High inflation and rising interest rates are driving up the cost of miniature atomic reactors. More than 80 unique small modular reactor, or SMR, designs are under development, resulting in sprawling supply chains and caps on scaling up production. The anticipated average generation cost surged from $55 a MWh in 2016 to almost $120 a MWh.

A review of issues at subsidiary Siemens Gamesa found a "substantial increase in failure rates of wind turbine components". Siemens Energy warned that costly problems could last for years and estimated that component failures may be occurring in 15% to 30% of its installed fleet of turbines. The additional costs may exceed €1 billion.

Germany will allow electricity grid operators to restrict power supply to heat pumps and electric vehicle (EV) chargers during bottlenecks. The grids are often not fit to supply such power-hungry devices, a reason why some operators have refused to connect them in the past. In turn, the state will now require grid operators to provide such connections.

The UK wants to build 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030 but needs a stable backup for periods when it is not windy. Now, Britain’s grid operator is incentivizing short-duration batteries of about 2-hours. The risk is that the capacity will have to be built twice, replacing shorter duration projects, which will mean even longer queues for grid connections.

Around the world, developers of renewable energy projects are told to wait up to 15 years before they can plug projects into grids that are struggling with shifts in electricity generation. 80 mln km of new grid is needed by 2050, more than the entire global grid today. In the UK, Spain and Italy more than 150GW of projects per country are stuck.

US company Helion Energy will provide Microsoft with electricity in about 5 years. Government labs and more than 30 companies are racing to generate power from fusion, which generates power without producing radioactive waste. While many companies aim to use hydrogen isotope tritium to fuel reactions, Helion plans to use a rare gas Helium 3.

The grid was built for conventional power stations that drive turbines that create a reliable 50Hz signal and they never stop dead. The grid now has to manage non-conventional sources of power that are not regular, constant, nor predictable and they are located far away from cities. The IEA says the world needs to spend $600 billion a year on the grid.

Regions from Scotland to south-west England have the right geology to potentially yield 18 minerals, including cobalt and lithium, according to the British Geological Survey. Any discoveries would take 10-15 years to yield metals on an industrial scale and the UK would also need to develop domestic mineral processing and manufacturing industries.

The government's "Powering up Britain" plan underestimates the task of decarbonisation of electricity by 2035, and removal of all "dirty fuels" by 2050, which represent 76% of total UK energy consumption. There was no attempt to model and cost the needed changes. What is needed is a 400% increase in electricity production and a recabling of the country.

The tightening of EU criteria for green investment has led asset managers to remove the label from €175bn of funds, reducing the size of the market by 40%. The EU commission might now scrap the Article 9 category altogether. Hardly any investment fund meets the 100% sustainability criteria. The EU also still lacks official guidance on using ESG labels.

The Global Wind Energy Council said “spare capacity” in wind energy manufacturing was “likely to disappear by 2026”. It will hit the US and Europe particularly hard, as much of the supply chain is concentrated in China. Singaporean shipping group Marco Polo is warning of a “big vacuum” of the large vessels required to install offshore wind turbines.

US wind developers installed 6.7 GW of onshore capacity last year, a 56% drop from the prior year. The drop was the result of the eliminated production tax credit. The Inflation Reduction Act signed in August restored the value of the tax credit. The offshore sector, meanwhile, has struggled to move forward amid inflation and mounting political push-back.