Monday, 10 August 2026

Iran said a deal with Oman to fully open the Strait of Hormuz was close on Sunday, then attached a fresh list of conditions that complicated the path to agreement, according to Semafor.

Those conditions include an end to Washington's blockade and compensation for war damages, Semafor reported.

On the same day, Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities threatened further escalation, according to Semafor.

Semafor also reported that Israel publicly rejected Trump's 15-point Gaza plan on Sunday, arguing it would not withdraw from the enclave before Hamas disarms.

TechnipFMC has delivered critical subsea equipment for the GranMorgu project offshore Suriname, clearing the way for the next phase of execution, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

GranMorgu is a deep offshore oil development sitting 150 kilometers off the Suriname coast, with TotalEnergies as operator, the outlet reported.

The development draws on two fields, Sapakara and Krabdagu. Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported that recoverable reserves across the pair are estimated at nearly 760 million barrels.

Commissioning is expected in 2028, according to the same report.

TechnipFMC described the project as continuing to make strong progress.

Angola's National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) and Sonangol E&P, operator of Block 24, completed drilling and testing of the Katambi-2 appraisal well in the Benguela Basin, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Initial tests recorded stabilized production of 41 MMscfd of gas and 1,160 barrels per day of condensate, with no water or hydrogen sulfide present, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported. A preliminary assessment of those test results indicated the well has the potential to produce more than 100 MMscfd.

The well was drilled 1.3 kilometers from Katambi-1 and traversed two productive intervals with a combined thickness of roughly 331 meters, per the same report. Average porosity across the intervals ranged between 9% and 12%, confirming good quality reservoirs.

ANPG holds the role of national concessionaire in the announcement, with Sonangol E&P named as operator of the block.

Renewables accounted for roughly 80% of newly installed power generation capacity in Latin America in 2025, according to pv magazine. The outlet published analysis from InfoLink's Jenny Lin covering the key markets that hold nearly 80% of the region's total PV capacity.

After years of accelerating solar deployment, the region is entering a new phase that demands investment in energy storage and grid infrastructure, pv magazine reported. That framing puts the constraint on the wires and the batteries rather than on panel supply.

Among the projects cited in the analysis is the Azabache solar plant, rated at 60.9 MW and sited in Chile's Antofagasta region, according to pv magazine.

The 80% share of new capacity described by InfoLink measures additions rather than the installed base, and the same analysis notes its market coverage reaches nearly 80% of Latin America's cumulative PV capacity.

A review of AEMO, the market operator in Australia, declined to make radical changes to how the body is governed, while clearing its withdrawal from the auction house function, RenewEconomy reported.

The outcome leaves AEMO's governance arrangements broadly as they stand. The review's green light for the auction house exit is the one structural change it endorsed, according to RenewEconomy.

Daniel Westerman is chief executive of AEMO, per RenewEconomy.

The Department of Energy under the Trump administration is issuing orders that compel coal plants to remain in operation, according to Canary Media, which said it is maintaining a running story and map of those orders.

Canary Media dated the practice to May 2025, when it described the administration's move to force an old coal plant to stay open as unprecedented.

The outlet said the article and accompanying map will be regularly updated with the latest orders.

Dutch nuclear development company ULC-Energy has signed a cooperation agreement with engineering and construction firm McDermott to support development of Rolls-Royce SMR projects in the Netherlands, according to World Nuclear News.

The agreement covers integrating small modular reactor-powered energy solutions with energy-intensive industrial processes, World Nuclear News reported.

The pairing builds on an existing Dutch route to market for the reactor design. Rolls-Royce SMR signed an exclusive agreement with ULC-Energy in August 2022 to collaborate on the deployment of Rolls-Royce SMR power plants in the Netherlands.

The Rolls-Royce SMR is a 470 MWe design based on a small pressurised water reactor, and it will provide consistent baseload generation for at least 60 years, according to World Nuclear News. Around 90% of the unit will be built in factory conditions.

That factory share is the commercial premise behind the design: shifting fabrication off the construction site is intended to make units repeatable rather than bespoke. Pairing a 470 MWe pressurised water reactor with industrial heat and power demand puts the output against loads that run continuously rather than against variable grid demand alone.

Cadeler has placed firm orders for two T-class offshore wind installation vessels at the COSCO Shipping Offshore shipyard in Qidong, China, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The aggregate contract price is approximately EUR 805 million (USD 930 million), Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported. Delivery of the pair is set for 2030 and 2031.

Work on securing charters has started before the hulls exist. Cadeler is already in discussions with key clients about deploying the vessels, according to the same report.

T-class units are purpose-built for offshore wind installation, and the Qidong yard will carry out construction of both.

Italy's Ministry of Environment and Energy Security published Decree 194/2026 setting the final terms of the FerX support mechanism, which took effect on Aug. 7, according to pv magazine. The decree carves out a 10 GW capacity quota for photovoltaic plants.

The reference strike price under the scheme is EUR 80/MWh, pv magazine reported. That level can move within a band: the price may rise to EUR 95/MWh as an upper strike price under particularly high-cost conditions, or fall to EUR 65/MWh as a lower strike price under particularly low-cost conditions.

The 10 GW allocation applies specifically to solar, per the decree text cited by pv magazine. The measure follows the EU's approval of the mechanism in June.

Two top-up premiums sit above the base price. Systems installed to replace Eternit or asbestos roofing qualify for an extra EUR 27/MWh, and systems installed on bodies of water receive EUR 10/MWh, according to pv magazine. The asbestos premium lifts the base reference price by roughly a third for qualifying rooftop projects.

The simplified route for smaller plants carries a hard deadline. For installations with a capacity of up to 1 MW, the mechanism ceases to apply on Dec. 31, 2030, or 60 days after the 10 GW capacity quota is reached, whichever comes first. Developers of sub-1 MW projects therefore face a queue risk rather than a fixed calendar: the quota trigger can close the window years before the stated end date.

Decree 194/2026 is the final version of the mechanism, following the earlier EU sign-off. Its two-way strike structure means the EUR 80/MWh reference sets the settlement anchor, with the EUR 65/MWh and EUR 95/MWh bounds defining how far the scheme adjusts to cost conditions.

A driverless battery-electric bus built by UNVI with software from Imagry is due to begin service in Germany during the third quarter of 2026, the first vehicle from a joint development programme between the Spanish bus manufacturer and the software firm, electrive reported.

Measuring 10.3 metres and classified in the M3 category, the bus carries autonomous driving technology installed by UNVI and supplied by Imagry.

No high-definition mapping sits behind the driving stack. Imagry's software works from onboard sensor data alone, which the company describes as a way to cut the work involved in commissioning new routes.

Type approval work is already framed around European rules: the vehicle has been readied for Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA) under the GSR2 safety requirements, according to electrive.

UNECE adopted the first internationally harmonised regulatory framework covering automated driving systems (ADS) from SAE Level 4 in mid-July, backed by the EU, US, China and Japan, electrive reported.

India will commission 33 hydrogen commercial vehicles under seven new pilot projects spread across five states, electrive reported. The states are Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The fleet splits into 17 buses and 16 trucks, according to electrive.

The seven projects make up the second phase of transport pilots run under the National Green Hydrogen Mission of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Funding comes through viability gap support covering 90% of project costs, worth 2.0286 billion rupees, or roughly EUR 18.47 million, electrive reported.

Counting both phases, the mission will cover 70 hydrogen commercial vehicles across 12 pilot projects, plus 16 hydrogen refuelling stations, with a combined allocation of 4.1077 billion rupees, approximately EUR 37.4 million.

The tender sets a delivery clock: each consortium must finish its project within 24 months of receiving its Letter of Award, according to electrive.

Battery startup Sila has secured a conditional loan commitment of USD 1.4 billion from the US Department of Defense, according to CleanTechnica.

The commitment follows a change in the company's commercial scope. CleanTechnica reported that Sila, a US startup, has widened its field beyond EV batteries to cover military and industrial applications.

The support remains conditional, per CleanTechnica's description of the arrangement.

Tesla is reportedly planning a large solar cell factory in Texas, carrying the internal name "Project Crystal Sun," according to CleanTechnica.

The plant is expected to require an investment of USD 10.1 billion, CleanTechnica reported.

The reporting describes the name as the designation used within Tesla at the moment, leaving open whether it survives to a public announcement.

Students at Clemson University in the US state of South Carolina have built a solar-integrated electric vehicle, Deep Orange 17, designed to generate more energy than it uses over a typical day of urban commuting, pv magazine reported.

The car carries more than 1,700 solar cells built into its exterior surfaces, according to pv magazine, allowing it to harvest energy both parked and in motion.

Weight is the other half of the design. The vehicle comes in at approximately 550 kg, roughly one-fourth the mass of many similarly-sized production vehicles, pv magazine reported.

Modeling of the vehicle across the tested locations found it capable of producing enough excess solar energy to add an average of 50 km of driving range during a daily 20 km commute, according to pv magazine.

The project was developed with BMW's research and development team, and researchers from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE assisted with the solar PV system, pv magazine reported.

The vehicle is scheduled to feature at the 2027 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to pv magazine.

Chinese battery manufacturer CATL has built a battery system for passenger electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) based on prismatic cells rated at an energy density of 350 Wh/kg, electrive reported.

The company says the system is ready for series production, according to electrive, and names Chinese eVTOL developer AutoFlight as its first customer. The prismatic cell format and the 350 Wh/kg figure are the defining specifications of the pack.

Safety testing focused on thermal runaway containment. Engineers deliberately triggered two adjacent cells into thermal runaway at the same time, both in the centre of the pack and at its corners, electrive reported. In none of those tests did the runaway spread to neighbouring cells.

CAAC, China's aviation authority, took part in the manufacturing, inspection and testing of both the cells and the battery system, according to electrive. That involvement puts the aviation regulator inside the production and validation chain rather than only at the certification end.

Energy density is the binding constraint for battery-powered flight, where every kilogram of pack mass displaces payload or range. A 350 Wh/kg prismatic cell sits well above the levels typical of automotive lithium-ion packs, which is why cell chemistry aimed at road vehicles has not transferred directly to aircraft programmes.

Propagation resistance matters more in aviation than in a parked car. A single cell failure that stays contained is a maintenance event; one that cascades through a pack in flight is not. CATL's test protocol targeted the two positions where containment is hardest, the pack centre and its corners.

PowerFlex, the American subsidiary of EDF, is acquiring The Mobility House North America in a share exchange, electrive reported. The Mobility House's American company will merge into PowerFlex, and the German technology firm will take a minority stake in the buyer.

The transaction covers ChargePilot, The Mobility House's charging and energy management system. PowerFlex will continue developing the platform in the USA and Canada, according to electrive.

ChargePilot currently manages over 100 megawatts of charging capacity in North America, serving more than 150 fleet operators across the USA and Canada, electrive reported.

Gregor Hintler, chief executive of the North American business, moves to PowerFlex and will keep working with existing customers and partners.

Malawi's government has energized the country's first battery energy storage system, a 20 MW/40 MWh installation in the township of Kanengo, within the northern region of the capital Lilongwe, according to ESS News.

ESS News reported the project drew $20 million in catalytic grant financing and is built to stabilize Malawi's national grid and cut reliance on diesel.

William Kayipa, chief executive of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), said the installation unlocks around 100 MW of renewables that had previously been constrained, ESS News reported.

Delivery came through the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), an international non-profit initiative, working alongside ESCOM, the state-owned power transmission and distribution company, per ESS News.

The Kanengo unit is one piece of a wider pipeline. Data compiled by the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) and published in its online project database put Malawi's battery projects under development at a combined 92.5 MWh, according to ESS News.

Software-enabled energy supplier David Energy has installed consumer-grade, 120-volt plug-in battery storage at 21 New York City commercial kitchen sites operated by food technology platform Wonder, according to ESS News.

The systems are meant to trim kitchen electricity bills by 3% to 5%, using custom software integration and avoiding traditional utility interconnection queues entirely, ESS News reported. Because the units plug into standard outlets rather than tying into the service entrance, the deployment sidesteps the interconnection step that gates larger behind-the-meter storage.

ESS News said the hardware is EcoFlow STREAM Ultra modular equipment built on lithium iron phosphate chemistry, rated at 800 W output and 1.92 kWh of storage per base unit. The modular format lets capacity scale by stacking units rather than by specifying a single larger cabinet.

David Energy keeps ownership of the batteries under a standard 36-month zero-capex contract and delivers the turn-key system to the commercial end user, ESS News reported. Simple payback runs to roughly three years per deployment, according to the same report.

That structure puts the hardware risk on the supplier rather than the restaurant operator, and pairs a three-year contract term with a payback of about the same length. The savings target of 3% to 5% is the return the software layer is engineered to produce across the 21 sites.

BYD collected more than 1,000 cumulative orders for its Racco mini EV in the model's first two weeks on sale in Japan, the carmaker announced on Monday, according to Electrek.

The company described that as the fastest pace for any model it has introduced to date. Electrek reported that BYD launched the Racco on July 28, its first electric kei vehicle, designed for Japan's tiny-car market that has long been dominated by domestic brands including Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and Suzuki.

Buyers skewed heavily toward the top of the range. About 80% took the more expensive Racco 300 Premium trim, 14% chose the Plus, and the remaining 6% took the base 200 model, per Electrek.

The 300 Plus and Premium versions carry a 35.84 kWh battery rated for up to 320 km of range on the WLTC cycle. BYD said that makes the Racco the first kei EV in Japan to offer more than 300 km.

The order target for the model is far above the opening fortnight. BYD is aiming for 10,000 cumulative Racco orders by the end of 2026, Electrek reported.

Mexico selected 7,410 MW of utility-scale solar and wind projects in June from nearly 38,000 MW of proposals, under the revamped energy policy framework set in motion by President Claudia Sheinbaum, according to IEEFA.

Solar photovoltaic took the bulk of the awards at about 6,700 MW, with the remaining 700 MW going to wind, IEEFA reported.

Every selected project must be built with battery storage equal to at least 30% of its capacity, with a minimum duration of three hours, under the new rules. The storage mandate applies across the awarded portfolio rather than to a subset of sites.

The awards sit inside a wider government ambition to add roughly 20,000 MW of renewables and 5,000 MW of battery storage by 2030, according to IEEFA.

That target runs against a generation mix still dominated by hydrocarbons. Oil, gas, and coal produced nearly 80% of Mexico's power between 2000 and 2024, IEEFA said.

The internal composition of that fossil share shifted sharply over the period. Gas-fired power climbed from 22% of generation in 2000 to 62% in 2024, while oil's contribution dropped from 45% to just over 7%, according to IEEFA.

Net electricity generation in Mexico totaled 352,305 GWh in 2024, according to data from the Mexico Ministry of Energy cited by IEEFA. Measured against that output, the selected capacity and the 2030 build-out target set the scale of what the policy reset is attempting on a system where gas has replaced oil as the dominant fuel rather than ceding ground to renewables.

The pairing requirement is the structural feature that separates this round from a straightforward capacity award. By tying each megawatt of solar or wind to at least three hours of battery duration at 30% of nameplate capacity, the framework pushes storage procurement in step with generation rather than as a later retrofit. The 5,000 MW storage figure in the 2030 goal is roughly a quarter of the 20,000 MW renewables figure attached to it.

The gap between the nearly 38,000 MW proposed and the 7,410 MW selected indicates developer appetite well beyond what the June round accommodated.

ADNOC Gas posted second-quarter profit of USD 665 million, a 52% decline, according to Semafor Net Zero, which described the company as the listed unit of Abu Dhabi's state-owned energy company.

The drop follows a halt in shipments. Semafor Net Zero reported that ADNOC Gas has not been able to export much liquefied natural gas or other products since late February, yet the company stayed profitable and kept its investment plans intact because of domestic demand.

Spending has not been trimmed. The company awarded USD 8.2 billion in contracts for domestic gas projects, part of USD 28 billion in planned investment by 2030, per Semafor Net Zero.

Management's guidance hinges on shipping access. ADNOC Gas forecasts full-year earnings of up to USD 4 billion if normal flows resume through Hormuz by the fourth quarter, down from USD 5.2 billion last year, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Supply itself is moving the other way. The UAE's departure from OPEC is allowing ADNOC to pump more oil, which also gives it more gas to sell, Semafor Net Zero reported.

SpaceX will supply its Terafab semiconductor plant with its own natural gas generation and what the company described as "very large battery arrays," according to Electrek. The first phase of the chip megafactory carries a price tag of $16.8 billion.

The site sits in Grimes County, Texas, roughly an hour northwest of Houston, on land that previously hosted a coal-fired power plant, Electrek reported. The companies involved call it the largest chip manufacturing facility on the planet.

The phase-one budget marks a reduction from an earlier $25 billion figure floated in March, per Electrek.

Output is intended to exceed a terawatt of compute per year, feeding SpaceX and xAI data centers, with future chips earmarked for Tesla's Optimus and Cybercab programs.

The on-site generation choice fits a wider pattern of turbine buying. SpaceX has separately committed more than $2.8 billion to gas turbines for its data centers, Electrek reported.

Musk also bought gas turbine company APR Energy personally for about $1 billion in July, a deal that brought in more than a gigawatt of turbine capacity, according to Electrek.

Baker Hughes will provide subsea production hardware and digital systems for the Kutei Northern Hub, a gas project in Indonesian offshore waters, World Oil reported. Searah North Ganal Ltd. awarded the contract; the operator is jointly held by Eni and PETRONAS.

Equipment under the award includes control systems, manifolds and subsea distribution hardware, together with 17 deepwater horizontal subsea trees, according to World Oil. The package supports development of the Geng North and Gehem fields as a single integrated scheme.

The order adds to earlier work on the same development. Baker Hughes was picked in 2025 to deliver flash gas compressors for the project's floating production, storage and offloading vessel, World Oil reported. Design throughput for that vessel runs above 1 Bscf/d of gas and 90,000 bpd of condensate, with 1.4 MMbbl of onboard storage.

Subsea trees will be built at the company's Batam manufacturing center, with operational support handled from its Balikpapan facility, according to World Oil.

ADNOC Gas has taken final investment decisions on the next phases of its Rich Gas Development (RGD) project in the UAE, awarding USD 8.2 billion in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, according to World Oil.

Two contractors split the package. Wison Engineering won the Phase 2 contract, valued at USD 3.9 billion, while Tecnimont took the Phase 3 contract at USD 4.3 billion, World Oil reported.

With the Phase 1 investment announced earlier, total committed investment in the RGD program reaches USD 13.2 billion.

The company also revised its earnings ambition upward. ADNOC Gas raised its targeted EBITDA growth to 60% by 2030 against 2023 levels, replacing a previous target of more than 40%, according to World Oil.

RGD sits inside a wider spending plan. ADNOC Gas expects to invest approximately USD 28 billion between 2026 and 2030 across its portfolio of gas growth projects.

On results, the company posted second-quarter net income of USD 665 million, above its own guidance range, World Oil reported.

Valeura and PTTEP are moving the Bussabong gas project ahead while drilling continues across several of their Gulf of Thailand licences, according to Offshore Magazine.

The partners are running development drilling, redevelopment work and exploration in parallel across multiple assets in the basin, Offshore Magazine reported.

Work covers the newly approved Bussabong area as well as expansion targets close to the Nong Yao and Wassana field centers offshore Thailand, per Offshore Magazine.

Offshore Magazine reported that the planned Bussabong development could add domestic gas volumes as Thailand works to strengthen energy security and cut its dependence on imports.

Energy Vault has signed what it calls its largest single commercial contract executed to date, supplying battery energy storage for a data center under a structure designed to bypass utility interconnection entirely, according to ESS News.

The company expects the agreement to generate USD 500 million to USD 600 million in revenue across the second half of 2026 and 2027, ESS News reported.

Energy Vault framed the contract as part of a shift in its business model. "As our largest single contract executed to date, this milestone agreement represents another important step in Energy Vault's strategic evolution from an energy storage technology pioneer into an integrated energy infrastructure provider," the company said.

The off-grid design removes the data center's dependence on a transmission connection queue. Interconnection timelines have become the binding constraint on new large-load projects, and a behind-the-meter storage build sidesteps that process rather than waiting through it.

The system is designed to be FEOC-compliant, a requirement that applies to US projects seeking federal incentives, according to ESS News. FEOC screening tests the ownership and control of equipment suppliers in a project's supply chain, and compliance determines whether a developer can claim those incentives.

The revenue range spans two reporting periods, placing recognition in the second half of 2026 and through 2027. That timing matters for a storage supplier whose quarterly results have historically swung on the delivery schedule of a small number of large projects.

Data center storage procurement at this contract size shifts the customer profile for grid-scale battery suppliers away from utilities and independent power producers. A single off-grid buyer contracting directly for power infrastructure carries a different credit and delivery structure than a utility-scale project financed against a power purchase agreement.

Energy Vault's own description of the deal as a step toward becoming an integrated energy infrastructure provider signals a move beyond equipment supply into project delivery.

Bangladesh has restored payment guarantees for renewable energy projects in an effort to draw new investment amid a severe energy crisis, according to pv magazine.

The guarantees return two years after the previous government scrapped the provision, pv magazine reported, and follow repeated requests from industry stakeholders.

The Power Division has instructed the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to write payment guarantees into future tender documents, according to pv magazine.

That instruction came in a letter signed by Muhammad Abul Lyse, deputy secretary of the Power Division, pv magazine reported.

Two emergency orders covering Puerto Rico's electricity system have been extended by the U.S. Department of Energy, with the renewed authorities running from August 10, 2026 to November 7, 2026.

Rising demand on the island and the 2026 hurricane season were cited by DOE as the reasons for keeping the measures active.

Both orders date to May 16, 2025, when DOE invoked Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act for PREPA. That authority let named generating units run under defined conditions and required clearing work along important transmission corridors.

Governor González-Colón credited the Section 202(c) mechanism with supplying "the emergency authorities needed to restore or refurbish close to 1,600 megawatts" of generation capacity on the island since the orders first took effect in May 2025.

Federal approvals for vegetation clearing work have expanded from 5 projects to 33, DOE said.

DOE said its coordination with the governor and local authorities continues under the extended orders, which cover a territory of 3.2 million residents.

Wild Well Control has served formal notice to terminate its Strategic Alliance Agreement with Oil Spill Response (Capping) Limited (OSRL), according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The agreement dates back to July 2020, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported. The two parties will separate at the end of a three-month transition period, with the alliance closing formally on November 4, 2026.

The split carries a branding condition. Once the alliance concludes, OSRL will no longer represent, reference, or use the Wild Well Control name or brand in connection with services offered to its members, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

SAIC-Volkswagen has submitted the ID. ERA 5X compact SUV for regulatory approval in China, according to electrive. The model is the first fully electric vehicle in the China-specific ID. ERA series and Volkswagen's first built on the Compact Main Platform.

The filing lists a 4.56-metre-long compact SUV built on the new Compact Modular Platform (CMP), electrive reported. Output is 155 kW, with a top speed of 175 kph.

The vehicle will run a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery supplied by CATL, according to electrive.

The ID. ERA 5X sits inside a broader Volkswagen product push in China. The model offensive targets 30 new vehicles in the country by 2027, electrive reported.

A BELO cancer claim brought by a former oil spill cleanup worker against BP failed on appeal after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court's decision to keep his expert off the stand, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The appellate panel found the expert's reasoning contained what it called "analytical gaps," and on that basis affirmed the exclusion in Ruffin v. BP Exploration & Production, Inc., according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The judges refused to hand defendants a bright-line exposure threshold. Plaintiffs in toxic tort cases face no rigid dosage requirement to establish causation, the court held, per the same report.

The underlying facts date to the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010. Floyd Ruffin spent several months cleaning shoreline afterward, and prostate cancer was diagnosed five years on, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported. He then sued BP through the Back-End Litigation Option, or BELO, the settlement channel for later-emerging illnesses.

Sixty new rooftop community solar installations are planned across northern Illinois by Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), working with Solar Landscape and Public Storage, Solar Builder reported. Combined output from the suite reaches 44 MW.

Ten sites in the group are running at full operation and have been folded into a ComEd community solar portfolio spanning more than 400 locations.

When the remaining projects finish, Solar Builder reported that generation should cover roughly 6,150 households.

Customers who subscribe are estimated to trim USD 750,000 from annual electricity bills, adding up to more than USD 36 million over the project's operating life. Around 300 local jobs are tied to the work.

Gil Quiniones, ComEd chief executive, said the utility anticipates roughly 400 community solar installations spread across its northern Illinois service territory by the end of the year. He tied the buildout to delivering "clean, affordable power" over the long term.

Public Storage supplies the commercial roof space that hosts the arrays under the partnership.

Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) committed a record AUD 9.1 billion in discounted finance during the 2025-26 financial year, helping drive AUD 19.6 billion in total transaction value, according to RenewEconomy.

The bulk of that went to generation and storage. RenewEconomy reported that AUD 7.8 billion of the year's commitments underwrote wind, solar and storage projects, with pressure mounting to meet the federal renewable energy target of 82% by 2030.

The year's tally carried the green bank past a lifetime threshold. Projects mobilised since the CEFC's inception in August 2012 are now worth a collective AUD 105 billion, according to RenewEconomy.

Transmission financing made up the other large block of commitments. Through the AUD 19 billion Rewiring the Nation fund, the CEFC's financing of transmission infrastructure accounted for AUD 7.2 billion in commitments, RenewEconomy reported, covering the large and costly projects treated as necessary to carry enough new wind and solar to push coal out of the system.

One transmission deal stood out in scale. The record year included finance for a new undersea link between Tasmania and Victoria, described by RenewEconomy as the CEFC's biggest single loan to date.

The AUD 9.1 billion commitment figure and the AUD 19.6 billion in associated transaction value both mark records for the corporation, according to RenewEconomy.

Fuse Energy Technologies Corp. published a report on August 10 claiming the highest fusion neutron yield recorded by any commercial fusion company, at 1.27×10¹² in a single shot, according to Power Magazine.

The figure refers to a single shot rather than sustained operation, per the company report cited by Power Magazine. Fuse framed the result as a record among commercial fusion companies, a comparison drawn by the company itself.

Power Magazine described Fuse as a California-based fusion energy company.

Tesla used up its allocation under California's MyFirstEV rebate program in five days, Electrek reported. Eligibility for Tesla purchases began August 3, and by August 8 nothing was left, with roughly USD 18 million in state and matching rebates estimated to have gone to Tesla vehicles.

Buyers took about half of what Tesla had been assigned during the first three days, according to Electrek.

California seeded the program with USD 135.5 million. Participating automakers put up one dollar for every state dollar, lifting the total to about USD 271 million.

That pot is shared among roughly 13 automakers. Electrek calculates the split at about USD 9 million in state funds per brand, before each manufacturer adds its match.

Eligibility is limited to first-time EV buyers. A used EV under USD 25,000 qualifies for USD 1,750 off, while a new EV priced below USD 50,000 draws USD 3,500.

The first brands to go live were Tesla, Hyundai, and Lucid, per Electrek. Ford, Rivian, Chevy, and Kia join later in August. Toyota, Honda, and Subaru begin in September.

One exemption narrows who can sell above the cap: EV-only automakers headquartered in California escape the USD 50,000 ceiling. Rivian and Lucid meet that test. Tesla does not, having relocated its headquarters to Texas in 2021.

Second-quarter registrations for Tesla in California reached 45,953 vehicles, an increase of 11.8% from a year earlier, the California New Car Dealers Association reported.

Beijing Automobile Works Co. Ltd. introduced its brand to Indonesia at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show in Tangerang, according to CleanTechnica.

The carmaker built its right-hand-drive entry around three vehicle categories: electric passenger vans, city commuters and commercial delivery trucks, CleanTechnica reported.

The Indonesian business runs through a local subsidiary, PT BAW Automobile Trading Indonesia, per the same report.

The show in Tangerang served as the launch venue for the brand's arrival in the Indonesian market.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declared newcleo's Form F-4 registration statement effective on August 7, 2026, clearing a procedural hurdle for the nuclear developer's proposed business combination with NewHold Investment Corp. III, according to a GlobeNewswire release.

The registration statement was filed by newcleo with the SEC in connection with the previously announced transaction. NewHold Investment Corp. III shareholders will vote on the combination at an Extraordinary General Meeting scheduled for September 17, 2026.

newcleo has raised approximately USD 780 million in private funding, per the same announcement. The company employs more than 900 people across Europe and the United States.

The announcement covers the effectiveness of the registration statement and the timing of the shareholder vote, the two gating items between the parties and closing of the combination.