Controlled Liquid Hydrogen Storage: The backbone of decentralized energy

DNV, the independent energy expert and assurance provider, projects that around half of all new solar installations will include battery storage by the mid-2030s, up from roughly 6.6 per cent today, with solar-plus-storage capacity growing a hundredfold by 2049. As that shift accelerates, the digital systems that manage how energy is stored, dispatched, and traded are becoming as critical as the hardware itself.

Solar-plus-storage projects become more widespread, and developers, operators, and equipment manufacturers (OEMs) face growing operational complexity, from interconnection bottlenecks and stricter grid requirements to evolving electricity markets and cybersecurity obligations.

To help address these challenges, GreenPowerMonitor (GPM), a DNV company, is expanding its digital Energy Management System (EMS) and Hybrid EMS solutions for solar, storage, and hybrid renewable energy projects. The platforms are designed to help developers and OEMs navigate increasingly complex technical, commercial, and regulatory environments, including cybersecurity requirements such as those introduced under the EU's NIS2 directive. The digital solutions support over 400 communication protocols, integrate with SCADA systems and GPM's Horizon cloud monitoring platform, are certified to IEC 62443 and ISO 27001 standards, and are backed by 24/7 support – allowing for the optimisation, control, and operation of renewable energy and hybrid assets.

"The solar-plus-storage surge is inevitable, but only if the industry can solve real-world bottlenecks such as grid access, cyber risk, and revenue uncertainty," said Juan Carlos Arévalo, executive vice-president and director of Digital & Data Solutions, Energy Systems at DNV. "GPM combines proven EMS technology with DNV's independent assurance and grid-code expertise, giving OEMs and developers the confidence to scale without compromising security or compliance."

The need for flexible energy management solutions is growing alongside investment in solar and storage. DNV's Energy Industry Insights 2026 found that 49 per cent of Asia-Pacific respondents plan to increase investment in energy storage, while markets such as Chile and Australia continue to rapidly expand deployment. As developers navigate increasingly diverse grid codes, market structures and regulations, GPM's hybrid architecture is designed to support these varying operational environments through a single platform.

DNV | www.dnv.com

Two critical community facilities in Marin County have taken major steps to safeguard residents during power outages, reduce costs, and ease strain on the electric grid. The Dance Palace Community and Cultural Center in Point Reyes Station and the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County in San Rafael have each installed new battery storage systems that provide clean backup power, lower energy costs, and support a healthier, more reliable grid. Both projects were completed with zero out-of-pocket costs from the organizations through $150,000 in funding from MCE’s Energy Storage Program and the Marin Community Foundation.

“I'm excited to see these two projects realized to further our community resilience and lessen dependence on the grid,” said Mary Sackett, Marin County District 1 Supervisor and MCE Board Director. “MCE has reinvested more than $12 million into Marin County initiatives that support community members most impacted by climate change.”

MCE has supported the installation of behind-the-meter batteries across 90 commercial and residential projects. Funding for the projects includes a $750,000 grant from the Marin Community Foundation, more than $1 million in MCE program incentives to reduce customer out-of-pocket costs, and over $1 million in incentives from the California Public Utilities Commission’s Self-Generation Incentive Program.

“Adding battery storage offers our community a new level of safety,” said Claire Burns, Executive Director of the Dance Palace. “During outages, people turn to us for information, connection, and support. Thanks to our partnership with MCE and the Marin Community Foundation, we’ll be able to keep our doors open when our community needs us most.”

The Dance Palace, a nonprofit community center serving as a cultural and emergency gathering hub for West Marin, completed installation of a new 41 kilowatt-hour solar and battery storage system paid entirely with nearly $100,000 from MCE and the Marin Community Foundation.

“It’s remarkable what we can do as local partners when we come together with a shared vision of strengthening our communities,” said Patti D’Angelo, Senior Program Director at the Marin Community Foundation.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County in San Rafael will now be able to maintainoperations and support the thousands of people it serves each year even during power outages with its new 27 kilowatt-hour battery storage system. The project was also fully funded with more than $55,000 in MCE and Marin Community Foundation funding and was installed by local nonprofit GRID Alternatives, which supports a just energy transition by providing job-training to the local workforce. MCF provided additional support with a bridge loan to GRID Alternatives so the project can access reimbursable federal incentives.

“This isn’t just an ordinary facility upgrade, it’s a commitment to reinforcing our community’s ability to prepare, respond, and recover,” said Christine Paquette, Chief Executive Officer of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County. “This is particularly true for the children, adults, and seniors we serve who are most impacted by disruptions and emergencies.”

These projects bring benefits beyond emergency preparedness. Each day, the batteries charge using onsite solar energy. In the evening, when electricity is most expensive and the grid is most strained, the facilities draw from their batteries. With battery storage, these facilities can reduce electricity usage from the grid during peak energy hours, reducing costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Other projects co-funded by MCE and Marin Community Foundation include the San Francisco- Marin Food Bank’s San Rafael facility, Marin Community Clinics’ Novato campus, Bolinas Community Center, Sage Lane Affordable Senior Housing, Stinson Beach Firehouse Protection District, and Stinson Beach Community Center. These installations build on a growing network of resilience projects across MCE’s four-county service area that have added battery storage to support essential services.

MCE | https://mcecleanenergy.org/

Renewable America, a leading provider of distributed energy resources, local small utility-scale solar+storage, and multi-customer community microgrids projects in California, announces the completion of 1.9 MWdc commercial solar projects with Pearl Crop, Inc. (Pearl Crop), a food processing company with multiple state-of-the-art facilities in central California. Pearl Crop, a family-run nut-processing business, turned to Renewable America to transform its operations through commercial solar. Its facilities have high energy demands, and Pearl Crop faced escalating energy costs. The company also has ambitious sustainability targets and recognized the need to power its operations with clean energy.

The agreement between Renewable America and Pearl Crop covers four different projects across three different locations in Ripon, Linden, and Stockton, CA. The largest site, Stockton, will use solar for 86% of its energy needs, providing Pearl Crop with an estimated $230,000 in annual utility cost savings.

“We’ve had a collaborative and beneficial partnership with Pearl Crop from agreement to completion, and it’s fulfilling to see three of the project sites running on solar power,” says Ardeshir Arian, President & CEO of Renewable America. “These projects foster energy autonomy in the local communities and contribute to our statewide carbon neutrality targets.” 

Renewable America provided a turnkey solution, serving as both developer and EPC for the four-project portfolio. By optimizing the design and installation process, the team completed work before the rollout of Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM), securing valuable NEM 2.0 savings for Pearl Crop. Their process maximized financial benefits while minimizing upfront costs and reducing long-term operational expenses.

Specifically, Renewable America solved multiple unique challenges in the design and installation phases. Through roof inspections and evaluations, they ensured that the site roofs could support the additional weight of the solar panels without compromising structural integrity. They also ensured that the panels would avoid shading from nearby buildings, increasing the system’s efficiency. In the installation phase, the team prevented any potential roof leaks to protect the quality of the almonds and walnuts processed by the facility.

 “Our Pearl Crop operations have high energy demands, and we’re on track for significant cost reductions from the transition to solar power,” says Ulash Turkan, CEO of Pearl Crop. “We appreciate Renewable America’s expertise, cost-effective solutions, and partnership as we celebrate this major sustainability milestone and work toward a greener future.”

Renewable America | https://renewam.com

Comstock Inc. (NYSE: LODE) (“Comstock” and the “Company”) and Comstock Metals LLC (“Comstock Metals”), a leader in the responsible recycling of end-of-life solar panels with the only certified, North American, zero-landfill solution, announced that all of the industry-scale facility precision equipment and unit operations have arrived and are assembled. Three of those unit operations have been commissioned and tested and are undergoing integration to date: the robotic loading arms, the Eddy system, and the washing system. This represents significant progress toward the full commissioning, start-up and continuous operation of the 100,000 ton per year solar panel recycling production line. 

“We are pleased to report that, as of last week, we completed the “tuning” of the entire glass-upgrading Eddy system, including full capacity stress-testing. The unit met and exceeded its quality and capacity performance requirements operating at full capacity levels and working towards delivering clean glass that meets or exceeds all the quality specifications communicated from our customers,” stated Corrado De Gasperis, CEO of Comstock Inc. 

“A production plant comes to life the way a finely tuned orchestra does. Each instrument is tuned individually to make sure it is working and if not, then retuned, and then stress-tested at volumes representing the equipment’s stated capacities, and only then does the true performance begin,” stated Dr. Fortunato Villamagna, Comstock Metals’ President. “Our plant is moving through that same sequence, and the instruments, the nine distinct unit operations that make up our process, are now being tuned one by one.” 

“The start-up sequence is largely dictated by the engineering requirements and, in part, in response to requests for materials and samples from the growing population of our potential offtake customers,” continued Villamagna. “We are currently stress-testing the other two-unit operations that are now calibrated, while beginning the “tuning process” for the next three in the sequence.” 

Commissioning, and all aspects of integration, tuning, and staged stress-testing will continue through late July 2026, when continuous operations will commence. The first full month of operation will begin within the next two months. 

Comstock I https://comstock.inc/

Solar power plants are designed for long-term operation. Many projects built during earlier periods of solar growth are still running today and still have years of productive life ahead. However, across a project’s full lifecycle, panel damage is difficult to avoid. Birds, debris, hailstorms, extreme weather and electrical faults can all affect solar modules over time.

The challenge is that damaged panels do not always stop working completely. In many cases, they continue operating at reduced efficiency, creating energy losses that may remain unnoticed until they accumulate.

This makes panel replacement more than a simple maintenance task. It becomes part of long-term asset performance management.

Damaged Panels Can Create Long-Term Losses

For example, in a 1MW installation with more than 3,000 panels, around 100 panels may be damaged annually. If left unaddressed, this can result in:

• Around 30,000 kWh of energy loss per year
• Around $6,000 in annual revenue loss at $0.20/kWh
• Around $36,000 in accumulated losses over 6 years

For long-term solar asset owners, this is not only a maintenance issue. It can affect revenue, safety and lifecycle performance. The question is not only whether damaged panels should be replaced. It is also how to replace them without adding unnecessary cost, complexity or downtime.

When New Panels Don’t Fit

Replacing a panel may seem simple, but solar systems are built around specific designs. New panels often have different sizes, power ratings and structures. If they don’t match the original system, issues may include:

• Mounting adjustments
• Electrical mismatch
• Extra engineering work
• Longer installation time
• Increased downtime and cost

What starts as a simple replacement can become a larger project. That’s why compatibility matters.

Discontinued Models Make Replacement Harder

Another growing challenge is product availability.

The solar industry moves quickly, and many older module models are no longer available. Manufacturers update designs, discontinue products, or exit certain markets. As a result, asset owners often struggle to find compatible replacements for aging systems.

When matching panels are unavailable, they may need to search longer, accept less suitable alternatives, or consider system modifications—adding cost, time and complexity.

GBP Replacement Panels

GBP replacement panels are designed to support solar asset owners, installers and O&M teams facing damaged panels, discontinued models or underperforming modules. Our replacement panel solutions help match the specifications of existing solar systems, supporting the reuse of current mounting structures and reducing unnecessary engineering work.

This helps simplify replacement projects, reduce redesign needs and support continued system operation with less disruption.

Through GBP Direct, customers can also access 400+ replacement solar panel options and search for compatible modules more efficiently. This supports faster sourcing for aging solar assets and helps customers respond more effectively when replacement needs arise.

GBP Direct | https://www.gbp-direct.com/

Next Hydrogen Solutions Inc. (“Next Hydrogen” or the “Company”) (TSXV:NXH) is pleased to announce a collaboration agreement with Fusion Fuel Cycles Inc. (“FFC”) to demonstrate purpose-built electrolysers for the fusion industry.

This partnership builds on two contracts totaling approximately $3.75 million awarded by FFC to Next Hydrogen in March 2026. Under these contracts, Next Hydrogen will engineer and deliver an electrolyser for the extraction of tritium, the fuel of fusion, from heavy water. The electrolyser will be integrated into FFC’s overall fusion fueling system.

The collaboration supports FFC’s vision to create a holistic fusion fuel cycle — a standardized balance of plant that allows fusion developers to source proven, integrated systems to enable their demonstration and commercial deployments.

FFC and Next Hydrogen Signing Ceremony at Team Canada Trade Mission to Japan

Signing ceremony between Yuhei Nozoe (Co-CEO, FFC) and Raveel Afzaal (CEO, Next Hydrogen) in the presence of the Honourable Maninder Sidhu (Minister of International Trade), Ambassador to Japan Ian G. McKay, Christian Howes (Senior Economic Officer, Ontario Trade & Investment) and Guillermo Freire (SVP, Mid-Market Group, EDC).

The fusion industry is widely seen as a massive long-term market now entering its prototyping and demonstration phase. Fusion promises a near-limitless, clean, and inherently safe source of baseload power, and once fully commercialized could rival or exceed today’s global electricity market to become one of the world’s largest industrial sectors.

“Next Hydrogen has a unique electrolyzer design that is very well suited to the demands of fusion power,” said Yuhei Nozoe, Co-Chief Executive Officer of FFC. “Its alkaline cell delivers the durability these applications require, while high current density operation keeps the system compact and minimizes potential leak points. Just as importantly, its novel cell design architecture with internal gas-liquid separation reduces contamination risk — exactly the characteristics we need to build reliable fuel cycle systems for our customers.”

“We strongly believe in FFC’s value proposition and team. One of the major strengths of FFC is its ability to leverage the historical strengths of the Japanese fusion industry and the Canadian nuclear industry,” said Raveel Afzaal, President and Chief Executive Officer of Next Hydrogen. “By delivering a standardized balance of plant, FFC allows fusion companies to concentrate on their core intellectual property while FFC handles the supporting systems around it. That focus translates directly into lower costs and faster timelines for an industry where speed to demonstration matters enormously. FFC also brings a very strong pedigree as a joint venture between Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and Kyoto Fusioneering, and we are proud and grateful to support its mission to help bring fusion energy to commercial reality.”

Next Hydrogen Solutions I www.nexthydrogen.com

Sabanci Renewables, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sabanci Holding, one of Türkiye’s leading holding companies with deep expertise in the energy sector, has entered into a long term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Meta for 100% of the environmental attributes from its 100 MWac / 130 MWdc Lucky 7 Solar and 120 MWac / 156 MWdc Pepper Solar projects in Texas with a total capacity of 220 MWac / 286 MWdc.

Both projects are expected to be completed in the second half of 2027 and form a part of Sabanci Renewables’ growing utility-scale renewable energy portfolio in the United States. Lucky 7 Solar and Pepper Solar are also expected to contribute to local communities by supporting more than 600 jobs during construction, creating long-term employment opportunities during operation, and bringing lasting economic benefits to the region, including more than $30 million in total property tax revenues for local taxing entities over the life of the projects. The projects will further support Texas’ growing need for reliable energy infrastructure by adding new renewable generation capacity within the ERCOT market.

A milestone for the U.S. market journey

“Entering into a long-term renewable energy agreement with Meta is an important step for Sabanci Renewables as we continue to grow our presence in the United States,” said Tolga Kaan Doğancıoğlu, Strategic Investments and Operations President, Sabanci Group. “For Sabanci Renewables, it also marks another strategic milestone in our US market journey and reinforces our focus on building durable partnerships with institutional and corporate off-takers.”

"We're excited to support the development of the Lucky 7 and Pepper solar projects, which together will add new solar capacity to the Texas grid," said Amanda Yang, Head of Clean and Renewable Energy, Meta. "This long-term agreement with Sabanci Renewables reflects the kind of partnerships we value — ones that bring meaningful new energy resources online.”  

AI-driven digital and data centers need long-term energy security

The agreement reflects Sabanci Renewables' continued focus on long-term contracted renewable energy investments in the U.S. The company continues to develop and build renewable energy projects designed to provide scalable and reliable electricity generation capacity while supporting the evolving operational requirements of large organizations operating in the United States.

Sabanci Renewables | https://sabanciclimatetech.com/en/climate-ventures/index/Climate-Ventures/4/0/0/