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.

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.

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.

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.

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.