Today's Energy Pulse
Policy ambiguity stalls Germany's battery storage growth
German BESS developers say unclear regulations are hampering expansion even after the government granted grid‑fee exemptions through 2029. The absence of a legal definition forces operators to shoulder multiple taxes and levies, creating financing uncertainty for projects.
Also developing:
By the numbers: FuelCell Energy raises $156.6M in secondary share offering
Fuel Price Volatility Continues as Diesel and Gasoline Averages Tick Upward
U.S. on‑highway diesel rose 3 cents to $5.401 per gallon and gasoline increased 3 cents to $3.990, according to the EIA’s March 31 report. The West Coast saw the steepest diesel jump, up 29 cents, while the Gulf Coast posted modest declines. AAA’s independent pricing puts diesel at $5.454 and gasoline at $4.018, both slightly above the EIA figures and well above last year’s levels. Geopolitical tension in the Iran region and spring‑break travel are cited as key drivers of the latest uptick.
Forecast Uncertainty Tempers a Banner 2025 for US Energy Storage: Reports
U.S. energy‑storage installations hit a record 18.9 GW (51 GWh) in 2025, a 52% and 40% increase respectively over 2024, driven largely by a residential surge as tax credits expire. Manufacturing capacity now exceeds domestic demand, with system capacity over 100% and...
Australia’s Jet Fuel Crisis Deepens as China Ban Hits 30%
Australia (which has declared a national fuel supply disruption) is deeper in to its jet fuel crisis 🚨 - For now, emergency supply is being routed from l US through the Panama Canal to Melbourne, Perth - but the route *cannot*...
Space Data Centers Miss Key Advantage: 5× Solar Power
The race to build orbital data centers is missing its biggest variable: power “Solar panel in space produces roughly 5Xs the amount of electricity that the same panel would produce on Earth. There is no atmosphere, no weather and no day-night cycle for most orbits. No interconnection queue and no permitting.” https://t.co/PfmW1te2ac
Why Sri Lanka Is Raising Electricity Prices for Most Households
The episode explains why Sri Lanka has raised household electricity tariffs by 7‑10% (up to 25% for heavy users) as the war in the Middle East drives up global oil prices, forcing the island to spend about $600 million on fuel...
India's First Iranian Oil Cargo Since 2019 Headed to Gujarat Coast
India is set to receive its first Iranian crude cargo since 2019, with the Aframax tanker Ping Shun carrying about 600,000 barrels to Vadinar, Gujarat. The shipment follows a U.S. 30‑day waiver allowing Iranian oil sales on the water amid the...
Trump Attacks on Offshore Wind Have Had 'Terrible' Impact, Says EU Energy Chief
EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen warned that President Donald Trump’s anti‑offshore‑wind stance has severely disrupted U.S. projects, prompting Europe to position itself as a "safe harbour" for stranded investment. He highlighted that offshore wind costs are falling and are now...
Rolls-Royce to Build Battery Storage in Falkirk
Rolls‑Royce’s MTU power‑systems division has begun construction of a 43 MW, 86 MWh battery‑storage facility at Falkirk’s Bankside site under an EPC contract with Voltario Helios Energy Storage. The plant will connect to the grid later this year and become operational in...
China Takes Direct Role in Hormuz Security After Iran War
china involving itself directly in the business of hormuz strait security is an important unintended consequence of the iran war.
Hungary Beats Global Solar Targets, Hits 27% Power
Hungary has highest solar share of any country in the world - 27% of electricity from solar in 2025, up from just 2% in 2018. In August 2024, solar hit 37% of monthly generation. Now >8 GW of installed capacity - a...
How H.R. 1 Is Opening the Door to More Oil Drilling Near North Dakota’s Maah Daah Hey Trail
Last summer, Congress passed H.R. 1, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which strips the Bureau of Land Management of discretion to protect federal lands from leasing. Under the new law, the BLM is selling oil and gas lease...
Expert Links Private Nuclear Sector to U.S. Defense Resilience
U.S. private‑sector firms, led by LIS Technologies, are rebuilding domestic uranium enrichment capacity to bolster national security and defense energy resilience. The move aims to reduce dependence on Russian and Chinese enrichment services while accelerating fuel‑cycle innovation for advanced reactors,...
‘Real Pain’ to Set In: Businesses Brace for Impact as EMA Warns of Potentially Sharper Rise in Power Tariffs
Singapore’s Energy Market Authority warned that electricity and town‑gas tariffs will likely rise sharper in coming quarters as global energy costs surge amid the Gulf conflict. SP Group lifted household electricity rates by 2.1% – an increase of S$0.0056/kWh (≈ $0.0041/kWh)...
Middle East Conflict Lifting PPA Valuations, Says Pexapark
Swiss analytics firm Pexapark reports that recent LNG strikes in the Middle East are pushing up long‑term power purchase agreement (PPA) valuations across Europe. The conflict creates a structural supply‑side risk that tightens medium‑term fundamentals, especially in markets with limited...
What Does Wildfire Resilience Cost?
A new UCLA Emmett Institute report titled *The Price of Resilience* examines how wildfire‑related costs are allocated between transmission customers and retail ratepayers. In California, wildfire mitigation and liability expenses now represent roughly a quarter of residential electricity bills, driven...
Copenhagen Switches Fully to Electric Buses
Copenhagen has finished converting its entire municipal bus network to battery‑electric vehicles, with routes 19 and 5C switched on 29 March. The final rollout added 15 electric buses on route 19 and 37 on the capital’s busiest line, 5C, which carries about 17 million passengers...
Advait Energy Bags Four PGVCL Orders Worth ₹191 Crore Under RDSS Scheme
Advait Energy Transitions Ltd secured four medium‑voltage covered conductor (MVCC) contracts from Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (PGVCL) worth roughly ₹191.25 crore (about $23.3 million). The orders span Morbi, Bhavnagar, Amreli and Surendranagar districts and cover supply, installation, testing and commissioning. All...
T1 Energy Inc. (TE) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
T1 Energy Inc. held its Q4 2025 earnings conference call on March 31 2026, featuring CEO Daniel Barcelo, CFO Evan Calio and other senior leaders. The call opened with standard forward‑looking statements and a reminder that risks are detailed in the company’s Form 10‑K....
Utilities Waste Millions, Ignore Cheap EV Battery Grid Power
Utilities will spend $50M on a substation upgrade before spending $10K on equipment that gives them access to your EV battery. That battery in your garage could be powering the grid during peak demand instead of another substation nobody wanted. The lack...
National Grid DSO Launches Curtailment Tool
National Grid’s Distribution System Operator (DSO) has unveiled a cloud‑based Curtailment Estimator, a self‑serve tool that instantly delivers high‑level and technical curtailment insights. By pulling the latest connections queue, network data, and historic load series, the platform generates bespoke reports...
China Denies Energy Bans, Neighbors Left Out
From Belt and Road to belt tightening: China's neighbours get cold shoulder on energy But so far China has offered only vague statements and has yet to even publicly acknowledge the export bans reported by Reuters and others as it focuses...
Suncor Reveals Expansion Plans as Key Oilsands Mine Enters Its Last Decade
Suncor Energy disclosed its growth plan at the annual investor day, revealing that its historic Base Plant mine will run out of bitumen by the mid‑2030s. To replace that supply, the company is evaluating two major expansion projects – an...
Off‑grid Data Centers Spark Debate Over Grid Efficiency
There’s a growing amount of excitement and trepidation around off-grid data centers. I’m not convinced many will actually go fully off-grid -- probably as a bridge in most cases. But it’s surfacing a more interesting tension about how we build the...
Iran's Hormuz Claim Locks in Permanent War Premium
$CL WTI pre-market: $101.84. $BNO Brent: $108. Iran demanding sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. That's not a negotiating position. It's a non-starter — and everyone knows it. The war premium is permanent until proven otherwise. --- https://t.co/DwGuXTrsgJ
£300M First Phase of Renewal at Dinorwig Pumped Storage Plant Moves Forward
Engie and its joint‑venture partner La Caisse have approved a £300 million (≈$375 million) first phase to replace two turbine‑generator sets at the Dinorwig pumped‑storage plant in North Wales. The refurbishment, part of a near‑$1.25 billion investment across Dinorwig and neighboring Ffestiniog, aims...
Russian Oil Tanker Anatoly Kolodkin Arrives at Cuban Anchorage
Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin approaches the area of anchorage while being assisted by a tugboat, in Matanzas, Cuba, March 31, 2026. REUTERS/Norlys Perez https://t.co/eewxf34Q5n
FERC OKs ISO-NE Shift to Prompt Capacity Market
RIP ISO-NE FCM (2008-2026) FERC approved ISO-NE's proposal to replace the Forward Capacity Market with a prompt capacity market in which an Annual Capacity Auction (ACA) would be held 1 month before the capacity commitment period.
ArcLight in Deal to Buy 2.2 GW From InfraBridge, Mainly Gas
ArcLight Capital Partners announced a deal to purchase roughly 2.2 GW of primarily gas‑fired power assets from InfraBridge, including a 1,362‑MW stake in the Lackawanna plant and a 584‑MW Canadian facility. The acquisition would lift ArcLight’s PJM Interconnection portfolio from about...
Israel Won’t Gain Control Over Gulf Oil Supply
Giving Israel the power to control the flow of oil from the entire Gulf? Nah. Never going to happen.
OPEC's Monthly Production Decline Hits Ugly Levels
Now we start getting the monthly average OPEC production numbers. And boy, oh boy, are they UGLY. Reminder: this is the *average* production decline m/m, the exit loss is even larger and that's where we'll land in the April data if this...
Terrasmart’s Latest Solar Tracker Software Works for Utility and DG Projects
Terrasmart has launched the Peak Production Package for its PeakYield solar tracker software, touting a 5 % performance gain over prior versions. The upgrade adds terrain‑aware backtracking, cloud‑responsive positioning, and real‑time production monitoring, and it is DNV‑validated. Designed for both utility‑scale...
Energy Surges, Tech Slumps: Market Signals Survival Mode
Q1 rotation: $XLE +20%. $QQQ -4.2%. Money is moving FROM innovation TO survival. That's not a style rotation. That's the market telling you what it believes about the economy. When energy beats tech by 24 points in a quarter, listen. --- https://t.co/SxMLhgCbeX
Trump Claims Hormuz Will Reopen Automatically After U.S. Withdrawal
JUST IN: President Trump says the Strait of Hormuz will reopen “automatically” once the U.S. exits
Bluetti Unveils New EnergyPro 13K Energy Storage System
Bluetti introduced the EnergyPro 13K residential battery system, delivering 13.2 kW continuous power and a 150 A surge capability. The modular design lets homeowners stack up to four EnergyPack 500 units for a total of 19.2 kWh, while an integrated automatic transfer switch and 155‑A...
Indonesia Reinstates B50 Biodiesel Blend Amid War Risks
🇮🇩Indonesia will raise the blending rate for palm-based biodiesel to 50% (B50) from the current B40 on July 1, despite having scrapped this plan two months ago due to supply concerns. But war risks are now at the forefront. Indonesia is...
AI Accelerates the Race to Build New Reactors
The race to build new nuclear reactors — fast (with AI's help) https://t.co/guGFZFErdy by @ChuckMcCutcheon in @axios
Japan and South Korea’s Energy Hedge
The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered a systemic shock to global energy flows, prompting Japan and South Korea to deepen bilateral cooperation on LNG security. Both nations’ top energy firms, KOGAS and JERA, signed an MOU enabling...
New Strategy Promises Lower Power Prices
Transcript: There’s a New Playbook for Cutting Power Prices #energysky -- via Heatmap News https://t.co/9tZHm1N81C https://t.co/b88wqK0I8d
GB News Owner’s Letter to Guardian Riddled with Falsehoods
FACTCHECK: GB News owner Paul Marshall seems to dislike Christian leaders criticising his channel's attacks on climate action, so he made a rare public intervention But his letter to the Guardian (pic) makes 25 false, misleading or confused claims (!) Receipts in...
Azerbaijan Commissions 500 MWh Battery Storage Project
Azerbaijan’s state utility AzerEnergy inaugurated a 250 MW/500 MWh battery energy storage system, part of a two‑site rollout at the 500 kV Absheron and 220 kV Agdash substations. The Absheron installation houses 50 battery containers and 13 inverter units, all monitored by a SCADA‑enabled...
Sweetwater Residents Demand Accountability for Abandoned Turbine Blades
Residents of Sweetwater, Texas, are frustrated that the old wind-turbine blades have sat in the town for years. Authorities have stepped up efforts to hold someone responsible. Read more: https://t.co/VSyVgI0sBO 📷️: Brenda Bazán/Bloomberg https://t.co/y9bOmOKoEM
Molecular Solar Battery Stores Days of Energy, Produces Hydrogen
Molecular solar battery stores energy for days, yields hydrogen on demand #energysky -- via pv magazine global: https://t.co/uI9nAShJoB
New Qcells Division to Serve Residential Homebuilders with Solar Solutions
Qcells has unveiled a new division, Qcells New Homes, to supply U.S. homebuilders with a turnkey solar‑and‑storage solution. The platform bundles Georgia‑made panels, domestically produced battery systems, financing, installation support and long‑term monitoring under one roof. Backed by Hanwha Group’s...
LBNL Updates Retail Electricity Price Trends, Highlights Data Centers
LBNL just released an updated analysis of retail electricity price trends. Packed with credible data and analysis, including clarifications about data centers -- https://t.co/HSlAecpCgH
Hormuz Closure Threatens Worldwide Economic Collapse, Including US
Hormuz closed==>global economic collapse If you don’t think that affects the US, you need a lesson in reality @thescooter49
Technical Explainer: Orphaned Oil and Gas Well Carbon Credits
Since 2023 the voluntary carbon market has begun financing the plugging of orphaned oil and gas wells, which account for up to 6 % of methane emissions from abandoned wells in the United States. Approximately 8.3 million carbon credits have been generated...
U.S. Economy Can Absorb Higher Oil Prices, Avoid Recession
Not saying it’s going to be enjoyable or inherently desirable, but the US economy can handle substantially higher oil prices without falling into recession
Oil Market Lacks Buffers, Minor Shocks Spark Big Price Swings
The oil market didn’t underreact—it absorbed the shock, writes @RystadEnergyOil Now the buffers are gone From here, even minor disruptions can trigger outsized price moves There's no slack left in the system. https://t.co/FLJkAgmNXJ
How Chestnut Carbon Built a Blueprint for Financing Carbon-Capture Projects
Chestnut Carbon, a U.S. afforestation developer backed by Kimmeridge, secured a $210 million credit facility led by JP Morgan to finance a 25‑year, 60,000‑acre forest restoration project for Microsoft. The deal pairs a long‑term off‑take of 7.44 million tons of carbon credits with...
Arctic Becomes Solar's Next Frontier Above 60°N
Solar above 60° North: The Arctic as PV’s next frontier #energysky -- via pv magazine usa: https://t.co/HzVbIScM0K