Energy — August 2026

Australia's red soil may hide a clean energy source

Scientists found iron-rich rock in Western Australia naturally makes hydrogen gas, and the reaction might be sped up to make far more.

Michigan bets $7.5M on hydrogen buried underground

Michigan is spending $7.5 million to find out whether natural hydrogen gas trapped underground could become a real clean energy source.

Trump admin moves to weaken heavy-truck fuel rules

A new Transportation Department rule argues Biden-era fuel economy standards for trucks went too far, opening the door to rolling them back as diesel prices climb.

Army picks 5 firms for $2.2B nuclear microreactor plan

The Army will pay five companies up to $2.2 billion to build small nuclear reactors at bases, aiming to keep power on if the grid fails.

Delaware makes data centers pay their own power costs

Gov. Matt Meyer signed a bill forcing data centers to cover their own grid upgrades, instead of passing the cost onto electric bills.

Pacific Fusion breaks ground and signs a deal with the DOE

The fusion startup started construction on its $1 billion New Mexico campus and signed a research partnership with the Department of Energy.

Pacific Fusion builds $1B fusion campus in Albuquerque

The New Mexico campus will host a system built to prove fusion power can generate more energy than it consumes, by 2030.

Eni targets a commercial fusion plant by the 2040s

The Italian energy giant wants fusion to become its 'next refinery,' built with US partner Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

Russia plans 30 GW of new nuclear power, Putin says

President Putin says Russia will add about 30 gigawatts of nuclear capacity, including small reactors, while pushing to export more nuclear tech abroad.

Cleveland-Cliffs redirects a $500M climate grant to coal

The steelmaker will keep its coal-fired blast furnace running instead of building the hydrogen-ready plant the grant was meant to fund.

Fusion startup Inertia speeds up its fuel production

Inertia Enterprises says it cleared one of many technical hurdles standing between its laser fusion approach and a real power plant.

Pennsylvania tightens rules on AI data center power

Gov. Josh Shapiro's new executive order strips data centers of fast-track permits and requires them to bring their own power supply.

Canada unveils $70B clean energy and minerals plan

Prime Minister Mark Carney calls it North America's largest-ever clean energy investment, tying hydropower to critical minerals mining.

Three Mile Island's revival gets its big transformer

Constellation delivered a main power transformer to the former Three Mile Island Monday, a step toward restarting it for Microsoft's AI power needs.

Livermore scientists finally measure how diamond melts

The new measurement could let fusion scientists triple how much energy each laser shot produces.

$600B in Biden clean energy funds survives Trump's cuts

Eighteen months into Trump's rollback push, Politico finds roughly $600 billion in Biden-era clean energy money is still on the table, largely untouched.

Nuclea buys Moltex's nuclear waste-recycling technology

Nuclea Energy is acquiring Moltex's technology for turning leftover nuclear fuel into new reactor fuel, plus its small reactor designs.

US natural gas output set to hit a record in 2026

The EIA forecasts US gas production will average 122.5 billion cubic feet a day this year, beating last year's record by 4 billion.

DOE funds Puerto Rico battery project, cuts solar aid

A $489 million loan adds battery storage to Puerto Rico's grid, even as the Trump administration pulls back separate solar funding.

Kyoto Fusioneering builds a fusion test site with a US lab

The Japanese company is moving its U.S. headquarters to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to test fusion technology before real reactors get built.

MIT researchers map out fusion power's economics

A new MIT framework asks what it actually costs to make fusion power profitable, not just possible.

ABB invests in LevelTen to help firms buy clean power

The industrial giant is betting big companies will pay to lock in clean electricity as AI data centers strain the grid.

Oklo brings a nuclear reactor to life in under a year

The Sam Altman-backed startup's Groves reactor in Texas went from groundbreaking to a self-sustaining reaction in 11 months.

Trump's new tariffs raise the price floor on solar panels

A Section 232 order sets minimum import prices on polysilicon, the raw material in most solar panels, while trying to rebuild US manufacturing.

Trump pays RWE $1.22B to scrap 3 offshore wind farms

The German energy giant will get $1.22 billion, plus a stake in a Louisiana LNG project, to abandon its U.S. offshore wind leases.

China's coal use grows again as clean power goes to waste

China built record amounts of wind and solar, then wasted a record share of it, letting coal power grow again in the first half of 2026.

PJM accepts 715 new power projects into its grid queue

The country's largest power grid, straining under record demand, accepted 715 proposed plants — from solar to gas to nuclear — into review.

Commonwealth Fusion raises another $1B for fusion power

The MIT spinout's new round is the largest single fusion-industry raise since its own 2021 round, pushing total funding to $4 billion.

Court upholds FERC rule to speed up grid hookups

The D.C. Circuit rejected a challenge to FERC's rule for connecting new power projects, keeping intact a fix for a 2,000+ gigawatt queue backlog.