Wednesday, 28 October 2026

Fifteen solar developers in Germany are pushing regulators to lift the auction price ceiling for ground-mounted projects starting in 2027, arguing that pending policy changes would squeeze the returns their installations earn, according to pv magazine.

The signatories include RWE, Enertrag, BayWa r.e., Belectric, Juwi, and GP Joule, pv magazine reported.

They want the ceiling for the 2027 auction rounds set no lower than EUR 70/MWh.

Their case rests on a Prognos study commissioned by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), which puts the combined effect of reworking the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the grid connection package, and the AgNes network charging system at a levelized cost of electricity increase of as much as 30% for ground-mounted solar.

The developers also point to a revenue squeeze from the business model itself: more frequent spells of negative wholesale prices and a planned move to two-sided contracts for difference would cut what projects collect, even when power prices run high.

Petrozamora oil fields in Venezuela operated by North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) hit a record output of 115,000 bpd on Oct. 23, according to World Oil. The figure coincided with a two-day visit by U.S. State Department officials.

Chargé d'Affaires John M. Barrett and Daniel Kennedy, deputy assistant secretary of state for energy and critical minerals, visited the company's operations across western and eastern Venezuela on Oct. 23 and 24, World Oil reported.

At the Junín 10 block, three rigs were drilling, with three more set to begin soon, among them a sixth rig that had recently arrived, according to World Oil.

T-16, a tender-assist rig run by Energy Drilling, will work a 30-month program after the company secured a letter of award from CPOC, World Oil reported.

The firm portion carries a value near USD 87 million once mobilization fees are counted, per World Oil. CPOC built in options that could extend the work by as much as 15 months beyond the firm term.

The assignment falls under Phase 7 of CPOC's development drilling in the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area, according to World Oil.

In the United Arab Emirates, Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) has wrapped up the opening phase of work at its Hadiba gas and condensate field, World Oil reported.

SNOC aims to more than double its current gas output through the project, according to World Oil.

Work in the first phase ran from appraisal well drilling and data analysis through the installation of gas-gathering infrastructure, pipeline construction and facility commissioning.

The company is now readying a second phase, with production increases targeted for 2027, World Oil reported.

Upcoming US gubernatorial elections could drive major shifts in state-level energy and environmental policy, according to Inside Climate News.

Going into the election, Republicans held governorships in 26 states and Democrats held 24, with 36 states carrying governor races on the ballot, Inside Climate News reported.

The outcome could set the stage for policy changes across the country, the outlet said.

Dylan Reed, managing director of Advanced Energy United, a trade association for renewable and low-carbon energy businesses, said the governor is the leading state office controlling the direction of energy policy and its effect on utility bills.

BYD updated its Seagull, its lowest-priced electric car, which starts at around $10,000 in China, with a high-speed tire-blowout system designed to stabilize the vehicle at nearly 90 mph, according to Electrek.

The system keeps the Seagull in its lane until the car comes to a complete stop, Electrek reported.

A Rivian electric delivery van wrapped in Walmart+ branding was photographed on a car hauler on I-94 in northwest Indiana, according to Electrek.

A second photo shared by a commenter showed a van in the same Walmart+ livery parked at a Walmart Supercenter in Hammond, Indiana, about 30 miles to the west, Electrek reported.

Neither Rivian nor Walmart has announced a deal involving the electric delivery vans.

Volkswagen Group of America recalled 9,048 Audi Q4 E-Tron and Q4 Sportback E-Tron vehicles from model years 2024 to 2025, according to Electrek.

The recall followed battery thermal events involving other Volkswagen Group EVs that use the same batteries as the Audi Q4 E-Tron, Electrek reported.

Audi is advising affected owners to limit charging to 80% until a remedy is available, according to Electrek.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Current Energy Group have published a whitepaper on how the United States could expand distributed energy resources, according to Solar Builder.

The report sets out three procurement pathways for distributed energy resources.

The first, programmatic tariff-based procurement, would let customers and third-party developers deploy distributed resources at scale through standalone programs, according to Solar Builder.

The remaining two shift toward market pricing: one pairs tariff-based procurement with competitive price discovery, while the other runs competitive solicitations based on requests for proposal, per Solar Builder.

Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ultraviolette Automotive has introduced a 100-volt electrical architecture called VX-100, according to electrive.

The Bengaluru-based company launched the X-47 Venom, a crossover motorcycle, as the first application of the new architecture, electrive reported.

Ultraviolette says the VX-100 platform is built on three in-house-developed components: the SRB-11 battery pack, the Light Fury motor, and a new motor controller.

The SRB-11 holds 11 kWh of energy storage capacity and is described as the largest battery pack used in a two-wheeler in India, according to electrive.

Neuquén awarded eight blocks to expand exploration of the Vaca Muerta formation, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The round drew 20 bids from 10 bidders for eight of the 15 areas offered, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

Committed work programs include 11 horizontal wells to assess acreage outside the formation's main commercial developments, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The winning bids represent USD 230.1 million in exploration investment and USD 180.7 million in access bonuses, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

Thailand's Board of Investment has approved Toyota's THB 1.49 billion investment in its Ban Pho factory in Chachoengsao Province for production of the Hilux FCEV, according to electrive.

The Board of Investment said the Hilux FCEV will be the first hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle manufactured in Thailand.

Toyota is setting up a new production line to build the model at its Ban Pho plant, where it also makes the internal combustion, mild-hybrid, and battery electric variants of the ninth-generation Hilux, according to electrive. The company expects production of the hydrogen fuel-cell electric variant to begin in December 2027.

Turkey may reach agreements for acquisitions or further hydrocarbon exploration by the end of the year, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The moves form part of a target to produce 1 million barrels of oil and natural gas a day, OEDigital reported.

Speaking at the Turkey Energy Summit in Istanbul, Bayraktar said the country had a production capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent. Current planning has that figure reaching 550,000 to 600,000 by 2028, he said.

Howard Energy Partners has agreed to acquire Iron Horse Midstream, a portfolio company of Sixth Street, expanding its position in the Anadarko Basin, according to Oil & Gas Journal. The San Antonio, Texas company's move extends its midstream footprint in the region.

The deal covers about 400 miles of high- and low-pressure natural gas pipelines across Canadian, Caddo, and Grady counties in Oklahoma, Oil & Gas Journal reported. It also includes multiple compressor stations and the 120-acre Iron Horse processing complex, which has a capacity of 425 MMcfd of natural gas.

The acquisition is scheduled to close by yearend, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

Expensive gas in wholesale markets drove nearly 90% of the rise in UK household electricity bills since 2020, according to Carbon Brief.

The specialist outlet attributed the increase to a surge in wholesale costs linked to gas prices. Carbon Brief found that the same wholesale gas costs were behind 77% of the increase in UK household gas bills.

Across dual-fuel household energy bills, wholesale costs driven by expensive gas accounted for more than 80% of the rise since 2020, Carbon Brief reported.

Nexeon has closed a GBP 100 million funding round that includes GBP 52.6 million from the UK's National Wealth Fund, according to electrive.

The round also drew new backing from Korea Development Bank and Honda Xcelerator Ventures, electrive reported.

The National Wealth Fund financing will support a UK-based pilot manufacturing facility and research and development, according to electrive. It will also fund an expansion of Nexeon's advanced manufacturing technology unit and the creation of new skilled jobs.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced a conditional loan commitment of up to USD 5 billion to finance nuclear uprates and modernization across Constellation Energy's fleet in Illinois, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, according to the Energy Department.

The department said the modernization work is expected to add nearly 1.1 GW of electricity across the PJM Interconnection and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) regions. The commitment was issued through the department's Office of Energy Dominance Financing.

The projects are expected to add enough electricity to power more than 930,000 homes in Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and across the PJM and MISO regions, according to the department.

The conditional commitment signals the department's intent to provide a loan, but Constellation must satisfy technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the department enters definitive financing documents and funds the loan.

Singapore has adopted a new solar goal of 4 GW by 2035, layered on top of a prior 3 GW target for 2030, pv magazine reported.

As of October, the country counted 2.3 GW of solar in operation, and the Energy Market Authority (EMA) considers Singapore well positioned to meet its 2030 goal, according to pv magazine.

To lift deployment further, the EMA opened a tender pooling solar demand from government agencies across public sites, covering solar carports and building-integrated PV, pv magazine reported.

Alpha Omega Power (APO), a utility and independent power producer, has contracted Samsung SDI for 1 GWh of nickel cobalt aluminum (NCA) battery storage, with every cell and module built in the United States, pv magazine reported.

The order covers Samsung SDI's SBB 1.7 containerized storage units, destined for APO projects set to break ground in 2027.

Production will take place at Samsung SDI's StarPlus Energy (SPE) plant in Kokomo, Indiana, with the containers due for delivery before the close of 2026.

Counting the new order, APO has now committed to 1.5 GWh of storage from the manufacturer, building on a supply contract the two first struck in 2025.

Algeria has switched on a 300 MW solar project, according to pv magazine. The plant sits in the eastern province of El Oued and ranks as the country's largest operational PV project to date, pv magazine reported.

The project is owned by Sonelgaz, Algeria's state-owned electricity and gas utility, according to pv magazine.

The El Oued site forms part of the first phase of the Algerian government's national program for the development of renewable energy, which targets around 3.2 GW of renewables capacity, pv magazine reported.

More than ten non-binding offers have been submitted for Enerparc AG, according to ESS News, citing the company and provisional insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus, partner at the law firm BRL.

Enerparc and Denkhaus said a select group of bidders has been or will be chosen to advance to the second phase of the investor process, per ESS News. Those bidders will examine the company and its assets before submitting binding offers.

The sale of Enerparc's solar park portfolios, project pipeline and shares, including stakes in the non-insolvent subsidiaries Sunnic Lighthouse and Enerparc Service, is expected to be finalized in December 2026, according to ESS News.

National climate plans now point to global emissions falling about 6% below 2019 levels by 2035, half the 12% projected in last year's update, according to Climate Home News reporting on a UN assessment.

The current figure draws on the nationally determined contributions of 154 countries covering about 71% of global emissions, according to Climate Home News. Last year's 12% estimate was based on 113 countries.

Climate Home News reported that the US exit from the Paris Agreement and weaker new pledges worsened the outlook.

The assessment measures progress against the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

A majority of Australians believe the country should consider nuclear power, according to a poll reported by World Nuclear News. Of 1,550 people surveyed between October 6 and October 12, 63% said Australia should consider nuclear power.

The poll found that 60% believe nuclear power will be part of Australia's future energy mix, while 59% support developing nuclear power to strengthen the nation's energy sovereignty.

Support crossed party lines, according to Australia for Nuclear. The poll found 48% of Labor voters and 44% of Green voters believe nuclear should be considered.

Expectations that nuclear will form part of the future energy mix were higher among some groups. According to the poll, 54% of Labor voters and 70% of Coalition voters expect nuclear power to form part of the nation's future energy mix.

Lawmakers in the US Senate are weighing legislation that would make environmental permitting faster for infrastructure projects, according to Common Dreams.

Writing in Common Dreams, the authors call the measure a handout to fossil fuel and data center developers, arguing it narrows how much say affected residents get as those projects grow.

Under the bill, the room for communities and for state, local, and tribal governments to contest fossil fuel and data center projects shrinks, the authors write.

One provision, Section 1202, pares back the authority that states and tribes now hold under the Clean Water Act to certify that federally permitted projects meet their own water quality standards, according to Common Dreams.

Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi met Senegal's Minister of Energy and Petroleum El Hadji Abdourahmane Diouf in Moscow, according to The Peninsula.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 28th Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, The Peninsula reported. The ministers discussed energy relations and cooperation between Qatar and Senegal.

A*STAR, Singapore's public sector research agency, and Amogy said the company will run its ammonia-cracking technology at the Low-Carbon Technology Translational Testbed, backed by the Singapore Economic Development Board.

The installation is scheduled for 2027, when Amogy plans to run the module under industrial operating conditions. The unit is sized to make up to one ton of hydrogen a day.

Amogy will supply its reformer and catalyst systems and take charge of project execution, according to the two parties. The company and A*STAR also agreed to jointly develop lower-cost catalysts aimed at cutting the cost of ammonia-based hydrogen production.

Maharashtra has waived the land transfer fee for renewable energy projects, according to the Economic Times. Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the move would eliminate the additional financial burden on companies, help save project costs and give greater impetus to large investments in the green energy sector in Maharashtra.

The government stipulated that the land must be used exclusively for the development of renewable energy projects to qualify for the exemption.

According to the Times of India, if a company that benefits from the waiver later uses the land for residential, commercial or other purposes, or sells it to a third party, the exemption will be cancelled. The full transfer fee will then be recovered with interest.