Neglected PV Maintenance Fuels Fire Risk

Wallbox (NYSE: WBX), a leading provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging and energy management solutions, announced the successful completion of the first U.S. residential installations of its Quasar 2 bidirectional charger. American households can power their homes directly from their Kia EV9, turning the car in the driveway into a reliable and sustainable source of energy. 

Six Quasar 2 units were deployed in Menifee, California, through a collaboration with Kia America and the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The project brought vehicle-to-home (V2H) technology into real residential settings, showing how EVs can deliver benefits far beyond mobility by powering homes, reducing costs, and strengthening the grid. 

Quasar 2 enables compatible electric vehicles not only to charge but also to discharge energy back into the home. This allows homeowners to lower electricity bills by using stored energy when rates are highest and contribute to grid stability during peak demand. 

“This is more than a technology milestone. It is a glimpse of a future where every EV is an energy asset,” said Douglas Alfaro, Chief Business Development Officer at Wallbox. “Quasar 2 puts homeowners in control of their energy, helping them achieve resilience, independence, and sustainability in their daily lives.” 

The project is part of a broader effort to explore how EVs, homes, and smart energy systems can work together to create more sustainable, resilient communities. Set in a newly built all-electric neighbourhood, it demonstrates how integrated clean energy technologies can support both individual homeowners and the wider grid. 

As part of Kia’s commitment to delivering smart, intuitive mobility solutions, V2H is a part of the Kia Connect1 suite of services and will soon be available for eligible EV9 vehicles. “As we continue to expand our lineup of electric vehicles, projects like this help us showcase how EVs can deliver value beyond mobility, playing a central role in energy management and sustainability at home.” said Sujith Somasekharan, Director, Connected Car & Mobility at Kia America. “Partnering with Wallbox and UCI allows us to show how our vehicles can power homes, reduce costs, and create meaningful environmental impact for families.” 

“This initiative illustrates the importance of collaboration between research institutions and industry,” said Professor Scott Samuelsen, project director and founding director of the UCI Advanced Power and Energy Program. “Real-world deployment of bidirectional charging is essential for gathering the data, and the technical and customer adaptation insights needed to scale V2H deployment across the grid.” 

Quasar 2 represents a breakthrough in redefining the role of the electric vehicle. With these first installations now live, Wallbox is preparing for broader U.S. availability. The company’s goal is to enable drivers to unlock the full potential of the energy in their EVs and support a cleaner, more resilient grid. 

Wallbox | www.wallbox.com

Greenflash Infrastructure, L.P. ("Greenflash") announced the acquisition of Rock Rose, a 200 MW / 400 MWh pre-Notice-to-Proceed (NTP) stand-alone battery energy storage project located in Fort Bend County, Texas, from Advanced Power.

The project adds to Greenflash’s ERCOT portfolio and was selected for its interconnection position, transmission access, and capacity to support grid reliability and flexible dispatch. The acquisition supports Greenflash’s strategy to deploy utility-scale battery projects across ERCOT.

“This acquisition adds near-term, execution-ready capacity toward our 5 GW ERCOT buildout,” said Vishal Apte, Managing Partner at Greenflash.

“ERCOT, like other major power markets in the U.S., has an urgent need for projects that enhance grid reliability,” said Tom Spang, Advanced Power’s CEO. “As a premier developer of thermal, renewable, and now, BESS technology, Advanced Power is committed to bringing these contemporary power solutions to companies like Greenflash, who recognize the region’s urgent and growing energy and capacity needs. We look forward to their continuing success, as they advance Rock Rose through construction and long-term operations.”

The fully permitted, interconnection-ready project is expected to receive Notice to Proceed in 2026, with commercial operations targeted for mid-2027.

Greenflash | https://gfinfra.com/

The Port of Longview Board of Commissioners appointed Ken Anderton as Chief Executive Officer at a Special Commission meeting on October 9, 2025. Prior to his appointment, Anderton led several transformative projects as Senior Manager of Real Estate, Leasing and Investment at the Port of Portland, Oregon. Additional successes include leading the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition, repositioning the Port of Portland’s Terminal 2 and redevelopment of the Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park into a career center. 

“This was a highly competitive national search,” said the Port Commission President Allan Erickson. “Ken’s professional portfolio and port industry experience will serve the Port well as we embark on a significant period of growth and development.” 

With a career of development and port experience spanning more than 20 years, Anderton’s appointment ideally aligns with the Port’s schedule of large projects on the horizon. The Port recently broke ground on the Industrial Rail Corridor Expansion, a multi-year $80 million project to triple rail capacity into the Port and additional major infrastructure projects are slated to start in the coming years. 

“I’m looking forward to building relationships with the Port team, industry partners and community,” said Anderton. “Leading the Port through a period of growth is an honor and highpoint of my decades-long work in port development.”

Anderton is expected to begin his tenure in November 2025.

Port of Longview | https://www.portoflongview.com/

Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. (MEPPI), a leader in mission-critical power protection and energy storage, announces its support for the deployment of 800 VDC infrastructure in AI factories by leveraging its expertise in Direct Current (DC) power distribution technology.

Traditional 54 VDC in-rack architectures are not optimized for the megawatt-scale racks and tightly synchronized compute clusters that define modern AI factories. As demand scales, customers are looking for new paths to support next-generation GPU power distribution. 800 VDC is emerging as the new standard for these applications.

MEPPI will leverage the proven expertise of its parent corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) in DC power distribution technology, having previously tested and installed DC data center infrastructure in the United States.

MEPPI’s Critical Power Solutions Division (CPSD) is dedicated to minimizing downtime and delivering unparalleled reliability in power, cooling, and customer experience. Consistent with this mission, and through collaboration with NVIDIA, MEPPI CPSD is pursuing centralized rectifiers and DC-compatible energy storage systems to enable safe, efficient, and high performance 800 VDC power delivery for the world’s most demanding and specialized computing infrastructure.

“Our deep experience in critical power, power electronics, and energy storage systems positions us to help our customers achieve the highest levels of uptime and efficiency in their AI factories,” said John Campion, General Manager, at MEPPI CPSD. “To meet these needs, we are excited to develop technologies that support industry moves toward an 800 VDC power standard for AI infrastructure.”

As we advance toward 800 VDC and deepen our collaboration with NVIDIA, MEPPI will continue investing in R&D to deliver solutions that meet our customers’ most pressing needs - safety, reliability, and uptime at scale.

Mitsubishi Electric Power Products | www.meppi.com

*U.S. dollar amounts are translated from yen at the rate of ¥150=U.S.$1, the approximate rate on the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market on March 31, 2025.

McKinsey & Company (McKinsey) launches its tenth annual Global Energy Perspective, which offers a comprehensive analysis of the forces shaping the energy sector and projects energy demand and supply trends across a range of fuel types and regions through 2050.  

The report reveals that the world may be moving closer towards a slower energy transition across all scenarios, as governments and policymakers increasingly emphasize energy affordability and security amid geopolitical uncertainty. 

The Global Energy Perspective aims to highlight the gap between the world’s current trajectory and what would be needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change as defined by the Paris Agreement. It describes three plausible scenarios for how a transition to a system of lower carbon energy could play out: Slow Evolution, Continued Momentum, and Sustainable Transformation. Key insights include:

• Clean, firm power sources and renewable storage technologies are likely to expand: These sources, such as geothermal power, hydropower and nuclear power are expected to grow at 3% per year through 2050 in the Continued Momentum scenario. 

• Crucial alternative fuels are not likely to achieve broad adoption before 2040 unless mandated: Clean hydrogen is not yet cost competitive at scale, so it is expected to play a limited role in the energy mix across scenarios, with no certainty around the completion of clean hydrogen projects in the next 10 years. 

• Fossil fuels are projected to retain a large share of the energy mix beyond 2050: They could make up approximately 41% to 55% of global energy consumption by 2050 depending on the scenario.  

• Low-carbon power will grow steadily: In most regions, low-carbon power could account for more than 65% of power generation by 2050 in a continued momentum scenario.  

• Global power demand is expected to increase, driven by electrification: Data centers could contribute a transformative new share of demand in the near term (average 17% global growth per year between 2022-2030, especially in OECD countries). 

• A system-wide view could offer a faster and more cost-effective path to emission reduction: The final 5% decarbonization of the power sector could cost $90-170 per metric ton of CO2, compared to $20 per metric ton for 45-70% decarbonization. 

Diego Hernandez Diaz, Partner at McKinsey reflected on the findings: “Ten years on from the inaugural Global Energy Perspective, our view of the energy transition has matured. The transition is no less urgent, but the pathways to closing the gap to Paris Agreement targets are now more complex. The current and evolving affordability challenge means that some alternative energy sources may not be competitive with traditional fuels in the near term, but a local or regional pathway made up of a mix of emerging technologies and “triple win” technologies—those that provide affordable, low-carbon, and secure energy simultaneously – may allow for an economically pragmatic transition.” 

The report shows that there is no silver bullet for decarbonization and that different countries and regions will increasingly follow distinct trajectories based on their local economic conditions, resource endowment, and the realities facing particular industries.  

Humayun Tai, Senior Partner at McKinsey, added: "Looking ahead, global energy demand is expected to rise as access to energy expands. The challenge for the industry and policymakers will be to ensure the energy system is affordable, reliable, and resilient to price spikes, outages, and geopolitical instability while expanding to meet new demand centers. The journey toward decarbonization remains long, but there is still considerable opportunity for energy stakeholders to act now and get back on track.” 

Download the Global Energy Perspective here. In parallel, McKinsey has also recently released its Global Materials Perspective 2025 underscoring the intertwined nature of these vast global value chains. 

McKinsey | https://www.mckinsey.com/

TurnOnGreen, Inc. (OTC: TOGI) (“TurnOnGreen”) announced a strategic relationship with Kinseth Hospitality Companies (“KHC”) to deploy guest-facing electric-vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across Kinseth’s managed and owned properties. The collaboration is designed to standardize charging hardware, software, and service across the portfolio, intended to improve guest convenience, support corporate sustainability goals, and expand access to reliable EV charging infrastructure across the Midwest.

TurnOnGreen will be providing a turnkey program to Kinseth Hospitality, including site assessment, design/engineering, commissioning, networking, 24/7 driver support, and site host support. Initial deployments prioritize upgrading and expanding existing EV charging infrastructure with high-powered networked Level 2 chargers (7–19 kW) for overnight guests and visitors, with new Level 2 EV charging infrastructure to follow. Select DC fast-charging is under evaluation for highway-adjacent hotels serving day-use and transient drivers.

“EV drivers often select a hotel based on the availability of charging options, and they expect reliable, easy-to-use charging where they stay,” said Marcus Charuvastra, President of TurnOnGreen. “By pairing our proven power and charging platform with Kinseth’s operational excellence, we believe this provides a scalable template for each hotel in the portfolio to create consistency across various markets - improving the guest experience while creating a durable ancillary revenue opportunity.”

“After exploring EV charging options from multiple EV companies, we determined to partner with TurnOnGreen. Many companies are difficult and complicated to work with. TurnOnGreen’s service has proven, in our experience, to be best in class from site evaluation, technical guidance, network support and payment system,” said Les Kinseth, President of Kinseth Hospitality Companies.

TurnOnGreen | https://www.turnongreen.com/

Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH), a global energy technology company and the world's leading supplier of microinverter-based solar and battery systems, announced expanded support for virtual power plants (VPPs) across Europe. Enphase products now enable advanced energy market steering smart grid features like one-minute data streaming, instant alerts for VPP events and system maintenance, and home solar curtailment to support grid constraints. Enphase is also expanding its support for controlling heat pumps and electric vehicle (EV) chargers through expanded partnerships with leading energy providers.

Over the past year, Enphase has rapidly scaled its VPP presence across Europe, with participating system deployments growing by more than tenfold. Thousands of homes in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK), and Belgium are now connecting their Enphase Energy Systems with IQ Batteries to smart tariff programs, providing greater grid flexibility while unlocking new value for energy consumers. Enphase is now expanding its VPP support with new features in top European markets:

• One-minute data streaming. Enphase now offers real-time, push-based telemetry updates every minute for eligible systems, where partners can subscribe to the data streams, reducing latency compared to traditional pull-based APIs. This feature provides grid services partners with detailed energy and power data – including solar production, consumption, battery status, and grid import/export – enabling faster, smarter participation in energy markets. The feature is available as an add-on for a monthly fee per site.
• On-demand data for VPP events and system maintenance. Enphase now supports on-demand access to data for system and device errors, enabling partners to pull data and address issues quickly and efficiently. This allows faster response times, better customer service, and enhanced internal monitoring and analytics systems.
• Home solar curtailment to support grid constraints. Enphase now enables partners to remotely limit or pause solar production through the VPP API, helping stabilize the grid during periods of excess generation or negative electricity prices. This capability is already in use across parts of Europe, including the Netherlands and Belgium.
• Integrated control of heat pumps and EV chargers. Enphase now enables VPP partners to remotely manage major household loads – including EV chargers and heat pumps – through the VPP API when paired with the Enphase IQ® Energy Router. This integration helps shift energy use to times when renewable supply is abundant or grid demand is low.

“By connecting Enphase devices to Kraken, we can manage millions of customer assets like solar, batteries, and EVs in real time, turning everyday technology into a powerful force for the grid,” said Wren White, general manager of residential flexibility at Kraken, the global operating system managing the world's largest VPP of residential assets. “With smarter control and instant data, we can move at grid-speed, deliver greater value to customers, and accelerate the shift to a cleaner, more affordable energy future.”

“More and more of our customers want solar systems that work harder and smarter for them and the grid,” said Maarten Kuchen, lead operations at NextEnergy, a supplier of dynamic energy and grid-steering of home batteries in the Netherlands. “Enphase’s VPP tools, like real-time data streaming and solar curtailment, are giving us new ways to design smarter, more future-ready steering systems.”

“Since the beginning of our strategic partnership with Enphase, we have been working intensively on a reliable steering function for flexumers with Enphase installations,” said Sebastian Mahlow, managing director at ison GmbH, a smart energy software provider in Germany. “The intelligence behind the battery management system is self-learning and fully automated. Flexumers will benefit from this without having to compromise on comfort.”

“AI from ison combined with the strong Enphase-API plays a key role for LichtBlick,” said Eduard Gerloff, director of B2C at LichtBlick, a leading energy provider in Germany. “The AI learns and predicts the individual behavior of the system which allows us to turn all installed flexumer devices into a virtual power plant. The new price-driven battery charging function is already available to all LichtBlick customers with an Enphase battery and a dynamic LichtBlick tariff.”

“Virtual power plants are critical to building a resilient, flexible energy future,” said Sabbas Daniel, senior vice president of sales at Enphase Energy. “We’re proud to support our partners with the advanced tools they need — from one-minute telemetry and instant notifications to load control of heat pumps and EVs — so they can optimize energy use, support the grid, and unlock more value for their customers.”

Homeowners with IQ Battery 5Ps and Enphase’s advanced home energy management software can enroll in VPP programs with select energy providers in Europe. For more information about Enphase’s advanced energy management offerings, see announcements for Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Belgium. Enphase expects to continue expanding its VPP offering into more markets throughout Europe this year.

Enphase Energy | https://enphase.com/