Tuesday, 22 September 2026

SK Eternix and Bloom Energy have started commercial operation of the 31 MW Paju Eco Green fuel cell plant in South Korea, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The site runs on 94 solid oxide fuel cell modules, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Annual output is set at 258 GWh, enough to supply 81,000 homes, per the same report.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Zhejiang and Beijing have developed a coumarin-linked covalent organic framework (COF) for photocatalytic water splitting, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The material prolongs charge separation by roughly 1,000 times, a property central to converting absorbed light into hydrogen rather than losing energy to recombination, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Hydrogen evolution reaches up to 531 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹, per the same report.

Two industrial projects in Huelva, Spain have mobilized about EUR 1.55 billion in combined investment, according to Hydrogen Fuel News: Moeve's Onuba green hydrogen project and Atlantic Copper's CirCular metals recycling plant.

The Onuba facility is planned to start with 300 MW of green hydrogen production capacity, with a possible 105 MW expansion, Hydrogen Fuel News reported. The plant will use electrolysis to produce renewable hydrogen.

Alongside it, the CirCular plant is designed to recover valuable metals from electronic waste, according to the same report. Hydrogen Fuel News frames the paired investments as combining renewable hydrogen production with critical-metals recovery in support of Spain's energy transition and circular-economy goals.

A water leak from the Parbati-II hydropower project flooded areas near Rella village in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district, damaging houses and agricultural fields and forcing residents to flee, according to the Times of India.

Water carrying muck and debris from a project dumping site moved downhill into Palchara village, the Times of India reported.

Approximately 15 families suffered significant damage when water and debris entered their homes, local residents told ETV Bharat.

The Kullu administration has ordered an inquiry into the flooding under the chairmanship of the Sainj Tehsildar, the Times of India reported.

A 2,800-acre solar farm has been proposed in Oxfordshire, with a footprint close to the size of Heathrow Airport, according to the Oxford Mail.

The project, named Cearn Solar Farm, holds a grid connection offer of up to 500 MW and could power the equivalent of up to 143,000 homes annually, the Oxford Mail reported.

Local councillor Ron Batstone, a Liberal Democrat, said he was worried about the effect of such a large project on the landscape and local villages.

No planning application has been submitted, with public consultation expected in early 2027.

Nigeria has commercially launched a USD 300 million Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) Fund to mobilise investment in off-grid and distributed renewable energy projects and widen electricity access, according to New Telegraph.

The launch moves the vehicle from structuring into active capital deployment, creating a dedicated financing platform for mini-grids, standalone solar systems and other distributed renewable energy projects across the country, New Telegraph reported.

Ripples Nigeria reported that the fund was launched by the Federal Government and its development partners to accelerate off-grid electricity and distributed renewable energy projects nationwide. It is aimed at communities and businesses that remain inadequately served by the national grid.

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and Africa50, a specialist Africa infrastructure investor, co-manage the fund, according to Engineering News. Ripples Nigeria reported that the joint management structure is designed to attract both public and private capital into mini-grids, standalone solar systems and other decentralised power projects.

The World Bank has committed an initial USD 25 million to the platform through the International Development Association (IDA), as a founding partner, according to New Telegraph and Ripples Nigeria.

Haffner Energy has launched SB-HEFA, a process that applies its proprietary thermolysis technology to convert solid biomass directly into liquid for renewable diesel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), bypassing syngas, according to a GlobeNewswire release.

The company said the feedstock for SB-HEFA is available at less than 20% of the cost of the oils used in conventional HEFA and HVO pathways.

Haffner Energy estimates that the capital expenditure of an SB-HEFA facility would be approximately one-third of that required for a solid-biomass-to-liquid conversion chain based on Fischer-Tropsch or methanol synthesis, while delivering improved energy efficiency.

The cumulative United States solar fleet stands at 299.4 GWdc spread across more than 6.2 million installed systems, according to PV Magazine.

PV Magazine reports that operating solar capacity in the country is now sufficient to power more than 50 million American households.

The domestic industry installed 11.4 GWdc of new generating capacity in the second quarter of 2026, per PV Magazine. That quarterly total marked a 45% increase from the same period a year earlier and a 43% step-up from the first quarter, according to PV Magazine.