Saturday, 19 September 2026

The US Department of Energy issued an emergency order to reduce blackout risk across the Mid-Atlantic, citing forecast hot weather and planned transmission outages, according to a September 17, 2026 statement from the department.

The order directs PJM Interconnection to dispatch specified resources and to order their operation as needed to keep the grid reliable, the DOE said.

It also authorizes PJM to call on backup generation as a last resort ahead of, or during, an Energy Emergency Alert 3, per the same DOE release.

The measure took effect on issuance on September 17, 2026 and runs through September 18, 2026, according to the DOE.

Panasonic Energy has opened a lithium-ion battery research and development center in Kadoma, near Osaka, according to electrive.

The site, called Energy Innovation Square, is expected to house around 500 employees working on next-generation battery cells and materials, electrive reported.

Panasonic Energy is targeting a doubling of battery development efficiency by fiscal year 2031, which ends in March 2031, compared with fiscal year 2024, per electrive.

To support that goal, the company is bringing together development and prototyping activities that had been split across multiple sites. Consolidation is expected to cut development times, including associated transportation, by more than 15%, according to electrive.

Grid operator Eon Edis withdrew previously agreed import capacity for a newly opened 69 MW solar-plus-storage plant in northeastern Germany, restricting its 76.5 MWh battery to storing only electricity generated on-site, according to ESS News.

The operating company has escalated the dispute, sending a letter from its lawyers to Eon Edis seeking to restore the battery's import capacity.

At stake is the battery's commercial model. If import capacity is restored, the unit could also operate as a grid-charged storage system, expanding its potential revenue streams beyond shifting on-site solar output, per ESS News.

India's infrastructure investment cycle has yet to turn decisively, according to a commentary published by The Economic Times, which found that rising public capital expenditure has supported growth while weak private participation continues to hold the cycle back.

Private infrastructure investment has stagnated at a low level since COVID, the outlet reported.

World Bank data cited by The Economic Times show the scale of the retreat. Private participation in infrastructure peaked during the 2008-12 period, with financial closure of 453 projects accounting for USD 170 billion of investment. In the most recent five years covered by the World Bank's PPI database, 2020-24, that had fallen to 119 projects accounting for USD 36 billion.

The outlet argued that the surge in capital expenditure by India's central government, not all of which is infrastructure investment, is substituting for the low level of private infrastructure spending rather than crowding in new private capital.

PJM Interconnection asked large electricity consumers across 13 states to reduce usage as high temperatures pushed up power demand and raised the risk of blackouts, according to Reuters.

The grid operator said roughly 36,000 MW of generation was offline at the time, shrinking the pool of available supply, Reuters reported.

Reuters described PJM as the top US electric grid operator, and framed the appeal to big users as a step tied directly to warm weather stoking demand.