Opinion:
¶ “Halting New Wind Farms While Coal Plants Buckle: Is This The LNP’s Plan For Queensland?” • We know our old coal-fired power stations are unreliable in the heat. Now three coal units are down unexpectedly in Queensland’s summer. This is such an interesting time for the state government to stop assessments of new wind farms. [RenewEconomy]
Wind farm in Queensland (Lepidlizard, public domain)
Science and Technology:
¶ “UK Government Pledges Record Investment In Nuclear Fusion” • The UK Labour government pledged $506 million in investment for nuclear fusion, which will help develop a new fusion facility at an old coal plant site in Nottinghamshire. The hope is that the financing will help accelerate the development of UK nuclear fusion. [OilPrice.com]
¶ “US Startup Harnesses Cryo-Compression For Hydrogen Vehicles” • The startup Verne is leveraging decades of research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to increase the energy energy density of stored hydrogen by use of cryo-compressed hydrogen technology. This is 87% more efficient than compressed hydrogen gas. [CleanTechnica]
Heavy duty hydrogen vehicle (Courtesy of Verne)
World:
¶ “China Accounts For 60% Of World EV Sales Now” • About 60% of world electric car sales are in China. CNN reported, “Last year, China’s EV sales soared to 11 million, a nearly 40% increase on 2023, according to data from UK research firm Rho Motion.” The country is breaking free after being at the mercy of the US and oil dictatorships for many years. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “40% of Safest Car Brands Are Electric Vehicle Brands” • The writers at Confused.com, despite its being focused on the UK market, decided to analyze safety ratings done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that is vehicle safety ratings for the USA. The results are quite positive for EVs. Some 40% of the safest brands are EVs. [CleanTechnica]
Volvo V60 Polestar (nakhon100, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)
¶ “Polestar Sees Opportunity In Musk Meltdown” • The CEO of Polestar, the electric car spinoff of Volvo now majority owned by Geely, thinks there is an opportunity for his company to benefit from the political turmoil created by recent comments by Elon Musk on X, the social media platform he owns. Polestar has been suffering from anti-EV ads by Big Oil. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “CIP And Vena Win Korean Off-Take For 500-MW Taean” • Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Vena Energy joint venture Taean Wind Power secured a fixed-price offtake contract in South Korea. The 500MW project is targeting construction beginning in the second half of 2026, with full commercial operations expected by late 2029. [reNews]
Offshore wind turbine installation (CIP image)
¶ “Ministry Of Defense Strikes £9 Billion Deal With Rolls Royce To Help Power UK Nuclear Submarines” • The UK Ministry of Defense struck a deal worth around £9 billion with Rolls-Royce to help power Britain’s nuclear submarines. The contract will cover design, manufacture, and support services for power plants on the UK’s nuclear submarines. [AOL.com]
US:
¶ “Governor Gavin Newsom Signs $2.5 Billion Wildfire Recovery Package For Los Angeles County” • Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation providing $2.5 billion in funding to recovery efforts in Los Angeles County, where wildfires, including two that are massive and ongoing, killed 28 people and are leaving behind trails of destruction. [CBS News]
Newsom in 2023 (Government of California, public domain)
¶ “EIA Expects Higher Wholesale US Natural Gas Prices As Demand Increases” • The EIA expects increases in the Henry Hub natural gas price in 2025 and 2026 as demand for the gas grows faster than supply, driven mainly by more demand from US LNG export facilities, reducing the natural gas in storage compared with the last two years. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “The Cost Of Level 3 Fast Chargers Is Declining” • The cost of batteries for electric cars has dropped sharply over the past 18 months. That’s good news for EV advocates. But Bloomberg has reported that another critical part of the EV revolution is also getting cheaper: Level 3 charging equipment. Their cost had a 26% drop in two years. [CleanTechnica]
Level 3 fast chargers (Courtesy of Chargie)
¶ “Community Solar Still A Bright Spot Amid Trump Turmoil” • President Trump blew into office with big ideas for tilting federal policy in favor of fossil fuels, but gaping holes are beginning to appear in the plans. One of those holes is the community solar movement, which is still gathering steam. The nation’s #1 fast food chain among its fans. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “US Lags Behind Europe On Wind Expansion” • The US is behind European peers on wind power and risks falling behind other major economies like China, according to energy think tank Ember. Eleven EU countries generated more than a fifth of their electricity from wind in 2024. Denmark generated 58%, and Ireland 36%. The US generated 10%. [reNews]
Wind farm (Invenergy image)
¶ “New Jersey Hits 5-GW Solar Milestone” • New Jersey has reached a milestone of 5GW of installed solar capacity, more than doubling its solar output since 2017. The milestone means that in-state solar power produces over 8% of the state’s power, according to Lyle Rawlings, President of the Mid-Atlantic Solar and Storage Industries Association. [reNews]
¶ “Bloomberg Philanthropies to Fund US Obligation After Paris Withdrawal” • On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order to the effect that the US withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Bloomberg Philanthropies and other climate funders in the US will cover America’s funding and reporting obligations to the UN. [OilPrice.com]
Have a remarkably beautiful day.
geoharvey 
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