Saturday, 12 September 2026

Since 2019, Freeport LNG has reported 532 unpermitted emission events, and regulators answered with seven penalty fines, according to a tally by Oilfield Witness described by Inside Climate News. The same review logged more than 200 additional permit deviations at the Texas plant, with the fines coming from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Benzene releases drew particular attention. One section of the Freeport LNG complex reported 1,500 pounds of the carcinogen in 2024, five times the volume reported by Corpus Christi LNG, Inside Climate News said.

The gap between permit terms and reported output was wider still at one flare. Its authorization covered 3.3 tons of carbon monoxide per year; the reported figure for the year after July 2019 came to 381 tons.

Freeport LNG ranks third among the country's exporters of liquified natural gas, and an explosion in 2022 shut the plant for eight months.

Japan's state-owned lender is now examining its $2.6 billion financing for the project, an investigation it announced after complaints from community leaders and environmental groups, per Inside Climate News.

US module buyers had penciled in a price impact of roughly $0.03/W to $0.05/W from the Section 232 decision on polysilicon and its derivatives, treating $0.06/W to $0.07/W as the upper end of plausible outcomes, according to pv magazine.

The August 6 announcement set tariffs and minimum import prices on polysilicon and its derivatives. Jesse Pichel and Lev Seleznov of Roth Capital Partners assessed what the decision is expected to mean for US module pricing and for investment in domestic manufacturing, pv magazine reported.

Electric vehicle sales have fallen across the United States this year, and California has not been spared, according to CleanTechnica.

The decline reaches the country's largest EV market. CleanTechnica describes California as by far the main market for electric vehicles in the United States, which makes the state's participation in the drop-off the more consequential part of the trend it reports.

NLR and the University of Hawaii have deployed a wave energy device built to capture operational data and share it with the marine energy industry, according to CleanTechnica.

The device is the Small Underwater Research Flap Wave Energy Converter, or SURF-WEC, which converts wave motion into electricity, CleanTechnica reported.

Data capture and release to the wider marine energy sector is part of the stated purpose of the deployment, per the same report.

Amazon will put 50 Mercedes-Benz eActros battery-electric semi trucks into service in Germany before the end of 2026, according to Electrek.

The first 26 units have already entered service, drawn from an Amazon order of more than 200 eActros 600 tractors that Electrek describes as the company's largest to date.

Electrek reports the eActros 600 carries a 621 kWh battery pack and a 500 km range, which Amazon is matching to middle-mile duty cycles hauling goods between fulfillment centers and urban areas.

Charging is being built out alongside the fleet. Amazon is installing DC fast chargers with enough power to take the truck batteries from 20% to 80% in just over one hour, per Electrek.

The truck deployment sits inside a broader spending commitment. Amazon is investing more than EUR 1 billion in the further electrification and decarbonization of its European transportation network, of which more than EUR 400 million is dedicated to its German operations, according to Electrek.

"The handover of these vehicles is a milestone for the electrification of our transportation network," said Andreas Marschner, VP of Sustainable Operations at Amazon.

A federal appeals court struck down the Trump administration's use of emergency powers to force the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in Michigan to keep running, finding that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) exceeded its authority, Inside Climate News reported.

Consumers Energy, which owns the plant, had planned to close it in May 2025 after years of preparing to replace the output with less-expensive alternatives, according to Inside Climate News.

The Campbell plant, at West Olive, Michigan, has a summer generating capacity of 1,331 MW, and the oldest of its three generating units came online in 1962, per Inside Climate News.

The Sierra Club calculated that running the plants past their retirement dates has cost consumers more than USD 540 million so far, with Campbell responsible for about half of that total.

A DOE spokesperson said the Campbell plant ran at more than 650 MW every day between Jan. 21 and Feb. 1 during Winter Storm Fern.

Hours after the ruling, Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued another 90-day emergency order covering a coal plant in Washington state, Inside Climate News reported.

Iran wants the Strait of Hormuz kept under its own authority, and officials in Tehran have spent weeks working through an arrangement with Oman on how maritime traffic would be handled, World Oil reported.

Normal shipping through the waterway, a chokepoint for crude and liquefied natural gas cargoes, has been halted since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran started in late February, according to World Oil.

Some movement has continued. Over the past two months, a portion of vessels have gone through the strait again, mostly after dark and escorted by the U.S. military, World Oil reported.

Brent crude fell more than 3% on Friday, World Oil reported, after the International Energy Agency (IEA) flagged a worsening demand outlook. The benchmark changed hands at roughly USD 104 per barrel following the IEA warning.

SED Energy Holdings Plc and Ventura Offshore Holding Ltd. have signed a letter of intent for an all-share combination carrying an implied pro forma equity value of approximately USD 1 billion, according to World Oil. The deal would create a larger offshore energy services group.

Under the terms reported by World Oil, Ventura shareholders would receive 605 million new Energy Holdings shares, an exchange ratio of 5.5 Energy Holdings shares for each Ventura share.

That issuance leaves existing Energy Holdings shareholders with an expected holding of approximately 55% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis, and Ventura shareholders with approximately 45%.

The two businesses together carry roughly USD 1.3 billion in contracted revenue backlog, World Oil reported.

DNB Bank ASA has committed to a USD 250 million bridge facility and to extending an existing USD 30 million revolving credit agreement.

Energy Holdings plans to evaluate a potential U.S. dual listing and initial public offering once the transaction completes, according to World Oil.

Satellite imagery dated July 11 showed 720 Tesla Megapack battery containers on the grounds of the Colossus 2 data center, according to a count by Canary Media.

The installation sits at xAI's Memphis AI computing hub, which Canary Media describes as controversial. The outlet reported that xAI has built what may be the biggest battery in the U.S. there.

Canary Media derived the container tally from the imagery itself rather than from a company disclosure.

First Bus is rolling out a smart charging system across all 172 charging outlets at its Caledonia depot in Glasgow, up from the 34 outlets covered during an initial trial, electrive reported. The technology is supplied by energy management specialists Optimo Energy.

That trial began in May and was described as successful, according to electrive.

The constraint the system manages is a gap between demand and supply capacity. Caledonia has a potential charging load of 12 MW while operating on a 5 MW grid connection, electrive reported.

The wider deployment also lets First Bus enter energy flexibility markets and sell surplus energy back to the grid, which electrive notes could create an additional revenue stream from infrastructure otherwise used mainly for fleet charging.

BMW is running prototypes of a hydrogen fuel cell SUV that will reach the market in 2028 as the BMW iX5 Hydrogen, according to electrive.

The prototype programme includes trials at BMW's test facility in Aschheim near Munich, electrive reported. The company has given its first insights into that testing.

BMW is targeting a range of 750 km, with acceleration of under five seconds from 0 to 100 km/h, according to electrive.

The carmaker received EUR 273 million from the German federal government and the Free State of Bavaria through the HyPowerDrive project, covering development and industrialisation of a fuel cell electric powertrain for passenger cars, including the 2028 iX5 Hydrogen.

Work on industrialisation and future series production of the hydrogen fuel cell system is under way at the engine plant in Steyr, Austria, electrive reported.

An earlier test fleet of 100 converted fourth-generation X5 units fitted with fuel cells was built in Spartanburg, USA.

Skyborn Renewables has reached financial close on the 976.5 MW Gennaker offshore wind farm in Germany's Baltic Sea, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The project will use 63 turbines and is expected to produce around 3.8 TWh of electricity a year, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Construction is underway, with commercial operations targeted for late 2028. Skyborn secured the construction permit in December 2025, according to the same report.

Madagascar consumed barely 2.5 TWh of electricity in recent years while its population approaches 34 million, according to pv magazine. Depending on how electrification is interpreted, as little as 14% of the population could be considered electrified, pv magazine reported.

Supply failures have already carried political consequences. Recurring rolling blackouts and water shortages drove the political unrest at the end of 2025 that led to the exile of former president André Rajoelina and a temporary takeover by the army, per pv magazine.

A consortium has responded with hybrid generation. Enerdeal, now a Belgian subsidiary of Portuguese utility EDP, leads the group alongside Becquerel Institute and several additional players, pv magazine reported. The projects pair solar PV systems, and in some cases battery storage, with existing diesel generators, and have been implemented in five locations in the country.

R3 Lithium has begun producing lithium carbonate from recycled battery material at a plant in Covington, in the US state of Georgia, according to electrive.

The site is designed for 2,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate a year, electrive reported. Shredding lines at the same location carry an annual capacity of 30,000 tonnes, turning production scrap and end-of-life batteries into black mass, according to the same report.

The company took over the roughly 14,300 square metre building in July 2026, electrive reported.

R3 will put USD 15 million from a Series A financing round into upgrading the plant for continuous commercial operation, according to electrive.

Copec Flux, a subsidiary of Copec, is buying the Tamarico II hybrid battery and solar project in the Atacama region of Chile from Greek developer Metlen, ESS News reported.

The site carries 165 MW of PV capacity. Its battery system holds 725 MWh and can be scaled up to 925 MWh, according to ESS News.

Neither side put a price on the transaction.

Metlen builds renewable projects and then sells them, and said Tamarico II falls under that asset rotation approach.

The buyer's group already takes power from Metlen plants in the country: a 15-year contract signed with Copec EMOAC in July 2025 covers 450 GWh of solar output each year from four Chilean sites, supported by 322 MW of Metlen batteries, per ESS News.

Audi has begun production of the A2 e-tron at its Ingolstadt plant, with deliveries due in December and a starting price of EUR 38,200, according to electrive. The compact battery-electric model is built on the updated Modular E-Drive Toolkit (MEB+) from the Volkswagen Group.

Audi says it cut development time on the project by 21 months against previous vehicle programmes, alongside a reduced range of variants, lower complexity and a higher degree of automation, electrive reported.

The carmaker reused more than 1,200 manufacturing components already deployed on other Audi models, including robot welding tongs and around 250 robots, according to electrive.

Separately, plug-in vehicle sales in China reached 1,643,000 units in August, up 17.8% year-on-year, according to figures from CAAM cited by electrive. The Chinese category covers battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids across both passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

Battery-electric models carried the growth. BEV sales hit 1,161,000 units, a 27.8% year-on-year increase and an 8.3% rise month-on-month, marking a new annual high, electrive reported. Plug-in hybrid volumes moved the other way, at 482,000 units, down 0.9% year-on-year.

Exports were the standout line. Shipments of plug-in vehicles reached 526,000 units in August, the second-best monthly result ever after July, and 130% above the August 2025 level, according to electrive. Cumulative NEV exports over the first eight months of the year stood at 3.44 million units on CAAM statistics, up 124% on the same period a year earlier.

An advisory commission set up under the EU Arbitration Convention has concluded that two wind farms should be taxed primarily in the United Kingdom, where they are located, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The commission found the projects have a genuine legal and economic purpose and that taxing rights belong mainly to the country hosting them over their operating lives, as they generate electricity and revenue, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The dispute reached the commission in 2023, after the tax authorities involved failed to agree between themselves, according to the same report.

Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported that the Danish tax liability is expected to be largely offset over time by tax reductions in the UK.

Carbon Brief has factchecked 45 false or misleading claims about climate change, renewables and net-zero made by the leadership of Reform UK, grouping them by topic.

The party, led by Nigel Farage, has been pushing anti-net-zero policies in the UK.

Richard Tice, Reform's energy spokesperson, has said that a Reform national government would scrap the UK's net-zero target, back fossil-fuel expansion and tear up existing contracts for renewable energy, according to Carbon Brief.

On the underlying science, Carbon Brief states that global temperatures are currently around 1.4C hotter than at the start of the industrial era in 1850-1900.

Spanish shipyard GONDAN Shipbuilders has launched a 120-metre Ocean Energy Support Vessel for Østensjø Rederi, the largest ship the yard has built, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The hull, designated C513, went into the water at GONDAN's Figueras facility. Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported that final outfitting and sea trials come next, with delivery scheduled for late 2027.

Salt Ship Design drew the vessel. Its beam measures 23 meters, and it carries 1,400 square meters of open deck space including the hangar, with berths for up to 173 people, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The order extends a working relationship of more than 20 years: Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported the ship is the 23rd GONDAN has built for Østensjø Rederi.

The European Commission has put forward a proposal to modernise and simplify EU procurement law that would make it easier to shut non-EU companies out of public tenders, electrive reported.

Presenting the plans, EU Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné pointed to BYD electric buses as an illustration. "After the adoption of this reform, it won't be because of the European commissioner if there are BYD buses in Berlin," Séjourné said, according to electrive.

The text is still a draft and needs the backing of the EU Parliament and member states before it can take effect.

The example cuts against the production geography. BYD's electric buses for the European market have been built since 2017 at the company's plant in Komárom, in EU member state Hungary, electrive reported. The roughly 200 electric intercity buses Deutsche Bahn ordered from BYD at the end of 2025 are also slated for manufacture in Hungary.

That order was largely won elsewhere. BYD took only 5 per cent of the contract volume, with the lion's share going to German manufacturer MAN, according to electrive.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cut its outlook for both global oil supply and demand this year, saying the absence of progress toward ending the Iran war pushes the return of normal Middle East flows into 2027 and sends fuel prices soaring.

In its monthly report, the agency said inventories have so far carried the burden of balancing the market, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. Those buffers are shrinking, and the IEA described the global refining system as stretched to the limit.

The agency, which advises industrialized countries, said the need for progress on the Middle East conflict and on the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fifth year, is greater than ever if further market tightening is to be avoided.

Newly installed battery storage capacity in Italy dropped 58% year on year over the 12 months to June 2026, according to ESS News.

Excluding pumped hydro, the country held roughly 19 GWh of installed storage capacity and 8 GW of power as of June 30, ESS News reported.

The residential segment carried much of the decline. Installed residential capacity fell 36% in Q2 2026, the 11th consecutive quarter of year-on-year contraction, per ESS News.

Grid-scale procurement points the other way. Terna has already awarded 10 GWh of new storage capacity under the first Macse auction, for completion by 2027, ESS News reported. The next Macse auction is scheduled for Nov. 24.

Even so, the awarded volumes leave a gap. Anie said around 24 GWh of additional storage would still need to be developed by 2030 if all awarded and planned volumes are delivered.

Jon Rosenthal, a Democratic state representative from Houston, is running against Republican Bo French for a seat on the Railroad Commission of Texas, the body that regulates oil and gas in the state, Inside Climate News reported. The general election to fill the seat held by Jim Wright is set for Nov. 3, according to Inside Climate News.

Rosenthal spent 25 years as a mechanical engineer in the oil and gas industry before entering politics, per Inside Climate News.

French, the Republican nominee, stepped down as Tarrant County GOP chair to run for commissioner and beat the incumbent Wright in the May 2026 primary run-off, according to Inside Climate News.

The commission seats three members on staggered six-year terms, and all three are currently Republicans, Inside Climate News reported.

NeoVolta has secured credit carrying a 10% annual interest rate, maturing March 3, 2028, according to ESS News.

The company is building a 210,600-square-foot battery energy storage system (BESS) manufacturing facility in Pendergrass, Georgia, with joint venture partner LONGi, ESS News reported.

The plant is expected to launch with up to 2 GWh of annual production capacity, scalable up to 8 GWh, per ESS News.

Cell supply is already contracted. SK On signed an agreement with NeoVolta to deliver 9 GWh of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pouch cells between 2027 and 2031, according to ESS News.

Alongside the debt, the financing includes five-year warrants struck at USD 3.30, with 1.45 million shares issued at closing, ESS News reported. The loan terms set a 10% annual interest rate and a March 3, 2028 maturity.

Rabot Energy, a Hamburg-based digital utility, launched a standalone home battery aimed at apartment renters in June 2026, according to ESS News.

The product, branded the Rabot Flow, is a 2.12 kWh plug-and-play module that charges from the grid when prices are low and discharges when dynamic prices spike, ESS News reported. No solar array is required.

The underlying hardware is the Marstek Venus A, an indoor lithium-iron-phosphate device that retails at EUR 400 and plugs directly into standard household wall sockets, per ESS News. Marstek was the only manufacturer willing to build a dedicated cloud API connection allowing Rabot Energy to steer the storage remotely.

The commercial case for customers without a smart meter runs through the app rather than through arbitrage. Connecting the Rabot Flow unlocks a guaranteed flat-rate saving of EUR 120 per year credited directly to the user's account, ESS News reported.

Installation sits inside a relaxed German rule set: small-scale residential storage under 800 W can be installed without a certified electrician. That removes the electrician visit that normally gates a tenant's access to behind-the-meter storage.

Germany's distribution layer remains fragmented, with the country split among roughly 800 distribution system operators, according to ESS News. Schade said Germany experienced roughly 1,000 hours of negative or zero electricity prices in 2023, the price signal that a grid-charging battery is built to capture.

Rocket Lab's IMM Apex space solar cell reaches a beginning-of-life conversion efficiency of 31.5%, according to pv magazine.

The cell is designed without germanium substrates, which pv magazine reports removes exposure to critical-mineral supply chain bottlenecks.

Production is being scaled at the company's space power manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico, pv magazine reported.

The United States installed 19.2 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the first half of 2026, according to the US Solar Market Insight report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, as cited by pv magazine.

Second-quarter additions came to 11.4 GW, a 45% increase against the same quarter a year earlier, pv magazine reported.

The segment breakdown behind that quarter shows utility-scale volume up 61% over Q2 2025, with commercial installations up 11%, according to pv magazine.

The first-half additions lifted cumulative installed solar PV capacity in the country to approximately 298 GW at the end of H1 2026, pv magazine reported.

The European Commission has approved a German state-aid package worth EUR 35 billion to subsidize hydrogen-ready gas-fired power plants, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The scheme targets around 11 GW of hydrogen-ready gas-fired capacity by 2031, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Germany is committed to climate neutrality by 2045, a goal established in national law, according to the same report.

Hive Hydrogen South Africa has contracted Topsoe to supply an 850 MW solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) package and an ammonia synthesis loop for its Coega Green Ammonia Project, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Hydrogen Fuel News put the value of the Topsoe contract at about USD 1 billion. The award lifts total investment in the project to USD 5.8 billion.

The plant sits in the Coega Special Economic Zone in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. Once running, it targets output of around one million tonnes of green ammonia per year, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

The developer is working toward a final investment decision in 2026.

Michigan is putting USD 7.5 million into the search for naturally occurring geologic hydrogen, according to Hydrogen Fuel News, with the money covering subsurface mapping, test wells and regulatory readiness under a statewide clean energy initiative.

The commitment runs through the Make It in Michigan Competitiveness Fund and is managed by the Michigan Infrastructure Office, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Work under the program is directed at mapping and characterizing key subsurface formations across Michigan's Lower Peninsula, with test wells drilled into those formations, per Hydrogen Fuel News.

Green hydrogen producer Lhyfe is transferring its share listing off the regulated Euronext Paris market and onto Euronext Growth Paris, the SME Growth segment, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The company is making the switch to cut compliance costs and match a listing venue to its SME growth profile, Hydrogen Fuel News reported. Shareholders keep their ISIN and their access to the stock through the transfer.

The move follows a year in which Lhyfe held revenues flat at EUR 9.8 million, per Hydrogen Fuel News. Over the same period the producer booked a net loss of EUR 51 million.

A 900-megawatt battery storage facility is planned for the site of the decommissioned Isar 2 nuclear power plant at Niederaichbach in Bavaria, according to RenewEconomy.

Munich-based investment firm Advisum is behind the plan, RenewEconomy reported. The same firm intends to build a 100-megawatt data centre on the site alongside the battery.

Bavaria's economy minister Hubert Aiwanger described the project as a "key component" of the state's energy transition.

Grid work at the location is already under way. A substation near the former nuclear plant is being expanded to handle renewable electricity carried by the SuedOstLink transmission line, according to RenewEconomy.

Plug-in solar is now legal under statutes passed in ten US states, pv magazine reported, adding that further states are close behind.

The first of those statutes came out of Utah, where lawmakers cleared portable solar generation devices in May 2025, according to pv magazine.

Uptake is strongest among people who cannot install a conventional rooftop array. pv magazine cited renters, temporary workers and low-income households facing high electricity bills as the groups turning to plug-in units, which it described as portable and cheap to buy.

China's newest five-year development plan for plugin vehicles sets a sales target of 70% by 2030, according to CleanTechnica.

CleanTechnica describes the document as the country's 15th such plan, and it refers to the vehicles it covers as "new energy vehicles".

Plugin sales hit 61% of the Chinese market in August, according to CleanTechnica.

Australian energy ministers have agreed to look at plug-in photovoltaic (PV) systems and batteries as a route to give millions of people access to the federal Solar Sharer offer, RenewEconomy reported.

The Solar Sharer Offer, announced by federal Labor, was built in part around sharing the benefits of Australia's rooftop solar resource, according to RenewEconomy.

Plug-in equipment sits outside the conventional rooftop installation model, which requires a roof the household controls. Bringing portable PV and batteries into scope would widen the pool of people able to take up the offer, per the ministers' agreement to examine the option.

RheEnergise has built and operated a dense-fluid pumped hydro installation at Cornwood in Devon, constructing an upper and a lower reservoir and installing pumps, pipes and generating equipment for the system.

The company also manufactured hundreds of cubic metres of its proprietary high-density fluid, pumped that fluid uphill and ran it back down through the equipment, according to CleanTechnica.

CleanTechnica's assessment is that the technology works, and that scaling it is the problem.

Cagayan State University has opened its locally developed electric vehicle prototypes to commercial investors in the Philippines, according to CleanTechnica.

CleanTechnica describes the move as a practical step toward expanding domestic manufacturing and clean transportation in the country.

The prototypes were shown by the university's ElectroMobility Research and Development Center at the Sustainability Expo 2026 in Manila, CleanTechnica reported.

InstaVolt has joined the Shell Card network, opening more than 4,250 of the UK fast-charging operator's chargers at over 1,200 locations to fleet operators and drivers, electrive reported.

Shell Card customers can now access and pay for charging at InstaVolt hubs under what the charge point operator described as a "single fleet mobility solution", according to electrive. The arrangement covers the operator's UK network.

Delvin Lane, Chief Executive Officer of InstaVolt, said joining the Shell Card network makes the charging experience easier to access and gives fleet operators a simpler way to manage charging, electrive reported.

Shell has kept its Shell Card and fleet solutions business while restructuring its wider charging operation, and is expanding a commercial charging network that combines public, private and third-party infrastructure, according to electrive.

Tesla has published performance figures for the European version of its Semi electric truck ahead of IAA Transportation, according to electrive.

The truck will accept megawatt charging at up to 800 kW DC, which electrive reports is enough to take the battery to 60 per cent in half an hour.

Tesla puts the kerb weight below 9.1 tonnes and the electric power take-off at up to 25 kW, two figures released from the specification sheet ahead of the show, electrive reported.

The range and consumption numbers rest on a defined test case: a gross train weight of 40 tonnes, a steady 80 km/h and 20 degrees Celsius on flat road, per electrive. Tesla presents those as estimates rather than measured results.

Customer deliveries to fleets across Europe are set to begin in 2027, according to Tesla's statement cited by electrive.

To cover maintenance, the company plans a network of Semi Service Centres alongside licensed workshops, electrive reported.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is opening a USD 12 million funding opportunity for space-based solar power technologies, according to pv magazine. The solicitation is open to research laboratories and companies across the country.

DOE will make seven to eleven awards in total, split across two tracks of topic areas, pv magazine reported.

The larger share sits with Topic 1, Next-generation Cell Innovation, where DOE anticipates USD 8 million spread across five to nine awards, according to pv magazine. Topic 2, Rapid Production and Demonstration, is set to draw USD 4 million across two to three awards.

Applications close at 11:59 p.m. ET on October 8, 2026, per pv magazine. Selections are expected in December 2026.

The cost gap is the target. III-V solar technologies perform reliably and have shown the ability to last 15 or more years in space, but remain expensive at over 100 times the cost of terrestrial technology, pv magazine reported. DOE's stated priorities for the solicitation are mass, radiation tolerance, and durability in space solar cell manufacturing.

A technical audit by GIZ and LBST concluded that the design of a green ammonia project in Morocco can satisfy EU standards for renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO), while identifying shortfalls in metering, data handling and regulatory coverage, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The audited site sits in southern Morocco and pairs dedicated solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind farms with alkaline electrolysers feeding a Haber-Bosch synthesis loop, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

The review was initiated through Germany's H2Uppp programme and examined the requirements set out in Delegated Regulations 2023/1184 and 2023/1185, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

HyCentA Research GmbH is putting EUR 6.6 million into a liquid hydrogen research and test laboratory in the Ennshafen area of Enns, Upper Austria, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The site will let researchers validate components and systems at the extreme cold of liquid hydrogen, near -253°C, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Operations are expected to start in the first quarter of 2027, per the same report.

BMIMI, FFG and TEST-FUCHS are backing the project, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Uniper SE has closed Phase 1 of the open season for its planned ammonia-to-hydrogen import terminal at Wilhelmshaven, collecting binding capacity reservations and expressions of interest from industrial and trading partners sufficient to advance the project to Phase 2, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The modular terminal is designed to take in up to 2.6 million tonnes of clean ammonia a year, used as a hydrogen carrier, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

That volume converts to roughly 350,000 tonnes of pipeline-grade hydrogen annually, per the same report.

Washington state's Centralia coal-fired plant will stay available to run under an emergency order signed by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, who cited reliability problems on the grid in the Northwestern United States.

The order names TransAlta Centralia Generation, LLC and requires Unit 2 at the Centralia Generating Station to remain in a condition where it can operate, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Retirement had already been set for that unit at the end of 2025.

The directive begins September 13, 2026 and expires December 11, 2026.

The department frames the Centralia order as part of a wider pattern of keeping coal capacity in service, saying more than 17 gigawatts of coal-fired generation avoided going offline in 2025.

Yanmar Power Solutions has secured DNV Type Approval for its GH-FC Series maritime hydrogen fuel cell system in Osaka, Japan, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The certification covers modular power units rated from 80 to 320 kW, which Hydrogen Fuel News reported meet DNV guidelines for fuel cell installations and hydrogen-fueled vessels.

The certified business unit is itself new. Hydrogen Fuel News reported that a corporate reorganization at Yanmar earlier in the year created Yanmar Power Solutions.

The Southern Environmental Law Center has sued the Tennessee Valley Authority over the utility's Cumberland coal plant, acting on behalf of Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club, according to CleanTechnica.

The complaint alleges TVA violated the federal Clean Air Act at the Cumberland Fossil Plant in Cumberland City, Tennessee.

CleanTechnica reported that the case centers on the utility's failure to take federally required steps to protect Middle Tennessee communities from the air pollution impacts of running the plant.

Volvo's new EC500 Electric excavator, a 50-ton class machine, plugs directly into grid power through a 35 m cable reel, allowing round-the-clock operation without recharging, according to Electrek.

The machine also carries an on-board high-voltage battery, which Electrek reports is good for between two and three hours of continuous use. The battery-electric system is designed to adapt to various grid conditions on a 400V base, per Electrek.

The first EC500 Electric in customer hands is being worked in Norway across quarrying, road building, and tunneling, Electrek reported.

Volvo plans to launch the production version in Spring 2027, according to Electrek.

Houthi rebels took control of a key Red Sea port in Yemen on Thursday, wresting it from the country's Saudi Arabia-backed government, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Crude climbed to USD 108 a barrel the same day, the first time it reached that level since May, Semafor Net Zero reported.

The offensive was powered by arms and advice from Tehran, according to Reuters.

Shell Energy North America (SENA) has agreed to acquire 169 MW of natural gas-fired generation capacity in Pennsylvania, according to World Oil.

The purchase covers 100% of Hunlock Creek Generating LLC, owner of two Pennsylvania gas plants: a 125-MW two-unit combined-cycle facility and a 44-MW simple-cycle peaking unit, World Oil reported.

On the sell side, SENA is parting with RISEC, which owns a 609-MW two-unit combined-cycle gas plant serving the New England electricity market, according to World Oil. SENA has held an energy conversion agreement covering the RISEC plant's full electricity output since 2019, and that agreement terminates when the deal closes.

"These transactions reflect our dynamic approach to managing our trading portfolio," said Andrew Smith, Shell's president of Trading & Supply.

Both deals remain subject to regulatory approvals and are expected to close during the first quarter of 2027, per World Oil.

Wallbox Chargers is closing its charging-equipment factory in Arlington, Texas, a site launched in autumn 2022 and designed at opening to build 250,000 charging units per year, according to electrive.

The company had expanded by acquisition before the shutdown. It bought most of the operating assets of insolvent German wallbox manufacturer ABL in 2023 for around EUR 15 million, electrive reported.

Centrus Energy and Radiant have signed a multi-year contract under which Centrus will supply high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel to deploy multiple Kaleidos transportable microreactors, according to Neutron Bytes.

Centrus will begin delivering the HALEU before the end of the decade, adding a domestic fuel source to support commercial scale-up of the Kaleidos fleet, Neutron Bytes reported.

The agreement includes prepayments from Radiant to Centrus intended to support Centrus's domestic commercial enrichment capacity program. The Kaleidos design uses 19.5% U235 TRISO fuel, per Neutron Bytes.

Radiant is targeting its first fuel load in 2028 for a microreactor slated for construction at the U.S. Army's Fort Benning base in Georgia. Separately, a 1-MWe Kaleidos unit is slated to be built at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado.

Li Auto is gradually moving its model range away from CATL cells to in-house designed batteries manufactured by Sunwoda, according to electrive. The switch reduces the automaker's reliance on a supplier that, as recently as April, counted Li Auto among its four largest customers.

The in-house cells are already fitted in the L8, L6 and i8, with electrive reporting that rollout to further series is expected to widen in the fourth quarter.

At the start of September, Li Auto announced a 2.65 billion yuan investment in Sunwoda EVB, equivalent to about USD 390 million. Counting existing indirect holdings, the stake will rise to 11.17%, making Li Auto the second-largest shareholder in the cell manufacturer, per electrive.

For the Mega Home electric van, Li Auto says stocks of the previously used 5C ternary cells from CATL are nearly depleted, and new orders will be filled with its own 5C cells, with first vehicles expected in November.

The i6 is scheduled to appear at the Paris Motor Show in October, badged as the Li 6 for Europe, with sales beginning in the fourth quarter.

More than half of Maryland's local jurisdictions have moved to freeze data center development, according to Inside Climate News. Fourteen of the state's 24 local jurisdictions have imposed temporary bans on new projects.

The pushback follows sharp increases in household power costs. Residential energy bills in Maryland rose 44% between 2020 and 2025, an increase advocates attribute in large part to data center demand, Inside Climate News reported, citing a letter from opponents.

Jomar Lloyd of Food & Water Watch said Maryland paid USD 108 million for data center-related transmission costs in 2024.

A statewide response has stalled in the legislature. HB 120, a Republican-led bill calling for a statewide data center moratorium, died in committee during the 2026 legislative session, according to Inside Climate News.

The issue now moves into the gubernatorial race. Governor Wes Moore will face Republican challenger Dan Cox, who has supported a statewide ban on hyperscale data centers. Moore believes data center developers, not Maryland ratepayers, should bear their projects' power costs, spokesperson Rhyan Lake said in a statement to Inside Climate News.