Why the West Needs to Secure Heavy Rare Earths for the Future of Advanced Manufacturing

Leading DC fast-charging solutions provider Kempower is proud to announce a strategic collaboration with Skycharger, an electric vehicle charging infrastructure developer, at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Kempower will supply the EV charging hardware for Skycharger’s new state-of-the-art EV charging hub, including 12 power cabinets and 24 satellite dispensers, enabling dynamic power distribution and high reliability across the site. The EV hub will serve electric rideshare vehicles, such as Uber and Lyft, as well as EV-driving airport customers and the public.  

“We’re moving quickly to bring this hub online,” said Johannes Copeland, COO of Skycharger. “Kempower’s flexible, high-performance charging technology is the right fit for this mission-critical deployment at one of the busiest airports in the country.” 

Skycharger’s EV Hub will support and align with SFO’s sustainability work, advancing its zero net carbon operations goal and delivering extensive benefits to the region. It will also help meet the expected surge in charging demand from rideshare vehicles in response to California’s Clean Miles Standard, which requires ninety percent of Uber and Lyft miles to be traveled by electric vehicles by 2030.  

“We’re proud to support Skycharger’s ambitious vision with technology built for scale, speed, and reliability,” said President of Kempower North America Monil Malhotra. “This deployment at SFO demonstrates how smart, flexible EV charging can meet the demands of high-traffic environments while advancing critical sustainability goals.” 

Kempower | kempower.com 

Skycharger | www.skycharger.com

Gold H₂, a climate tech energy company, announced the successful completion of the world’s first field trial demonstrating subsurface bio-stimulated hydrogen production. Conducted in a legacy oilfield in California’s San Joaquin Basin, the trial represents a landmark advancement in the energy transition, one that leverages microbiology and existing infrastructure to produce clean hydrogen directly from the subsurface.

The project marks the first-of-a-kind application of Gold H₂’s proprietary biotechnology, which harnesses microbiology, depleted oil reservoirs, and existing infrastructure to generate hydrogen in situ, eliminating the need for new drilling, electrolysis, or energy-intensive surface facilities. ChampionX LLC, a global leader in highly engineered technologies that help companies drill for and produce oil and gas safely, efficiently, and sustainably around the world, served as the oilfield services provider, playing a critical role in the efficient deployment and fieldvalidation of this breakthrough process.

“Gold H₂ exists to do what no one ever has: produce clean hydrogen directly in the subsurface using biology, engineering, and existing energy infrastructure,” said Prabhdeep Singh Sekhon, CEO of Gold H₂. “This field trial is tangible proof. We’ve taken a climate liability and turned it into a scalable, low-cost hydrogen solution. It’s a new blueprint for decarbonization, built for speed, affordability, and global impact.”

Gold H₂’s subsurface hydrogen biotechnology represents a transformative shift in clean energy development. California’s depleted oilfields alone could yield up to a quarter trillion kilograms of low-carbon hydrogen, enough to provide clean power to Los Angeles for over 50 years and avoid roughly one billion metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. The global potential is far greater.

“This breakthrough isn’t just a step forward, it’s a leap toward climate impact at scale,” said Jillian Evanko, CEO and President at Chart Industries, Inc., Gold H₂ investor and advisor. “By turning depleted oil fields into clean hydrogen generators, Gold H₂ has provided a roadmap to produce low-cost, low-carbon energy using the very infrastructure that powered the last century. This changes the game for how the world can decarbonize heavy industry, power grids, and economies, faster and more affordably than we ever thought possible.”

“ChampionX is proud to have supported this pioneering effort,” said Deric Bryant, COO and President of Chemical Technologies at ChampionX. “As a technology-focused company that supports sustainable energy production through the entire lifecycle of a well, we’re excited by the results of Gold H₂’s field trial and what it could mean for the future of clean hydrogen production.”

Field Trial Highlights

• Achieving a Global First: First-ever demonstration of biologically stimulated hydrogen generation at commercial field scale with unprecedented results of 40% H₂ in the gas stream.
• Reimagining Clean Hydrogen: Demonstrates how end-of-life oilfield liabilities can be repurposed into hydrogen-producing assets.
• Proving Operational Viability: The trial achieved 400,000 ppm of hydrogen in produced gases, an unprecedented concentration for a huff-and-puff style operation and a strong indicator of just how robust the process can perform under real-world conditions.
• Repurposing Infrastructure: Conducted using existing wells and infrastructure, enabled by ChampionX’s technical and operational support. This demonstrates the feasibility of leveraging existing infrastructure for scalable hydrogen generation in mature oilfields.
• Scalable and Cost-Efficient: This field trial marks a critical milestone in system-level validation, elevating the technology to advanced readiness for commercial deployment with targeted hydrogen production costs below $0.50/kg.
• Delivering Decarbonization: Ideal for large-scale clean power needs including grid power, data centers, and for heavy industry.

Following the trial, Gold H₂ will continue advancing commercial deployment with additional pilots, asset partnerships, and strategic infrastructure owners across North America and internationally.

Gold H₂ | https://goldhydrogen.com/

ChampionX | www.championX.com

Global electricity demand busted out of its slumber last year, largely attributed to factors such as industrialization, data centers, and electric vehicles, leaping forward by 4.3%. That’s more than twice the annual average of the past decade, according to the International Energy Agency. The world is doing its best to transition energy demand more widely over to the grid, where electricity’s natural efficiencies can be leveraged to streamline costs and to better control emissions. Electric cars, electric heat pumps in buildings, even the first attempts to use electricity in steelmaking — these are just some of the efforts currently underway.

Scott Strazik, CEO of GE Vernova, has called this “an unprecedented era of electric growth,” and it requires an all-of-the-above energy strategy to reliably fill this rising demand, with wind power playing an important role. The guiding light of this effort is the lean approach, a philosophy of never-ending improvement of the manufacturing process, with a focus on safety, quality, delivery, and cost (SQDC) — in that order with safety always coming first.

GE Vernova is integrating lean throughout its global manufacturing sites, including those that produce critical components for the company’s Wind business. Here, teams strive to obtain certification that deems their manufacturing lines “lean” — recognition of their application of principles to improve processes and operations. In line with the lean philosophy, the work never stops, and teams work even harder to maintain and upgrade lean certifications year after year … after year.

Twenty-five wind manufacturing lines received their lean certification in 2024, including at facilities in Salzbergen, Germany; Pensacola, Florida; and Baodi, China. The good-to-better approach is something all three sites have ingrained in their operations, and whether they are producing the smallest bushings or the largest machine heads, it all begins and ends with lean.

But certification isn’t a check-the-box exercise. “Once a line is certified, it implies that the next year there’ll be an upgraded certification as part of this continuous improvement. It’s not a one-off, which makes this quite a challenging endeavor!” explains Stephan Hoevenaars, global lean leader in manufacturing for GE Vernova’s Wind segment. Across GE Vernova’s global Wind footprint, 10 more lines are looking to achieve new certification this year.

Everything in Its Place

Marco Kreimer, manufacturing leader at GE Vernova’s Wind plant in Salzbergen, Germany, knows a thing or two about lean. “Lean has been a part of our operations in Salzbergen’s DNA for over 20 years,” Kreimer says. “Everything we do traces back to comprehensive standardization.” And when he says everything, he means it. Kreimer explains that this includes items big and small, like materials and fixtures, crane parking positions, tools, and even trash cans — everything has a designated place.

Removing guesswork is the name of the game, and a manufacturing execution system deployed across the site through a specially developed app helps facilitate this and set the foundation for achieving SQDC. For example, employees log into their workstations and see their scheduled activities according to the production plan. As they do their work, the program asks them to confirm when steps are completed, safeguarding that nothing is missed and work is performed according to the specifications and expected standards.

“When the activities in the value stream are well known, any deviation from the standard process is immediately visible for everyone — operators and frontline leaders — and it gets addressed in real time,” Kreimer says.

The transparent approach also supports precise planning and continuous improvement — boosting safety, quality, reliability, and cost efficiency. “Operators can keep their focus on the work they do best and not on navigating the complexities that come with manufacturing planning, while frontline leaders know exactly when to step in if help is needed,” Kreimer explains.

The company is committed to the idea that a focus on safety and quality ultimately translates into higher productivity, lower costs, and on-time delivery. The Salzbergen plant produces a number of workhorse products — turbines that boast a repeatable design best suited to be produced at scale with sustainable and efficient supply chains. That means they can be reliably manufactured in duplicates. We often think of higher levels of output as a goal in manufacturing, but big gains in safety and quality can achieve a similar outcome by way of dependability of delivery and maintaining steady flows of products to customers. “When you improve the S and Q, D and C follows,” says Kreimer.

A Workhorse Emerges

When GE Vernova announced that it would be producing 674 wind turbines for the massive SunZia project in New Mexico — what will be the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere when it comes online next year — the team at the Pensacola, Florida, manufacturing plant knew the ramp-up would be quick, and they were prepared.

“One day we started building new units, and then the next week we were building three units, then the next day we’re building five units,” says Cher Maze, Pensacola HR leader. Since then, the team has produced enough turbines to supply more than 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of the 2.4-GW order.

The 3.6-megawatt (MW), 154-meter-rotor onshore wind turbine (referred to as the 3.6-MW-154m) that will power this mega-project has become one of GE Vernova’s latest workhorse products. Making a machine like the 3.6-MW-154m is very much a product of the lean approach.

All that hard work has resulted in the Pensacola facility receiving its lean certification, according to Brandy McGraw, the plant’s executive site leader. How did they do it? Through a series of kaizens, a Japanese term meaning “change for the better.” These are lean-driven events where the goal is to achieve greater efficiency, higher quality, and less waste.

Great ideas can also come from anywhere, says McGraw, noting that her team recently hosted a weeklong kaizen event. Throughout the week, employees collaborated on isolated projects to drive continuous improvement, with a focus on SQDC. “One of these projects was born from an idea of one of our wirers on the line, who suggested we work with our supplier to create some quick connects on panels that we could use to eliminate unnecessary wiring.”

And he was right. That particular project yielded safety and quality improvements while reducing the standard work time. “So absolutely, we have really good ideas that come right from the shop floor,” McGraw says.

The most important principle in lean, however, is that there’s no end point to improvement. Indeed, when McGraw and the Pensacola plant got the happy call that they’d been awarded lean certification, the next question was, “So what is your team going to do to keep it?” 

No Task Is Too Small

Downriver from Beijing, China, in the industrial city of Tianjin, GE Vernova’s Wind business runs a wind turbine manufacturing plant in the city’s Baodi district that manufactures bushings. A bushing is a metallic cylinder, fashioned together in two parts, that helps attach a wind turbine’s blades to its hub. Sounds simple enough, but for a global supply chain that supports the deployment of wind power equipment, you are going to need a lot of bushings.

The Baodi plant recently overhauled bushing production in an interesting way. Using lean manufacturing principles, workers and managers have improved both the safety and the quality of their operations. Today the assembly line has robotic support, reducing human handling of each bushing from 12 encounters to just two. As demonstrated by Qin Lu, the Baodi plant’s lean leader, lasers and cameras now achieve greater precision, while machine lifting means far better ergonomics and lower safety risk for workers.

This is precisely the kind of innovation, brainstormed directly from the shop floor, that the lean approach hopes to capture. And while the bushing is just a small component, managing its quality while improving ergonomics for the operators is exactly what lean is all about.

GE Vernova has been a global leader in the wind industry over the past two decades, with more than 57,000 turbines installed across more than 50 countries. As the need for more and more electricity around the world continues to surge, the Wind manufacturing team is ready, realized by continuous improvements with lean and a sustainable quality that allows customers to deploy, deploy, deploy all that wind power.

GE Vernova | https://www.gevernova.com/

Much has been written in recent weeks about how the renewable energy industry in Texas dodged a bullet — several bullets actually — when three high-profile bills targeting the industry failed to pass in the recent legislative session that ended June 2. Indeed, each of those bills, S.B. 819, S.B. 388, and S.B. 715, would have had a substantial negative impact on renewable energy projects in Texas. For all the attention those bills garnered, however, and the justifiable relief felt by the industry after all three failed to pass, seemingly little attention has been paid to another bill, H.B. 3556, that did pass and was signed into law by Governor Abbot on June 22. This new law poses a serious threat to the prospects for future wind projects along the Texas coast.

H.B. 3556 is a very brief bill that seems innocuous on its face, perhaps explaining the lack of concern it has attracted. The new law requires persons proposing to build a structure taller than 575 feet along the Texas coast[1] to notify the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) at least 90 days before beginning construction. The TPWD is then afforded 45 days to recommend in writing measures to minimize the impact of the structure on migratory birds. The project proponent has 45 days to accept the recommendations in writing or propose alternative minimization measures. The TPWD then has another 45 days to issue a final decision on the measures that must be adopted. If the project proponent objects to the final measures imposed by the TPWD, it can seek an administrative hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings — a trial-like process that can take the better part of a year or more.

The new law may not seem unreasonable at first glance — after all, migratory bird conservation is a laudable objective that even the wind industry itself supports with extensive research and minimization efforts. Upon closer consideration, however, the bill grants stunningly broad regulatory authority and discretion to the TPWD, which could allow it to effectively block a wind farm almost anywhere on the Texas coast with little or no scientific justification. Consider:

• There is no requirement that TPWD base its recommendations on the best available science, or even on any science at all. This is comparable to granting EPA the discretion to impose conditions in an air permit without having to provide or defend the scientific basis for those conditions.

• There is no requirement that the measures TPWD recommends or mandates be cost-effective or even economically practicable. This is comparable to allowing EPA to require pollution control equipment in air permits without regard to the cost, commercial availability, or proven effectiveness of the required measures.

• The timelines in the law create significant uncertainty regarding the minimization measures that the project will need to employ up until at least 45 days prior to construction, and potentially past the planned start of construction if the measures proposed by TPWD are not acceptable. This creates substantial uncertainty for project financing, assuming projects can even clear investment committee review without knowing what minimization measures will be required and what the impact of those measures will be. While nothing in the law precludes a developer from commencing the approval process more than 90 days in advance, and most developers almost certainly will do so, there are limits as to how early in the process that can happen as the TPWD will likely want to know the specific number and size of the turbines that will be used and see a final or near-final project layout.

The law authorizes, but does not require, TPWD to adopt rules to implement the new requirement. Industry’s best hope may be to lobby TPWD to do so and establish reasonable standards for its recommendations based on sound science and economic practicability. Otherwise, it is easy to imagine that the anti-renewables tide in the state that almost led to passage of the other bills could result in the TPWD being pressured to kill projects with poison pill requirements by coastal landowners and/or state legislators opposed to projects being developed in their backyard. Of course, if TPWD does promulgate regulations there is no guarantee that those regulations will be workable for the industry, particularly since that would require TPWD to limit the almost unprecedented discretion delegated to it by the statute. Thus, it bears watching whether this new law will simply add one more step in the development process or spell the end of new wind development on the Texas coast.

Troutman Pepper | https://www.troutman.com/

[1] Specifically, the new law applies in any county with a population of less than 500,000 that (1) borders the Gulf of Mexico, and (2) contains all or part of a national wildlife refuge, or in any county adjacent to such a county which does not contain a municipality with a population greater than 300,000. This appears to cover every coastal county in Texas with the exception of Galveston and Nueces (Corpus Christi).

Genasys Inc. (NASDAQ: GNSS), the global leader in Protective Communications, announced a $2.0 million LRAD maritime systems order from the U.S. Navy (Navy). The follow-on order is part of the Navy’s ongoing replacement of first generation LRADs with new LRAD 1000Xi extended range communication and ship protection systems. The order is scheduled for delivery this fiscal year.

“The LRAD 1000Xi systems are slated for deployment on Navy surface combatants, large amphibious ships, and aircraft carriers,” said Richard Danforth, Chief Executive Officer of Genasys. “LRADs have provided Navy ships with extended range, over-water communication and scalable escalation of force capabilities for more than 20 years. LRADs enhance operational effectiveness, strengthen ship self-defense, and improve safety on Navy and Coast Guard ships whether in port or deployed.”

The U.S. Military and more than 30 international Navies and Coast Guards deploy LRADs for a variety of missions and operations, including ship-to-ship communication, establishing vessel exclusion zones and restricted areas, interceptions and interdictions, search and rescue, environmental responses, coastal water control, port and shore side security, anti-piracy, maritime immigration encounters, and more.

The LRAD 1000Xi features rugged military construction for reliable operation in extreme maritime conditions. By broadcasting audible hails, warnings, and commands that are clearly heard and understood over wind, engine, and background noise out to 3,000 meters, the LRAD 1000Xi provides more time and distance to communicate, determine intent, de-escalate dangerous situations, and save lives.

Genasys I genasys.com

Soluna Holdings, Inc. (“Soluna” or the “Company”), (NASDAQ: SLNH), a developer of green data centers for intensive computing applications, including Bitcoin mining and AI, today announced the renewal and expansion of its long-standing partnership with Compass Mining. The expanded agreement includes a contract renewal at Soluna’s Project Dorothy 1 site and a major expansion into its adjacent site, Project Dorothy 2, marking a total deployment of approximately 13 megawatts (MW) of computing capacity across the two locations.

Compass Mining has been a valued partner since its first deployment at Project Dorothy 1 in 2023, later transitioning to Project Sophie. With today’s announcement, Compass Mining will renew its existing buildings. It will also expand into Project Dorothy 2, Soluna’s next-generation site, with an additional 8 MW, bringing its total footprint to approximately 13 MW across the Dorothy campus. With this expansion, Project Dorothy 2, Phase 1, is now full.

“Compass Mining was one of the first to bet on us. Years later, they’re still betting on Soluna and scaling with us,” said John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna. “This renewal and expansion is a testament to our Relentless Stewardship and the trust we build with every customer. We don’t just host. We grow with you.”

“Soluna has been a highly reliable partner since Project Dorothy 1, and we’re excited to deepen that relationship,” said Paul Gosker, CEO of Compass Mining. “This expansion, which lets us staff and operate the new capacity ourselves, aligns perfectly with our strategy to deliver a best-in-class experience for our customers.”

Project Dorothy, named after computing pioneer Dorothy Vaughan, is Soluna’s flagship site, strategically located in West Texas to consume excess wind energy.

Soluna | www.solunacomputing.com

The Global Wind Energy Council have appointed Michael Hannibal as new chair following a board meeting in London. Hannibal, who is a Partner at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Chief Commercial Officer at Stiesdal Offshore, will take over for two years following the end of Jonathan Cole’s tenure leading the Council.  

Michael Hannibal, GWEC Chair, said: "It is an honour to take on the role of Chairman of the Global Wind Energy Council at this key time for the wind industry. The industry has been delivering record years of growth and is forecast to keep doing so. Our focus at GWEC will continue to be on accelerating that growth in new markets all over the world. 

"GWEC has been representing this pioneering and innovative industry for 20 years, and I am excited to work with the Council's global team and diverse membership to continue scaling up wind capacity. New markets are taking shape on every continent, both onshore and offshore, and I am excited about ensuring GWEC's vital work ensuring wind energy forms the foundation of the new global energy system continues.  

"Wind energy delivers clean and secure energy and is critical to avoiding a climate catastrophe. It is an honour to support GWEC on its mission, and to advocate for the wind industry on the global stage."

"I would also like to congratulate my predecessor Jonathan Cole for his excellent leadership through the previous two years. Jonathan was an outstanding advocate for the sector and oversaw growing reach for GWEC's work, while helping the organisation deftly navigate a number of challenges. I am enormously thankful for the offer of support Jonathan, and former chair Morten Dyrholm, have offered me, it echoes the collaborative approach that GWEC champions." 

Ben Backwell, GWEC CEO, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Michael Hannibal as the new Chair of the Global Wind Energy Council. It is an exciting time for the wind industry, with emerging markets in APAC, Latin America, Middle East and Africa rapidly developing, and mature markets tackling bottlenecks and accelerating deployment. 

“The development of offshore wind in the next two years will continue at pace, while floating offshore wind is also moving out of the commercialisation phase; Michael’s expertise in all these areas will help steer GWEC and the global wind industry through the next period of growth. 

“I’d like to thank Jonathan Cole for his support for the GWEC team throughout his chairmanship. He has helped navigate a complex period for the sector, but one which also helped deliver record growth across the world. His leadership has been an enormous asset to the organisation, and we look forward to continuing working with him as he supports GWEC in an ambassadorial and advisory role. 

“GWEC also extends its thanks to Girish Tanti, who will continue as Vice Chair and Chair of GWEC India, and Elbia Gannoum who will continue as Vice Chair (Associations). 

Michael Hannibal joined Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners as Partner in 2017 as head of CIP’s Offshore Platform. In April, he joined Stiesdal Offshore as Chief Commercial Officer, with a key aim on accelerating the group’s floating wind technology. That followed CIP and Stiesdal Offshore announcing a partnership focused on developing floating wind projects.  

Michael Hannibal has a track record of more than 20 years with renewable energy business, including more than 7 years as CEO Siemens Offshore Wind. Mr. Hannibal played a key role in the remarkable growth of the wind sector and been a major driver of the constant development of offshore wind, the industrialization of the offshore wind sector and making offshore wind real, and part of the energy mix in many countries. He was also a key player in getting the world’s first floating offshore wind turbine established in 2009 and getting floating wind matured. 

One of the new chair’s first roles will be to lead the celebrations of GWEC’s 20th anniversary in Lisbon next week. More than a hundred industry pioneers, key political figures and renewable energy titans will attend a gala dinner in Portugal’s capital to celebrate two decades of driving international collaboration and continued wind growth and looking ahead to the exciting future of the sector. The gala is happening alongside the inaugural Global Associations Summit, which will see almost 40 wind associations from across the world come together to align on topics such as grids, permitting, social acceptance, misinformation and finance. 

Global Wind Energy Council | https://www.gwec.net/