Electrek Green Energy Brief

Burlingame, California-based Peak Energy just scored a huge win for sodium-ion batteries. The company announced a multi-year deal with utility-scale battery storage developer Jupiter Power to supply up to 4.75 GWh of sodium-ion battery systems between 2027 and 2030.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says renewables and AI are reshaping the world’s energy future, and that transformation is happening faster than anyone expected. In its new “World Energy Outlook 2025,” the IEA warns that energy security risks now stretch far beyond oil and gas. Critical minerals essential to clean tech, defense, and AI have become the new fault lines in global supply chains. The IEA also states that energy has become a central focus of geopolitical power struggles, making it one of the defining economic and security challenges of our time.

Germany is about to become home to Europe’s largest battery storage system – a massive 1 gigawatt (GW) / 4 gigawatt-hour (GWh) project in Jänschwalde, Brandenburg.

Global energy giant RWE just hit another milestone at its Sofia Offshore Wind Farm in the North Sea – it’s finished installing all of its recyclable wind turbine blades, the first time that’s ever been done at scale in the UK.

The world is barreling toward another record-breaking year of solar and wind deployment in 2025, says a new analysis from energy think tank Ember. If current trends continue, we could actually triple global renewable capacity by 2030 – but only if governments catch up to what’s already happening on the ground.

Rondo Energy and energy producer EDP are installing a massive 100 MWh renewable-powered heat battery at HEINEKEN’s brewery in Lisbon, Portugal. The project will deliver round-the-clock renewable steam and reduce emissions without altering the facility’s beer brewing process.

Solar and wind together accounted for 88% of new US electrical generating capacity added in the first eight months of 2025, according to data just released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which was reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign. In August, solar energy alone provided two-thirds of the new capacity, marking two consecutive years in which solar has led every month among all energy sources. Solar and wind each added more new capacity than natural gas did. Within three years, the share of all renewables in installed capacity may exceed 40%.

First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR), the US’s largest solar panel maker, announced it will open a new 3.7-gigawatt (GW) factory in the US to finish production of its Series 6 modules started at its overseas factories.

New data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shows that the US solar supply chain has been fully reshored, with manufacturing capacity growing across every part of the solar and storage sector.

Enphase Energy just launched a new off-grid system that lets homeowners power their homes without a utility connection – even for extended periods. The California-based Enphase says the off-grid setup delivers a seamless way to live independently from the grid while still using solar, batteries, and a standby AC generator.

Meta just signed more power purchase agreements (PPAs) with ENGIE North America, expanding their partnership to more than 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of solar across four projects in Texas. It’s just a shame the social media giant is also going big on gas plants in Louisiana to power its data centers at the same time.

Solar and battery storage continue to dominate growth among energy sources, while fossil fuels and nuclear power have stagnated. That’s according to data just released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which was reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign.

Electricity demand is surging in Texas, and solar, wind, and battery storage are meeting it.

According to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), electricity demand across the Texas grid managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) hit record highs in the first nine months of 2025. ERCOT, which supplies power to about 90% of the state, saw demand jump 5% year-over-year to 372 terawatt hours (TWh) – a 23% increase since 2021. No other major US grid has grown faster over the past year.

The US clean energy sector took another gut punch in September as businesses scrapped or scaled back nearly $1.6 billion in major factory and clean energy projects, according to the latest monthly analysis from E2 and the Clean Economy Tracker. That brings the total cost of private-sector project cancellations this year to more than $24 billion.

Ocean energy storage startup Sizable Energy just raised $8 million to bring its long-duration offshore pumped hydro system to market.

According to the latest “US Wind Energy Monitor” report from Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association (ACP), developers installed 593 megawatts (MW) of new wind capacity in Q2 2025 – a 60% drop from the same quarter last year. But the US wind industry is expected to rebound fast, with 51% of forecasted capacity to come online in Q4 and full-year installations projected to hit 7.7 gigawatts (GW).

Rondo Energy has begun commercial operations of what it says is the world’s largest industrial heat battery – a 100 MWh system now operating at a Holmes Western Oil facility in California. Powered entirely by an onsite solar array, the system supplies constant high-pressure steam and heat to the plant, demonstrating how renewable energy can directly power heavy industry.

XCharge North America (NA) has opened Oregon’s first solar + storage DC fast charging station at Arrowhead Travel Plaza in Pendleton, part of the Wildhorse Resort & Casino complex owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Baltimore County, Maryland, just brought its first large-scale ground-mounted solar farm online, and it sits on what used to be the Parkton Landfill. The 213-acre site, once a symbol of waste, is now generating clean power that will cut costs, slash emissions, and turn an underused piece of land into a long-term energy asset.

The Trump administration has canceled the Esmeralda 7 solar project in Nevada — a sweeping, multi-developer clean energy plan that would have been the largest solar installation in North America.

Danish wind giant Ørsted announced today that it would cut around 2,000 jobs, or around 25% of its workforce, over the next two years. It will lay off around 500 employees in Q4 2025, including 235 in Denmark.