Wednesday, 30 September 2026

Offshore wind developers, vessel owners and supply-chain companies are putting money into new projects, infrastructure and technologies as the sector expands, according to Offshore Magazine.

That spending runs across the value chain, from installation and support vessels to cable manufacturing, grid infrastructure and project execution, Offshore Magazine reported.

Developers advanced projects through wind farm milestones, operations bases, power purchase agreements and grid connection initiatives, according to the outlet.

Technology remains a focus. New floating wind platform designs and maintenance solutions are intended to improve project economics and long-term performance, Offshore Magazine reported.

A solar farm in County Cork has started generating power, the first project in Ireland to run under the Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS).

Meadhill Solar Farm sits in Meadstown, Kildorrery, and carries a generating capacity of 650 kW.

The site holds more than 1,000 panels spread over 1.5 acres, with output that could supply around 150 local homes each year.

Flogas, part of DCC Energy, agreed a 15-year power purchase agreement with the farm to buy its electricity.

Ørsted and infrastructure investor Nuveen have inaugurated the 913 MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, according to Maritime Journal. The project ranks among Germany's largest offshore wind developments.

The inauguration lands alongside new research on how offshore turbines affect maritime navigation. Researchers found that wind turbines can impair marine radar detection, according to a study reported by GlobalSecurity. At a range of 5 km, effective radar coverage fell 6.9% while blind spots grew 14.9%.

Tensions rose at a public participation meeting in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, as residents debated the benefits, risks and turbine locations of the proposed Governors Kop Wind Energy Facility, according to Bizcommunity and Pressportal.

The project would have 296 MW of capacity across 37 turbines on a 9,386-hectare site about 17 kilometres from the city.

The developer's own specialist consultants identified the site as having high to very high environmental sensitivity, according to the two outlets.

The project will stop if South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) denies its scoping report. Approval would advance the facility to a full environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Kondinin Wind Farm reached financial close on the 130 MW first stage of the project in Western Australia's Wheatbelt, securing AUD 430 million in debt financing to begin construction, according to Foresight.

Foresight acquired Shell Energy's 50% interest in Kondinin Energy Pty Ltd, taking full ownership of the broader 370 MW Kondinin Energy Project, according to Foresight.

Synergy entered into a seven-year power purchase agreement in March to buy 100% of the renewable energy generated by Stage 1, establishing a contracted revenue profile for the project, according to Foresight.

Stage 1 also holds a 15-year Australian Government Capacity Investment Scheme agreement, which Foresight said provides long-term revenue support.

Plug Power signed a strategic partnership with Arcadia eFuels covering more than 1 GW of potential electrolyzer projects, according to Benzinga. The company's stock gained Tuesday following the announcement.

The agreement includes a 280 MW electrolyzer supply deal for Arcadia's Project ENDOR in Denmark, according to Benzinga. Project ENDOR is planned for the Port of Vordingborg on Denmark's south coast.

The partnership positions Plug Power as the preferred electrolyzer supplier for four additional projects in Europe and the Americas, according to Benzinga.

Waga Energy has won a contract from FCC Medioambiente to upgrade landfill gas at the Ecocentral site in Alhendín, in the province of Granada, Spain.

The unit is set to begin operating in 2028, with annual output of about 80 GWh of renewable natural gas, according to Waga Energy.

The agreement runs for ten years, over which Waga Energy will finance, build, own and operate the installation.

Waga Energy estimates the unit will cut roughly 19,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions each year.

The Jaipur Development Authority plans to install 5 MW of solar power at six sewage treatment plants along the Dravyavati River and two gardens in Jaipur, according to EQ.

The initiative is intended to increase renewable energy use across public infrastructure while reducing dependence on conventional electricity, according to EQ.

Meadhill Solar Farm in Co Cork has become the first project to begin operating under Ireland's Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS), according to ThinkBusiness. Flogas has partnered with the farm on the project.

Farmer Sean Keating developed the 650 kW facility on his dairy farm in Meadstown, Kildorrery, according to the Irish Post. The site features more than 1,000 solar panels across 1.5 acres.

Flogas will provide a long-term route to market for the electricity generated by the farm through a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA), the Irish Post reported.

The farm can generate enough clean electricity to power 150 local homes each year, while still allowing livestock to graze on the land beneath the panels, according to the Irish Post.

Ørsted's 90 MW Barrow Offshore Wind Farm has marked 20 years of commercial operations, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital, a milestone that also marks two decades since the company began generating power in the UK.

Barrow sits 7 km southwest of Walney Island in the East Irish Sea, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The site comprises 30 turbines rated at 3 MW each and entered commercial operation in 2006.

The project was Ørsted's first UK offshore wind farm, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital, and was originally developed as a joint venture between Centrica and DONG Energy, which later became Ørsted.

Since Barrow started operating, Ørsted's UK wind farms have generated more than 180 TWh of electricity, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Federal prosecutors have charged 19 defendants in an alleged interstate criminal enterprise built around stolen used cooking oil, according to The Conversation. The mid-September 2026 announcement described clandestine warehouses, money laundering and stolen goods moved across state lines.

Two of the defendants had already pleaded guilty, with the rest slated for trial in April 2027, The Conversation reported.

Prosecutors alleged that members of the group drove trucks to restaurants in 10 states, siphoned used cooking oil from collection tanks and hauled it to depots for resale, according to The Conversation.

The alleged motive was the value of the material itself. Used cooking oil can be refined into biodiesel, The Conversation reported.

Over Easy Solar released a new version of its vertical PV system for rooftop applications, according to pv magazine.

The xM-3 Quattro-256S is a 256 W bifacial PV unit built for flat rooftops, including green and gravel roofs, pv magazine reported. The product uses silicon heterojunction solar cells and carries a bifaciality factor of 95%, according to pv magazine.

The unit comes with a 15-year product warranty and a 25-year power-output warranty, pv magazine reported.

China Three Gorges Corporation has begun feeding power to the grid from the opening set of turbines at its Yangjiang Qingzhou V and VII offshore wind development off Guangdong Province, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported. The milestone starts electricity output from the site.

Power travels to shore over a ±500 kV direct-current transmission system spanning roughly 70 kilometers from the coast of mainland China, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The development holds 163 turbines, each rated above 12 MW, for a total installed capacity exceeding 1.95 GW, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

A research group in China has simulated a heating system that combines a hydrogen fuel cell, a CO2 heat pump and phase-change thermal storage, according to pv magazine.

In the model, cathode inlet temperature had a stronger effect on system performance than either ambient temperature or anode inlet temperature, pv magazine reported.

As cathode inlet temperature increased, the hydrogen-to-heat factor rose by 29.4%, according to pv magazine.

The researchers said the phase-change material (PCM) tank in the model proved capable of meeting domestic hot water demand, pv magazine reported.

Rezolv Energy has signed a financing package of up to EUR 561 million for its planned 1.3 GW solar plant, according to pv magazine.

The independent power producer put the package at USD 637.3 million.

According to pv magazine, Rezolv said the Romanian project will now move into construction, with commercial operations expected in the second half of 2028.

A 40 MW solar power plant has been developed near the Saryu River in Ayodhya, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, according to EQ Magazine.

The city's development includes more than 2,500 solar-powered streetlights, EQ Magazine reported, alongside solar-powered taps and other installations.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described Ayodhya as India's number one solar city, according to EQ Magazine.

Ayodhya's development as a solar city is linked to the Uttar Pradesh Solar Energy Policy 2022, which identified the city as a pilot model solar city before the concept expanded to other urban areas, EQ Magazine reported.

Windward Offshore held the official naming of its Commissioning Service Operation Vessel (CSOV) Windward Munich in Hamburg on September 22, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The vessel is the third in the Windward Offshore fleet, the outlet reported.

Windward Munich was built by VARD Vung Tau in Vietnam and is the first of two vessels in the fleet to feature a helicopter landing deck, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Godmother Claudia Haindl christened the vessel at the ceremony.

The UK avoided the need for GBP 5.9 billion of gas imports since the start of the Hormuz crisis because of record wind and solar generation, according to Carbon Brief analysis.

Wind and solar output rose 14% year-on-year, Carbon Brief found, while gas prices climbed to levels not seen since the 2022 energy crisis. That clean-power generation cut demand for gas-fired electricity, which fell by nearly 10% year-on-year in 2026 to date.

Wind and solar supplied a record 41% of the UK's electricity needs in 2026 to date, compared with 25% from gas, according to Carbon Brief's analysis.

The avoided imports were equivalent to more than 100 additional tanker deliveries of liquefied natural gas, Carbon Brief said.

In September 2026 to date, the gas-import saving reached GBP 1.3 billion, the result of nearly 10 TWh of combined wind and solar output alongside surging gas prices, according to Carbon Brief.