The Hidden Bottleneck Slowing DER Interconnection—And What Utilities Can Do About It
Utilities are feeling a new bottleneck in distributed energy resource (DER) interconnection: the time engineers spend turning raw field data into structured, analysis‑ready inputs. While drones, LiDAR and other reality‑capture tools have accelerated data collection, converting that imagery into pole models still requires 20‑30 minutes per structure, inflating review queues. Early adopters of computer‑vision platforms report that automating this step cuts preparation time, reduces repeat site visits, and speeds up engineering decisions. The article outlines practical steps utilities can take today to standardize and automate data preparation, unlocking faster DER integration without massive system overhauls.
Billie Eilish’s Climate Fund Supports Solar Project for Maryland Affordable Housing
A nonprofit coalition installed more than 270 kW of solar capacity on 40 affordable‑housing townhomes in Montgomery County, Maryland. The project, financed by RE‑volv and the Montgomery County Green Bank and built by GreenBrilliance, is expected to cut energy expenses by...
Duke Energy’s Nuclear Playbook: Three Horizons, One Strategy
Duke Energy’s 11‑unit nuclear fleet posted a record‑high capacity factor above 97% in 2025, underscoring the reliability of its core generation assets. The company is pursuing 80‑year license extensions for all reactors and a 300 MW uprate program that adds capacity...
Data Centers Are Cutting Power to Homes, Driving Homeowners to Solar and Batteries
A Nevada utility announced it will divert 75% of Lake Tahoe’s electricity to AI‑driven data centers, forcing 49,000 residents to find new power by May 2027. Data centers already consume 22% of Nevada’s electricity and could rise to 35% by 2030,...
Exus Renewables Advances Proprietary Monitoring Software for Solar, Wind
Exus Renewables North America introduced Anomaly+, a new module in its ExusIQ+ suite that applies machine‑learning‑driven predictive maintenance to solar and wind assets. The tool monitors performance at the combiner‑box level, creating baselines within hours and flagging anomalies before they...
Large-Scale PV Could Intensify Water Stress in China’s Tarim Basin
Chinese researchers used a high‑resolution 9 km coupled climate‑vegetation model to examine the impact of utility‑scale photovoltaic (PV) deployment across the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin. Their simulations, which assumed the basin could be fully covered with panels, showed surface...
Avaada Energy Expands UP Footprint with Solar, Battery Backed Power Projects
Avaada Energy is adding an 85 MW solar plant in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, with construction slated to start this year and commissioning by 2027. The project involves a $30 million investment on 200 acres of leased government land and will supply renewable...
JinkoSolar, Masdar Sign 2GW PV Module Supply Agreement for RTC Project
JinkoSolar and Masdar have signed a supply agreement for 2 GW of Tiger Neo photovoltaic modules, using N‑type TOPCon technology, for Abu Dhabi’s round‑the‑clock (RTC) renewable energy project. The RTC complex will pair a 5.2 GW solar PV plant with a 19 GWh...
South Africa’s Eskom Resorts to Grid-Scale Gravity Energy Storage
South Africa’s state‑owned utility Eskom has signed a strategic development agreement with Energy Vault to pilot a 25 MW/100 MWh grid‑scale gravity energy storage system at the aging Hendrina coal plant. The deal also creates a framework for up to 4 GWh of...
Kansas City Chiefs Stadium Scores Green Building Certification
The Kansas City Chiefs announced that GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium has earned LEED v4.1 Gold certification for existing buildings, marking a major sustainability milestone for the NFL franchise. The certification reflects a 12‑month performance review that measured energy, water,...
Solar Capture Factors Fall Across Europe as Negative Price Hours Surge in Key Markets
Solar capture factors across Europe’s major markets fell sharply in April 2026, with France’s rate plunging 75% to 0.10 and Germany’s dropping to 0.26. The decline coincided with a surge in negative‑price hours, rising from 90 to 139 in France...
Mid-Sized Solar Could Help Bring Down Electricity Bills in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is grappling with rising electricity demand from data centers and limited new capacity, prompting interest in mid-sized solar projects that sit between utility farms and rooftop arrays. Around 2,100 such projects are in the pipeline, including a recent 4.9 MW...
Bridge Data Centres Completes Pilot Using EcoCeres’ Waste-Based Biodiesel as Backup Power
Bridge Data Centres (BDC) completed a pilot in Asia‑Pacific using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) from EcoCeres as a backup fuel for its data centre generators. The waste‑based biofuel matched diesel performance while cutting greenhouse‑gas emissions by up to 90 percent....
Balcony Solar Advances In Colorado As New Legislation Removes Barriers
Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed HB26‑1007, a law that removes utility fees and HOA restrictions on plug‑in balcony solar systems. The legislation, effective Jan 1 2026, caps installations at under 2 kW and requires devices to include anti‑islanding features. Utilities must provide approved...
Hydrogen Transportation After HVS: Narrow Niches, Big Subsidies, Long Pilots
Hydrogen Vehicle Systems (HVS) raised roughly £55 million ($70 million) in private and public funds, including £30 million ($38 million) from EG Group and £25 million ($32 million) of UK government support, before entering administration and selling its assets for just £145,000 ($184,000). An analysis of...
Krohne Expands Focus on Liquid Cooling for Data Centers with New Center of Excellence
Krohne announced the launch of a Center of Excellence in Beverly, Massachusetts to specialize in magnetic flow meters for data‑center liquid cooling. The move aligns with a market projected to grow over 20% annually and reach roughly $8 billion by 2031,...
Star Catcher Industries Nabs $65M Series A
Star Catcher Industries announced a $65 million Series A round, led by B Capital with co‑leadership from Shield Capital and Cerberus Ventures. The new capital brings the company’s total funding to $88 million. Star Catcher is developing the first space‑based power grid that...
Western Digital Says It Can Increase Your HDD Capacity and Cut Power Usage Thanks to a 'Clever Way' Of Spinning...
Western Digital unveiled a power‑optimized HDD technology that quickly spins drives down when idle, cutting energy use while keeping latency low. The approach creates a middle storage tier between SSDs and archival HDDs, letting data centers pack more drives within...
Microsoft's $1 Billion AI Data Center Will 'Switch Off Half of Kenya'
Microsoft and UAE‑based G42 announced a $1 billion AI‑focused data center in Kenya’s Olkaria geothermal zone, but negotiations have stalled over electricity commitments. The first phase would draw 100 MW, roughly 3% of Kenya’s 3,000 MW installed capacity, while a full‑scale gigawatt build...
€200 Million Siruai Renewable Energy Project Launches in Kenya, First of Its Kind in East Africa
Meridiam and Craftskill Energy have launched the Siruai Renewable Energy Project in Kenya, a €200 million ($218 million) investment that pairs 100 MW of wind capacity with a 50 MWh battery storage system. The hybrid wind‑storage facility, located near the Kipeto Wind Farm in...
Fluence Energy Signs Master Supply Agreements with Two ‘Major’ Hyperscalers
Fluence Energy announced master supply agreements with two major, unnamed hyperscalers, marking early progress on its data‑center strategy. Despite a Q1 net loss of $29 million and revenue below forecasts, the company reported a record $5.6 billion order backlog, up 11% and...
Delta Electronics and the Rise of the AI Infrastructure Stack: How Chip-to-Grid Thinking Is Reshaping AI Data Center Design
Delta Electronics is repositioning from a component supplier to a systems architect for AI data centers, championing a "chip‑to‑grid" approach that puts power and thermal design ahead of compute. The company is driving the adoption of 800 VDC high‑voltage DC distribution...
Siemens Plant Goes Carbon Neutral with Solar Microgrid
Siemens has installed a 1.25 MW solar carport and a 3.9 MWh battery storage system at its Wendell, North Carolina plant, creating an on‑site microgrid. The system makes the facility carbon‑neutral and trims grid consumption by roughly 2.5 MWh each year. It also...
Ethiopia Energy Project: China’s Ming Yang Secures License for $15 Billion Renewables
China’s Ming Yang Smart Energy Group secured a near‑$15 billion renewable‑energy investment license from Ethiopia’s Investment Commission, expanding an earlier $10 billion deal. Phase One allocates $7.47 billion to build 8.4 GW of solar‑wind capacity across South Omo, Afar and Somali regions. Phase Two earmarks $7.3 billion for...
GameChange, Raptor Maps Partner on Automated Solar Plant Monitoring System
GameChange Solar and Raptor Maps have launched an integrated monitoring system that links GameChange’s GeniusVision tracker‑monitoring software with Raptor Maps’ Sentry drone inspection platform. The closed‑loop solution automatically dispatches drones when tracker data indicates a problem, then feeds inspection results back to...
Amazon Turns to Geothermal, Solar and Storage to Power Nevada Data Center Growth
Amazon is financing a 700 MW carbon‑free power portfolio in Nevada, comprising 100 MW of geothermal generation from Zanskar and a 600 MW solar project paired with 600 MW of battery storage from Primergy. A 20‑year geothermal power purchase agreement will deliver firm, round‑the‑clock...
EcoVadis, Workiva Partner on Scope 3 Data Solutions
EcoVadis and Workiva announced a strategic partnership that links EcoVadis' Carbon Data Network with Workiva's Carbon reporting platform. The integration delivers verified supplier‑level Scope 3 emissions data directly into Workiva's audit‑grade solution, replacing industry averages. Companies can now combine carbon metrics...
Star Catcher Company Profile: Space Power Infrastructure for the Next Orbital Economy
Star Catcher Industries, a Jacksonville‑based space‑infrastructure startup, is developing the first orbital power‑as‑a‑service network that beams concentrated solar energy to satellites using their existing solar arrays. The company announced a $65 million Series A on May 12, 2026, bringing total capital to $88 million...
Germany to Invest One Billion Euros in Electric Truck Charging Infrastructure
Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport will invest €1 billion (≈$1.09 billion) over four years to build charging infrastructure for heavy‑duty electric trucks. The funding covers grid connections, battery storage, and load‑management systems and is open to both fleet operators and public providers....
Improving Energy Transition Assessments with Regional Pathways
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is piloting a Transition Pathways Repository for Southeast Asia’s power sector, cataloguing nearly 60 region‑specific scenarios from 17 publications. The repository reveals a richer than expected pathway landscape, with most models delivering granular technology‑level capacity and...
Mingyang Gets Go-Ahead for Colossal Wind and Green Hydrogen Project
Chinese wind turbine leader Mingyang has been granted a $15 bn investment licence to develop a massive renewable‑energy complex in Ethiopia. The first phase will deliver 8.4 GW of power—5.4 GW from wind and 2.8 GW from solar—at a cost of $7.47 bn, expanding Ethiopia’s...
Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence for Carbon Emissions Monitoring and ForecastingA Systematic Review of Smart Environmental Accounting Systems
A systematic review of 100 peer‑reviewed studies finds that Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks enable real‑time carbon emissions monitoring, while artificial intelligence (AI) models can reliably forecast emission trends. The analysis highlights strong performance in data collection and prediction...
Hyperscalers Driving Record Clean Energy Deals: CEBA CEO
U.S. corporate clean‑energy procurement reached a record 27 GW in 2025, driven largely by hyperscalers Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft. CEBA reports that these four firms account for roughly 75% of the new capacity, each securing 4‑6 GW of wind, solar, nuclear...
Electric Bus Depots Used To Support UK National Grid
First Bus, the UK’s largest electric‑bus operator with over 1,400 zero‑emission vehicles, is piloting depot‑level vehicle‑to‑grid services that discharge stored battery power back to the grid when demand spikes. The scheme captures excess renewable generation, particularly curtailed wind power from...
Inch Cape Partners College on Wind Skills
Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dundee & Angus College to develop offshore wind skills in Scotland. The partnership will support hands‑on training at the Montrose Port Skills Academy, with Inch Cape supplying a...
Multilayer Device Delivers Solar and Raindrop Energy Harvesting
Researchers at Spain’s Institute of Materials Science of Seville have unveiled a multilayer device that merges perovskite solar cells with a drop‑driven triboelectric nanogenerator. A fluorinated polymer (CFₓ) coating protects the perovskite layer, offers >90% optical transparency, and serves as...
Stratos 9GW AI Data Center Faces Referendum Challenge in Box Elder County
Developers of the Stratos Project, a proposed 9‑gigawatt AI data center and energy megacampus in Box Elder County, Utah, have secured county approval but now face a referendum challenge from local residents. The 40,000‑acre campus, backed by O’Leary Digital and...
Nscale’s $790M Financing Marks a Shift to Utility-Style Deals
Norwegian AI infrastructure developer Nscale has secured a $790 million financing package from a consortium of Nordic banks, including an accordion facility that could fund a 115 MW expansion of its Narvik data‑center campus. The loan structure mirrors utility‑style deals, reflecting lenders’...
EU Doubles Down on Carbon Tax for International Flights
The European Commission announced it will push ahead with extending its Emissions Trading System to all flights departing the EU, including long‑haul routes to non‑European destinations. A review slated for July aims to ensure a level playing field and could...
Wavepiston Files Permits for Gran Canaria Wave Energy Pilot, Signs MoU in Iceland
Danish wave‑energy developer Wavepiston and Spanish partner Bluenewables have filed all required permits for a pilot wave‑energy farm on Gran Canaria’s northern coast, marking a key step toward commercial deployment. The firm also signed a memorandum of understanding with Icelandic...
Alsym Energy Announces 500MWh Sodium-Ion Strategic Partnership in California
Alsym Energy and Juniper Energy have sealed a strategic partnership to deploy 500 MWh of sodium‑ion battery energy storage systems across California, focusing on the Mojave Desert and other high‑temperature sites. The Na‑ion technology operates up to 50 °C, sidestepping the shutdown...
Electric Airliners – No, Don’t Laugh, They Will Soon Start to Make Sense
In April 2026 Norway’s aviation partners announced test flights of Electra’s nine‑seat hybrid‑electric Ultra Short regional aircraft, slated for 2027. The aircraft can carry nine passengers over 1,100 nautical miles with a 45‑minute reserve and has already won an FAA...
WOG Tech Sets up Research Centre
WOG Technologies inaugurated a 7,000‑sq‑ft Research, Development & Technology Centre in Gurugram’s Udyog Vihar. The facility houses wet, bio, dry and chromatography laboratories plus a modular pilot effluent treatment plant to accelerate commercialization of water, wastewater and renewable‑energy technologies. At...
NeuConnect Reaches Next Milestone – First Direct Power Link Between Germany and the UK Takes Shape
The €2.8 billion NeuConnect project, now about $3.0 billion, has received all 14 Siemens Energy transformers, marking the start of construction for Europe’s first direct electricity link between Germany and the UK. The HVDC interconnector will have a 1.4 GW capacity, enough to...
DNV Sees Clean Hydrogen Growing 100-Fold by 2060
DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook 2026 projects clean hydrogen production to expand roughly 100‑fold by 2060, backed by about $3.2 trillion in cumulative investment. China is expected to generate 35% of the new hydrogen capacity, leveraging its electrolyzer industry and renewable growth....
China’s Ming Yang Secures $14.1 Billion, 2.8GW Ethiopia Solar Investment
Chinese renewable energy maker Ming Yang Smart Energy Group has secured a $14.1 billion investment licence from Ethiopia to develop a massive clean‑energy project. The first phase will allocate $7.47 billion to build 8.4 GW of renewable capacity, including 2.8 GW of solar PV...
Crown Estate Opens £15m Wind Fund
The Crown Estate has launched a £15 million (~$19 million) funding round to boost the UK offshore wind supply chain. The third Supply Chain Accelerator offers match funding of £250,000‑£2 million ($0.3‑$2.5 million) for early‑stage projects covering port infrastructure and both fixed and floating...
Deadline Extended for Innovation Program Targeting Offshore Energy Solutions
The Offshore Renewable Energy Sustainability Alliance (ORESA) has pushed back the application deadline for its second innovation call to May 20, giving SMEs extra time to submit proposals. The call seeks technologies at Technology Readiness Levels 4‑6 across offshore wind, wave,...
Kamoa Copper Expands Green Energy with New 30 MW Solar Deal
Kamoa Copper and Green World Energie have signed a second Power Purchase Agreement for an additional 30 MW of solar capacity, expanding the Phase II renewable project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deal brings the total installed solar capacity to...