Wednesday, 22 July 2026

Deep Fission has shipped its prototype reactor canister to the Parsons site in Kansas for its pilot project, according to World Nuclear News. The California-based startup is developing small modular reactors intended to sit in boreholes a mile below ground.

Groundbreaking at the Great Plains Industrial Park in Parsons took place in December, World Nuclear News reported. Deep Fission intends to follow the test reactor demonstration with a full-scale commercial plant on the same ground.

The canister's arrival moves the project from design toward deployed hardware, said Mark Peres, Deep Fission's Chief Nuclear Officer.

Each Gravity unit is engineered to run at the bottom of a borehole one mile, or 1.6 km, deep, generating 15 MWe from pressurised water reactor technology fed by low-enriched uranium, according to World Nuclear News. The company puts a single site's output at 150 MWe with ten reactors and 1.5 GWe with 100.

The US Department of Energy picked Deep Fission in August last year as one of 10 companies backed under its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, World Nuclear News reported.

Father-daughter founders Elizabeth and Richard Muller started the company in 2023.

The SAIC-GM Wuling Starlight L plug-in hybrid delivers about 260 km, or roughly 160 miles, on battery power alone, according to Electrek.

Electrek put the price of the Wuling Starlight L Flagship at 132,800 yuan, or about USD 19,900.

That range comes from a 37.9 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack, Electrek reported.

Under the hood, a 106 hp 1.5-liter Atkinson-cycle engine works alongside an electric drive motor, and the two together produce 170 kW, or about 230 hp, according to Electrek.

Shizuoka Gas Co Ltd will take 0.84 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) under a new supply contract, Rigzone reported.

Deliveries run over seven years from 2032 on a delivered-ex-ship basis, drawn from the Malaysian producer's global LNG portfolio, according to company statements cited by Rigzone.

The two firms have a long trading history. Shizuoka Gas has taken more than 200 cargoes of Malaysian LNG since its first Petronas shipment in 1996, spanning 30 years, Rigzone reported.

Petronas closed a larger Japanese sale last month, agreeing to supply JERA up to around two million metric tons per annum for 20 years from 2028, per Rigzone.

The producer moved 563 LNG cargoes in 2025, with sales reaching 36.62 million metric tons, according to its annual report cited by Rigzone. Its Japanese reach widened when it sent its first share from the LNG Canada facility in British Columbia to Japan on July 7, 2025, Rigzone reported.

COP31 president-designate Murat Kurum has set a goal for electricity to supply 35% of the world's final energy by 2035, according to Carbon Brief.

Kurum described the "35 by 35" target as based on analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) of what would keep the 1.5C Paris Agreement target within reach.

The EU, UK and Canada have backed the goal, as have the Brazilian COP30 and Ethiopian COP32 presidencies, Kurum said. Each has told him the target will feature at the center of COP31 talks.

Buildings, transport and industry are the sectors that will decide whether the goal is met, Kurum said, putting their combined share of global emissions at around 45%.

He cited We Mean Business Coalition polling in which 90% of businesses said they expect to have largely electrified their operations by 2035, with 88% saying they expect electrification to improve their competitiveness.

Turkey aims to build 120GW of renewable capacity by 2035, Kurum said.

Ecowas bloc leaders signed off on a $25 billion pipeline that would carry Nigerian natural gas to Morocco, according to Semafor Net Zero. The approval clears the way to set up a dedicated company to run the project.

The line would cross 13 West African countries and move 30 billion cubic meters of gas each year, Semafor reported.

Roughly half of that gas is set to reach European markets by way of Morocco, according to the Moroccan government agency running the project alongside Nigeria's state oil company NNPC.

Nigeria sits on Africa's largest gas reserves and opened talks with Morocco on a pipeline link a decade ago, Semafor reported.

The project advances alongside the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline, a separate line under construction by Algeria to draw gas from Nigeria, according to Semafor.

Tesla submitted four fresh Robotaxi crash reports to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), one of them a Houston collision in which a remote operator steered the car into a tree stump, according to Electrek.

On that Houston report, Tesla entered the Driver/Operator Type as Remote (Commercial / Test), the first such entry across its 22 unique Automated Driving System (ADS) incident reports, Electrek reported. Electrek described it as the first crash Tesla has formally coded as remote operation in a filing.

The Houston damage stayed light. The report logged property damage only, with no injuries, no airbag deployment, and no tow, at a pre-crash speed of 2 mph, according to Electrek.

A second of the four filings covers Dallas, the first crash Tesla has reported in that city, Electrek said. The circumstances mirror a September 2025 Austin case in which a Model Y turned into a parking lot entrance and struck a metal chain at 6 mph.

The crash tallies move with fleet size. Robotaxi Tracker data cited in a June analysis put Tesla at three active vehicles in Houston, seven in Dallas, and 16 in Austin, Electrek reported. Austin accounted for two crashes in this set of filings.

For comparison on the record, Waymo told Senator Ed Markey in a February 2026 letter that it has not used remote driving or tele-operations where a human performs the Dynamic Driving Task, according to Electrek.

Škoda will deliver 52 battery-trolleybuses to the Esslingen Municipal Transport Authority, according to electrive. The full fleet is due to arrive by the end of 2026.

Of the total, ten are 12-metre 32Tr solo vehicles and 42 are articulated 33Tr models. Each solo unit carries a 135 kWh battery; each articulated bus runs a 156 kWh battery and drives two axles. Off the wires, the buses can cover up to 25 kilometres on battery power alone, Škoda says.

The order sits at the centre of Esslingen's plan to run its entire urban bus service on electric power by the end of 2026. To support that, the city is lengthening its overhead line network, which currently runs about 29 kilometres, by another five kilometres.

Total spending on the switch tops €64 million. Federal funding of roughly €27 million covers 42 of the buses plus the network extension, and Baden-Württemberg is putting in €1.43 million towards six more vehicles. Beyond the confirmed order, the contract carries an option for nine further buses.

Five First Nations near the LNG Canada project in British Columbia can invest up to CAD 1 billion (USD 712.17 million) in the facility's second phase under an agreement signed by the Shell plc-led joint venture, Rigzone reported.

The stake will be held through MNT Investments LP. That limited partnership brings together the economic development arms of the Gitga'at First Nation, the Gitxaała Nation, the Haisla Nation, the Kitselas First Nation and Kitsumkalum, according to Rigzone.

Phase 2 would install two additional liquefaction trains. Rigzone reported the expansion is designed to lift total capacity to as much as 30 MMtpa, up from the 14 MMtpa the plant runs today.

A final investment decision on the second phase is expected by yearend, according to Rigzone.

Exports started in June 2025, and the plant has since dispatched more than 100 LNG cargoes, Rigzone reported.

Shell holds 40 percent of the venture. Rigzone reported the remaining stakes sit with Petroliam Nasional Bhd at 25 percent, Mitsubishi Corp at 15 percent, PetroChina Co Ltd at 15 percent and Korea Gas Corp at five percent.

Gitxaała Nation Elected Chief Councilor Linda Innes described the arrangement as more than a commercial deal, saying it lets Indigenous Nations "participate as equity owners and true partners" in development on their traditional territory rather than absorb its impacts, according to Rigzone.

Holtec International has appointed a group of nuclear industry leaders to the safety leadership team at Palisades ahead of the plant's restart, according to a GlobeNewswire release.

Fadi Diya will begin serving as Chief Nuclear Officer on July 27, 2026, the company said. Holtec described the appointments as preparation for the plant's restart.

The Palisades Nuclear Safety Review Board will be established on August 3, 2026. It will comprise three executives, with Michael W. Rencheck as Chair alongside members Edward Callan and Joel Gebbie.

Rencheck served as Executive Vice Chairman of Bruce Power L.P. from July 2024 to June 2026, according to the release. Before that he was the company's President and Chief Executive Officer from August 2016 to June 2024.

Holtec said Rencheck is also expected to join the company's Board of Directors and chair its Nuclear Oversight Committee.

Holtec describes the restart of Palisades as the first-ever reopening of a U.S. nuclear facility.

Phoenix Energy has surpassed 50,000 bopd of production in the Williston basin, according to World Oil. Daily oil output reached roughly 50,700 bopd on July 19, World Oil reported.

The company grew from roughly 100 bopd at the beginning of 2024, with approximately 60% year-over-year growth between June 2025 and June 2026, according to World Oil.

Founded in 2019, Phoenix Energy operates primarily in the Williston basin, where it has expanded through a combination of operated drilling, royalty acquisitions and non-operated working interests.

"Reaching 50,000 barrels of oil per day is an important milestone for Phoenix Energy," said chief executive officer Adam Ferrari, who described the level as a foundation for continued development rather than a finish line.

BMW Group and Toyota Motor Europe have begun a six-month pilot deployment of Repsol's Nexa 95 renewable gasoline to test whether renewable fuel scales on existing vehicles, according to Rigzone.

The trial in Spain runs about 20 vehicles from Toyota and BMW on Nexa 95, which Repsol says is made from 100 percent renewable resources, Rigzone reported. Repsol says use of the renewable gasoline reduces net CO2 emissions by more than 70 percent compared with conventional gasoline. Bosch will provide digital fuel tracking technology for the pilot.

The test builds on Repsol's move into industrial-scale output. Repsol announced in a press release on October 8, 2025, that it had begun industrial-scale production of 100 percent renewable gasoline at its Tarragona complex, according to Rigzone.

Repsol has expanded renewable fuel capacity across several sites. Its Puertollano renewable diesel plant can produce up to 200,000 metric tons a year, while the earlier Cartagena plant has a capacity of 250,000 metric tons, according to Repsol. Repsol invested EUR 130 million to transform a refinery unit in Puertollano into a facility capable of processing used cooking oil and other agri-food waste.

An oil products tanker named the Kaifan, owned by Kuwait Oil Tanker Co., was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, according to security consultancy EOS Risk Group. UK Maritime Trade Operations said the ship was struck by an unknown projectile northeast of Oman's Limah.

Traffic through the strait has thinned sharply. In the week ending July 19, Hormuz crossings averaged seven tankers each day, compared with 16 per day a week earlier, according to Rahul Kapoor, global head of shipping analytics and research for S&P Global Energy. Hormuz was deserted on Tuesday with no ships observed transiting.

Some vessels have altered course rather than proceed. An empty Sinokor supertanker, the Plata Singapore, that was sailing toward the Gulf of Oman with the aim of reaching Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura, deviated from its path on Sunday.

Others have signaled their national ties. The India-flagged supertanker Desh Viraat, half-filled with crude from Fujairah, switched its broadcast signal to "Govt. of India Await" after the Houthi threat on Monday.

Plugin electric vehicles took a 67.0% share of the Swedish auto market in Q2 2026, up from 62.5% in Q2 2025, according to CleanTechnica.

Overall Q2 auto volume in Sweden reached 79,891 units, up about 22% year on year, CleanTechnica reported.

Battery electric vehicle share grew strongly year on year, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles also grew, according to CleanTechnica.

Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz erased 15 million barrels per day from circulation overnight, according to Grist. Before the conflict began, nearly 20 percent of the world's traded oil moved through the waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Grist reports that oil-exporting countries and consumers responded with a series of moves that kept the shock from becoming a global crisis. The International Energy Agency (IEA) coordinated a strategic reserve release of about 400 million barrels in March from more than 30 countries, including the United States.

Producers routed crude around the chokepoint. According to Grist, Iraq and Saudi Arabia sent more than 6 million barrels per day through land pipelines that had been operating below capacity, bypassing the strait entirely.

Consumers shifted their sourcing. South Korea doubled its oil imports from the United States between February and April 2026, Grist reports.

China made the largest single adjustment. Grist reports that China stopped buying oil for its strategic reserve after the war began and halted crude purchases for its domestic refineries, shutting them down for months. To generate electricity it pivoted to coal and solar, and those measures together freed roughly 5 million barrels per day for the world market.

The diplomatic track moved in parallel with the supply response. The United States and Iran signed a ceasefire agreement on June 17, after which commercial shipping resumed through the Strait of Hormuz and benchmark oil prices fell back to about USD 70 per barrel, according to Grist.

That calm did not hold. Grist reports the ceasefire broke down in July, the United States announced a new blockade of Iranian oil, and Iran set new transit requirements for the Strait of Hormuz. Prices rose back to about USD 85 per barrel.

ADNOC has taken a $6.2 billion final investment decision to develop the Umm Shaif Gas Cap project offshore Abu Dhabi, with partners TotalEnergies, Eni and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The development is expected to produce more than 600 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas and associated gas liquids from 2030, according to OEDigital, a volume it puts at almost 10% of the United Arab Emirates' current daily gas consumption.

The investment covers three engineering, procurement and construction contract packages worth a combined $5.1 billion for large-scale offshore infrastructure, according to OEDigital.

A separate $365 million drilling and integrated drilling services program is part of the project, under which ADNOC Drilling will drill 14 wells over 18 months using three existing rigs, OEDigital reported.

The development supports ADNOC's ambition to build 47 million tonnes per annum of marketable LNG capacity by 2035, according to OEDigital.

The previously awarded Bab Gas Cap concession is expected to unlock an additional 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day of natural gas and associated gas liquids, according to OEDigital.

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, said the Umm Shaif Gas Cap FID reinforces ADNOC's position as a reliable gas supplier.

CorPower Ocean has been awarded the world's first DNV Prototype Certificate for a wave energy converter, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The publication describes the award as a step towards bankable, utility-scale wave energy.

The certified machine, the CorPower C4, passed independent verification under DNV-SE-0120, Certification of Wave Energy Converters and Arrays, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported. The certificate followed a seven-year process with DNV that began with establishing the design basis for the C4.

According to Offshore Engineer OEDigital, the C4 uses a spherical composite hull measuring 9 meters in diameter, stands 18 meters tall, and has a mass of approximately 100 tonnes.

The device has operated in ocean conditions since 2023 across three deployment cycles, the publication reported. That work included autonomous operation, power export to the Portuguese grid, and survival of Atlantic storms with waves up to 18.5 meters during Storm Domingos in November 2023, a regional record according to the Hydrographic Institute of Portugal.

CorPower Ocean is advancing its first two industrial wave farms, in Portugal and Scotland, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Singapore-based Sunvera Solar Pte. Ltd. has met with government ministers in Kyrgyzstan to discuss building solar manufacturing facilities in the country, according to pv magazine. The talks centered on a high-efficiency solar cell production plant with a planned capacity of up to 2 GW, pv magazine reported.

The manufacturing proposal comes as Kyrgyzstan builds out generation from a low base. Cumulative solar capacity reached 100 MW by the end of last year, up from 0 MW the year prior, according to IRENA figures cited by pv magazine.

The country's largest operational solar asset, a 175 MW site, was switched on in June, per pv magazine. That array is the first phase of a planned 1.9 GW project being implemented, financed and managed by Vietnam's Rox Energy Global and RECA LLC.

Other deals have advanced in parallel. In November, Kyrgyzstan's National Investment Agency signed an agreement with Hungary's Electron Holding to develop 300 MW of solar, according to pv magazine. The Energy Ministry separately signed an investment agreement with a consortium of Chinese companies for a 250 MW solar project scheduled for completion in 2027.

Haven Energy is offering home battery service in Massachusetts for a low monthly payment, according to Canary Media.

The company is starting service in four counties in the southeastern part of the state, Canary Media reported.

Supporters say the low monthly payment model could accelerate adoption of residential storage, according to Canary Media.

BP is selling its Austrian network of gas stations and charging stations to Swiss energy company Volenergy, according to electrive. The deal covers 250 fuel stations, BP's electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and the associated fleet business in Austria.

BP has not disclosed the number of charging stations included in the transaction, electrive reported.

The transaction is expected to complete by the end of 2026, pending regulatory approvals. BP had announced its intention to divest the Austrian fuel station and charging network last year, with an initial target completion date of the end of 2025.

The sale follows BP's recent divestment of its fuel and charging business in the Netherlands, where Catom acquired the relevant business units.

Sumitomo Chemical developed a solid-electrolyte battery in collaboration with Kyoto University and Tottori University, according to electrive. The technology is halide-based and uses chlorine, among other elements.

Sumitomo Chemical says battery manufacturers could partially utilise existing lithium-ion battery production facilities and conditions, according to electrive. The company plans to initially establish mass production of the material in Japan, with no timeline or capacities disclosed.

Several companies in Japan are working towards commercialising solid-state battery technology by 2027 or 2028, electrive reported. Nissan aims to commercialise its own solid-state batteries by fiscal year 2028.

Toyota is collaborating with Idemitsu Kosan on sulphide solid electrolytes and with Sumitomo Metal Mining on cathode materials, according to electrive.

Deutsche Bank warned that this year's El Niño weather system could cause a global economic shock the world is unable to absorb given existing stress on supply chains, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Deutsche Bank economists described the pattern's disruption to agriculture, hydropower, shipping, and political stability as a multi-channel supply shock.

Alongside the Iran war, El Niño will push inflation higher when it is already above target, the bank said.

China is offering typhoon survival training in coastal cities ahead of El Niño's arrival, according to Semafor Net Zero.

ISO New England is working to comply with a June 18 show cause order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on integrating large loads and co-located loads such as data centers, according to ISO New England Newswire.

The grid operator has identified two actions it believes will be necessary, per the same source. It would require new large loads to bring incremental new generation, and it would stop procuring capacity through the regional capacity market to serve those large loads.

During a July 16 presentation to the NEPOOL Transmission Committee, ISO-NE outlined a plan to jointly request a 90-day abeyance of the show cause proceeding with the region's Participating Transmission Owners, according to ISO New England Newswire.

If the abeyance is approved, the region would run a stakeholder process ahead of a Nov. 16 filing under Section 205 of the Federal Power Act, according to the same source. That filing would address the show cause order's five categories of reform.

ISO New England filed an informational report on Monday detailing how the region creates incentives for retaining the existing generation fleet and investing in new resources, per ISO New England Newswire.

JDEnergy and Topfit Energie signed a framework agreement to jointly develop up to 300 MWh of utility-scale energy storage projects across Germany, according to ESS News.

The deal marks the two companies' first cooperation in Germany's utility-scale storage sector, ESS News reported.

Among the planned developments, a 25 MWh project comprising 100 JDEnergy eBlock-250 systems is being built for an energy-intensive manufacturing facility, according to ESS News.

The projects will run on JDEnergy's upgraded Galaxy-2 energy storage system, which has a rated capacity of 6.251 MWh per container, ESS News reported.

The systems will be able to participate in Germany's ancillary service and wholesale electricity markets, according to ESS News, creating diversified revenue streams through balancing services and energy trading.

Trimpe Siefried, founder of TOPFIT Energie, said the partnership sees great potential to build a strong presence in the German energy storage market.

Germany's degraded peatlands could host between 134 GW and 268 GW of photovoltaic capacity, according to a Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) study reported by pv magazine.

The study found that around 334,500 hectares of peatland could be made available for solar power generation, pv magazine reported.

Peatlands cover around 5% of Germany's land area, according to pv magazine. Agnes Katharina Wilke of Fraunhofer ISE said around 70% of formerly intact peatlands in the country have been drained for agricultural use, and that these account for just under 7% of Germany's total greenhouse gas emissions.

Germany aims to re-wet 50,000 hectares of degraded peatland each year to meet its climate targets, according to pv magazine. Since the 2023 reform of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), photovoltaic installations on re-wetted peatlands have been eligible for support.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, more than 85,000 hectares of degraded peatlands used for agriculture are not subject to restrictive nature conservation regulations, pv magazine reported.

Two state-run refiners in India have halted crude oil loadings from Iraq, citing security risks in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Rigzone.

One of them, Indian Oil Corp., dropped plans to fill the supertanker Lila Jamnagar, a vessel capable of carrying up to 2 million barrels, Rigzone reported.

A second buyer, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd., which sits under state-owned ONGC, has stopped its own liftings from Iraq amid the worsening security picture, according to Rigzone.

India's shipping ministry told shipowners, managers and recruitment agencies to hold off on placing Indian seafarers aboard vessels crossing Hormuz until further notice, a step it linked to more frequent attacks on commercial ships, Rigzone said.

Traffic across the waterway declined after Iran struck several oil tankers in a bid to assert control over the strait, according to Rigzone.

Work has started on the Sunrise Expansion Program in British Columbia, Natural Resources Canada said, after federal approval of the Enbridge project came in April 2026.

The CAD 4-billion expansion of Enbridge's Westcoast natural gas pipeline will add up to 300 million cubic feet per day of transportation capacity across the province's gas transmission system, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Natural Resources Canada projects the program will add more than CAD 3 billion to Canada's GDP as natural gas exports to Asian markets rise. It also expects the work to create 2,500 jobs, including roles for local Indigenous communities, and to generate CAD 700 million in tax revenue.

Pipe for the project will use 100 percent Canadian melted and poured steel from InterPro Pipe + Steel in Saskatchewan, according to Natural Resources Canada.

The added capacity is meant to feed gas to LNG export terminals as they start up, among them Woodfibre LNG, which Natural Resources Canada described as the world's first net-zero facility.

Last year, 38 Indigenous communities in British Columbia took a 12.5 percent ownership stake in the Westcoast system, backed by the first federal Indigenous Loan Guarantee, according to Natural Resources Canada.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) issued a letter on July 21, 2026 fixing the parameters for the two upcoming Capacity Market auctions. It covers a T-1 round tied to the 2027 to 2028 delivery year and a T-4 round tied to the 2030 to 2031 delivery year.

Energy Minister RT Hon Michael Shanks MP addressed the correspondence to the National Energy System Operator (NESO), according to DESNZ. The document also fixes interconnector de-rating factors that will apply to the T-4 round.

DESNZ said the two sets of parameters may shift after auction prequalification, with final values locked in ahead of the auctions in early 2027.

Industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has asked for an urgent visit by the prime minister to Scottish operators and to supply-chain firms based in the Northeast of England, according to Rigzone.

The appeal lands days into a new leadership. Andy Burnham took over as UK prime minister on July 20 after winning the Labour Party leadership on July 16, unseating Keir Starmer, Rigzone reported.

OEUK ties its case to a policy shift. Its analysis argues that reforming the North Sea tax and regulatory regime, and moving early on the government's proposed Oil and Gas Price Mechanism, could enable an extra GBP 50 billion (USD 61.1 billion) in oil and gas investment, per Rigzone.

The group put a decade-long figure on the same reform, projecting a GBP 26 billion rise in capital spending and more than GBP 13 billion in additional tax receipts.

OEUK chief executive David Whitehouse said backing for projects like Jackdaw and Rosebank cannot stand in for the policy reset the country needs, according to Rigzone.

The Vietnamese port city of Hai Phong has taken delivery of 99 VinFast VF 8 electric SUVs for use across its administration, according to electrive.

The fleet was bought through a public tender awarded to the Au Lac-Thang Long Joint Venture, electrive reported. The winning bid came in at nearly 84 billion dong, roughly 5 billion dong under the tender's maximum approved value, a margin of 5.5 percent.

Of the city's 114 communes, wards and special zones, 98 received vehicles from the batch, according to electrive.

The purchase forms part of Hai Phong's plan to shift all buses and public vehicles, apart from specialised ones, to electric or other green-energy models by 2030.

The VF 8 has sold modestly at home. VinFast delivered 175,099 EVs in Vietnam last year, and the VF 8, VF 9 and Lac Hong models together made up 13,962 of them, according to electrive.

VinFast rolled out the second-generation VF 8 in May at a starting price of 999 million dong, or about EUR 33,200, with the first deliveries due this month, electrive reported.

Acciona Energía is running a pilot in Navarra, Spain, that pairs ultracapacitors with lithium-ion batteries to test grid-forming capabilities and other stability services for renewable plants, according to pv magazine.

Testing started at the company's Barásoain wind farm, where the two technologies split storage duties: batteries handle longer-duration delivery, ultracapacitors respond to rapid power swings, pv magazine reported. That opening phase ran at 250 kW.

Once those first trials wrapped, the company raised system power to 1.25 MW in 2025 to widen the test scope and assess grid-forming performance, according to pv magazine.

The original 250 kW unit was relocated to the company's Tudela solar facility, where it now pairs photovoltaic output with batteries and ultracapacitors in a solar setting.

The trial is testing whether solar and wind plants can deliver fast frequency response, virtual inertia, and voltage support during short-duration disturbances, functions conventional thermal plants have traditionally provided, pv magazine reported.

Sharing existing grid links at hydropower plants in seven EU countries could accommodate an extra 25 GW of wind and solar generation, according to energy think tank Ember. The approach, called hybridization, ties new capacity behind the same connection point already used by the dam.

Those seven states hold 93 GW of the European Union's 131 GW of hydropower fleet. After screening out plants close to protected areas, Ember calculated that roughly 28% of large hydropower capacity across the group qualifies for such shared connections.

The headroom exists because the eligible plants run at an average of 19% of maximum output, leaving connection capacity that wind or solar could take up, Ember said. On that basis, the seven countries could absorb 18% of the renewable capacity expected by 2030 without building extra grid, the think tank found.

Regulation lags the opportunity. Ember said Spain and Portugal are the only two with dedicated frameworks for hybrid renewable projects. Spain's Royal Decree-Law 7/2026, published in March 2026, establishes the legal obligation for Renewable Acceleration Zones and names hybrid projects specifically.

One project already pairs generation with a reservoir: the Lazer floating solar plant in France, built with more than 50,000 panels on the water behind the Lazer dam.

Hyundai Motor Group has opened HTWO ENERGY Cheongju, its first Group-operated waste-to-hydrogen production and refueling facility, according to CleanTechnica.

The site combines biogas upgrading, hydrogen production, and compression systems, CleanTechnica reported. It produces approximately 500 kilograms of hydrogen.

CleanTechnica said the facility supports localized hydrogen production and use, cutting transportation costs and strengthening regional energy self-sufficiency.

Norway's combined oil and gas production exceeded an official forecast by 3% in June, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) said.

Total oil, condensate, natural gas liquids and gas output reached 4.11 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, an increase of 11% year-on-year, according to the NOD.

Natural gas production rose to 332.8 million cubic metres per day from 293.5 mcm a year earlier, the regulator said. That output exceeded a forecast of 316.5 mcm by 5.1%.

Crude oil output climbed to 1.83 million barrels per day from 1.68 million bpd in the same month last year, according to the NOD's preliminary data. The figure came in above a forecast of 1.80 million bpd.

Norway is Europe's largest supplier of natural gas and a major oil producer, according to the NOD. Output varies month to month with maintenance needs and other stoppages across close to 100 offshore fields.

The United Kingdom will cut value-added tax (VAT) on domestic electricity from 5% to 0% starting October 1, 2026, according to electrive.

New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the tax cut on his second day in office, electrive reported. "We're taking immediate action to cut taxes on energy bills, put more money in people's pockets and bring back hope," Burnham said.

The change leaves a gap between the two ways drivers of electric vehicles power their cars. EV drivers in the UK currently pay 20% VAT on public charging compared with 5% at home, according to electrive. The cut to 0% applies to household electricity, widening the difference against the public rate.

Around one third of all UK households lack access to home charging, meaning they have no driveway to charge their electric cars, electrive reported. Those drivers depend on public chargepoints, where the 20% rate remains.

EVA England chief executive Vicky Edmonds called for the UK Government's Cost of Public Charging Review to deliver structural reform to bring down prices at the chargepoint.

Avantus has brought its Aratina 1 solar-plus-storage project into commercial operation in California, according to Power Magazine.

The installation is rated at 200 MW / 500 MWh and sits in Kern County, Power Magazine reported.

Aratina 1 holds long-term power purchase agreements with Central Coast Community Energy and Silicon Valley Clean Energy, both community choice aggregators, according to Power Magazine.

The North America rig count rose to 786 in the latest tally, split between 588 rigs in the United States and 198 in Canada, according to Baker Hughes data reported by Rigzone. The count was published on July 17.

The US total gained seven rigs week on week, while Canada added 19 over the same period, per Rigzone. Combined, the two countries brought 26 rigs online across the week.

Within the US figure, oil rigs accounted for 452, gas rigs 126, and miscellaneous rigs 10, according to Rigzone. Canada's 198 rigs comprised 136 oil, 59 gas, and three miscellaneous, the report said.

Among US basins, the Permian added three rigs week on week, while the Granite Wash and Barnett basins each added one, per Rigzone.

Year on year, the North America total stands 70 rigs higher, with the US up 44 and Canada up 26 against year-ago levels, according to Baker Hughes' count reported by Rigzone.

Residents of Kitombe in southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo reported respiratory problems, dizziness, diarrhea and crop failures after a gas release from a Perenco crude oil storage facility in April 2025, according to Mongabay.

Mongabay reported that on May 8 Kitombe residents erected tree-trunk barricades on roads leading to Perenco facilities, blocking vehicles and machinery and temporarily paralyzing activities at the company's southern oil field operations.

A parliamentary commission report found water, air and soil pollution onsite, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrogen sulfide, according to Mongabay. The commission linked sulfur dioxide to respiratory diseases and soil acidification, nitrogen oxides to degraded air quality affecting residents, and hydrogen sulfide to olfactory anesthesia.

The same report flagged missing evidence at the site after the incident, and said the Congolese Control Office could not access critical monitoring data from the time, Mongabay reported.

Perenco REP, Perenco's subsidiary in the DRC, extracts around 4,500 barrels of crude oil per day in Muanda territory, where it has operated since the early 2000s, according to Mongabay.

Perenco stated that since 2021, 220 flares have been permanently extinguished and the sites remediated in the Kinkasi and Kitombe regions, according to Mongabay.

Sunrun has expanded its California distributed power plant to support the state's grid with up to 425 MW of capacity, according to Solar Builder.

The plant has enrolled more than 80,000 households in 2026 as of July 2026 and now represents more than 110,000 home batteries, according to Solar Builder. That figure compares with 16,000 Sunrun customers enrolled in 2024, all of whom are compensated for their participation.

On July 29, 2025, Sunrun and other power aggregators provided enough grid power to energize more than half of San Francisco at peak hours, according to Solar Builder. Sunrun's battery-based plant supplied an average of more than 360 MW for two hours during that event.

Sunrun says the plant operates without needing new land, transmission lines, or interconnection processes.

Sunrun CEO Mary Powell said the company's power plants represent one of the fastest, most cost-effective tools available to grid operators as electricity demand grows.

Asian LNG prices for September delivery rose above $19 per MMBtu after Qatar's LNG facilities went offline indefinitely, more than double what the market expected at the beginning of the year, according to IEEFA.

IEEFA linked the earlier disruption to March 2026, when Iranian drone strikes disabled Qatar's Ras Laffan export facility and LNG prices spiked. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz bottled up cargoes from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which together ship nearly one-fifth of the world's LNG, IEEFA said.

Demand has weakened at the same time. China has cut year-to-date LNG imports to their lowest level since 2019, according to Kpler data cited by IEEFA. China has also scaled back new LNG infrastructure, as have Pakistan, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Supply is set to expand. IEEFA said major new LNG projects are ramping up this year in the U.S., Mexico, Australia, and Nigeria, with additional output expected from Qatar, Gabon, Indonesia, and Canada in coming years.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to accelerate deployment of artificial intelligence (AI), automation, advanced sensors, and other emerging technologies across the nation's mining sector, according to the DOE.

The DOE said the deal is a five-year framework meant to advance mining innovation, improve worker safety, increase productivity, and support secure domestic production of critical minerals.

Under the MOU, DOE's Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office and Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation will collaborate with DOL's Mine Safety and Health Administration, according to the DOE. The agencies plan to share non-proprietary data, research, and technical expertise that supports the deployment of next-generation mining technologies.

Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said the MOU will further President Trump's promise to restore coal as a key driver of America's energy supply chain, and said American coal will again be the envy of the world.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said pairing DOE's technical expertise with DOL's leadership on mine safety can support American miners, secure domestic supply chains, and put cutting-edge technology to work for the people who power the nation.

China's shipments of rare-earth magnets bound for the United States this year run 20% below the average recorded between 2022 and 2024, according to customs data cited by Semafor Net Zero, even with a trade truce in place between the two countries.

As part of last year's agreement with Washington, Beijing committed to a one-year pause on implementing sweeping export restrictions on the rare-earth materials, which Semafor Net Zero describes as essential to defense and energy manufacturing.

The US trade representative recently acknowledged that China's compliance with the pact was "not perfect," Bloomberg reported.

Washington has allotted billions of dollars to secure critical minerals outside China, according to Semafor Net Zero, a spending effort that has raised concerns it could leave Europe more reliant on Beijing.

LONGi said its crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell reached a conversion efficiency of 35.5%, according to CleanTechnica.

The company disclosed the result at the 2026 Solar and Energy Storage Innovation Conference, CleanTechnica reported. LONGi described the figure as a new world record for crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell efficiency.

The 35.5% result was certified by the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI), according to CleanTechnica.

Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles in Q2 2026, up 25% year over year and about 74,000 above the analyst consensus, according to Electrek. The company reports full financial results on July 22 after the market closes, with the earnings call to follow at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Production trailed deliveries in the quarter. Electrek reported that Tesla built 451,758 vehicles, meaning it delivered about 28,000 more cars than it produced.

Energy storage deployment climbed sharply. Tesla deployed 13.5 GWh of storage in Q2 2026, up more than 40% from 9.6 GWh in Q2 2025 and a jump from the 8.8 GWh recorded in Q1, according to Electrek.

On the top line, Wall Street consensus on Estimize puts Q2 2026 revenue at about USD 25.9 billion, while the broader analyst consensus sits at roughly USD 26.4 billion, according to Electrek. Either figure marks a rise from USD 22.5 billion in Q2 2025.

Analysts expect non-GAAP earnings of about USD 0.53 per share, up from USD 0.40 in Q2 2025, a roughly 33% year-over-year increase, according to Electrek.

Two pressures sit on the profit picture. Tesla booked USD 439 million in regulatory credit sales in Q2 2025, already down more than 50% from the year before, per Electrek. The USD 7,500 federal EV tax credit expired on September 30, 2025.

A planned health study for residents of the Itatinga neighborhood in São Sebastião was replaced in 2025 with funds to be transferred to the city, leaving one of the community's core demands unanswered, according to Mongabay.

Official documents show the historic presence of benzene and other contaminants in the neighborhood, Mongabay reported. From the 1970s to the 1980s, part of Itatinga was used for the disposal of oily sludge associated with oil exploration, and homes were later built on the land.

In 2011, Petrobras, the São Sebastião municipality and the São Paulo State Prosecution Service signed a Conduct Adjustment Commitment to address the effects of the contamination, according to Mongabay. The Cross-Sectional Health Study set aside under that commitment was the measure dropped in 2025.

CETESB noted the presence of benzene and hydrocarbons in the ground in technical reports, highlighting their carcinogenic risks, Mongabay reported. Brazil's National Cancer Institute lists benzene as a highly toxic and carcinogenic substance with no safe exposure levels.

GM has wired ChargePoint into its Energy Pass app, so drivers of its electric vehicles can locate, activate, and settle charging sessions at ChargePoint sites through the myChevrolet, myGMC, and myCadillac apps, Electrek reported.

ChargePoint runs close to 80,000 public charging ports across the US, a count that breaks down into roughly 75,000 Level 2 ports and upward of 4,400 DC fast-charging ports, Electrek said, citing federal Alternative Fuels Data Center figures from early 2026.

That footprint puts about 60% of the country's public Level 2 chargers within reach of GM drivers through the tie-up, per Electrek. GM expects the app to cover around 70% of US DC fast chargers once its planned network integrations take effect, Electrek reported.

A share of the ChargePoint sites reachable through Energy Pass work with Plug & Charge, where the vehicle and charger settle authentication and payment on their own once the connector is in, according to Electrek.

American Efficient, a Durham-based energy efficiency business, has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to court filings cited by Inside Climate News.

The company faces more than USD 1 billion in federal fines and repayments over allegations that it manipulated electricity markets, Inside Climate News reported.

Federal regulators fined American Efficient USD 1.1 billion in April for perpetuating what they called a scam that cost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Inside Climate News.

Afreximbank approved a USD 200 million financing facility to support Shoreline Power Company and Arkad SpA's participation in the Hassi Bir Rekaiz Phase 2a field development project in Algeria, according to World Oil.

The financing backs Arkad's 44% share of the USD 980 million engineering, procurement and construction contract awarded by Groupement Hassi Bir Rekaiz, a joint venture of Sonatrach, PTTEP and CEPSA, World Oil reported.

The facility splits into a USD 110 million contract finance tranche supporting performance guarantees and working capital for the project, and a USD 90 million revolving facility to fund future pipeline and energy infrastructure projects undertaken by Shoreline and its affiliates, according to World Oil.

The Phase 2a work includes a new central processing facility expected to lift output at the Hassi Bir Rekaiz field from about 13,000 bopd to between 50,000 and 60,000 bopd, World Oil reported.

Afreximbank said the project is expected to generate approximately 6,000 jobs.

The transaction marks the first time Afreximbank has financed a Sub-Saharan African contractor executing a major infrastructure project in North Africa, according to World Oil.

Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade Finance and Export Development at Afreximbank, said the deal exemplifies the bank's EPC Initiative and its Intra-African Trade Champions framework.

Spain has approved the environmental review for the PlemCat floating offshore wind test site in the Mediterranean, allowing X1 Wind to move toward deploying its 8.5 MW X100 platform through the NextFloat project. The decision permits the developers to advance installation planning at the site.

Spain's Boletin Oficial del Estado published the approval on July 8, covering the PlemCat test site inside the LEBA 1 commercial area.

Technip Energies and X1 Wind run the NextFloat project together, with the aim of installing X1 Wind's first commercial-scale floating wind platform at the location.

Built to carry turbines with a 160-meter rotor diameter, the X100 uses 1,500 tonnes of primary steel. According to X1 Wind, that structure cuts weight by 30% to 50% against conventional steel floaters used in European pre-commercial projects of comparable size.

DNV issued the X100 a Statement of Compliance for Basic Design, a review that found the design meets international safety, engineering and technical requirements, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The developers also intend the project to feed commercialization of X1 Wind's X150, a platform designed for turbines rated above 20 MW. That unit represents a potential next step for larger turbines once the Mediterranean deployment is complete.

Nextpower has closed its purchase of Prevalon Energy, a US battery storage company that builds large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) and provides power stabilization and lifecycle services. Nextpower first announced the deal in May, with a value of up to USD 365 million in cash and stock.

Prevalon has installed more than 6 GWh of energy storage systems worldwide.

Tom Cornell, who founded Prevalon and served as its chief executive, will keep running the business under Nextpower.

Nextpower granted inducement awards to former Prevalon staff. Those awards total 810,733 performance-based restricted stock units and up to 375,000 service-based restricted stock units.

The buyer traded as Nextracker until a rebrand in November 2025, a change that marked its move from supplying solar trackers toward a wider set of energy products.

The Prevalon purchase follows other deals by the company. Its recent acquisitions include steel framing maker Origami Solar and, in June 2026, power conversion firm Zigor Corp. The Prevalon transaction adds battery storage to that lineup.

The added capacity places Prevalon's installed base of more than 6 GWh under Nextpower ownership. Cornell's continued role and the stock awards to former Prevalon employees tie part of that staff's compensation to performance and service after the closing.

A 1,100 MWe pressurised water reactor at the Changjiang nuclear plant, Unit 3, reached first criticality at 18:00 local time on 10 July, according to World Nuclear News. The reactor was constructed by CNNC Engineering.

Unit 3 is one of two Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors going up in the plant's second phase. Crews poured first concrete for Unit 3's nuclear island base slab in March 2021, followed by Unit 4 in December of the same year.

China Huaneng, which holds a 51% share in Changjiang Phase II, puts the combined investment for Units 3 and 4 at CNY40 billion (USD5.9 billion). Both units are due to be fully operational in early 2027.

First criticality means the reactor has started a sustained chain reaction, according to CNNC, which said the unit now moves toward grid connection and commissioning.

The same site hosts a demonstration ACP100 small modular reactor, a 125 MWe unit known as Linglong One, that is running pre-commissioning tests, World Nuclear News reported.

BP agreed to hand its Austrian retail and electric vehicle (EV) charging operations to Volenergy AG, according to Rigzone.

The portfolio changing hands runs to 250 BP-branded retail sites, with 115 of those owned by BP and run under franchise, Rigzone reported. The deal moves through a transfer of BP's 100 percent stake in BP Retail Austria GmbH, and it carries the EV charging infrastructure and associated fleet in the country.

Those sites stay under the BP brand through a brand license agreement, with completion set for the end of 2026 and subject to regulatory approvals, according to Rigzone. BP's aviation and Castrol operations in Austria are carved out of the sale, and the company put no price on the deal.

The disposal supports a target BP set on February 26, 2025, when it flagged USD 20 billion in divestments by 2027 under its reset strategy, Rigzone reported.

BP has lifted its structural cost reduction target to a range of USD 6.5 billion to USD 7.5 billion by 2027, a step that came alongside its agreement to sell the Gelsenkirchen refinery and related assets in Germany to Klesch Group.

Austria extends a run of retail exits: BP sold its mobility and convenience businesses in Türkiye in 2024 and in Switzerland in 2022, according to Rigzone.

The UK government swapped out the approved grant categories and values for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, with the replacement taking effect 21 July 2026, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The department had set out those same grant categories and values on 28 May 2026, flagging them for use from 21 July 2026.

The rules cover England and Wales and carry the joint publication of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero alongside the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

Approved standards in the notice sit under Regulation 4 of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (England and Wales) Regulations 2022, while the grant categories and grant levels fall under Regulation 13.

The offshore production platform for the Neptun Deep gas project in the Black Sea is now in place, OMV Petrom said, a development the company says would position Romania as the European Union's largest natural gas producer, according to Rigzone.

OMV AG, which holds a 51.2 percent stake in OMV Petrom, said in a Monday statement that first production remains scheduled for 2027, according to Rigzone. The company projects a production share of 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day and confirmed the Neptun Alpha platform now sits in water about 120 meters deep.

OMV Petrom and co-owner SNGN ROMGAZ SA, majority-owned by the Romanian state, plan to invest up to EUR 4 billion (USD 4.56 billion) in the project, Rigzone reported. Recoverable gas at Neptun Deep is estimated at around 100 billion cubic meters, according to Rigzone.

The Neptun Alpha structure stands 225 meters high and weighs 16,500 tons, OMV said. Saipem SpA built the jacket and topsides at shipyards in Arbatax, Italy, and Karimun, Indonesia, according to Rigzone.

A 160-kilometer pipeline running to Tuzla was laid earlier, and work on the gas measurement station and the control building continues, OMV said.

Halliburton posted second-quarter adjusted operating income of USD 683 million, a drop of 6.1% year over year that fell short of the USD 688.7 million analysts had projected, according to Rigzone.

The contractor told investors it expects a modest increase in North American work through the rest of the year as US drilling and fracking pick up, Rigzone reported.

Shares slid 3.7% in premarket trading in New York, according to Rigzone. The stock still holds a 24% gain for the year to date.

Outside North America, Halliburton has added fracking contracts, among them a multibillion-dollar deal with Argentina's state-run oil company YPF SA and a multi-year agreement with Saudi Aramco covering unconventional natural gas development, Rigzone reported.

Rigzone attributed the wider push into US drilling and fracking to shale producers responding to higher oil prices, which it linked to the Iran War, as they seek alternatives to Persian Gulf crude. The count of rigs drilling US oil wells has risen in all but two of the past 12 weeks.

Halliburton is the first major oil contractor to report for the quarter, with SLB and Baker Hughes due on Friday and Sunday, according to Rigzone.

Go Energy Group is developing an integrated platform in Huelva that pairs 170 MW of green hydrogen electrolysis with a 200 MW artificial intelligence data campus, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The hydrogen electrolysis capacity feeds into low-emission ammonia synthesis at the site, Hydrogen Fuel News reported. The 200 MW AI data campus runs on dedicated solar and battery storage.

The AI campus is being built under the company's Tron AI Infrastructures division, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Beyond Huelva, Go Energy Group is developing green hydrogen and low-emission ammonia complexes in San Juan del Puerto and Gibraleon, Spain, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

The project is entering final permitting with a late-2020s construction target, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Range Resources reported GAAP net income of $195 million, or $0.83 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2026, according to the company's earnings release on GlobeNewswire.

Production averaged 2.30 Bcfe per day during the quarter, approximately 67% natural gas, the company said. The realized price including hedges was $3.53 per mcfe, a $0.64 premium versus NYMEX natural gas.

Pre-hedge natural gas liquids realizations came in at $29.10 per barrel, a premium of $3.49 over the Mont Belvieu equivalent, according to Range.

Range spent $222 million on capital during the quarter, approximately 33% of its annual 2026 budget.

The company returned cash to shareholders through $78 million of share repurchases and $24 million in dividends over the period, according to the release.

As of June 30, 2026, Range carried net debt of approximately $881 million, consisting of $500 million of senior notes and $381 million drawn on the credit facility.

CEO Dennis Degner said Range expects steadily increasing demand for natural gas will require additional supply from Appalachia beyond the company's announced development plans through 2027.

The $195 million result equated to $0.83 per diluted share, according to the company.

Weatherford reported second quarter 2026 revenue of USD 1,105 million, a 4% sequential decrease, according to the company's earnings release on GlobeNewswire.

Net income for the quarter was USD 39 million, down 64% sequentially, with a net income margin of 3.5%, according to Weatherford. Adjusted EBITDA came to USD 223 million with a 20.2% margin, the release stated.

Adjusted free cash flow rose to USD 139 million, an increase of 64% sequentially and 76% year-over-year, according to Weatherford.

CEO Girish Saligram attributed activity headwinds to disruption in the Middle East from the Iran conflict, saying second-quarter results, especially adjusted free cash flow, were strong despite that disruption.

Weatherford announced the acquisition of NCS Multistage in a stock-and-cash transaction to expand its well completions portfolio, according to the release.

The company expects its redomestication from Ireland to Delaware and related corporate restructuring to generate USD 20 to USD 30 million of annual cash savings, according to Weatherford.

Petroleum Development Oman awarded Weatherford a three-year contract for Integrated Drilling Services covering 247 wells in the Marmul field, the release stated.

Honda has confirmed it will discontinue the Prologue in North America, according to CleanTechnica, ending sales of its only battery-electric vehicle in the region.

The Prologue was Honda's sole battery-electric model in North America, CleanTechnica reported.

The move leaves the automaker without a mainstream all-electric passenger model in the region once dealer inventories are exhausted in early 2027, according to CleanTechnica.

Intelligent Energy Ltd and the Aerospace Technology Institute's HEIGHTS programme launched the IE-FLIGHT 120, a 120 kW hydrogen fuel cell power system built for heavy-lift fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The system is designed to extend the range of unmanned aircraft while keeping emissions at zero and turnaround times short, Hydrogen Fuel News reported. The project targets challenges in defence, security, and logistics.

Hydrogen Fuel News said the collaboration is timed alongside the UK Government's GBP 5 billion Defence Investment Plan for drones and autonomous systems.

A team led by Prof. Hu Wenbin at Tianjin University used millisecond thermal pulses to assemble Pt@PtFe-i catalysts, cutting synthesis energy by 90% and time by 90%, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The researchers introduced the technique, called transient assembly, in a paper published in Science this month, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

The method uses thermal pulses lasting mere milliseconds to rapidly form platinum-skin intermetallic structures, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The resulting fuel cells achieved 1.25 W/cm² and 15.2 kW/g Pt performance, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

A team at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science has shown that crystal symmetry in vanadium acts as a switch for hydrogen's quantum tunneling versus classical hopping, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The researchers found that crystal symmetry can toggle how hydrogen atoms behave in vanadium metal, per Hydrogen Fuel News.

The researchers say the finding offers a new design rule for solid-state hydrogen storage materials.

Hybrid photovoltaic (PV) and battery projects are gaining traction on the Iberian Peninsula as the business case for standalone solar falters, according to pv magazine.

pv magazine describes the region as a test case for combining PV with battery storage, driven less by the inherent appeal of such projects and more by mounting pressure on standalone solar.

Co-located battery energy storage systems (BESS) are becoming a tool to stabilize revenues rather than unlock upside as merchant exposure, price cannibalization and curtailment risks intensify, according to pv magazine.

Everoze Partner Ana Bamonde examines how aggregator contracts in Iberia are evolving toward more flexible, merchant-driven structures, and what that shift means for the structuring, financing and operation of hybrid assets, according to pv magazine.

A Rinehart-backed miner reached 90% renewables in the June quarter and may move a processing plant off grid, according to RenewEconomy.

The turbines cited in the report sit at the Mt Weld mine, per a photo credited to Lynas Rare Earths. RenewEconomy reported that the miner achieved the 90% renewables share during the June quarter.

The company may take a processing plant off grid, RenewEconomy said.

The Australian government forecasts that metallurgical coal exports will grow for only two more years before falling to 157 million tonnes by 2031, according to IEEFA. S&P Global sets the decline steeper, projecting exports drop to 143Mt by 2031 and hold there until at least 2035, IEEFA reported.

Supply capacity is contracting alongside the forecasts. Yancoal announced in June that its Ashton met coal mine in New South Wales will close in 2028, citing significant technical challenges and operational risks, according to IEEFA. The New South Wales government stated in March 2026 that no new greenfield coal mines will be approved in the state.

On the demand side, Indian steelmakers are moving toward routes that consume less met coal. Tata Steel inaugurated its first Indian scrap steel-based electric arc furnace steel plant in March 2026, IEEFA reported.

Ashok Kumar Panda, Chairman and Managing Director of Steel Authority of India, said manufacturing new steel from scrap has "a huge growth waiting for it," according to IEEFA.

JSW Steel's under-development Rayalaseema Steel Project in Andhra Pradesh will use direct reduced iron technology as an alternative to a met coal-consuming blast furnace, IEEFA reported, with scrap steel recycling also involved at the plant.

The UK government published a Transition Access Agreement Policy Position Statement in July 2026 as part of updates to its carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) business models, according to UK DESNZ. The document runs to 15 pages and 211 KB.

The CCUS business models research page is published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

The publication was first published on 21 December 2020 and last updated on 22 July 2026.

The July statement follows Draft Commercial Principles for the Transition Access Agreement, which were published in February 2026 in a document of 17 pages and 221 KB.

Tesla has opened its first full-scale public Megacharger station for the Semi in Bloomington, California, with six charging stalls delivering up to 1.2 MW each, according to electrive. The site supports the latest-generation Tesla Semi with the MC2 charging connector.

The station sits at 18434 Valley Boulevard in Bloomington, electrive reported. Zach Lawson, Business Development at Tesla Charging, said on LinkedIn that Tesla has opened the first public Tesla Megacharger in the world in Bloomington, CA, adding that the Tesla Semi and Megacharger would soon be ubiquitous.

At a Megacharger, the Tesla Semi can recharge up to 60% of its battery in 30 minutes, according to electrive. The truck recently entered series production.

The Bloomington site marks a step up from an earlier Tesla Megacharger in Ontario, which electrive said had two stalls fitted with the first-generation MC1 connector and delivered a maximum charging power of 750 kW. That site had initially been regarded as Tesla's first public Megacharger location.

Under previous company plans, the Megacharger network is expected to comprise at least 64 locations across the United States, with a possible expansion into Canada at a later stage, electrive reported.

Allseas awarded Vallourec a contract to deliver carbon steel seamless line pipes and thermal insulation coating for the Atapu 2 offshore oil project off Brazil, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The field is being developed by the Unitized ATAPU consortium, with Petrobras as operator.

Scope of the award runs to 143 kilometers of rigid risers and flowlines, equivalent to roughly 19,000 tons of bare seamless line pipe, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Atapu 2 lies in the Santos Basin, some 230 kilometers off Rio de Janeiro, where water depths range from 2,000 to 2,350 meters.

Operators plan to tie 18 wells directly into a floating production, storage and offloading vessel via rigid risers.

Vallourec will produce the seamless pipe at its Jeceaba facility and apply the thermal insulation coating at its Serra plant, drawing on capabilities it gained from Thermotite do Brasil.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has signed an intergovernmental agreement supporting the proposed African Atlantic Gas Pipeline (AAGP), according to Rigzone.

The pipeline is designed to carry 30 billion cubic meters (1.06 trillion cubic feet) a year of West African natural gas, according to Rigzone, with up to half of that supplied to Morocco and Europe.

Rigzone reported the AAGP is proposed to run from Nigeria to Morocco through 13 countries on Africa's Atlantic coast, stretching nearly 6,900 kilometers. It would connect to the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline, with interconnections serving Sahel countries.

The signing gives practical effect to an approval granted at the 66th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Summit in Abuja in December 2024, according to Rigzone.

ONHYM said the next implementation phase will include establishing the Project Company, to be headquartered in Casablanca, and the Pipeline Higher Authority, the governance body based in Abuja.

The project would provide the infrastructure to bring about 3 bcf/d of Nigerian gas to market, said NNPC chief executive Bashir Bayo Ojulari.

Solar Team Eindhoven, a student group at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, has built a solar-powered ambulance named Stella Juva, which the team says is the world's first, according to pv magazine.

The vehicle runs on a 50 kWh battery paired with 542 solar cells, pv magazine reported. Of those cells, 326 are integrated into the roof and 216 are mounted on extendable solar panels.

Stella Juva measures 5 m by 1.9 m and weighs 1,350 kg, with a top speed of 120 km/h, according to pv magazine. It uses a self-developed solar inverter with a reported efficiency of 97%.

The ambulance can operate a range of medical equipment, pv magazine reported, including a vaccine and medicine cooler, a portable X-ray machine, an ultrasound device, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, and an automated external defibrillator.

The team plans to travel to Kenya in August to simulate healthcare delivery scenarios using the vehicle, according to pv magazine.

Serfimex Capital and the Quintana Roo state government have agreed to fund 50 solar and BESS projects, committing MXN 1 billion ($57.5 million) from the second half of 2026 through the end of 2027, according to ESS News.

The program covers PV installations that start at MXN 1 million in investment and reach up to 0.7 MW in capacity, ESS News reported. Borrowers can take terms running to 72 months, skip upfront payments, use grace periods on principal, and choose fixed or variable interest rates. Storage financing carries no capacity ceiling, Serfimex said.

Serfimex Capital President Carlos Kamkhaji Ambe said the firm partners with more than 800 integrators nationwide and has backed roughly MXN 1.3 billion in clean energy investments.

Distributed generation in the state climbed from 376 kW in 2017 to 71.66 MW by the close of the first quarter of 2024, on data from Mexico's Energy Regulatory Commission cited by the state government. Interconnection contracts reached 8,820 by that point, according to ESS News.

Mexico's National Energy Control Center forecasts average annual electricity demand rising 3.9% through 2028 and 3.6% toward 2037 across the Yucatán Peninsula.