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

Ingeteam has completed the commissioning of its second hydrogen project in Spain. This is the first renewable hydrogen production plant in the Castile and León region. The plant, which is located in Garray, Soria, was developed by the company Somacyl in collaboration with Redexis, and features electrolysers from H2B2 Electrolysis Technologies. This is the second time that this client has relied on Ingeteam technology, following the successful SoHyCal project in California, USA.

The new production plant occupies a 3,000-square-metre plot and houses water storage tanks, as well as auxiliary facilities for control and monitoring, air conditioning, lighting and security. From the outset, the plant is expected to provide a hydrogen service to the Environmental Business Park (EBP). With a capacity of 2.5 MW, it will meet the EBP's energy and heat needs by producing 100% renewable hydrogen, avoiding the emission of up to 2,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.

The project also contemplates the renewable hydrogen production plant to be powered directly by clean electricity and equipped with a 150-cubic-metre hydrogen storage system.

As the technology partner, Ingeteam is responsible for supplying its latest development: the new INGECON H2 E-Series rectifier. It powers the plant's electrolyser, supplying up to 6,000 amps with a single rectifier. This equipment has been designed, manufactured and tested at Ingeteam's production centres in Navarre, Spain, providing the project with a locally sourced solution. It has been delivered as a turnkey, ready-to-install solution, complete with a medium-voltage transformer. The agreement between the two companies also includes supplying the control system and commissioning this equipment.

Jorge Haya, director of Ingeteam's Hydrogen business, said: "Contributing our technology to projects close to where they are designed and manufactured allows us to monitor them exceptionally well and helps us continue developing robust equipment. This new contract further strengthens the trust that H2B2 has placed in Ingeteam as a technology partner for its projects. We are delighted to continue contributing to the decarbonisation of our society”. Ingeteam has reached a total order book of 550 MW, two of which have already been installed in Spain with very positive growth prospects.

Ingeteam | https://www.ingeteam.com/en-us/home.aspx

H2B2 Electrolysis Technologies | https://www.h2b2.es/

SOLV Energy announced the acquisition of Spartan Infrastructure, a high-voltage (HV) transmission contractor based in Mesa, Arizona. The acquisition represents a significant expansion of SOLV Energy's capabilities in the transmission and distribution (T&D) sector and positions the company to play a diversified role in meeting the growing demand for resilient power infrastructure across the U.S.

The two companies have a long history of collaboration, having partnered on several major solar projects in the Southwestern, South Central and Mountain West regions of the United States. The acquisition is the culmination of a longstanding relationship and creates new growth opportunities for both organizations. Spartan's specialized T&D experience strengthens SOLV Energy's existing HV capabilities, enhancing its ability to deliver integrated, lifecycle solutions across the broad energy market, while providing Spartan with the scale and financial backing to pursue larger projects.

"Bringing Spartan Infrastructure into the SOLV Energy family is highly strategic and enhances our ability to deliver an end-to-end solution for our clients," said George Hershman, CEO of SOLV Energy. "Spartan's deep expertise in transmission infrastructure is a perfect complement to our capabilities, and we're excited to continue our growth together."

"I'm incredibly proud of the Spartan team for reaching this transformative milestone," said Casey Maslonka, Co-Founder and President of Spartan Infrastructure. "Their dedication and hard work have built a strong foundation for our future as part of the SOLV Energy family. Together, we're better positioned than ever to deliver exceptional value and performance to our customers and stakeholders."

The acquisition underscores SOLV Energy's commitment to building a resilient, vertically integrated services offering to support the rapid expansion of the U.S. power grid across more forms of energy. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

SOLV Energy | https://www.solvenergy.com/

Spartan Infrastructure | https://spartaninfra.com/

Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) won a contract for GeoFrame Energy’s geothermal and direct lithium extraction (DLE) project. Through this collaboration, Halliburton will plan and design the first demonstration phase wells in the Smackover Formation in East Texas. Work is expected to begin in late 2025.

“GeoFrame Energy is in an excellent position to capitalize on the current demand for lithium through brine extraction. Halliburton’s 100-year legacy of well expertise and execution, combined with innovation to support new energy projects and decades of experience in the Smackover Formation, makes us the best candidate to help support GeoFrame Energy’s vision.”

“GeoFrame Energy’s East Texas Project will lead the United States’ domestic lithium production and will be the first to deliver battery-grade lithium carbonate from the Smackover Formation,” said Bruce Cutright, CEO, GeoFrame Energy. “Halliburton, as a critical member of our team, will support the drilling phase of our project through the construction, design, and operation of the demonstration wells and the expansion into full field development.”

Cutright noted that GeoFrame Energy’s project is more than just a lithium production facility — it is a model for responsible mining. The company plans to use geothermal brine to generate renewable electricity through zero-emission binary cycle generators. This process will power its direct lithium extraction and lithium carbonate production plant with renewable energy. The company will sell the excess geothermal power produced electricity to the grid.

Halliburton | https://www.halliburton.com/en

GeoFrame Energy | www.geoframe-energy.com

Electricity is the backbone of modern industrial operations and digitalization provides new opportunities to optimize energy systems. Intelligent power management company Eaton is empowering customers to put electrification and digitalization to work in new ways with its Factories as a Grid approach that maximizes the functionality of existing energy systems along with renewable energy resources to achieve greater levels of energy resilience, affordability and efficiency.

The strategy builds on Eaton’s Everything as a Grid perspective that provides customers with more energy choices and enables a flexible foundation to secure reliable and resilient power. Adopting this Factories as a Grid approach can help manufacturers simplify the electrification of critical processes while simultaneously improving energy efficiency, ensuring a constant supply uninterrupted power and reducing operational costs by producing and consuming electrical power more intelligently.

Eaton is demonstrating its Factories as a Grid approach at its Arecibo, Puerto Rico manufacturing facility (pictured) and during the Reuters Global Energy Transition event this week. (Image credit: Eaton)

“There are multiple global megatrends at play impacting manufacturing. Everything is electrifying and extreme weather events are becoming more common,” said Marc Elliott, director – mining, metals, minerals, pulp and paper at Eaton. “Solving these challenges requires integrated solutions that transform electrical systems from simple loads on the grid into intelligent business assets that assure energy security. At Eaton, we’re leveraging our expertise and industry-leading solutions to help our customers make that happen.” 

The strategy hinges on the scaled implementation of intelligent power management solutions to manage the new demands of electrified processes. By taking a holistic view of energy needs and infrastructure, Eaton can help customers intelligently balance energy production and consumption to achieve operational goals, including:   

• Improved resilience using proven microgrid technology, onsite renewable energy generation and energy storage to support always-on power during grid interruptions.
• Reduced energy costs through the ability to react to real-time grid conditions and strategically produce, store and consume electricity generated on site.
• Improved energy efficiency and equipment performance supported by Eaton’s Brightlayer portfolio that delivers real-time and actionable insights.
• Cost-effective electrification including accommodations for electric fleet charging infrastructure that help reduce costs and save time. 
• Accelerated decarbonization through the integration of onsite clean energy resources that can be monetized to maximize return on investment. 

Eaton is demonstrating its Factories as a Grid approach at its Arecibo, Puerto Rico manufacturing facility, which produces circuit breakers for homes, buildings and industrial applications. This first-of-its-kind project integrates onsite solar generation, energy storage and intelligent digital solutions into a microgrid that is cutting operational costs, energy consumption and emissions.

Matt Hockman, president of Global Energy Infrastructure Solutions at Eaton, will highlight the Factories as a Grid approach during a keynote address focused on innovative approaches to meet growing energy demand during the Reuters Global Energy Transition 2025 event in New York City on June 25.

Learn more about how Eaton is helping build the factories of the future.   

Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for people everywhere. We make products for the data center, utility, industrial, commercial, machine building, residential, aerospace and mobility markets. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges and building a more sustainable society for people today and generations to come.   

Eaton | www.eaton.com

Global energy storage owner-operator BW ESS and Getxo-based energy storage developer Ibersun have signed a joint venture to develop, in its first phase, 2.2GW of utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects across Spain.

The Spanish battery energy storage market is growing to become one of the largest in Europe and the country’s National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan sets the target at 22.5 GW by 2030. Spain’s increasing need for energy storage capacity is driven by a growth of solar and wind generation and intensified by the limited interconnection between the Iberian peninsula and its European neighbours. In addition to stabilising the energy grid, the expansion of Spain’s BESS fleet will also prevent energy from being wasted, when supply exceeds demand.

The joint venture, targeting greenfield, four-hour duration assets, will progress an initial 2.2 GW pipeline of eight projects across Spain. These projects will be owned equally by BW ESS and Ibersun. The partners expect each project to achieve Ready-to-Build status within two years and anticipate pursuing a diverse range of revenue generation strategies. 

Based in the Basque Country and founded by executives with more than 25 years’ experience in the energy sector in Spain and worldwide, Ibersun has been developing renewable energy projects in Spain since its establishment in 2019 with a focus on solar and, more recently, BESS.

Isaac Garcia Moreno, Executive Director of BW ESS, said: "We are proud to be developing our first projects in Spain with Ibersun, a trusted partner with over 25 years of market experience. We have a common objective to improve Spain’s grid resilience and support the market’s ambitious energy storage growth targets. Recent events have underlined that there’s no time to waste in working towards these goals, and we look forward to applying a wealth of experience drawn from multiple global markets to the Spanish context.”

Javier Arkotxa and Jose Antonio Gutiérrez, Directors and Founders of Ibersun, added: "It’s essential for us that our work blends seamlessly and respectfully with its surroundings and we are delighted to be partnering with a business who shares these priorities. Spain is one of the largest markets for BESS and our joint venture with a global leader like BW ESS is going to help us in our efforts to continue developing the country’s energy potential.”

BW ESS | https://bw-ess.com/ 

Ibersun | https://ibersun.es/en/

Cadiz Inc. (NASDAQ: CDZI) announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with UK-based Hoku Energy Limited and its affiliates (the "MOU" or "agreement") to develop a major clean energy campus at Cadiz Ranch in California's Mojave Desert. The MOU with Hoku represents the second prospective land lease for clean energy development that the Company has executed within the past year and furthers the Company's commitment to sustainable development of its land and water assets.

The MOU provides Hoku Energy with a three-year exclusive option to develop the project on more than 10,000 acres at Cadiz Ranch.  The Hoku project could include green hydrogen production facilities, large-scale renewable and low carbon power generation, large scale battery storage facilities, and integrated digital infrastructure, such as data centers, on the leased property or integrated with facilities off the leased property.

The agreement does not restrict existing and planned commercial development at Cadiz, including current agricultural operations, development of the Mojave Groundwater Bank, development of a green hydrogen production facility in partnership with RIC Energy and reserves 400 acres for additional commercial development which could include a data center.  Under the agreement, if a data center is developed within this 400-acre area, Hoku Energy will have a right of first refusal to supply power to that facility.

"This agreement with Hoku Energy is the capstone of our long-term land use strategy," said Susan Kennedy, Chair of Cadiz Inc. "Hoku Energy's vision aligns with our mission to support sustainable, scaled development of critical energy and water infrastructure in California and the Southwest."

The Cadiz property's extensive infrastructure—including access to rail lines, water resources, and pipelines and pipeline corridors—makes it well suited for large-scale, integrated renewable energy and data center development.  The agreement with Hoku complements Cadiz's development of its flagship water supply and storage project, the Mojave Groundwater Bank, and follows Cadiz's 2024 agreement with RIC Energy to develop up to 3,000 acres for green hydrogen production. Together, the RIC and Hoku projects are expected to position Cadiz Ranch as one of the largest clean energy campuses and green hydrogen production hubs in North America.

Additional details about the MOU are included in a Current Report on Form 8K filed by Cadiz today with the SEC.   

Cadiz | https://www.cadizinc.com

Yokogawa Electric Corporation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the announcement of its flagship product, CENTUM, a pioneering distributed control system (DCS) that has enabled a new era of automation and control of a wide range of plants and industrial processes.

Now in its 10th generation, CENTUM was announced as the world’s first DCS in June 1975 and forever changed the way the industry does plant control management. As one of the first control systems to adopt the use of microprocessors and a non-analog CRT interface, CENTUM has continued to reinvent itself over the generations, shrinking in physical size while increasing in functionality, and has gained the ability to integrate all production-related functions and information. CENTUM’s scalable and interoperable architecture enabled it to support very large and complex plants. Together with the company’s unique pair & spare dual redundant design, CENTUM continues to maintain its legacy of extraordinarily high system availability, while expanding its scope of monitoring and control by seamlessly connecting to and managing the latest equipment and devices in the digital era.

Kunimasa Shigeno, President and CEO of Yokogawa, said, “Industries around the world are undergoing a major transformation to build a more sustainable society. Expectations for control technology are higher than ever, ranging from the ever-present need for enhancements to safety and efficiency and for progress to be made in digitalization and decarbonization. CENTUM is now evolving beyond the boundaries of a traditional DCS and growing into a versatile solution that addresses diverse business needs. We remain committed to delivering both safety and reliability while providing value in new ways that will drive transformation and support the future of industry every step of the way.”

CENTUM has continued to evolve as a core monitoring and control system, delivering reliability, stability, and compatibility while driving productivity improvements in plants worldwide. Looking ahead, Yokogawa remains committed to preserving this legacy while pursuing sustainability and engaging in continuous innovation, delivering technologies for the industries of tomorrow, with the goal of autonomous operations.

Yokogawa | www.yokogawa.com