minister Balendra Shah told parliament, according to Mongabay.

Electric vehicles are projected to make up 73% of new car sales in Nepal in 2025, a share Mongabay described as the world's second-highest. The report tied that uptake to lighter import duties on EVs than on internal combustion engine vehicles.

Nepal spends 300 billion rupees ($2 billion) a year on fossil fuel imports and channels roughly 9 billion rupees ($59.5 million) annually into cooking gas subsidies, Mongabay reported.

An Institute for Integrated Development Studies analysis cited by Mongabay quantified the cost of the EV import regime. Importing 11,700 EVs rather than equivalent ICE vehicles in FY 2023-2024 cost the treasury 15.59 billion rupees ($103 million) in forgone revenue. That figure climbs to 61 billion rupees ($403 million) if the same foreign exchange had gone entirely to ICE imports, per the analysis.

Installed generating capacity hit 3,591 MW at the close of FY 2024-2025, including 434 MW commissioned during the year, Mongabay reported. National peak demand runs at 2,409 MW.

Meeting projected domestic demand by 2035 requires 13,468 MW, and Nepal has fixed an export goal of 15,000 MW, according to Mongabay.

The governing Rastriya Swatantra Party campaigned on far larger numbers. Its March election manifesto pledged to triple per-capita electricity consumption to 1,500 kilowatt-hours and to build 30,000 MW of generation within a decade, Mongabay reported.

Deputy chief executive Carol Howle is retiring from BP after 26 years, and the company has promoted two executive vice presidents from within to fill senior roles, according to Rigzone.

Executive vice president for people, culture and communications Kerry Dryburgh is also stepping down after 16 years, calling it a personal decision.

Sam Skerry, senior vice president for mergers and acquisitions and business development, moves up to EVP for supply, trading and shipping, taking Howle's post. Sonya Adams, chief of staff to the CEO, succeeds Dryburgh as EVP for people and culture. Both appointments start August 1.

Chief executive Meg O'Neill said the Deputy CEO position will not be filled once Howle leaves.

The same day brought O'Neill's restructuring into effect, folding BP into two business segments, upstream and downstream.

BP's board removed chair and director Albert Manifold over governance concerns weeks earlier, per Rigzone. Ian Tyler is holding the chair on an interim basis while the company runs a search for a permanent successor.

Toyota Motor Corporation and Joby Aviation have set up a joint venture in California to manufacture electric air taxis, according to electrive. The venture is named Joby Toyota Aero Manufacturing Preparation Company.

Toyota holds a 51% stake in the venture and Joby owns the remaining 49%, electrive reported.

The partnership builds on earlier Toyota funding. The company invested USD 394 million in Joby in 2020 and added a further USD 500 million in 2024, according to electrive.

Pilot production of the first aircraft, the Joby S4, is already underway in Marina, California, electrive reported.

The S4 is designed to carry four passengers and one pilot, according to electrive. It has a top speed of 200 mph and a range of 100 miles.

Joby plans to deploy the aircraft in major urban markets including New York City, Los Angeles and Dubai, electrive reported.

Real-Time Energy Market prices across New England reached $49.24 per megawatt-hour in May 2026, a 50% jump from the same month a year earlier, according to ISO New England Newswire.

Contracts settled a day ahead cleared cheaper. Day-Ahead Energy Market averages hit $45.80/MWh, 30% above the May 2025 level, ISO New England Newswire reported.

Prices rose while the region's dominant fuel got cheaper. Natural gas averaged $2.20 per MMBtu during the month, a 14% drop from a year earlier, according to ISO New England Newswire. That fuel set the tone for the market: gas-fired plants supplied 54% of the power New England generators produced in 2025.

Consumption edged higher. Regional electricity use totaled 8,548 gigawatt-hours in May 2026, up 1.5% year on year, ISO New England Newswire said. Imports covered part of that load, with neighboring regions sending a net 1,261 GWh into New England.

Carbon output moved the other way. Power plants in the region emitted an estimated 1.64 million metric tons of CO2 during the month, 14% below the previous May, according to ISO New England Newswire.

EnergyPathways secured a gas storage license for its MESH development in the East Irish Sea and opened the project's work program, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The next step is a site survey scheduled for the third quarter of 2026, gathering environmental, geological and seabed data, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

MESH, the Marram Energy Storage Hub, carries a project of national significance designation from the UK government, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The developer targets a 2031 operations start and describes it as aimed to be among the UK's largest integrated energy storage sites.

EnergyPathways plans to enter the compressed air energy storage part of MESH in Ofgem's second application window for the Long Duration Energy Storage cap-and-floor scheme, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Energy Dome will build a 23 MW/200 MWh long-duration carbon battery in Ireland after signing a commercial contract with Google, according to ESS News. The system runs on Energy Dome's carbon storage technology.

Eirgrid, the transmission system operator, has awarded the project a 10-year capacity contract, and Energy Dome expects it to start operating in 2028. The developer says it has already secured land, planning consent and a grid connection.

The battery will rise on a former peat-fired thermal plant site in County Offaly, close to the Rhode Green Energy Park. That location sits near high-voltage lines feeding the Greater Dublin area.

Energy Dome will own and run the plant, with plans to add a second 200 MWh unit on the same site at a later stage.

Energy Dome chief executive Claudio Spadacini called the Irish project the first commercial bilateral deployment under the company's partnership with Google, a tie-up he said targets CO2 battery projects internationally.

The deal follows a June announcement in which the two companies set plans for a 19 MW/200 MWh carbon battery in Arizona. That system will sit at Salt River Project's Colorado Generating Station under a cost-sharing agreement with Google focused on long-duration storage.

Google first teamed up with Energy Dome, based in Milan, in July 2025.

DOF Group has secured a subsea construction and mooring services contract from TotalEnergies for the floating storage and offloading (FSO) Unity Replacement Project, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The company classifies the award as a large contract, with a value between USD 50 million and USD 100 million, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The scope covers engineering, transportation and installation of mooring systems along with subsea construction work, according to the same report. That work includes disconnecting the existing FSO unit and connecting its replacement.

DOF said the project will use four vessels for a combined total of about 330 vessel days, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Project management and engineering will begin immediately from DOF's offices in Aberdeen, Scotland, and Bergen, Norway, the report said. Offshore operations are scheduled for Q4 2027 and Q1 2028.

Gujarat has commissioned 70 electric buses for public transport, deploying 40 in the state capital Gandhinagar on June 28 and 30 in Vadodara on June 29, according to electrive.

In Gandhinagar, the municipal corporation is running the new buses on 18 routes, electrive reported. The service is free for the first 15 days, after which fares will range from 5 to 30 Indian rupees.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said the state capital will receive 60 more electric buses in the second phase, according to electrive. Vadodara Municipal Commissioner Arun Mahesh Babu said the city will induct 200 more electric buses by December, split equally between the second and third phases.

The 100 buses for Gandhinagar and 250 for Vadodara will join fleets funded under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) PM e-Bus Sewa scheme, electrive reported. The scheme carries a total outlay of 576.13 billion rupees and is intended to support the deployment of 10,000 electric buses in 169 cities across India.

The JBM Ecolife e9 accommodates 38 passengers, including 25 seated and 13 standees, and is equipped with a hydraulic ramp for wheelchair access, according to electrive.

Battery storage companies in France have set up Stockage Énergie France, a trade body focused solely on stationary battery energy storage, according to ESS News.

Corsica Sole and Eclipse founded the group, ESS News reported, with a membership that includes Neoen, Amarenco, TagEnergy, Acacia, Kallista Energy and Q Energy.

Its founding companies put France's requirement at more than 6 GW of grid-connected battery storage by 2030, a build-out they value at roughly EUR 4 billion (USD 4.6 billion) in private investment, according to ESS News.

The founders say batteries have stabilised island electricity systems in France, and they argue that wider deployment is needed as electrification raises demand on the mainland grid, ESS News reported.

The group set three priorities: a stable, transparent regulatory framework, better recognition of storage value in the electricity system, and market mechanisms and grid services matched to the flexibility batteries provide, according to ESS News.

Sunrun, Renew Home and Tesla have partnered to form the largest virtual power plant (VPP) service in the United States, according to Solar Builder. The coalition brings together a home storage and solar firm, an energy management platform, and an electric vehicle maker.

The VPP promises to deliver more than 16 GW of solar and storage-based home energy resources to utility companies and data center hyperscalers across the country, according to Solar Builder.

In Virginia, the companies expect VPP capacity to grow to at least 500 MW by the end of the decade, a figure that rivals some of the largest direct generation facilities in the area, according to Solar Builder.

"The grid of the 1800s cannot power the innovation of 2026," said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell.

Renew Home convened the coalition because it believes hyperscalers are motivated to drive down costs through the transition, and that residential-focused energy companies can help them reach that goal, said Ben Brown, CEO of Renew Home.

Nairobi and Kigali have concluded three agreements to widen Rwanda's access to petroleum imports, Semafor Net Zero reported.

All of Rwanda's petroleum products arrive overland, routed through two ports: one at Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and one at Mombasa in Kenya, according to Semafor Net Zero. Under the new arrangements, a larger share of Rwandan fuel is set to move along the Mombasa route.

Semafor Net Zero reported that Rwanda and other African energy importers have been hit hard by the Iran war and the de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor that carried much of Africa's fuel before the conflict.

Nigeria's Dangote Group said it wants to expand its oil refining capacity in the coming years and open a further refinery in East Africa, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) traded volumes this year could still reach last year's level despite the Middle East war, according to Shell PLC, provided shipping through the Strait of Hormuz normalizes this summer.

Disruption to Strait of Hormuz shipping has shut in about one fifth of the world's monthly LNG supply since the conflict began, Shell said, pushing up spot-market prices and hitting some countries in Asia. At the peak of the crisis, Asian LNG spot prices rose to over USD 20 per MMBtu, according to the company.

Long-term supply agreements account for about two-thirds of total LNG trade, which tempered the price move for many buyers. The average price buyers paid in May was about USD 11-12 per MMBtu, compared with USD 7-11 in January before the conflict began, Shell said.

Shell expects the trade in LNG to return to growth next year, moving toward nearly 700 million metric tons a year by 2050. About 180 million tonnes of new annual supply is forecast to enter the market by 2030, improving the availability and affordability of gas and opening demand in new markets, the company said.

Shell's own LNG sales rose 11% to 72.9 million metric tons last year, according to the company's annual report, with liquefaction volumes of 28.4 million metric tons.

The company forecasts LNG bunkering will grow seven-fold to 27 million tonnes by 2035.

Overall vehicle sales in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to grow more slowly than previously forecast, mainly because of rising fuel costs triggered by the Iran war, according to a new report cited by Semafor Net Zero. The same report finds that EV purchases on the continent should stay robust despite the wider slowdown.

Part of the resilience in EV demand reflects pricing parity. In most African markets, Chinese EVs cost the same as their internal combustion engine alternatives, according to research firm BMI.

Higher fuel prices are sharpening the economic case further in import-reliant markets. Soaring fuel costs in countries such as Kenya have strengthened the argument for EVs, especially for high-usage consumers and fleet operators, according to the report.

The report also flags constraints that could limit broader uptake. Weak charging infrastructure, limited and unreliable electricity supply outside major cities, and high financing costs could hold back widespread EV adoption in Africa, even as investors race to build out infrastructure.

Vattenfall InCharge and WirelessCar have completed a pilot project for the automated charging of electric vehicles, using a cloud-based service called Seamless Charging, according to electrive. The service is designed to enable charging sessions without a charging card or smartphone app.

More than 700 drivers in Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany tested the system during pilot trials this spring, according to electrive.

Seamless Charging will initially support vehicles from Volvo Cars and Tesla equipped with the required connectivity features, electrive reported.

Authentication differs from the ISO 15118-based Plug & Charge process, according to electrive. Rather than relying on digital vehicle certificates, the system uses a one-time link between the vehicle and the user account, followed by cloud-based verification of vehicle data.

Seamless Charging is scheduled to become available across all InCharge charging stations in autumn or winter 2026, according to electrive.

Cambridge researchers have scaled a solar-driven photoreforming reactor to a one-square-metre panel that converts plastic waste and water into hydrogen fuel under sunlight, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The design marks a jump in size from the group's earliest work. Hydrogen Fuel News reported that Professor Erwin Reisner and his group first explored photoreforming using 25 cm2 devices in laboratory glassware under controlled light.

The panel is built through spray-coating. According to co-first author Ariffin Bin Mohamad Annuar, the formulation contains light-absorbing semiconductor particles mixed with molecular precursors of cobalt and zirconium.

Malaysia's energy firm Petronas has joined the project as an industrial partner, Hydrogen Fuel News reported, reflecting interest in coupling waste management with hydrogen fuel generation.

The work has drawn public backing. According to Hydrogen Fuel News, the project has received support from the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and Cambridge Enterprise has filed patents.

France's afternoon power export surplus shrank to 2.9 GW on June 24, the hottest day of the month, after starting June at 11-12 GW, according to pv magazine. A static high-pressure system lifted riverside air temperatures to 42.5 C, the peak reading across the eight river-cooled nuclear sites pv magazine studied.

With the Garonne, the Rhône and the Seine climbing toward cooling ceilings near 28 C, EDF had to throttle output at or halt several reactors sited on those rivers, pv magazine reported.

France still exported power in every hour from June 1 to June 26, posting a net balance of 7.55 TWh on hourly ENTSO-E commercial data, with domestic supply secure throughout, according to pv magazine.

That figure sits close to the two prior years. Net exports over the same June window measured about 7.6 TWh in 2024, 6.9 TWh in 2025 and 7.55 TWh in 2026, pv magazine reported.

Nuclear availability rose rather than fell during the heatwave, averaging about 39 GW in June 2026 against roughly 36 GW in each of the two preceding Junes, according to pv magazine.

Trade with Spain moved the furthest. France, usually a net exporter to Iberia, flipped to a net importer from Spain on the hottest days, pulling on cheaper Spanish solar as its own margin narrowed, pv magazine reported.

A 58 V modular sodium-ion battery for home use has reached the market from Biwatt, built on sodium iron pyrophosphate (NFPP) chemistry, according to pv magazine.

Each module puts out 3 kW of continuous power and carries a peak current of 55 A, according to pv magazine. Users can chain up to four modules within a single stack and run four stacks in parallel, which pushes the stack current to a maximum of 220 A.

The unit charges between -20 C and 55 C and discharges between -30 C and 55 C, according to pv magazine.

Biwatt already holds CE and RCM compliance and is now seeking UL1973 certification along with UL9540A fire safety testing, according to pv magazine. UL1973 sets the safety requirements for the battery, and UL9540A tests how the system behaves under thermal runaway and fire propagation.

The sodium iron pyrophosphate route is one of several sodium-ion cathode approaches now moving toward commercial residential product lines, according to pv magazine. The stacking design gives installers a single building block that can be sized to different household loads, from one module up to the four-stack, 220 A configuration. The charge and discharge temperature limits Biwatt cites cover conditions well below freezing, according to pv magazine.

India has opened a nuclear-powered hydrogen production facility at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, according to World Nuclear News. Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Secretary and Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, inaugurated the plant.

Heat from the Fast Breeder Test Reactor feeds the process, which splits hydrogen using a copper-chlorine thermochemical method built by Indian researchers, World Nuclear News reported.

That reactor, cooled by sodium, first went critical at the centre in 1985. Its output climbed to 32 MWt in 2018 and hit its nameplate rating of 40 MWt in 2022.

Work is under way on a 5 MWt high temperature gas cooled reactor that engineers say could pair with thermochemical hydrogen production. A lead unit is proposed for the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre's Vizag R&D campus in Andhra Pradesh.

The International Energy Agency puts global hydrogen output at 97 million tonnes in 2023, of which less than 1% came from low-emissions sources. In its 2024 review of hydrogen production, the agency said low-emission volumes could reach 49 million tonnes per year by 2030.

A growing number of Tesla Cybertruck owners are losing the ability to charge at home because of failures in the truck's Power Conversion System, the unit that handles AC charging and steps the high-voltage pack down to the 48-volt system, according to Electrek.

Tesla is replacing the failing part case-by-case but has not issued a recall, Electrek reported, leaving owners waiting weeks for replacement units they cannot source.

An owner-run poll on the Cybertruck Owners Club recorded 223 votes, with 91 owners, or 40.8%, reporting a PCS failure replaced under warranty, according to Electrek. Another 15 owners, 6.7%, suspected a failure pending confirmation, and only 2, or 0.9%, paid out of pocket.

For owners out of warranty, the repair reportedly ran $5,000 to $7,200 in parts and labor, Electrek reported. Tesla has since dropped that out-of-warranty price to roughly $1,000 as a goodwill gesture.

Tesla quietly added a new 7-year/70,000-mile propulsion warranty for 2026 Cybertrucks that explicitly covers the PCS, according to Electrek, but the coverage is not retroactive.

To keep affected trucks running, Tesla pushed a firmware update that keeps Supercharging enabled even when AC charging is down, and it is covering Supercharging costs for affected owners until their trucks are fixed.

The fix is a revised PCS, with owners tracking hardware revisions E, F, and now G, part number 1777777-T2-G, along with a new wiring harness, Electrek reported.

The issue follows an earlier hardware problem. In late 2024, Tesla recalled more than 2,000 Cybertrucks to replace inverters that could cause a loss of power, also a MOSFET issue, according to Electrek.

The head of a French poultry-industry group told Reuters that hundreds of thousands of poultry perished across France as extreme temperatures gripped the country during the heatwave, Carbon Brief reported.

Britain recorded parallel livestock losses. Government data obtained by Carbon Brief showed the number of animals dying from heat stress on the way to slaughterhouses doubled in 2025 against 2024, during a stretch of record heat. In Derbyshire, flames tore through 200 hectares of moorland as the heat peaked, according to the Times.

Against that backdrop, the UK government set out a farming roadmap for England running to 2050, with stated goals of strengthening agriculture against climate shifts, lifting domestic food output and supporting nature recovery, Carbon Brief reported. The government paired the plan with GBP 47 million for peatland protection and restoration schemes.

UK energy secretary Ed Miliband had been ready to pledge GBP 400 million to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, but the commitment was dropped over optics concerns during a dispute on defence spending, the Times said.

The Our Ocean Conference wrapped up in Mombasa, Kenya, drawing more than 300 voluntary commitments from governments, civil-society groups and non-governmental organisations, Carbon Brief reported.

Oil and gas executives lifted their year-end WTI crude forecast to an average of $80.55 per barrel in the second quarter 2026 Dallas Fed Energy Survey, based on responses from 124 firms, according to Rigzone.

That marks a rise from the first quarter survey, when executives from 131 firms gave an average year-end forecast of $74.04 per barrel, Rigzone reported. The estimate has climbed further from the fourth quarter 2025 survey, in which 128 firms projected an average end-of-2026 price of $62.41 per barrel.

Longer-dated forecasts point to a softer path. Executives from 107 firms gave a mean WTI forecast of $83 per barrel at the six-month mark, $78 per barrel at both the one-year and two-year marks, and $82 per barrel at the five-year mark, according to Rigzone.

The survey also probed how conflict could move prices. About two-thirds of respondents said WTI would peak at $125 per barrel or less if the military conflict in Iran continues through year-end, Rigzone reported.

Across scenarios of $100, $125 and $150 per barrel, executives most frequently selected U.S. crude oil production growth of more than 0.25 but not more than 0.50 million barrels per day for next year.

Hydrogen demand is usually discussed as if the world is about to discover a giant new fuel market, according to CleanTechnica, which calls that the wrong starting point.

Hydrogen is already a very large industrial molecule, CleanTechnica said, but most of that demand is tied to the fossil-fuel system, fertilizer, methanol and process chemistry.

Fiat unveiled its micromobility strategy at an event in Rome, built around the battery-electric Topolino, the three-wheeled Fiat Tris commercial vehicle and the new Multiplina Concept, according to electrive.

The manufacturer expects a new record for Topolino orders in Q2 2026, up around 30% versus the same period last year, electrive reported.

Fiat plans to introduce a four-seater battery-electric light vehicle in the L7e category, offering more space and comfort than the Topolino, according to electrive. The production version is scheduled for 2028.

Fiat has announced a partnership with Caffe Vergnano to develop mobile coffee concepts based on the Tris platform, according to electrive.

EVelution Energy LLC has started construction on a solar facility to power its planned cobalt processing plant in Yuma County, Arizona, according to Solar Builder. The critical minerals firm is building the array to supply the processing site with dedicated renewable power.

The project represents a $450 million investment and will supply 28 MW of solar power over 150 acres, company officials told Solar Builder.

Construction of the solar array is expected to continue through the rest of 2026 and into 2027, according to company plans cited by Solar Builder. The cobalt processing plant will come online by the end of 2029.

The plant will process about 24,000 metric tons of cobalt hydroxide annually, producing up to 3,000 metric tons of alloy-grade cobalt metal, according to Solar Builder. Its products will yield up to 20,000 metric tons of cobalt sulfate, a component for EV batteries.

Excess solar energy will go into battery storage, the company said, and additional excess will be routed to the local energy grid.

Iberdrola's 243 MW Fénix solar farm in Sicily is now Italy's largest, generating enough clean electricity each year to power the equivalent of more than 140,000 homes, according to Electrek.

Electrek reported that the plant is expected to produce nearly 400,000 MWh of electricity annually.

The facility overtakes Italy's previous largest solar farm, a 170 MW installation in Viterbo in the Lazio region on Italy's west coast, according to Electrek.

Fénix is built from more than 413,000 bifacial solar panels that capture sunlight from both sides to raise output, Electrek reported.

The project connects to the grid through 26 km of medium-voltage lines and another 9 km of high-voltage transmission lines, according to Electrek.

Electrek reported that the European Investment Bank financed the project.

Italy now has more than 40 GW of installed solar capacity and aims to roughly double that by 2030 under its national energy and climate plan, according to Electrek.

Deployable Energy's Unity demonstration reactor has achieved criticality at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), according to Power Magazine.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said on July 1 that the Unity reactor completed the milestone, Power Magazine reported.

Unity is the third DOE-authorized advanced reactor to reach criticality ahead of a July 4 deadline set under President Trump's May 2025 nuclear executive order, according to Power Magazine.

Saudi Aramco has placed at least 6 million barrels of crude on the spot market, loading three supertankers headed for South Korea, Japan and China, traders told Rigzone.

That channel sits outside Saudi Arabia's usual playbook, which relies on long-term contracts to move its supplies, according to Rigzone.

Gulf crude exports have climbed back to at least 75% of their pre-conflict volume after loadings resumed at Ras Tanura, Rigzone reported.

The recovery in shipments coincided with Brent futures falling to $72 a barrel, according to Rigzone.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. has ranked among the region's busiest spot sellers, moving tens of millions of barrels through tenders, Rigzone reported.

Houlihan Lokey has agreed to acquire Intrepid Financial Partners, expanding its oil and gas advisory business through the addition of an independent energy-sector investment bank, according to World Oil.

World Oil reported that the transaction was signed June 27 and is expected to close before Sept. 30, subject to regulatory approval.

Since its founding in 2015, Intrepid has advised on more than 120 energy transactions valued at over USD 215 billion, according to World Oil.

The deal brings 34 financial professionals from Intrepid's team, expanding the combined practice to more than 70 dedicated energy advisors worldwide, World Oil reported.

Intrepid CEO Hugh "Skip" McGee III will join Houlihan Lokey as managing director and global chairman of Oil & Gas, according to World Oil.

According to LSEG data cited by the company and reported by World Oil, the combined team advised on 23 U.S. energy and power M&A transactions in 2025.

Russia is starting to import gasoline from India, according to Reuters, a move Semafor Net Zero describes as a sign of the severity of Moscow's fuel shortages.

The direction of trade reverses an earlier arrangement. Earlier this year, India turned to Russia to mitigate a disruption to oil supplies caused by the Iran war, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week acknowledged that Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries had triggered the shortages, while downplaying the severity of the crisis, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The strain is visible at the pump. Lines are growing at gas stations across Russia, with average people grumbling and suffering, according to RFE/RL.

Global plugin vehicle registrations rose 4% year over year in May, reaching around 1.7 million units, according to CleanTechnica.

The two segments moved in opposite directions. Battery electric vehicle registrations grew 15% year over year, while plug-in hybrid electric vehicle registrations fell 15% year over year, CleanTechnica reported.

FuelCell Energy secured about USD 49 million in financing to export its carbonate fuel cell systems to South Korea, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The funding comes from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), Hydrogen Fuel News reported. The financing backs the export of the company's carbonate fuel cell technology to South Korea.

A commentary published on July 2, 2026 argues that Darwin residents' concerns about toxic gas export emissions are supported by science, according to RenewEconomy.

The piece, written by Melissa Haswell and Kerrie Mengersen, states that residents want answers on the emissions tied to gas exports.

The Ichthys LNG onshore process facilities sit at Bladin Point in Darwin, according to RenewEconomy.

Firmus signed a 12-year wholesale energy supply agreement with Gunvor Group for 600 MW of firm electricity, according to CleanTechnica.

The deal supports the next phase of Project Southgate, Firmus's strategy to develop large-scale AI Factory campuses across regional Australia, CleanTechnica reported.

Under the agreement, Gunvor will support the development of 1.2 GW of new renewable generation and battery storage, according to CleanTechnica.

Australia has formally committed to a new global electrification initiative called Electrify Now, launched as part of London Climate Action Week, according to pv magazine. The country made the commitment alongside Canada and the United Kingdom, which reiterated their shared commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the goals of the Paris Agreement, pv magazine reported.

Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen made the commitment formal, joined by Canada's Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Nature Julie Dabrusin and the UK Minister for Climate Katie White, according to pv magazine.

The three nations collectively installed around 12 GW of renewable energy capacity in 2025, pv magazine reported.

The first coalition of Electrify Now also includes the European Commission, Brazil, Turkiye, Ethiopia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, the International Energy Agency, and the International Renewable Energy Agency, according to pv magazine.

The group will support the COP31 Presidency's new global target to raise electrification to 35% of final energy demand by 2035, pv magazine reported.

Renewable energy sources covered 57.7% of Germany's gross electricity consumption in the first half of 2026, a new record, according to pv magazine.

The share rose from 55.2% in H1 2025 and edged past the previous record of 57.4% set in H1 2024, pv magazine reported.

Gross electricity consumption reached 262.4 TWh in the first half of 2026, up from 260.9 TWh in the same period a year earlier, according to pv magazine.

Onshore wind supplied the largest share of generation at 20.1%, followed by solar at 19.9%, biomass at 8.3%, offshore wind at 5.7%, and hydropower at 2.7%, pv magazine reported.

Germany added 8.3 GW of solar PV capacity during the period, up from 7.8 GW in the first half of 2025, according to pv magazine.

Kerstin Andreae of BDEW warned that no draft bills yet exist for amendments to Germany's EEG and Offshore Wind Energy Act, which must be adopted by year-end and approved by the EU. "The first six months are over and there aren't even any draft bills yet," she said, as quoted by pv magazine.

French fastening and assembly provider Araymond showed Neluma, a modular floating solar design that builds its float parts on-site through containerized microfactories, at the Smarter E trade show in Munich, which ran June 24 to 26, according to pv magazine.

Each microfactory sits inside a shipping container and shapes aluminum coils into tubes measuring six meters long and 40 centimeters across, which then act as the platform floats, pv magazine reported.

A crew of 10 can put together roughly 1 MW of floating capacity in a week, which works out to about 500 labor hours per megawatt, according to Araymond, as reported by pv magazine.

The design holds up in continuous winds reaching 160 km/h and gusts to 220 km/h, and needs about a third fewer anchors than conventional layouts, Araymond claims, per pv magazine.

Across onshore projects, Araymond says it has helped install more than 22 GW of solar capacity globally.

The company traces its floating work to a first industrial demonstrator built in 2024 at Montmélian in Savoie, France, and now counts eight installations worldwide, pv magazine reported. One of those sits on a reservoir at the Jindal Power thermal plant in Dhule, India, where a 57 kW pilot went up in roughly 10 days, according to pv magazine.