World:
¶ “UK Sea Temperatures Soar After Exceptionally Warm Spring” • Temperatures in the seas around the UK and Ireland soared recently with some areas now 4°C warmer than normal. There may be implications for marine life and swimming people. The heatwave is most intense off the west coast of Ireland and some areas off Cornwall and Devon. [BBC]
Coast near Sidmouth (Red Zeppelin, Unsplash, cropped)
¶ “Volvo To Produce Electric Semis In Australia” • After a trial of two smaller electric trucks, Linfox announced plans to purchase thirty electric prime movers from Volvo Group. It is the largest order to date for battery electric prime movers in Australia. The trucks will be made at a Volvo facility in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “‘Shrinking Nemo’: Smaller Clownfish Sound Alarm On Ocean Heat” • A growing body of evidence suggests some animals are shape shifting to cope with climate change, including fish, birds, lizards, and insects. Scientists say the discovery was a big surprise and could help explain the rapidly declining size of fish in the world’s oceans. [BBC]
Clownfish (David Clode, Unsplash)
¶ “China Dominates Global Trade Of Battery Minerals” • China imported almost 12 million short tons of raw and processed battery minerals, accounting for 44% of interregional trade, and exported almost 11 million short tons of battery materials, packs, and components, or 58% of interregional trade in 2023, data from regional UN Comtrade shows. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “‘Renewables On Unstoppable Trajectory’ Says Rio Tinto Boss” • Speaking at Aurora’s Spring Forum in London, Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm told delegates, despite the current geopolitical uncertainties, the “direction of travel” of the transition is clear. “We take a long-term view in our business and it is clear that the energy transition is happening.” [reNews]
Rio Tinto ore truck (US Consulate General Perth, public domain)
¶ “South America Sets Historic Benchmark: Zero New Coal Plants Planned” • When the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, South America had eighteen coal-fired plants on the drawing board, reflecting expectations about the role coal would play in its future. Today, the entire continent now has no new coal-fired power plants planned. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Ørsted Installs Final Greater Changhua 2b Foundation” • All suction bucket jacket foundations have been installed at the Greater Changhua 2b offshore wind farm in Taiwan. The first foundation at the 337.1-MW project was installed in early April, and Ørsted finished installing 24 of them ahead of schedule, in just over one month. [reNews]
Installing a wind turbine foundation (Ørsted image)
¶ “China’s Solar Capacity Up 30.54% In Q1” • China added 59.71 GW of solar power in the first quarter of 2025, a 30.54% increase from the previous year. This brought China’s total solar capacity to 950 GW as of March 2025. Beijing also added 14.62 GW of wind, 2.13 GW of hydroelectric, and 9.25 GW of thermal power in the first quarter. [Asian Power]
¶ “Nuclear Has Highest Investment Risk; Solar Shows Lowest, Say US Researchers” • A study by Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability found that nuclear power plants had the highest cost overruns and delays, with average construction costs exceeding estimates by 102.5%. By contrast, PV plants recorded cost underruns of 2.2%. [pv magazine International]
Nuclear plant in France (Jametlene Reskp, Unsplash)
¶ “Solar Power Set To Surpass Nuclear This Summer” • If the pace of growth in solar installations is sustained though June, July, and August, solar output is set to top 260 TWh in the summer months. This would beat the average 223 TWh of global nuclear power generation from 2024, according to a Reuters report on data from Ember. [OilPrice.com]
US:
¶ “Tesla CEO Heads Back Home, Leaving A Potential Honeybee Crisis Behind” • A crisis in US bee populations is called Colony Collapse Disorder. The Department of Agriculture is credited with identifying the causes of die-offs, reducing the risk of the ultimate disaster, and restoring honeybee populations. Then Elon Musk came on the scene. [CleanTechnica]
Honeybee (Akbar Nemati, Unsplash)
¶ “Repugnican Budget Bill Could Decimate US Solar Industry” • The current US government is planning to eviscerate incentives baked into the Inflation Reduction Act. This may be just because that legislation was passed by Democrats. The massive budget bill championed by Repugnicans seeks to dismantle many of the benefits of the IRA. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “NY Inks Contracts On 2.5 GW Of Renewables Capacity” • Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that contracts have been executed for 26 renewable energy projects across New York state, totalling more than 2,500 MW of capacity. These contracts result from a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority solicitation. [reNews]
Governor Kathy Hochul (Governor Kathy Hochul on Flickr)
¶ “Boralex Inks RECs Deal For 450-MW Of New York Solar” • Boralex has entered into an agreement with NYSERDA for the procurement of Renewable Energy Certificates from 450-MW of solar capacity. The Renewable Energy Standard Agreement with the New York authority is for output from two large Boralex solar projects. [reNews]
¶ “US Redirects Puerto Rico Solar Power Funds To Oil Plants” • The Trump administration will halt funding of $365 million awarded during the previous administration for rooftop solar power in Puerto Rico and redirect it to baseload plants and maintenance of infrastructure, it said. In this case, baseload power plants are those burning fossil fuels. [MSN]
Have a pleasingly satisfying day.
geoharvey 
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