Weekly Debrief

Applications to build battery storage drive boom as offshore wind projects given go-ahead jump sevenfold year on year A record number of renewable energy projects were given the go-ahead in Great Britain in 2025, after planning approvals almost doubled year on year, according to an analysis. The energy capacity of new battery, wind, and solar projects that received approval climbed to 45GW this year, 96% higher than in 2024, according to data from Cornwall Insight. Continue reading...

West Somerset Lagoon would harness renewable energy for UK’s AI boom – and create ‘iconic’ arc around Bristol Channel The architect of the London Eye wants to build a vast tidal power station in a 14-mile arc off the coast of Somerset that could help Britain meet surging electricity demand to power artificial intelligence – and create a new race track to let cyclists skim over the Bristol Channel. Julia Barfield, who designed the Eye and the i360 observation tower in Brighton, is part of a team that has drawn up the £11bn proposal. It would curve from Minehead to Watchet and use 125 underwater turbines to harness the power of the second-highest tidal range in the world. Continue reading...

In our recent Summer 2025 issue of Energy Global, Luke Bridgman, Ørsted, outlines some recent milestones for the world’s largest offshore wind farm: Hornsea 3.

Energy giant to sell $1bn-worth of equity in Kraken as part of major funding round from new and existing investors announced today

Greyparrot CEO Mikela Druckman reflects on how existing infrastructure isn’t keeping up with the amount of waste created

We need to think more deeply about thermal energy storage as a pathway to industrial decarbonisation and managing electricity costs, writes Pasquale Romano, CEO of Redoxblox.

Break-even is the overarching target for Siemens Gamesa in 2026, but installing its largest offshore project pipeline ever will also require ”our undivided focus,” Vinod Philip tells EnergyWatch.

Supply chain shortages drive developers to use smaller and less efficient power sources to fuel AI power demand

Investors including D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to purchase $1bn in equity

Landmark levy on steel, electricity and other imports aims to shield bloc’s industry from higher-emission competitors

New research published in Nature Communication reports the use of machine learning to analyse microearthquakes in the Earth’s crust is opening the possibility of a new path for the future of geothermal energy exploration.

After five tumultuous years, Ørsted is fully focused on completing offshore wind farms currently under construction. However, the owners’ desire to receive bids may change the picture.

BEVs reach 24% market share! EVs are picking up in Europe, with some 370,000 plugin vehicles being registered in Europe in November, 258,000 of them being BEVs. Overall, plugin vehicles were up 36% YoY. Expect December 2025 to establish a new record score, maybe even above the 425,000 unit mark. ...

JP Morgan reckons Danish wind turbine manufacturer's stronger than expected Q4 bodes well for 'good growth in demand'

Vestas reports securing more than 5.3GW of new orders to supply wind farms onshore and off in final quarter of 2025

Exclusive: Critics say removing battery installation requirement will reduce amount homebuyers save on energy bills Ministers are poised to allow homes in England to be built without carbon-cutting technology in what experts have said is a climbdown after pressure from housebuilders. The future homes standard (FHS), due to be published in January, will regulate how all homes are built and is expected to enforce tough new regulations such as mandating solar panels on nearly all houses and high standards of insulation and heat pumps in most cases. Continue reading...

Exploration falls to lowest level since oil and gas were discovered in UK basin 60 years ago

In our Spring 2025 issue of Energy Global, Neil Gordon, CEO, Global Underwater Hub, highlights the issue of cable failures and explores how the UK could lead in improving performance and reliability.

Sodium-ion battery development has been a major story in 2025, as Chris Arcus has been especially eager to highlight and explain. In 2026, I think it could be the biggest battery topic. Battery giant CATL, the largest battery producer in the world, is leaning into the topic and made a ...

Agrivoltaics have been the name of the game in the past few years in the solar power industry. On the surface, it seems simple — find farmland that could benefit from co-location with solar power plants, and then plop some solar panels on areas of the land that seem most ...

The Colla Indigenous people claim Rio Tinto’s plans to extract the key mineral will harm fragile ecosystems and livelihoods Miriam Rivera Bordones tends her goats in a dusty paddock in the russet mountains of Chile’s Atacama desert. She also keeps chickens and has planted quince and peach trees and grapevines, which are watered by a stream winding down the hills towards the Indigenous community of Copiapó. But now the huge British-Australian mining multinational Rio Tinto has signed a deal to extract lithium, the “white gold” of the energy transition, from a salt flat farther up the mountains, and she fears the project could affect the water sources of several communities in the area. Continue reading...

Agrivoltaic project developer Okovate Sustainable Energy has acquired the assets of Fundusol, a modeling platform born out of Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon. This acquisition, supported by Okovate’s backing from The Schmidt Family Foundation, brings data-driven precision to the co-location of solar energy and agriculture. Okovate is now integrating Fundusol’s proprietary modeling engine — a…

ABB has signed an agreement to acquire Netcontrol, a provider of electrical grid automation solutions for power utilities and critical infrastructure operators.

In our recent Winter 2025 issue of Energy Global, Michael Adams, Mark Canlas, and Ted Moon, NOV, highlight groundbreaking temperature management technologies that improve drilling efficiencies in the deepest, hottest geothermal applications.

Revamped Colindale station features laminated timber ticket hall, blue-and-green roof drainage system, and step-free access

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced it would acquire Intersect, a renewable energy developer. Google already owns a minority stake in Intersect from a previously announced funding round, but will purchase the company for $4.75 billion in cash, plus the assumption of debt. The acquisition will enable Google to bring more electricity generation capacity online…

After biggest loss for producers since 2020 the slide could continue, with global output expected to remain high Oil markets have recorded their steepest annual fall since the Covid pandemic and could be on track to plummet further as oil producers continue to pump more crude than needed by the global economy. Oil prices slumped by almost 20% in 2025, marking the biggest annual loss since 2020 and the first time that the oil market has recorded three consecutive years of annual losses. Continue reading...

Energy News presents the most-read interviews of 2025, offering a deep dive into the minds shaping the future of clean energy and hydrogen.

Several studies suggest SMRs will produce higher levels of nuclear waste than traditional plants

The year ahead will shape the future of climate finance, as leaders decide how carbon markets are implemented in practice, writes Beatriz Granziera from The Nature Conservancy