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/daily ·09 SEPT 2026 ·WEDNESDAY ·3 MIN READ ·6 STORIES

Nuclear Returns, Battery Prices Rise

Iowa's shuttered nuclear plant gets a federal loan to restart, Chinese battery makers raise prices, and the EU deployed 34 GW of solar in six months.

01 / The Day

WEDNESDAY 09 SEPT 2026, ranked

06

Shuttered Iowa Nuclear Plant Gets $1.9 Billion Federal Loan to Restart

The US Department of Energy announced a $1.9 billion conditional loan guarantee to restart the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa, which was closed in 2020 following storm damage — the first federal commitment to restart a decommissioned US nuclear facility under the Nuclear Re-licensing Acceleration Act.

  • Duane Arnold was a 600 MW boiling water reactor; restart would restore it as Iowa's only nuclear generation source
  • Loan is conditional on NRC licence reinstatement and contractor qualification review, which could take 18–24 months
  • DOE estimates restart costs at $2.6B total; the federal loan covers roughly 73% of projected capital expenditure
Why it mattersFederal commitment to restart a decommissioned reactor is a policy precedent — it signals that closed nuclear plants are now on the table as clean power sources rather than stranded assets.
01 canarymedia.com↗

CATL and EVE Energy Raise Battery Storage Cell Prices by 8–12%

China's two largest battery manufacturers — CATL and EVE Energy — announced price increases of 8–12% on battery energy storage system (BESS) cells effective October 2026, citing tightening lithium carbonate supply and higher production costs, reversing two years of continuous price declines.

  • Lithium carbonate spot prices have risen 34% since June 2026 on supply constraints from Chilean and Australian producers
  • BESS project developers in the US and Europe are reporting 3–6 month supply queue extensions from both manufacturers
  • Price increase applies to cells; module and pack pricing is still being negotiated with integrators
Why it mattersTwo years of falling battery prices underpinned the economics of grid-scale storage projects globally; a reversal — even a temporary one — directly threatens BESS project IRRs and deployment pipelines.
02 energy-storage.news↗

EU Deployed 33.8 GW of Solar in First Half of 2026

SolarPower Europe reported that EU member states deployed 33.8 GW of solar PV in the first half of 2026 — a 27% increase over H1 2025 — putting the bloc on track to exceed 70 GW for the full year, which would represent the largest annual solar deployment in EU history.

  • Germany, Spain, and Poland accounted for 58% of H1 deployment; Romania emerged as the fastest-growing new market
  • Rooftop solar accounted for 39% of new capacity, ground-mount 61%
  • At the H1 run rate the EU is on pace to meet its 2030 solar target four years early
Why it matters70 GW in a single year means the EU is adding solar faster than it is retiring coal — for the first time, new renewables are outrunning fossil retirements by a material margin.
03 pv-magazine.com↗

PJM Launches 6 GW Backstop Capacity Auction Targeting Data Centre Load

PJM Interconnection — the largest US grid operator — opened a 6 GW emergency backstop capacity auction designed to meet accelerating data centre demand in its territory, with battery energy storage systems bidding competitively against gas peakers for the first time in a PJM emergency auction.

  • Data centre load in PJM territory has grown 18 GW since 2023; the grid operator projects a further 40 GW by 2030
  • BESS bids cleared at $87/MW-day, below gas peaker clearing prices for 1.8 GW of the auction volume
  • Winning BESS projects are required to demonstrate 6-hour discharge duration — a shift from PJM's historical 4-hour standard
Why it mattersBESS clearing below gas peakers in a capacity auction — even partially — marks a turning point in how grid operators view storage as a firm capacity resource rather than an ancillary service.
04 energy-storage.news↗

EDF Inaugurates 600 MWh Battery Storage System in Belgium

EDF Renewables inaugurated a 300 MW / 600 MWh grid-scale battery energy storage system in Belgium — the largest BESS installation in Western Europe — while Engie simultaneously broke ground on a 148 MW / 296 MWh project 40 km away, marking Belgium as an emerging centre of European grid storage.

  • EDF's system uses LFP chemistry and is co-located with a former fossil fuel generation site
  • The facility will provide frequency regulation and peak capacity services to Elia, Belgium's transmission operator
  • Belgium's grid has historically relied on cross-border interconnection for flexibility; domestic BESS reduces that dependence
Why it mattersTwo major European utilities building large BESS in the same country on the same week signals that grid storage is now standard infrastructure investment, not an experimental technology.
05 energy-storage.news↗

Perovskite Solar Efficiency Records Fall Again — Commercial Timelines Tighten

Three independent laboratory groups published perovskite solar cell efficiency results exceeding 28% stable conversion this week, with one NREL-certified result at 28.6% — approaching the theoretical limit for single-junction cells and narrowing the efficiency gap with best-in-class silicon to under 2 percentage points.

  • 28.6% certified efficiency is a new perovskite single-junction record; silicon best-in-class sits at 29.4%
  • Lead-free tin-based perovskites reached 22.1%, the first tin perovskite result above 22% and addressing the toxicity concern
  • Two manufacturers — Oxford PV and Saule Technologies — have announced commercial module shipments beginning Q2 2027
Why it mattersPerovskite has promised commercial viability for a decade; 28%+ efficiency results combined with manufacturer shipment dates suggest 2027 could finally be the year the technology leaves the lab.
06 heatmap.news↗
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