** A research team based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says that solar could have the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of all energy sources in South Korea by the early to mid-2030s.
** In a groundbreaking move to bolster domestic critical mineral production, the U.S. Department of the Interior has greenlit the Velvet-Wood uranium and vanadium mine in San Juan County, Utah—marking the nation’s first project approved under a newly accelerated 14-day environmental review process, initiated in response to the national energy emergency declared by President Donald J. Trump.
** Scientists in the United States have designed a microwire solar cell that could reportedly enable the coupling of singlet fission with silicon. Key to their achievement was an interface that transfers the electrons and holes sequentially into silicon instead of both at once.
** PECO announced a competitive request for proposals for energy, capacity and energy credits from solar installations of up to 25 MW. The Philadelphia-based utility is seeking proposals for new in-state solar projects supplying energy, capacity and alternative energy credits from new Tier I solar projects under Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, 73 (AEPS Act).
** Last week North Carolina Democrats held a “bill funeral” in Raleigh for proposals Republican leadership refused to advance, including a bill that would have stopped Duke Energy and other utilities from charging customers for political spending.
** CenterPoint Energy in Houston is assuring the city and state regulators that it is prepared for this year’s hurricane season, which begins June 1. Forecasters are predicting an active season. CenterPoint’s outage tracker crashed last year when Houstonians needed it most. A rare May windstorm and Hurricane Beryl in July took whole neighborhoods offline, prompting millions in the city to seek information about which areas retained electricity needed for food, gasoline and cell phone service.
** Texas lawmakers advanced a bill banning offshore wind farms for the ERCOT grid. The bill bars any offshore wind project or related grid infrastructure in Texas waters from connecting to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas power grid.
World
** Clean energy production in France has reached a six-year high, with nearly 95% of the country’s power generated from clean sources, a significant lead over other European countries, reported Reuters.
** A Liberian-flagged container ship with hazardous cargo has sunk off the coast of Kerala in India’s south, the navy said on Sunday after rescuing all 24 crew members safely. The Defence Ministry did not specify what was inside the containers it said were hazardous. Calcium carbide is used in the chemical industry, including for fertiliser production and steelmaking.
** India’s coastguard raced on Monday to contain an oil spill from a container ship with hazardous cargo that sank off the southern coast a day earlier, Kerala’s state government said. The Liberian-flagged MSC ELSA 3, listed as a 184-metre (603-foot) freight ship, went down off the coast of Kerala on Sunday, with all 24 crew members rescued.
** China’s EV price war just kicked up a notch — and investors are worried. Shares in some of Tesla’s biggest Chinese rivals fell sharply on Monday after a raft of price cuts announced by BYD fuelled fears over the country’s brutally competitive EV industry.
** Russia has signed a deal with China to build a nuclear power plant on the moon. The Russian reactor will be used to power the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), jointly led by China and Russia, and should be completed by 2036, according to a memorandum of cooperation signed by the two nations.
** Nearly 45,000 people suffered a power outage in and around Nice, southern France on Sunday, after an electrical transformer was set on fire overnight, according to the city’s mayor.