Energy, Utilities & Environment

Oakland – September 08, 2026 -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has launched SHARE (Smart Home Assets for Reliability and Efficiency), a Virtual Power Plant designed to enroll nearly 21,000 existing home energy devices and deliver hundreds of deeply discounted home energy upgrades across Bay Area communities.

PG&E assembles a multi-partner coalition to deploy the VPP

The initiative brings together PG&E, Rewiring America, Google, Carrier Global Corporation, Tesla, Sunrun, Renew Home, Demand Side Analytics and encoord to coordinate a network of home batteries, smart devices and battery-enabled heat pumps that reduce energy use during peak demand periods.

PG&E is working with Tesla, Sunrun and Renew Home to enroll nearly 21,000 existing flexible energy devices into the program, with the resource expected to begin supporting the grid as early as fall 2026.

Shanghai – September 08, 2026 -- APsystems' APstorage 261L liquid-cooled commercial and industrial energy storage system has passed the UL 9540A fire propagation test under the witness of TÜV Rheinland, with thermal runaway fully contained within a single cabinet and no propagation to adjacent units.

Cabinet Withstands Test at Full Charge With Fire Suppression Disabled

The test subjected the APstorage 261L to extreme conditions, operating at 100% state of charge with its fire suppression system intentionally switched off. No short circuit, fire spread, or explosion occurred, and the cabinet retained structural integrity throughout.

Aachen – September 08, 2026 -- The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) will award its 2026 German Environmental Prize, worth €500,000 in total, to Hamburg environmental lawyer Dr. Roda Verheyen and membrane-filter engineer Dr. Klaus Vossenkaul, founder and CEO of Membion. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will present the prize on Sunday, October 25, at a ceremony in Aachen, marking the 34th edition of one of Europe's highest-endowed environmental awards.

Nyköping – September 08, 2026 -- Studsvik AB, GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Samsung C&T have signed an exclusive agreement to advance a four-unit BWRX-300 nuclear project totaling roughly 1,200 MWe in Sweden, with the first unit targeted for operation in the mid-2030s.

Consortium selects GE Vernova Hitachi and Samsung C&T after competitive review

Following a competitive evaluation process, Studsvik named GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy as reactor design authority and Samsung C&T as execution partner for the ReFirm programme. GE Vernova Financial Services and Seoul-based DS Investment Partners join as financing partners, with DS Investment Partners leading investment structuring during the exclusivity period.

San Diego – September 08, 2026 -- Sempra (NYSE: SRE) has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6575 per share on its common stock, the company confirmed.

Board sets record and payment dates for shareholders

The dividend will be paid on Oct. 15, 2026, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Sept. 24, 2026, according to the company's announcement.

Sempra operates one of the largest energy networks in North America, with operations concentrated in California and Texas.

Calgary – September 08, 2026 -- Shell plc has closed its acquisition of ARC Resources Ltd. (TSX: ARX), adding roughly 370 kboe/d of immediate production capacity across liquids and gas in Canada's Montney basin after clearing all shareholder, court and regulatory approvals.

Deal adds 370 kboe/d and lifts Shell's production growth outlook to 4% CAGR through 2030

The transaction accelerates Shell's stated strategy of expanding exposure to long-duration, low-cost liquids production. Shell said the addition supports a production compound annual growth rate of approximately 4% through 2030 compared with 2025 levels.

Berlin – September 08, 2026 -- EcoFlow, which has deployed more than 10 million devices to 5 million users worldwide, is pushing its consumer battery and software architecture into the commercial and enterprise energy market as European grid connection queues and price volatility squeeze corporate balance sheets.

The Economist Enterprise and EcoFlow released an executive panel titled 'Flexibility by Design: Energy Resilience for Business' ahead of IFA Berlin 2026, running September 4-8 at Messe Berlin. The session gathered regulators, grid operators and digital infrastructure executives to address grid bottlenecks and unpredictable energy costs facing European industry.

Berlin – September 08, 2026 -- Data centers powering AI workloads and the rapid growth of electric vehicle fleets are pushing Europe's electricity grids toward their limits, forcing corporate boards to treat energy resilience as a strategic priority rather than a utility-side problem. Ahead of IFA Berlin 2026 (September 4-8), The Economist Enterprise and EcoFlow released a recorded panel discussion, "Flexible by Design: Energy Resilience for Business," addressing grid bottlenecks and volatile energy costs facing European enterprises.

Paris – September 08, 2026 -- Global electricity grid investment must rise roughly 50%, from about $400 billion today to nearly $600 billion annually by 2030, the International Energy Agency estimates, as electrification of transport, industry and buildings collides with surging data-center demand. The figures were presented at the CIGRE 2026 Paris Session, which drew more than 15,000 experts from 100 countries and 330 exhibitors.

Permitting delays of eight to ten years threaten Europe and US grid rollout

Delivery speed has become the central bottleneck. In China, an extra-high-voltage transmission line can be permitted and built in about 1.5 years, and in India in roughly three years, according to the IEA. In Europe and the United States, comparable projects frequently take eight to ten years or longer.

Oakland, Calif. – September 08, 2026 -- PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is launching a strategic review of its business structure and financing, while deferring approximately $2 billion in planned 2027 capital spending to curb near-term borrowing costs for customers.