Opinion:
¶ “Valves Wide Open: Eyes Wide Shut” • Arnie Gundersen: Natrium is a New Kid on the Nuclear Block and plans its first reactor in Wyoming. Natrium has never designed, constructed, or operated any operating nuclear power plant. Its claim to fame is that it has some financial backing from Bill Gates, the former founder of Microsoft. [Counterpunch]
Wyoming (Brady Stoeltzing, Unsplash)
Science and Technology:
¶ “Unique 1.5 Million Year-Old Ice To Be Melted To Unlock Mystery” • An ice core that may be older than 1.5 million years arrived in the UK where scientists will melt it to unlock vital data about Earth’s climate. Transitions from warm eras to cold glacial eras had been every 41,000 years but it suddenly was 100,000 years. The cores might tell us what caused that. [BBC]
World:
¶ “BYD Launches Its Seventh Ship” • BYD decided at some point in recent years that it would be more economical for it to buy some giant car-carrying ships than to keep paying shipping companies to carry its cars to markets around the world. We covered the launch of BYD’s first ship in December 2023. Now the company has seven. [CleanTechnica]
BYD Zhengzhou
¶ “Zimbabwe Looks To IPPs And Rural Minigrids To Increase Access To Electricity And Plug Electricity Shortages” • Zimbabwe has struggled for a decade to meet its electricity demand. Last year, an average capacity of 1,300 MW was available against a demand of 1,700 MW. Now, the country is looking to improve the grid paradigm. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Electric Ford Bronco Coming! … But Not For You” • Ford has just unveiled a fully electric Bronco and an EREV extended range EV) version of the Bronco. If you haven’t seen exciting news and marketing around that, that may be because these versions of the Bronco are not for Ford’s home market, in the USA. They are for customers in China. [CleanTechnica]
Electric Ford Bronco
¶ “Brazil’s Congress Passes Bill To Overhaul Environmental Regulations” • A bill to overhaul environmental regulations in Brazil was passed by the country’s lower house. It was criticised by the environmental minister, suggesting a possible presidential veto. The bill was passed by the Senate in May, it now goes to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. [ABC News]
¶ “Skyborn And Siemens Gamesa Ink Deals” • Siemens Gamesa signed agreements with Skyborn Renewables to supply turbines for the Gennaker offshore wind farm in Germany. According to the agreements, Siemens Gamesa will supply the 976.5-MW offshore wind project with 63 SG 14-236 turbines and provide long-term maintenance. [reNews]
Siemens Gamesa 14-236 turbine (Siemens Gamesa image)
¶ “Envision Energy, FERA To Develop 1.5 GWh Of Storage In Australia” • Envision Energy, based in China, and Italy’s FERA Australia signed an agreement to collaborate on large-scale hybrid clean energy projects in Australia, delivering up to 1.5 GWh of battery energy storage and possibly 1 GW of wind projects. [pv magazine International]
¶ “Cierco And MPS Partner On Celtic Sea Wind” • Cierco Energy and Marine Power Systems have signed a strategic partnership to advance deep-water floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea. The two companies will collaborate on deploying MPS’s PelaFlex floating platform at one of Cierco’s Llŷr Test and Demonstration projects off the Pembrokeshire coast. [reNews]
Offshore wind farm (Innogy image)
¶ “RES To Operate 500-MW Coalburn Battery” • RES has signed an agreement to manage the Coalburn battery energy storage project in Scotland. RES said the former coal mining site will host one of Europe’s largest battery systems, with capacities of 500-MW and 1-GWh. Coalburn is being developed by CIP along with Alcemi. [reNews]
US:
¶ “New York Halts Offshore Wind Grid Plan” • The New York State Public Service Commission has terminated its offshore wind transmission planning process to protect ratepayers amid stalled federal permitting. The Commission said the decision will position New York for faster offshore wind growth once federal policies improve. [reNews]
Empire Wind, rendering (Empire Wind image)
¶ “Secretary Burgum Must Personally Approve All Renewable Energy Projects On Federal Lands” • The Interior Department issued a directive requiring personal approval from Secretary Doug Burgum for all wind and solar energy projects on federal lands and waters. This policy aligns with a push to reduce federal support for renewable energy. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Vestas Secures 527-MW US Order” • Vestas has secured a 527-MW turbine supply order with an undisclosed customer in the US. The Danish OEM will provide its V150-4.5MW model to the project. Delivery of the hardware is scheduled to commence in the second quarter of 2026. Commissioning is planned for the final quarter of that year. [reNews]
Vestas wind turbine (Vestas image)
¶ “Ohio PUC Sets New Rules For Data Centers” • Data centers are the latest craze. But where will they get power? The Ohio Public Utilities Commission, in a 99 page unanimous decision, said data enter operators had to commit to paying for at least 85% of the upgrades they claim to need for data centers, even if the demand they expect doesn’t materialize. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “GM Is Now Taking Aim At Tesla’s Energy Storage Business, Too” • Tesla’s brand reputation crisis hit its EV sales so hard that the Tesla Cybertruck was reportedly outsold by General Motors’s electric Hummer in Q2. Now GM and Redwood issued a press release that takes a shot across the bow of Tesla’s AI data center Megapack business. [CleanTechnica]
Have a neatly measured day.
geoharvey 
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