Energy

Solar, wind, batteries, green hydrogen and power grids

The Energy section of ECOnews covers solar and wind power, offshore wind farms, batteries and energy storage, green hydrogen, nuclear power and power grids. Follow the projects, records and innovations changing how the world produces and uses electricity.

TVA's Mike Skaggs and the NRC's Jeremy Bowen hold the framed small modular reactor construction permit certificate for Clinch River Nuclear Unit 1

The Tennessee Valley Authority has an NRC permit to build the first U.S. commercial small modular reactor, a 300-megawatt unit at Clinch River in Oak Ridge, and it still needs a separate operating license

By ECONEWS

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October 15, 2026 at 3:02 AM

Crane lowering a floating wind turbine with a tilting rotor onto a Dutch lake

TouchWind put a floating wind turbine with a 20-foot rotor that tilts back like a helicopter in storms on a Dutch lake, and the test asks whether wind farms can pack turbines closer together

By Adrian Villellas

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October 14, 2026 at 8:44 AM

Beaver Valley nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania

The Energy Department offered Vistra up to $4.2 billion for 433 more megawatts from nuclear uprates at three plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the upgrades could help keep them running 20 years past their licenses

By Adrian Villellas

—

October 12, 2026 at 2:59 PM

A large seawater heat pump being lowered into the Maskinrummet building in Aarhus by workers

Aarhus in Denmark switched on six seawater heat pumps that pull up to 317,000 gallons of bay water an hour to warm about 1,900 homes, and eight more are coming to help replace wood pellets

By ECONEWS

—

October 9, 2026 at 3:02 PM

Aerial view of the GICON high-altitude wind turbine in Schipkau, Germany, rising above a wind farm

World’s tallest wind turbine reaches 1,198 feet in eastern Germany, with power tests next

By Adrian Villellas

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October 8, 2026 at 4:58 PM

Antora thermal battery units beside POET's bioprocessing plant in Big Stone City, South Dakota, with steam rising behind them

A Kansas ethanol plant will draw around-the-clock heat from a 5.8 gigawatt-hour thermal battery that stores cheap electricity in solid carbon blocks, and Pratt’s mayor says Antora came early and listened

By ECONEWS

—

October 8, 2026 at 10:12 AM

Pipes, separators and buildings of the Wairakei geothermal power plant seen from a lookout in New Zealand

The Wairakei geothermal power station, the first to run on flash steam, is being replaced

By Adrian Villellas

—

October 7, 2026 at 10:17 AM

Wind turbine standing in the snow at a research station in Antarctica

The world’s southernmost wind farm uses just three turbines to help power U.S. and New Zealand research bases in Antarctica, cutting diesel consumption by about 122,000 gallons a year and preventing an estimated 1,242 metric tons of CO₂ emissions despite operating in one of Earth’s harshest environments

By Adrian Villellas

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September 28, 2026 at 8:41 AM

Golden eagle flying with its wings fully spread

At a 110-turbine Wyoming wind farm, AI-powered cameras can spot approaching eagles and automatically slow individual turbines, with one study estimating an 82% drop in fatalities, although later research found substantial uncertainty around exactly how much the system reduces deaths

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 27, 2026 at 12:33 PM

Large wind turbine blades lying on the ground showing their round root ends

Wind turbine blades are notoriously difficult to recycle, but Carbon Rivers demonstrated recovered glass fiber with 99.9% purity that could return to manufacturing, while recent cleanup concerns in Tennessee show that successful recycling depends on safely processing and actually selling the recovered material, not simply shredding old blades

By ECONEWS

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September 27, 2026 at 8:46 AM

Solar panel canopies and battery units installed on a former landfill

New Haven turned a landfill that stopped accepting trash more than 20 years ago into a solar farm with over 1,900 panels, enough to generate the equivalent annual electricity use of about 200 homes while bringing the city $72,000 a year in rent

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 26, 2026 at 4:57 PM

Alpine Muttsee reservoir surrounded by rocky mountains in summer

Nearly 5,000 solar panels were installed on a Swiss dam 8,200 feet above sea level, and despite deep snow and freezing temperatures the Alpine plant produced 3.8 times more winter electricity per unit of capacity than a lowland installation during its first measured year

By ECONEWS

—

September 26, 2026 at 10:16 AM

Rows of cherry tomato plants growing inside a greenhouse

A Swiss greenhouse installed 1,736 solar modules above working tomato crops and produced up to 1 MWh of electricity a day while cutting summer grid use by 35%, yet the surprising result was that tomato yields did not fall and were actually 1% higher

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 25, 2026 at 6:31 AM

A cereal crop growing beneath solar panels mounted high above the field on a steel frame

A Massachusetts farmer grows sweet corn under 832 solar panels raised 10 feet above the soil, and he still harvests 80% of what the open field next door gives him

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 25, 2026 at 5:22 AM

Purple saffron crocus flowers blooming in a field

Colorado researchers grew saffron beneath semi-transparent rooftop solar panels and harvested twice as many flowers and twice as much dried spice as unshaded plots, with a five-year model projecting about $61,000 from electricity, saffron and new plants

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 24, 2026 at 12:28 PM

Stockman on horseback mustering cattle across dry grassland in Australia

The world’s largest working cattle station spans about 6,080 square miles and holds 17,000 cattle, yet its headquarters runs mainly on just 49 kW of rooftop solar and batteries, with careful planning essential because forgetting one critical part can mean a 1,120-mile round trip

By ECONEWS

—

September 24, 2026 at 6:33 AM

Wind turbines standing on farmland near Madison, New York

New York demolished all seven turbines at its pioneering Madison wind farm in just 30 seconds after 25 years of operation, but a proposed neighboring project with nearly seven times the capacity now has its grid-connection application listed as withdrawn

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 23, 2026 at 6:28 PM

U.S. Navy sailors deploying an unmanned underwater vehicle at sea

A 12.75-inch underwater robot autonomously entered a submerged 21-inch torpedo-tube test fixture in New York and then backed itself out, a precision maneuver that could eventually let U.S. submarines launch and recover drones without sending divers into the water

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 23, 2026 at 6:27 AM

Row of wooden beehives standing in an open grassy field

An Ohio solar farm now shares its 196-megawatt site with more than 50 beehives and nearly 3 million honey bees, turning land around the panels into pollinator habitat while veteran beekeepers use the project to train other veterans and first responders in caring for colonies

By ECONEWS

—

September 22, 2026 at 1:19 PM

Researcher adjusting laser optics on a laboratory bench

Scientists built the first all-optical photonic time crystal by making a material change its optical properties every trillionth of a second, and the strange experiment cut losses in light-and-electron oscillations by more than 50% while opening a possible path toward new terahertz lasers

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 22, 2026 at 10:12 AM

Previous Next

Energy

The Tennessee Valley Authority has an NRC permit to build the first U.S. commercial small modular reactor, a 300-megawatt unit at Clinch River in Oak Ridge, and it still needs a separate operating license

TouchWind put a floating wind turbine with a 20-foot rotor that tilts back like a helicopter in storms on a Dutch lake, and the test asks whether wind farms can pack turbines closer together

The Energy Department offered Vistra up to $4.2 billion for 433 more megawatts from nuclear uprates at three plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the upgrades could help keep them running 20 years past their licenses

Aarhus in Denmark switched on six seawater heat pumps that pull up to 317,000 gallons of bay water an hour to warm about 1,900 homes, and eight more are coming to help replace wood pellets

World’s tallest wind turbine reaches 1,198 feet in eastern Germany, with power tests next

A Kansas ethanol plant will draw around-the-clock heat from a 5.8 gigawatt-hour thermal battery that stores cheap electricity in solid carbon blocks, and Pratt’s mayor says Antora came early and listened

The Wairakei geothermal power station, the first to run on flash steam, is being replaced

At a 110-turbine Wyoming wind farm, AI-powered cameras can spot approaching eagles and automatically slow individual turbines, with one study estimating an 82% drop in fatalities, although later research found substantial uncertainty around exactly how much the system reduces deaths

New Haven turned a landfill that stopped accepting trash more than 20 years ago into a solar farm with over 1,900 panels, enough to generate the equivalent annual electricity use of about 200 homes while bringing the city $72,000 a year in rent

Nearly 5,000 solar panels were installed on a Swiss dam 8,200 feet above sea level, and despite deep snow and freezing temperatures the Alpine plant produced 3.8 times more winter electricity per unit of capacity than a lowland installation during its first measured year

A Swiss greenhouse installed 1,736 solar modules above working tomato crops and produced up to 1 MWh of electricity a day while cutting summer grid use by 35%, yet the surprising result was that tomato yields did not fall and were actually 1% higher

A Massachusetts farmer grows sweet corn under 832 solar panels raised 10 feet above the soil, and he still harvests 80% of what the open field next door gives him

Colorado researchers grew saffron beneath semi-transparent rooftop solar panels and harvested twice as many flowers and twice as much dried spice as unshaded plots, with a five-year model projecting about $61,000 from electricity, saffron and new plants

The world’s largest working cattle station spans about 6,080 square miles and holds 17,000 cattle, yet its headquarters runs mainly on just 49 kW of rooftop solar and batteries, with careful planning essential because forgetting one critical part can mean a 1,120-mile round trip

New York demolished all seven turbines at its pioneering Madison wind farm in just 30 seconds after 25 years of operation, but a proposed neighboring project with nearly seven times the capacity now has its grid-connection application listed as withdrawn

A 12.75-inch underwater robot autonomously entered a submerged 21-inch torpedo-tube test fixture in New York and then backed itself out, a precision maneuver that could eventually let U.S. submarines launch and recover drones without sending divers into the water

An Ohio solar farm now shares its 196-megawatt site with more than 50 beehives and nearly 3 million honey bees, turning land around the panels into pollinator habitat while veteran beekeepers use the project to train other veterans and first responders in caring for colonies

Scientists built the first all-optical photonic time crystal by making a material change its optical properties every trillionth of a second, and the strange experiment cut losses in light-and-electron oscillations by more than 50% while opening a possible path toward new terahertz lasers

Germany now has a truck with no cab hauling Lidl groceries on a public road up to three times a day, and one human job still travels with it in a separate vehicle

Farmers can plant this perennial grain once and harvest it for several years while its roots reach 10 feet deep, and researchers say the catch shows up in the grain bin after the second harvest

A farmer digging in a Swiss marsh took a 5,500-year-old board for a box lid or a bench, and it turned out to be one of the oldest preserved doors in Europe

A Patagonian sheep ranch that once held 40,535 sheep is now home to one of Argentina’s main Magellanic penguin colonies, and the twist is that the birds were already nesting there while the flocks grazed down their cover

Farmers in Australia are spreading recycled glass fertilizer made from empty bottles, its maker relays a farm manager’s claim of lower inputs, and its own savings figures are still being confirmed

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