Global clean energy group ContourGlobal announced the start of commercial operation of another utility-scale solar-plus-storage project in Chile, one the company said features Latin America’s longest-duration battery energy storage system (BESS). UK-headquartered ContourGlobal said the 6.5-hour/200-MW BESS, which pairs with a 231-MW solar power facility at the Victor Jara hybrid plant in Tarapacá, is the...
Nvidia announces new AI chip for personal computers
Nvidia has announced a new chip for PCs as it moves into the consumer market for devices integrated with AI technology. “This reinvention of the computer is as big of a deal as the reinvention of the phone into what we now know as the smartphone,” Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang said as he unveiled...
Trump makes changes to steel, aluminum and copper tariffs
President Donald Trump on Monday adjusted tariffs on some steel, aluminum and copper imports, lowering some tariffs on farming equipment and extending the lower rate to other equipment. In an executive order, Trump lowered tariffs on agricultural equipment, including combines and harvesters, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, to 15% from 25%. Read...
Can We Refill the Great Salt Lake?
The Great Salt Lake is drying up. Since the mid-1980s, the lake has dropped 22 feet, and its surface area is 60 percent smaller than it once was. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider this: it takes 12 minutes and 13 seconds to walk from where the lake’s shoreline once was to where it is today.
Three Reforms to Improve Nuclear Energy’s Economic Outlook
Nuclear energy is safe, clean, reliable, and scalable. It can power the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, revitalize industrial communities, and help meet our environmental ambitions. So why does building a nuclear plant in the United States cost so much?
ERCOT incentivises grid-forming BESS with US$25 million programme
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has initiated a programme to encourage battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other inverter-based resources to adopt grid-forming technology. Established 26 May, the Nodal Protocol Revision Request (NPRR) “establishes a one-time advanced grid support incentive programme to encourage inverter-based resources (IBRs) that would not otherwise be required to...
America Doubles Down on a New Nuclear Energy Future
A year ago, President Donald Trump issued four executive orders aimed at restoring America’s lost global leadership in nuclear energy—a worthy goal. Over 80 years ago, the United States unlocked the secrets of atomic fission through the Manhattan Project and then, pursuant to President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s historic Atoms for Peace vision, harnessed that awesome power...
How to Avoid Repeating the Potomac River Spill Fiasco
For five days, the equivalent of 350 Olympic-sized pools’ worth of sewage flooded into the Potomac River in a suburb of Washington, D.C. The cause? A clear failure in our permitting systems.
China Publishes Maps Detailing Minerals on the Ocean Floor
A research arm of the Chinese government said it had published an atlas of deep-sea mineral deposits, highlighting Beijing’s ambitions to mine the ocean floor and underscoring its disputed claims to waters that neighboring nations consider theirs. Experts say the maps, in addition to pinpointing mineral deposits found in the deep ocean, give China’s military...
US announces science and AI partnership with Japan
The U.S. has announced a new partnership with Japan on science and artificial intelligence. Energy Department Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil told reporters Thursday that each country would invest $500 million in the joint venture. “This is the defining moment for the next era of science,” he said. “We’re linking our brightest minds and...









