Saturday, 10 October 2026

RES has secured a development consent order for its Steeple Renewables Project, pairing 450 MW of solar generation with a 150 MW battery energy storage system, according to Solar Power Portal.

The solar element is expected to generate enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 180,000 homes each year, roughly half the households in Nottinghamshire, according to RES.

Companies and institutions in Ghana are sorting, recovering and recycling waste into industrial materials, including plastic flakes and pellets for industry, according to metrotvonline.com.

The University of Ghana's Valoplastique initiative is exploring the conversion of difficult-to-recycle plastics into useful hydrocarbon products, metrotvonline.com reported.

Ghana's discarded plastic holds recoverable economic and energy value, according to ghanawebbers.com. The outlet described the proposed next step as establishing a national plastic-to-resource and waste-to-energy economy.

India's non-fossil fuel energy capacity passed 300 GW in July 2026, more than half of its total installed capacity, according to The Diplomat.

The generation mix remains weighted toward coal and other thermal sources, which still produce around 70% of India's electricity, The Diplomat reported.

Electricity itself covers only a limited slice of the country's total energy demand. Around 23% of the energy India's economy consumes comes from electricity, according to The Economic Times.

That gap frames the case for green hydrogen beyond the power sector. The Economic Times reported that green hydrogen can help decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors and support a more sustainable and resilient energy future.

The Enugu State Government has secured a USD 200 million investment to develop 100 MW of solar power in Enugu State, aimed at improving electricity supply to homes and businesses, according to The Moment.

Separately, Axian Group signed a power purchase agreement with Africa GreenCo to develop the 200 MW Kudu solar plant in Zambia, according to Business Elites Africa. Axian Group is the pan-African conglomerate led by Malagasy billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee.

The UK's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero granted a development consent order for the Green Hill Solar Farm in Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes, according to Power Technology.

The project will provide up to 500 MWac of solar generation alongside a 500 MW battery energy storage system, according to Energy Global.

Once built, its solar generation is expected to produce enough electricity to meet the annual needs of more than 200,000 UK homes, according to Energy Global.

Tata Power Solaroof, the rooftop arm of Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL), installed 801 MWp during H1 FY27, Construction World reported. The figure runs 25% ahead of the 639 MWp added in the same stretch of FY26.

In a separate deal, property developer Oakridge Realty Development Corp. (ORDC), based in Cebu, signed First Gen Corp. to fit rooftop solar across two Mandaue City sites, with a combined 1.053 MWp, according to SunStar.

The agreement, dated September 23, 2026, splits the work between a 648 kWp array at Mantlewood Town Center and a 405 kWp array at Oakridge Business Park.

US solar generation reached an all-time high of 45.5 TWh in May, according to Ember's data cited by OilPrice. The figure was up 17% from a year earlier and surpassed the previous record set in July last year.

Coal's share of the US electricity mix slumped to 12.2% in May, the fourth-lowest monthly share of coal on record, as OilPrice noted.

Zambia called for stronger regional oil pipeline integration and harmonised open-access frameworks to cut fuel transportation costs, strengthen energy security and promote cross-border trade across Africa, according to Zambia Monitor.

The call accompanied a renewable power deal in the same market. Africa GreenCo and AXIAN Group signed a power purchase agreement to develop the 200 MW Kudu solar photovoltaic project in Zambia, according to SolarQuarter.

SolarQuarter described the agreement as a step toward expanding renewable energy generation and strengthening regional electricity trading across Southern Africa.

The 360 MW Poatina Power Station in Tasmania, Australia, has returned to service after one of its largest planned outages in recent years, according to Hydro Tasmania, which reported the restart in October.

The refurbishment covered both generating equipment and the infrastructure carrying water to it. During the outage, crews recoated the station's 1.8-kilometer penstock and its 5.6-kilometer headrace tunnel, according to SSBCrack News.

Hydro Tasmania is running a separate AUD 200 million program to renew all six turbines at Poatina, according to Water Power Magazine. The first turbine upgrade was completed earlier in 2026, and the second is expected to be completed in April 2027.

Researchers at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, have developed an electrochemical process that produces green hydrogen alongside a valuable industrial chemical, according to Interesting Engineering.

The approach replaces the oxygen normally generated during water electrolysis with an epoxide, a class of chemicals used to manufacture polymers, coatings, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, and other products.

The researchers said that optimizing the entire electrochemical system allowed them to produce both hydrogen and epoxide efficiently without a membrane separating the electrodes, according to Fuel Cells Works.

Interesting Engineering reported that producing a saleable chemical alongside the fuel could make green hydrogen production more economically attractive.

A USD 50 million renewable natural gas plant at the Lena Road Landfill has entered construction in Manatee County, with Nopetro Energy running development and operations alongside Johnson Controls and Mead & Hunt, according to WENG.

Decomposing waste at the site releases methane that the plant will trap and purify, then inject into existing natural gas pipelines that supply offtakers including bus and truck fleets, according to WENG.

Organizers described the plant as the first of its kind on Florida's west coast, according to mysuncoast.

A 2020 wind-tunnel study found that closely spaced, counter-rotating vertical-axis turbines achieved average power-coefficient increases of 13% to 16% compared with two isolated turbines, according to a Renewable Energy paper cited by the Times of India.

The measured gain applied to paired turbines set against two turbines run in isolation.

Turbine output varies widely across installed machines. At full power, wind turbines can produce from a few hundred kilowatts to 20 MW, according to BGR.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that new land-based turbines installed in 2025 had an average capacity of 3.8 MW, BGR reported. The lab's 2025 data is not complete, so that average could still change.

Yellow Door Energy has broken ground on the 49 MWp Lion Thorn Solar Park near Leeudoringstad in South Africa's Maquassi Hills local municipality, according to the company. The move marks the project's shift from financial close into construction.

Commissioning and commercial operation are expected in 2028.

PowerChina has been appointed as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the solar park.

The project has secured power purchase agreements with PPC, a South African cement and construction materials producer, and with PowerX, a NERSA-licensed electricity trader. The PPC agreement forms part of the producer's strategy to increase its use of renewable energy and reduce its carbon footprint.

Lion Thorn Solar Park is expected to generate about 115 GWh of renewable electricity in its first year, according to the company. The plant is estimated to avoid 104,190 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

ENGIE will begin civil works for eight new wind turbines at the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, with a total capacity of 42.6 MW, according to a report carried by Event Registry.

Three of the turbines will go on the RoRo terminal of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, with the remaining five sited at the premises of International Car Operators. ENGIE, together with ICO and Portfineco, already commissioned a wind farm of 11 turbines with 44 MW of capacity at the ICO site in 2020.

The new turbines are scheduled to be erected and fitted with nacelles and blades in the second half of 2027.

From early 2028, the turbines are expected to generate about 115 GWh of renewable electricity per year, equivalent to the average electricity consumption of approximately 33,000 households over the same period, according to Tractebel.

Melbourne-based Allume Energy won the 2026 Australian Good Design award of the year for its SolShare system, according to the Guardian.

The product splits power from a shared rooftop solar system among several apartments without requiring multiple installations, individual inverters or messy wiring, the Guardian reported. The Guardian described it as working like a "traffic controller for solar".

SolShare also received the Australian Good Design award for sustainability.

Africa GreenCo and AXIAN Group have agreed a power purchase deal covering the Kudu solar PV plant in Zambia, according to Green Building Africa. The contract was concluded at the Energy Forum for Africa 2026 in Lusaka.

Kudu will run at 200 MW of AC installed capacity, which Green Building Africa puts at 240 MW on a DC basis. Annual output from the plant is projected at roughly 530 GWh.

Africa GreenCo will take the electricity under the agreement and sell it on to utilities, mining firms, agricultural operators and commercial buyers trading through the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero approved the 500 MW Green Hill Solar Farm, which spans Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes. Development consent was granted to Island Green Power, the developer behind the scheme.

The project will include solar arrays, battery storage and underground electricity cables, according to Island Green Power.

Government inspectors acknowledged that 854.5 hectares of high-quality agricultural land would be unavailable for arable farming during the project's lifetime.

Island Green Power pledged a minimum 47% biodiversity net gain in habitat units as part of its environmental commitments.

Restoration work on Tripura's only hydroelectric project, in Gomati district, is set to begin in December at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore, Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath said on October 9.

The state government has decided to revive the Gumti hydroelectric project at that cost, according to the minister.