Monday, 31 August 2026

Allseas' heavy-lift vessel Pioneering Spirit has removed TAQA UK's North Cormorant topsides from the northern North Sea and delivered the structure to Shetland for dismantling and recycling, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The former production topsides weighed more than 17,000 tonnes and came off in a single lift before being carried to Dales Voe, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

North Cormorant is the second topsides removal completed under Allseas' long-term Engineering, Preparation, Removal and Disposal (EPRD) contract covering TAQA UK's Northern North Sea facilities, per the same report. The contract covers removal and disposal of more than 120,000 tonnes of offshore infrastructure.

Brown & Mason will handle the dismantling and recycling work onshore. According to Offshore Engineer OEDigital, that work supports a TAQA-Allseas commitment to recover at least 97% of materials across the Northern North Sea program.

Pioneering Spirit completed its first commercial single-lift operation on 22 August 2016, when it removed the Yme MOPUstor platform in Norway, the outlet reported.

Eni has signed an official agreement to enter the OFF-5 exploration block offshore Uruguay, taking operatorship with a 50% interest, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The agreement was signed together with MIWEN, a wholly owned subsidiary of YPF, and the Uruguayan National Oil Company ANCAP, and followed approval by the Uruguayan authorities. MIWEN holds the remaining 50% interest in the block as Eni's partner, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The move is not Eni's only recent position offshore Uruguay. The company has reached an agreement to acquire a 40% interest in the adjacent OFF-6 block, which is operated by APA Corporation, according to the same report.

South Africa's Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) announced price increases for all fuel types taking effect Wednesday, with diesel carrying the heaviest adjustment.

Both grades of petrol, 93 and 95, in unleaded and lead-replacement form, rise by R1.34, according to the DMPR. Diesel with 0.05% sulphur increases by R2.93, while the 0.005% sulphur grade goes up R3.14.

The department pointed to the crude benchmark as the driver. The average Brent Crude price rose from USD 82.37 to USD 87.88 over the period under review, the DMPR said. It attributed that move to continued US/Iran tensions, uncertainty over the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and higher shipping costs.

A second mechanism adds to the pump increase. The Slate Levy rises 21.90 c/l, from 61.38 c/l to 83.28 c/l, and will be implemented in the petrol and diesel price structures from 2 September 2026, according to the DMPR.

That levy adjustment follows a widening shortfall in the slate account. At the end of July 2026 the cumulative slate levy stood at a negative balance of some R9.519 billion for petrol and diesel combined, the department said.

The slate mechanism recovers the gap between the regulated domestic price and actual import parity costs, so a negative balance is passed through to motorists via a higher levy. With the levy change landing the day after the price adjustment, diesel users face both the R3.14 basic fuel price movement on the low-sulphur grade and the 21.90 c/l levy step.

The gap between the petrol and diesel adjustments is more than double: R1.34 on petrol against R2.93 and R3.14 on the two diesel grades.

Longi, TCL Zhonghuan, GCL Technology, Daqo and Xinte Energy all stayed loss-making in the first half of 2026, according to pv magazine, which reported signs of operational stabilization across the five Chinese solar manufacturers even as the deficits persisted.

Longi carried the largest deficit of the group. Its net loss attributable to shareholders widened 43.4% to CNY 3.68 billion, pv magazine reported. First-half revenue fell 17.6% year on year to CNY 27.05 billion.

The manufacturer pointed to four pressures behind the result: continued oversupply, low capacity utilization, higher silver costs and foreign exchange effects, according to pv magazine.

TCL Zhonghuan moved in the opposite direction on both lines. Revenue rose 6.8% to CNY 14.31 billion and the net loss narrowed 24.5% to CNY 3.20 billion, per pv magazine.

Daqo New Energy recorded the sharpest revenue contraction. Sales dropped 57.6% to CNY 623 million while the attributable net loss widened 39.1% to CNY 1.60 billion, according to pv magazine.

Xinte Energy posted the strongest top-line growth and the smallest deficit. Revenue climbed 38.9% to CNY 10.15 billion and the attributable net loss narrowed 17.3% to CNY 212 million, pv magazine reported.

The split across the five names is not uniform. Two of the reporting companies grew revenue while trimming losses, one shrank on both counts, and Longi combined falling sales with a deeper deficit. Silver cost inflation and low utilization named by Longi bear on cell and module producers rather than polysilicon suppliers, where Daqo's revenue decline was concentrated.

India installed 6.6 GW of rooftop solar capacity in the first half of calendar year 2026, according to pv magazine. That is up 136% on the 2.8 GW installed in the first half of 2025.

The second quarter carried the larger share. Additions reached 3.8 GW, up 41% from the 2.7 GW recorded in the first quarter, pv magazine reported. Measured against the same quarter a year earlier, Q2 volumes rose 136% from 1.6 GW in Q2 2025.

Rooftop systems made up 33% of all Indian solar installations during the second quarter, according to pv magazine. Households drove that volume: residential installations contributed 84% of total rooftop additions in Q2 2026.

According to Mercom, the installations were primarily driven by the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, or PM Surya Ghar program.

By June 2026, rooftop systems had been installed in nearly 4.5 million Indian households, reaching approximately 45% of the program's target of 10 million households, pv magazine reported.

Yusen Terminals will spend USD 200 million on zero-emission cargo-handling equipment at the Port of Los Angeles, according to electrive.

The commitment comes with a long-term tenancy. electrive reported that the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a 30-year lease with Yusen Terminals, keeping the marine terminal operator at the port through 2056. The equipment spending is tied to that footprint.

Yusen Terminals is owned by container shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE), per electrive.

The scale of road traffic around the terminal gates gives the equipment switch its context. electrive reported that the Port of Los Angeles is served by a fleet of more than 18,000 drayage trucks. Cargo-handling equipment is the on-terminal side of that chain: the yard tractors, cranes, and lifts that move containers between ship, stack, and truck.

Australia approved more than 111,000 small-scale battery systems and installed 3.6 GWh of capacity in the second quarter of 2026, its strongest three-month stretch on record for household storage, according to ESS News.

The utility-scale pipeline moved in parallel. ESS News reported that 4.2 GWh of large-scale battery capacity either reached final investment decision or began operating during the quarter.

Rooftop solar passed a threshold at the same time. Installations exceeded 1 GW for the first time in the April to June quarter, surpassing the previous quarterly record of 942 MW set in the final quarter of 2023, per ESS News. Large-scale solar also set a quarterly mark, with 1.8 GW reaching final investment decision in the June quarter.

Those additions showed up in the generation mix. Renewables supplied about 42% of National Electricity Market (NEM) generation in the quarter, up from 37% a year earlier, according to ESS News.

The rebate scheme behind much of the household activity has now completed a full year. Storage capacity approved under the Cheaper Home Batteries programme reached 12.4 GWh across more than 438,000 installations, with more than 500,000 applications received by mid-August, ESS News reported.

Households appear to have pulled purchases forward. More than 80% of small-scale solar installations in April were paired with a battery, according to the CER, which said this suggests households accelerated combined solar and battery installations ahead of the May 1 changes.

System sizing shifted after that date. Average residential battery capacity fell from 36 kWh in April to about 23 kWh in May and June.

Smackover Lithium has signed a binding take-or-pay offtake agreement with LG Energy Solution covering its South West Arkansas Project, the second commercial offtake deal for the site, according to a GlobeNewswire release from the partnership.

Under the agreement, the SWA Project will deliver 8,000 metric tonnes per year of battery-quality lithium carbonate to LG Energy Solution across a 10-year period beginning with the start of commercial production.

The partnership said the new contract, combined with a previously announced Trafigura agreement for the same annual volume and the same 10-year term, commits roughly 90% of the total targeted offtake volume for the project.

That target is set against an initial-phase annual nameplate capacity of 22,500 metric tonnes of lithium carbonate, with the partnership seeking offtake agreements covering roughly 80% of that figure.

Smackover Lithium is targeting a Final Investment Decision this year, with construction planned to begin promptly after FID and first commercial production of battery-quality lithium carbonate scheduled for 2029, per the release.

On the debt side, the partnership pointed to a financing update in which it flagged indications of interest for over USD 1 billion in project debt from three major Export Credit Agencies.

Standard Lithium Ltd. holds a 55% interest in the Smackover Lithium projects through subsidiaries and Equinor ASA holds the remaining 45% through subsidiaries, with Standard Lithium retaining operatorship.

Holtec has begun loading nuclear fuel into the reactor vessel at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, a step the company said moves the station toward becoming the first commercial US nuclear plant to return to service after entering decommissioning.

The reactor core holds 204 fuel assemblies, a mix of new fuel and partially used fuel from the plant's most recent operating cycles, according to Holtec. The core is designed to support an 805-megawatt electric output.

Fuel loading places the plant in Mode 6 under the Palisades Technical Specifications, which Holtec described as a required step on the path to commercial operation.

The milestone comes after more than two years of inspection, maintenance, refurbishment, testing, and equipment upgrades across the station, work Holtec said was intended to ensure reliability and resiliency for long-term operation.

Financing and offtake for the restart came from three directions. Holtec credited financial support from the State of Michigan, a loan from the US Department of Energy, and long-term power purchase agreements with Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy.

Oregon's Clean Vehicle Rebate Program has reopened for eligible vehicles bought or leased through 4 November 2026, according to electrive.

The reopening comes with a short horizon. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality expects this round of funding to run out by then and will suspend the program again by 5 November, electrive reported.

The constraint is the size of the pot. Oregon has limited funds for the rebate program, currently about USD 8.5 million, according to electrive.

Under the standard rebate, buyers receive USD 2,000 for a new all-electric vehicle, USD 1,500 for a new plug-in hybrid and USD 375 for a new electric motorcycle, electrive reported.

A second track targets household income. The charge-ahead rebate for low-income households provides USD 7,500 for a new electric car or USD 5,000 for a new plug-in hybrid, according to electrive.

That structure means a low-income buyer of a new battery-electric car qualifies for a rebate more than three times the standard amount. Applicants working from the standard tier face a purchase or lease deadline of 4 November, with the suspension following the next day.

Roughly 311 MWdc of solar capacity has come online across two paired generation-and-battery sites in Texas. Solar Builder reported that Sunraycer, working with Monarch Private Capital, finished the Midpoint and Gaia projects.

Both sites sit in Hill and Navarro Counties, where the added output feeds the ERCOT grid sectors serving those counties, Solar Builder reported.

Battery capacity differs between the two. Midpoint holds 50 MW / 100 MWh of storage; Gaia holds 75 MW / 150 MWh.

Annual output from the pair is estimated by the companies at 585 GWh, which Solar Builder said equates to roughly 54,000 homes.

Switch Mobility has secured an order for 650 nine-metre electric buses in India, according to electrive, with delivery under the Ministry of Heavy Industries' PM E-Drive scheme.

The buyer is Sai Green Projects, which will procure the vehicles under a tender run by Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) and operate them in Mumbai and Pune, Maharashtra, electrive reported.

The split favours the larger city. Of the 650 units, 450 will be low-floor air-conditioned buses for Mumbai, while Pune takes 200 low-floor non-AC vehicles.

On price, Sai Green Projects took the Pune contract with the lowest bid at 55.55 rupees per kilometre excluding GST, according to electrive.

The order sits inside a larger procurement programme. Out of 14,028 electric buses eligible for support under PM E-Drive, CESL closed the Phase I tender covering 10,900 units in December 2025, electrive reported.

On the vehicle itself, the EiV9 uses a permanent magnet synchronous motor rated at up to 213 kW. Switch Mobility offers battery pack options of 183 kWh and 284 kWh, and claims a range of more than 200 kilometres.

Portugal has put its National Energy Storage Strategy (ENAE) out for public consultation, with a target of 6.9 GW of installed storage capacity by 2030, according to ESS News. Submissions close on September 16, 2026.

The strategy sets a second horizon of 9.76 GW of installed capacity by 2040, ESS News reported. The stated aim of the ENAE is to accelerate the integration of storage into the National Electricity System.

Those capacity figures are not battery-only. The ENAE targets cover pumped-hydro storage alongside batteries and other large-scale storage technologies, according to ESS News.

The technical analysis underpinning the strategy ties the buildout to renewable penetration. Storage will need to contribute to achieving 82% to 85% renewable integration in electricity generation by 2030, per that analysis as reported by ESS News.

Measures in the document are grouped under four pillars: economic value and participation in system services, regulatory frameworks, streamlined grid connections, and technological innovation. The first pillar addresses how storage assets earn revenue from system services; the third addresses connection processes, a recurring constraint on large-scale storage deployment.

SunHydrogen's 100 cm² hydrogen modules exceeded 10% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency in preliminary testing at Sparc Hydrogen's laboratories, according to pv magazine.

The result follows earlier work on the same module size at the research and development facilities of Honda, where pv magazine reports the devices reached an active-area solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 10.8%.

SunHydrogen has also taken the technology to a larger footprint. In outdoor testing of a 1.92 m² development module sized like a conventional photovoltaic panel, efficiencies approached 9%, according to pv magazine.

That spread between the small-format and PV-sized results is the metric to track as the company scales its devices: the 100 cm² modules cleared 10% under laboratory conditions, while the 1.92 m² unit fell short of that mark outdoors. The 10.8% figure recorded at Honda's facilities was measured on an active-area basis rather than across the full module.

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) selected 13 projects for its Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative, announcing the list on August 24, 2026, according to Neutron Bytes. The center is located at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Those 13 projects come from 12 developers, chosen against criteria published in the initiative's Request for Applications, Neutron Bytes reported.

Neither NRIC nor DOE is putting money behind the selected work. The two will provide no project funding and no in-kind contributions toward cost sharing, leaving participating firms to finance their own scopes, according to Neutron Bytes.

The structure follows two earlier DOE efforts: the Reactor Pilot Program, established in June 2025, and the Fuel Line Pilot Program, launched in August 2025.

NRIC itself dates to 2019, when it was created to work with industry and the national laboratories on closing the gap between concept, demonstration and commercialization of advanced nuclear technologies, per Neutron Bytes. Launch Pad sits under that mandate.

Separately, INL announced Project Prometheus, a USD 60 million Phase II Genesis Mission initiative applying artificial intelligence to the nuclear sector with the aim of cutting design, licensing, manufacturing and operational timelines, Neutron Bytes reported.

Prometheus carries industry money that Launch Pad does not. Partners have committed more than USD 200 million in cost share and USD 30 million in capital, alongside proprietary design data and commercial deployment pathways, according to Neutron Bytes.

SUN Mobility has started operating a battery-swapping network in Kenya with 35 stations serving electric two- and three-wheelers from more than ten manufacturers, according to electrive.

The stations are concentrated in two cities. Electrive reports 27 sites in Nairobi and eight in Mombasa.

The company's stated plan reaches well beyond that footprint: more than 2,500 swapping stations across Africa over the next five years, serving more than 160,000 electric vehicles, electrive reported.

For the expansion, SUN Mobility is working with Vivo Energy, a fuel retailer that runs more than 4,200 Shell and Engen stations in 29 African countries, according to electrive.

In South Korea, charging operator Chaevi has been selected to install 131 fast chargers at 29 motorway service areas under a Korea Expressway Corporation project. Electrive, citing the Korea Times, said the chargers are part of the 2026 programme.

The hardware split is 118 fast chargers rated at 200 kW plus 13 multichargers, with 82 of the units carrying the NACS standard established in North America, according to Chaevi as cited by electrive.

Chaevi already runs around 6,000 of its own fast-charging points in South Korea, or roughly 10,000 once infrastructure it manages for other companies and institutions is counted, electrive reported.

Separately, Nissan and Honda signed a cooperation agreement to standardise several electronic control units for next-generation software-driven vehicles. The jointly developed units and software are scheduled for implementation in both companies' next-generation smart cars starting in fiscal year 2029, according to electrive.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems is bringing a range of electrically powered transport refrigeration units to Europe, the TEU series, built specifically for electric trucks, according to electrive.

The units use a modular construction designed to cut space and weight demands on the vehicle. European sales run through Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Transport Europe, based in Osnabrück, Germany, electrive reported.

MHI puts the savings against its conventional TU series, which pairs the cooling unit with a separate generator. The TEU main unit is said to require around 30 per cent less volume, according to the manufacturer as reported by electrive. The installation opening shrinks by 40 per cent, and weight drops 55 per cent. On a battery-electric truck, both figures bear directly on payload and on the energy drawn from the traction battery.

One variant, the TEU1400MA, carries multiple evaporators. Four different evaporator types of varying sizes can be fitted in a divided cargo area, which lets an operator move goods with different temperature requirements in a single vehicle, electrive reported.

Sol Systems has acquired the Lumberton Solar Project, a 200 MWac site in Hardin County, Texas, from DESRI, according to Solar Builder.

The purchase is Sol Systems' second project acquisition of 2026, Solar Builder reported.

DESRI carried the site through development, permitting, and commercialization before the sale, with Sol Systems taking over management of the project through construction and its operational lifespan, according to Solar Builder.

Asahi Kasei has developed a pre-lithiation technology for lithium-ion batteries built with silicon-based anodes, according to electrive.

In internal testing, the Japanese company says the method raised the energy density of an NMC cell by 10 per cent, electrive reported.

The test cell used an anode composed of 90 per cent graphite and 10 per cent silicon monoxide, according to electrive. Silicon content raises the theoretical capacity of an anode, but lithium is consumed irreversibly during the first charge cycles. Pre-lithiation, or pre-doping, addresses that loss by loading additional lithium into the cell before it enters service.

Asahi Kasei's route relies on lithium carbonate as the supplementary lithium source, a material the company describes as relatively inexpensive, per electrive. Cost is the constraint that has kept most pre-lithiation approaches out of volume manufacturing, since the specialist lithium metal powders and foils typically used are expensive and difficult to handle on production lines.

The company intends to run proof-of-concept projects with customers worldwide before commercialising the process through licensing agreements, according to electrive. That structure would put the technology into third-party cell plants rather than into production capacity owned by Asahi Kasei itself.

The 10 per cent figure is a company claim from internal tests and has not been verified by an outside party. Proof-of-concept work with cell makers would be the first point at which the result is measured on someone else's equipment.

Idaho National Laboratory constructed and tested a new reactor on June 4, 2026, its first in 50 years, according to Atomic Insights, which identified the unit as Antares Mark 0.

Two more followed within a month. Deployable Unity started up on June 30, and Aalo-X on July 4, Atomic Insights reported.

A fourth unit, Radiant Kaleidos, is to be brought to full power and run through a series of stress tests, ending in a continuous full power run of at least 150 hours, per the same account.

The laboratory's staff also supported reactor projects outside Idaho. Atomic Insights reported that INL personnel assisted Valar in Utah and Oklo in Texas, both of which started up during the summer of 2026.

The cost structure separates this cluster of startups from conventional national-laboratory work. Private companies paid to design, build and operate their own equipment, while laboratory staff and Department of Energy staff played supportive roles as needed, according to Atomic Insights.

The Radiant Kaleidos test sequence is the one still ahead. A sustained full power run of at least 150 hours is the endurance threshold set for that unit, distinct from the initial criticality milestones already reached by the three earlier reactors.

Ranger Energy Services has struck a deal worth roughly USD 27.5 million for the U.S. coiled tubing business of STEP Energy Services, World Oil reported.

Thirteen full coiled tubing spreads change hands under the agreement, together with associated equipment and inventory. Ranger also picks up certain property and vehicle lease obligations.

World Oil described the purchase as one that leaves Ranger the second-largest coiled tubing provider operating in the Lower 48.

Around 220 STEP workers are set to move across, and Ranger expects to take over operations at closing, which World Oil said is targeted on or about Sept. 11, 2026.

For the seller, the sale narrows the field of operations. STEP said stepping out of the U.S. lets it put its attention on Canadian energy services work, spanning coiled tubing, hydraulic fracturing and cementing in the Western Canadian Sedimentary basin.