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A startup has completed a pilot that harvests hydrogen generated in iron-rich bedrock and plans commercial wells next year, claiming production costs below established clean-hydrogen benchmarks. If delivered at scale and price, this local, low-carbon supply could alter power sourcing and site-selection for data centers and heavy industry across regions with suitable geology.
China Southern Power Grid committed about $9 billion to pumped-storage hydro to expand multi‑hour and seasonal flexibility for growing wind and solar. The pledge comes amid a broader Chinese push into diversified long‑duration storage — including newly commissioned compressed‑air projects — to relieve battery supply chains and better match renewable output to demand.

Beijing has activated a large-scale compressed-air energy storage facility intended to smooth variable renewable generation and offer long-duration grid flexibility. The project marks a strategic push into non-battery storage technologies that could alter China’s power-system planning and global markets for long-duration storage solutions.

Hydrostor signed a 50‑megawatt off‑take with California Community Power that meaningfully de‑risks its proposed 500‑megawatt Willow Rock A‑CAES project in Kern County and creates a clear commercial path for long‑duration storage in community choice programs. International deployments of large compressed‑air projects and major pumped‑storage funding in China reinforce the technology’s emerging role alongside batteries for multi‑hour and seasonal grid needs.
Grid-scale batteries are being deployed not as experiments but as cost-reduction and reliability tools that shift demand away from expensive peak hours. Practical experience—from pumped hydro heritage to high-profile battery projects—shows batteries cut system costs, compete with gas peakers, and reduce health risks tied to fossil fuel generation.

A new aquifer thermal energy system (ATES) is being built beneath a mixed-use development in St. Paul, Minnesota, to supply low‑cost heating and cooling to roughly 850 homes and nearby light industrial buildings. A 2024 international study of over 3,000 ATES installations found sizable greenhouse gas reductions and short payback windows, while the Netherlands’ regulatory model offers a policy template for scaling the technology.

Federal policy shifts have elevated tidal power into active U.S. energy programs, producing concrete pilot moves and modeling investments. DOE-directed funding and university-industry R&D are accelerating demonstrations, while overseas developers scale projects to 30 MW and set a 2030 delivery milestone; cross-sector lessons from floating PV and marine supply chains could speed commercialization.

The US floating photovoltaic industry is scaling from pilot sites to utility-scale projects, driven by higher module efficiency and novel trackable float systems. Recent studies and projects point to sizable technical potential—measured in hundreds of megawatts to terawatt-hours—while ecology-led siting is emerging as the gating factor for responsible expansion.