On Sunday, the power frequency in the national power grid shifted unexpectedly in the early morning and in the evening. A power failure at the Keadby 2 gas-fired power plant at 2 am was followed by the unexplained failure of the interconnector between the UK and Denmark. At 6 pm, the frequency shifted again, with the cause currently unknown.

Neighbouring countries argue the split would lower power prices for their consumers. The EU energy regulator Acer and the grid operators union Entsoe support it. Germany fears it would raise price in the industrialised south and pit the states against the federal government. The wind farm owners fear lower power prices and lower profits.

The call is open until 12 May and will provide information for the EU Commission’s Nuclear Illustrative Programme (PINC) about the investment trends, needs, and challenges, incl.: lifetime extensions of existing reactors, supply chain investments, radioactive waste management, news technologies developed in the EU, and retraining the workforce.

The German company has raised funding from the Swedish EQT and Siemens Energy. Marvel Fusion uses lasers to fire at a tiny capsule of the hydrogen fuel, triggering an implosion. This method might generate electricity at a lower cost than the more common “magnetic confinement”. The company aims to build a prototype facility by 2032.

Markbygden Ett's 179 turbines have racked up hundreds of millions of euros in losses. The power purchase agreement included low electricity prices and unrealistic expectations about electricity generation, and when there wasn’t enough wind, Markbygden Ett had to buy electricity on the spot market. Other wind farms that signed PPAs have also suffered.

Orsted says that wake losses from offshore wind farms planned by EnBW, BP and RWE will lower the energy production of Orsted's existing 1.85GW of wind farms by up to 5.34%. A similar dispute arose between Iberdrola and RWE over the projects in East Anglia. For years, studies have flagged wakes cutting output by 16% at 5 km for a 2MW turbine.

Demand for uranium is expected to double by 2040. The 2011 Fukushima disaster created a surplus, but that inventory is running out. Russia and China have secured access to resources in central Asia and Africa, while the French Orano lost its mines in Niger and its mines in Kazakhstan are being depleted and that country reduced its exports to Europe.

Japan is subsidising the commercialisation of Perovskite cells, which are 20 times thinner than regular solar panels. China produces 79%of polysilicon for standard solar cells. By contrast, Perovskite cells’ main ingredient is iodine, for which Chile and Japan are the world’s top suppliers. But Perovskite cells will, initially, be more expensive to make.

China added 94.5GW of coal power capacity in 2024, the highest since 2015. 75% of that was financed by coal mining companies. In the 4th quarter of 2024, fossil fuel generation remained high, while solar and wind utilisation dropped sharply. Coal plants often received “capacity payments” to provide power when renewable electricity generation is low.

UK households paid £1.9 bln to offshore wind to make up the difference between the fixed prices set in producers’ 15-year contracts with the state and actual wholesale prices, which were lower. They will also pay estimated £1.7 bln in 2025 to turn off far-flung wind farms in Scotland when they produce more power than the grid can deliver to towns and cities.

The region’s gas inventories are depleting rapidly this winter. Windless days increase demand for power generation. Storage sites are less than half full, the lowest since 2022. Front-month gas futures closed at €58 per MWh, the highest since February 2023, and prices for summer are so high that it’s unprofitable for energy majors to store the fuel.

Offshore-wind developers in Germany may have to pursue smaller projects in future after the government cut the generation capacity available for leasing. The country is now targeting 40 GW by 2034, instead of 50GW. The move is a response to the “wake effect” - a loss in output from wind farms built too close together, even across the maritime border.