Today's Energy Pulse
Scania pilots megawatt‑scale V2G for heavy‑duty electric trucks
Scania demonstrated one of the first vehicle‑to‑grid systems for heavy‑duty electric trucks using the Megawatt Charging System (MCS). The pilot showed bi‑directional power flow, allowing trucks parked at depots to feed electricity back to the grid, with real‑time communication between the truck, charger and energy‑management platform enabling dynamic charging and discharging. The test marks a step toward integrating large‑capacity EVs into grid balancing.
Also developing:
Energy Insiders Podcast: Budget’s Fossil Fail, and How to Fix the CIS
The latest Energy Insiders podcast examines the Australian federal budget’s disappointing support for fossil fuels and the resulting setbacks for clean energy projects. Host Tim Buckley critiques the budget’s reduced renewable subsidies and highlights the under‑funded Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) that aims to spur new generation capacity. He proposes a redesign of the CIS to attract private capital and restore policy certainty. The episode is sponsored by clean‑tech financiers Pylon and Evergen, underscoring the growing role of private funding in the energy transition.
SoliTek Launches Fully Automated PV Module Line in Lithuania
Inside PV Manufacturing: SoliTek’s new fully automated module line in Lithuania #energysky -- via pv magazine global: https://t.co/L2dEaToxte https://t.co/qPZfZtjDFQ
Keyera Closes $5.3 B Acquisition of Plains’ Canadian NGL Business Amid Competition Review
Keyera Corp. has completed its $5.3 billion acquisition of Plains' Canadian natural‑gas liquids (NGL) business, despite a Competition Commissioner filing that could lead to a Tribunal review. The deal expands Keyera's integrated NGL platform and is funded in part by a...
Western Australia Battery Storage Supplies Record 37.2% of Peak Demand
On May 9, utility‑scale battery storage in Western Australia supplied 37.2% of the South West Interconnected System’s peak demand, the highest penetration recorded for an isolated grid. The achievement follows two years of rapid capacity expansion and is driven by federal...
Germany Approves 11 GW of New Gas‑Fired Power Plants to Guard Against Renewable Shortfalls
Germany's cabinet, led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, approved a plan to tender 11 GW of new gas‑fired power capacity by summer 2026. The plants will be hydrogen‑ready after 2045 and are meant to plug expected supply gaps as renewable output fluctuates.
EU Commission Releases Catalogue to Cut Gas Use by Up to 15 Bcm Annually
The European Commission today published a web‑based catalogue of national practices that can help EU members cut gas demand by 10‑15 billion cubic metres and oil consumption by 15‑20 million tonnes each year. The initiative, presented by Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen at the...
NV Energy Cuts Residential Power, Redirects 75% to Data Centers, Sparking Solar‑Battery Surge
NV Energy announced it will stop supplying power to 49,000 Lake Tahoe residents after May 2027, diverting roughly three‑quarters of the area's electricity to new AI data centers. The move forces homeowners to seek independent solar and storage solutions as...
Australia's Biggest Solar Adds Early Battery to Curb Duck Curve
Australia’s largest solar project changes shape as owner brings forward big battery to beat solar duck #energysky -- via Renew Economy: https://t.co/RWCCtTZ6Pv https://t.co/FCSWZXykrk
China’s EcoFlow to Sell Solar Panels in British Supermarkets Soon
EcoFlow, a Chinese energy‑storage firm, will begin selling plug‑in solar panels through UK supermarkets such as Lidl and Iceland within months. The move aligns with the British government’s plan to install 1.5 million energy‑efficient homes as part of its net‑zero 2050...
Siemens Hits Carbon‑Neutral Milestone at North Carolina Plant with 1.25‑MW Solar‑Battery Microgrid
Siemens announced that its Wendell, North Carolina manufacturing site achieved carbon neutrality by deploying a 1.25‑MW solar carport paired with a 3.9‑MWh battery storage system. The on‑site microgrid cuts grid draw by 2.5 MWh annually and keeps production running during outages,...
Developer of Australia’s Most Powerful Battery Gets Green Light for New Four-Hour Project
Akaysha Energy and BZ Renewables have secured full state and federal approval for the Glenrowan battery energy storage system, a 400 MW, four‑hour (1,600 MWh) project in north‑east Victoria. The EPBC agency classified the development as “not a controlled action,” clearing the...
Germany Takes New Run at Industrial Emissions With CFDs
Germany is rolling out a new carbon contracts‑for‑difference (CCFD) scheme worth €5 billion (≈$5.9 billion) to accelerate industrial decarbonisation after its first CCFD program proved undersubscribed. The initiative focuses on high‑emitting sectors such as steel, chemicals and cement, offering price guarantees for...
Baseload Solar Power Moves From Dream to Reality
A new wave of hybrid power systems that pair solar photovoltaic or wind farms with battery storage is proving capable of delivering continuous, round‑the‑clock electricity. These configurations challenge the traditional definition of baseload power, which has long excluded intermittent renewables....
IEA Sees Bigger Drop in Demand, Warns on Inventories
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has sharply cut its 2026 global oil‑demand forecast, citing a deeper, longer‑lasting economic impact from the recent Middle‑East supply crisis. The agency now expects demand to fall by an additional 1.5 million barrels per day compared...
Hitachi, X LABS Team Up on GW‑Scale Energy Parks for AI Data Centers
Hitachi Ltd and X LABS LLC announced a strategic collaboration to develop gigawatt‑scale energy parks offered as Energy‑as‑a‑Service for AI‑intensive data centers across the United States, targeting a first deployment in the early 2030s. The partnership combines Hitachi’s grid‑stabilization technology...
Senegal Targets $7.5B Gas Project to End Energy Subsidies
Senegal’s state‑owned oil firm Petrosen announced that developing the Yakaar‑Teranga offshore gas field will require $7.5 billion, with a $2.5 billion first phase to produce 300 million cubic feet per day for domestic use and a $5 billion downstream expansion for fertilizer, petrochemical and...
Cherry Street Energy Powers Talent Consultancy with Solar
Cherry Street Energy installs solar project for international talent consultancy #energysky -- via Solar Power World: https://t.co/jwHbJRh41e
Cherry Street Energy Installs Solar Project for International Talent Consultancy
Cherry Street Energy financed and installed a 112.89‑kW rooftop solar system at Insight Global’s Richmond, Virginia office, bringing the project online in early spring. The talent‑consulting firm signed a 20‑year power purchase agreement, committing to purchase the electricity the array...
Wright and Burgum: Trump's Energy Tiger Team
President Trump has formed an "Energy Tiger Team" headed by Wright and Burgum to overhaul federal energy policy. The group’s mandate is to reverse what Wyoming Senator John Barrasso describes as the Biden administration’s "regulatory rampage" that has driven up food...
Coal: China Produces More Than Everybody Else
China produced 4.78 billion tonnes of coal in 2024, representing 51.7% of global output, according to the 2025 Statistical Review of World Energy. This single nation outproduces the rest of the world combined. The next five producers—India, Indonesia, the United States...
Huge Opportunity in Oil and Natural Gas Stocks
Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, told CNBC that investors remain under‑exposed to oil and natural‑gas equities despite a favorable supply‑demand outlook. He highlighted that energy stocks have underperformed the broader market, creating a valuation gap. Thummel pointed...
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...
E15 Bill Expands, Not Eliminates, Ethanol Mandate
"The E15 bill isn't a mandate." No, it's the *expansion* of a mandate. The ethanol mandate requires more ethanol than we can use. The Clean Air Act (CAA) serves as a check on it. So do Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs). Loosening the CAA and...
Crude Oil Slides Sharply As Trump-Xi Meeting Sparks Expectations Of End To Gulf War
Crude oil prices slipped on Wednesday, with WTI June futures down $1.04 to $101.14 a barrel, as the Trump‑Xi summit heightened expectations that the U.S.–Iran standoff could end. The dip partially offset gains from the prior two sessions, but market...
This Week in PowerBites: Grid-Scale Storage Boom, V2G Initiative, and APEC Standouts
U.S. domestic production of grid‑scale battery storage now satisfies the entire renewable generation capacity demand, positioning storage to provide about 28% of new U.S. power capacity. California’s Energy Commission released a roadmap detailing technical, economic and regulatory actions needed to...
Daily Energy Report
U.S. crude oil inventories slipped 4.3 million barrels last week, bringing total stocks to 452.9 million barrels, while gasoline supplies fell 4.1 million barrels to 215.7 million. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was drawn down by 8.6 million barrels, leaving 384.1 million barrels on hand. Distillate stocks...
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...
Microalgae Can Photosynthetically Produce and Secrete Biofuel Precursors
Researchers at Saitama University engineered a cyanobacterial strain of Synechococcus elongatus that photosynthetically produces and secretes free fatty acids, key precursors for sustainable aviation and diesel fuels. By disabling the native Aas gene and overexpressing an endogenous efflux transporter plus...
The Ionic Path to All-Solid-State Batteries
All‑solid‑state batteries (ASSBs) are emerging as safer alternatives to liquid‑electrolyte cells, but ion‑transport resistance remains a bottleneck. A team at Osaka Metropolitan University showed that mixing solid‑electrolyte particles of varied sizes reduces electrode tortuosity, creating shorter ion pathways. Using lithium...
Hormuz Crisis May Spark First Post-Pandemic Oil Demand Drop
IEA Warns Hormuz Crisis Could Trigger First Global Oil Demand Contraction Since Pandemic. Trump’s Iran War and the Strait of Hormuz. https://t.co/j9HhjsJNS2
Panthalassa Raises $140 Million Led by Peter Thiel to Build Wave‑Powered AI Compute Centers
Panthalassa, the ocean‑energy startup founded by Garth Sheldon‑Coulson and Brian Moffat, closed a $140 million financing round led by Peter Thiel. The capital will fund autonomous floating nodes that turn wave motion into electricity for on‑site AI inference, bypassing traditional grid...
Activ8 Energies and SSE Airtricity Launch All-Island Funded Solar Initiative Worth up to €200 Million to Support Businesses
Activ8 Energies and SSE Airtricity have unveiled a €200 million (≈$218 million) all‑island solar programme that finances on‑site solar PV installations for Irish businesses at no upfront cost. Companies will purchase the generated electricity through long‑term Power Purchase Agreements, securing a fixed...
Follow This Proposal at Equinor Backed by 21% of Independent Shareholders
A shareholder resolution urging Equinor to continue Barents Sea exploration has secured the support of 21% of independent shareholders, with an additional 9% of non‑state investors voting in favor. The proposal arrives as the European Union intensifies pressure on Arctic...
Zero: Electricity Will Power a Globally Stable Era (Podcast)
Bloomberg’s Zero podcast features host Akshat Rathi speaking with Gerald Butts, chairman of Eurasia Group and former chief of staff to Canada’s prime minister. The episode examines how the current energy shock—fuelled by wars and disrupted supply chains—is reshaping investor and...
OPEC+ Data Deck (May 2026)
The United Arab Emirates announced it will leave OPEC effective May 1, 2026, making this the final OPEC+ Data Deck that includes its production figures. In April, OPEC+ quota‑participating crude output fell 1,625 kbpd to 26,558 kbpd, marking a 35‑year low for the...
Global Oil Inventories Falling at Record Pace Amid Iran War; US Producer Price Inflation Hits Four-Year High – as It...
The International Energy Agency reported that global oil inventories fell by 129 million barrels in March and another 117 million barrels in April, a record draw caused by supply losses after the Iran‑Israel conflict shut the Strait of Hormuz. The agency now...
ReconAfrica Advances Kavango West 1X Production Testing in Namibia
ReconAfrica, together with NAMCOR and BW Energy, is moving forward with downhole production testing on the Kavango West 1X well in Namibia, targeting a start before the end of May. The test will assess six optimized zones across roughly 420 m of...
Sinopec Reports 235 Bcm Reserves at China’s First Ultra-Deep Shale Gas Field
Sinopec has received official approval for 235.7 billion cubic metres of proven reserves at the Ziyang Dongfeng shale gas field in Sichuan, marking China’s first ultra‑deep shale gas field with reserves over 100 Bcm. The Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation lies at depths of 4,500‑5,200 m,...
Angola’s Block 2/05 Advances with Successful Espadarte Appraisal Well
Etu Energias and partners completed drilling, completion and testing of the Espadarte 7ST2 appraisal well in Angola’s Block 2/05. The extended‑reach well intersected eight productive intervals with 175 ft net thickness and delivered stabilized flow rates of 2,000‑2,500 bopd, free of water. Reservoir analyses...
Petralon Boosts Nigeria’s Dawes Island Production to 4,800 Bopd
Petralon Energy has lifted output at Nigeria’s Dawes Island field to about 4,800 barrels of oil per day after the DI‑3 well came online on March 14, 2026. The new well contributed roughly 2,800 bopd, marking the second consecutive producing well...
TotalEnergies Targets Egypt Deep Offshore Potential Through New Agreement
TotalEnergies and Egypt’s state gas company EGAS signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on deep offshore exploration in northwestern Egypt. The MoU establishes a framework for technical cooperation, subsurface evaluation and early‑stage studies to assess hydrocarbon potential. Signed in...
BYD Surpasses Tesla as World’s Top Energy Storage Deployer
BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s largest battery‑energy‑storage system (BESS) integrator in 2025, securing 13% of the market versus Tesla’s 10%. The Chinese maker shipped more than 60 GWh of storage units, outpacing Tesla’s 46.7 GWh amid a 51% surge in global...
Natural Gas Power Burn Eyes 2027 Rebound as Data Centers Lift Demand, EIA Says
The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects natural‑gas‑fired electricity generation to remain essentially flat in 2026 before accelerating sharply in 2027. The rebound is tied to soaring power demand from data centers, which are expected to consume a larger share of...
Enercon to Open Turkey Blade Factory to Fulfil Local Content Rules
Enercon announced plans to construct a wind turbine rotor‑blade factory in Turkey’s Izmir province. The facility will primarily serve the Turkish market, helping the company meet the country’s local‑content regulations, while also targeting exports to Southern and Eastern Europe. Construction...
Hammerfest LNG Outage Tests Europe’s LNG Supply Cushion
Norway’s Hammerfest LNG export terminal has been forced offline after an operational fault, with repairs expected to take several days. The unexpected shutdown arrives as Europe prepares for a competitive summer storage‑refilling season, tightening the regional LNG balance. U.S. liquefied...
Schneider, Microsoft Show How AI Can Enable Green Hydrogen Production
Schneider Electric and Microsoft announced a partnership to bring AI‑powered, open‑software automation to industrial processes, highlighted by a green‑hydrogen project in India. Together they deployed the country’s first fully autonomous solid‑oxide electrolyzer for h2e Power, achieving over 6,000 hours of stable operation...
Strait of Hormuz Blockade Cuts Oil Flows, Triggers Supply‑Chain Alerts for Asian Chipmakers
Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has halted roughly 20% of global oil transit, forcing Asian chipmakers to activate contingency plans. Executives cite soaring freight rates and uncertain delivery windows as the new normal for semiconductor supply chains.
Iran War Fuels 70% Surge in Philippine Rooftop Solar, Boosting Chinese Exporters
Rising fuel costs caused by the Iran war have triggered a 70% weekly jump in rooftop solar installations in the Philippines and a six‑fold increase in customer inquiries. The surge is feeding record Chinese clean‑tech exports and prompting policy shifts...
Hydrostor Announces Development of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage Project in Greater Napanee, Ontario
Hydrostor announced the Quinte Energy Storage Centre, an advanced compressed‑air energy storage (A‑CAES) project in Greater Napanee, Ontario. The development has secured a municipal support resolution and an Indigenous equity partnership with the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, and will...