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Fraunhofer Team Validates Megawatt Charging Without Upgrading the Grid

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems have demonstrated that megawatt-scale charging for heavy electric vehicles can work without reinforcing the grid connection — a result confirmed during trials in Freiburg under the HV-MELA-BAT research programme. Partners included Motion Control & Power Electronics and Mercedes-Benz Energy. The core challenge the project addressed is […]

UK Solar Fire Rate Outpaces Installation Growth, Insurers Warn

The number of fires involving photovoltaic systems in the United Kingdom is growing more than twice as fast as the solar market itself, according to data from industrial insurer QBE. Between 2022 and 2025, fire service call-outs linked to PV installations rose 133%, while the installed base expanded by just 52% over the same period. […]

Ørsted Backs Germany’s Return to Two-Sided CfDs for Offshore Wind

Ørsted’s chief executive has given a broadly positive assessment of Germany’s draft tender rules for an upcoming 2.5 GW offshore wind auction, calling the reintroduction of two-sided contracts for difference as a support mechanism a welcome and long-delayed development. Speaking on the company’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Rasmus Errboe told analysts that Germany represents a […]

France Extends C3IV Green Industry Tax Credit by Three Years

France has renewed its C3IV investment tax credit for green manufacturing for a further three years, formalised in the Official Journal on 12 August 2026. The extension is part of the country’s broader reindustrialisation strategy, aimed at reinforcing France’s standing as a European leader in decarbonisation technologies. The scheme covers four sectors: Battery manufacturing Wind […]

Battery Inverters Take on Grid-Stability Roles as Thermal Plants Retire

Power grids are losing something that once went largely unnoticed: the physical inertia of large spinning turbines. For decades, that rotational mass acted as a natural buffer against sudden frequency swings. As coal and gas plants are decommissioned, the buffer shrinks — and grids become markedly more sensitive to any generation-load imbalance. Engineers at ABB […]

Data Center Load Swings Expose Grid Vulnerabilities at PJM

A fault on a 230-kilovolt transmission line in Dominion Energy’s service territory triggered the largest single load-loss event in PJM’s recorded history this July. The regional grid operator shed 3.8 gigawatts of demand in two waves, pulling total system load from roughly 100,000 megawatts down to 96,205 megawatts — a 3.8 percent drop. Dispatchers contained […]

Hybrid Renewable Deals Gain Ground in Europe as Solar-Only Contracts Retreat

Contracts pairing renewable generation with battery storage have moved from the margins to the mainstream of Europe’s clean-energy market. According to data analytics platform LevelTen Energy, hybrid project proposals now represent close to 30% of all offers tracked in its marketplace — up sharply from a period when such structures were a rarity. The shift […]

Europe Drives Global EV Growth as North America Retreats

Global electric vehicle sales rose 9 percent in July compared with the same month last year, reaching roughly 1.85 million battery-electric and plug-in hybrid units, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Year-to-date volumes have now crossed 11.5 million vehicles worldwide. Europe accounted for much of the momentum, with 450,000 units sold across the region. France led […]

France’s Solar Panel Collection Climbs 40% as Recycling Sector Faces a Capacity Test

France collected 13,760 tonnes of end-of-life solar panels last year, a 40% increase over the prior year, according to Soren, the organisation responsible for managing photovoltaic equipment through its lifecycle in the country. Of the more than 12,700 tonnes that were processed, roughly 10,600 tonnes completed a full material recovery cycle, returning glass, aluminium and […]

Battery-as-a-subscription: a low- or no-money-down VPP model for US distribution grids

How do you turn a home battery into a full distribution-grid asset when the homeowner will not pay thousands of dollars up front to install one? Several US energy companies have launched subscription models for home storage that remove the upfront barrier. Startup Base Power offers Texas households a backup subscription for a single upfront […]

Four banks put €234 million behind a Sicilian agrivoltaics project

€234.1 million, four major lenders and one Sicilian site: European Energy says its Vizzini project shows agrivoltaics can move from development into large-scale construction and financing. The company reached financial close on the 225 MW plant with financing secured for borrower Sun Project s.r.l. The money came from NORD/LB, Societe Generale, Crédit Agricole CIB and […]

US solar shifts from tax breaks to long-term contracts to fund new capacity

Who pays for new generating capacity once the federal investment tax credit winds down? Increasingly the answer is market discipline: power purchase agreements are taking over from state support and moving the financial burden onto corporate buyers. The phase-out is reshaping developers’ financial models. Research firm Enverus Intelligence Research reviewed more than three thousand US […]

Pledged investment in European biomethane reaches €36 billion

Financial commitments to new renewable-gas projects across Europe have grown by €8 billion in a year, according to the European Biogas Association, which records a rise of nearly thirty percent in planned investment against the previous period. If every announced project is built, they would add about nine billion cubic metres of new annual capacity […]

Greece’s PPC picks up a 2 GW renewables pipeline in Poland and Hungary

Greek state-owned power company PPC is buying ABO Energy’s Hungarian and Polish subsidiaries, taking on the project pipeline, operating assets and 38 staff. The deal hands PPC control of a portfolio of roughly two gigawatts. It covers five operating solar plants totalling 82 MW plus one 17 MW project nearing completion. Financial terms were not […]

Norway moves to halve the time it takes to build new power grids

Norway has unveiled a package of measures aimed at speeding up both renewable build-out and grid expansion. The plan streamlines project assessment and caps the handling of applications to connect to the grid at two years, the bet being that thinner bureaucracy and shorter approvals move projects along. The stated aim is to halve how […]

August 12 eclipse puts high-solar grids in Europe and the US to a live stress test

A solar eclipse on August 12 will briefly pull thousands of megawatt-hours of generation off the grid and push balancing reserves hard. For system operators running high shares of renewables, the natural event doubles as a real-world drill in how fast reserve capacity can respond. The shadow travels from Siberia across the Arctic toward Spain […]

Ireland’s LEAP: data centers from 10 MW must self-generate 80% of their power

Data centers in Ireland of 10 MW and above now have to cover 80% of their own demand from newly built renewable capacity. Under a scheme called the Large Energy User Action Plan, or LEAP, facilities of 10 MW and above must meet the bulk of their load through new local clean generation and storage. […]

A 35,000-acre Greek wildfire triggers a nationwide review of wind farms

A fire that burned through 35,000 acres, ignited by a private overhead power line, has led Greek prosecutors to arrest three people and order a sweeping inspection of every comparable site in the country. The disaster in western Attica was traced to the private grid of a wind station whose construction was completed only in […]

Germany’s 6 GW of hydrogen reservations: real demand or hype?

What do 6 GW of reserved capacity in Germany’s future hydrogen network actually mean, if the reservations themselves are not long-term contracts? Germany’s gas industry reported nearly 6 GW of paid bookings in the planned grid and framed it as a sign of a fast-developing market. The figure breaks down into 2.7 GW of entry […]

Aravana Energy Proposes 22 MW Wind Farm and Battery Complex in Southern Ukraine

Aravana Energy LLC is at the public consultation stage for a hybrid renewable energy facility in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region. According to documentation filed with the national Environmental Impact Assessment registry and reported by ExPro, the developer intends to construct a 22 MW wind farm paired with a 120 MWh battery energy storage system within […]