Iberdrola SA’s global renewable energy capacity grew to 45,082 megawatts (MW) in the first half of 2025 and now accounts for 79 percent of the Spanish utility’s total generation capacity. The first six months of the year saw a four percent growth in new capacity compared to the same period in 2024. Iberdrola’s total capacity reached 57,273 MW after 1,800 MW were installed in the first half of 2025. Production rose 2.3 percent year-on-year to 66,300 gigawatt hours (gWh). “By country, the production increases at Iberdrola Energía Internacional (+15.7 percent) stand out, thanks to the 68 percent growth in offshore wind farms in France and Germany; in Brazil (+11.7 percent), driven by higher hydroelectric production; and in Spain (+6.4 percent), with growth in both renewable technologies (especially solar) and nuclear and combined cycles”, it said in a statement online. Offshore wind output increased 42 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, while solar generation in the second quarter climbed 57.4 percent year-on-year. Earlier its subsidiary Avangrid Inc. reported that Iberdrola’s total installed capacity in the U.S. reached approximately 10,500 MW in the first half of 2025. Iberdrola said it is “generating 91 percent of its production in Spain without emissions and 100 percent in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Portugal and Greece”. Iberdrola said it has set a new record in electricity distribution for the January-June period. Power distribution in the first half of 2025 exceeded 124,200 gWh, up 4.8 percent year-over-year. The United Kingdom led the growth, logging an increase of over 30 percent to more than 20,000 gWh thanks to the integration of Electricity North West Ltd. (ENW), Iberdrola said. Iberdrola acquired ENW last year for around EUR 5 billion ($5.8 billion), increasing the number of its UK

Dive Brief: Oregon lawmakers have passed two bills that experts say will make communities more resilient as the state’s grid faces rising electricity demand, more frequent extreme weather events and repeated public safety power shutoffs to mitigate wildfire risk. HB 2065 and HB 2066 establish “a first-in-the nation strategy to create a regulatory framework for building microgrids,” smaller-scale power networks that can operate independently from the main grid, Portland-based nonprofit Sustainable Northwest said June 27. “Oregon has passed the most ambitious microgrid legislation in the nation,” Dylan Kruse, president of nonprofit Sustainable Northwest, said in a statement. “These bills pave the way for clean energy innovation to support community resilience, energy independence, and cost savings across the state.” Dive Insight: The Oregon House of Representatives and Senate passed both measures with broad bipartisan support last month. Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek is expected to sign them soon, Kruse said in an email. HB 2065 aims to reduce bottlenecks to microgrid deployment by allowing third-party consultants or contractors to evaluate customer requests to connect to the public power grid and by requiring public utilities to approve or deny microgrid applications “based on safety, reliability and compliance with published standards.” HB 2066 directs the Oregon Public Utility Commission to establish a regulatory framework for community-owned and private microgrids. It also requires the Department of Consumer and Business Services to set rules allowing existing buildings to connect to community microgrids and allows local governments to designate “microgrid zones” with special land-use regulations, subject to local utility or OPUC approval. The two bills are more “ambitious and comprehensive” than other recent microgrid legislation, Kruse said in an interview. “We’ve seen other states take swings at pieces of this, but more in pilot form,” he said. Though implementation will likely take a year or two, depending on

President Donald Trump’s sweeping $3.4 trillion fiscal package is already creating opportunities for segments of the energy and climate industries that had fallen out of favor, struggled to grow or haven’t managed to break through. The tax and spending law signed on July 4 provides a lifeline to a coal industry that’s long been squeezed by cheaper renewable and natural gas-fired power. The law provides a boost to nuclear — a sector that had regained investor and political support before Trump’s return to the White House, but has yet to translate that enthusiasm into much domestic growth in electric capacity. And the law may actually help advance an unproven and risky planet-cooling system that has lived in the shadows for decades — geoengineering. Coal While Trump has consistently supported coal, the industry struggled during his first term. The new law, however, directly and indirectly takes steps to arrest its decline. The legislation phases out tax credits for wind and solar, which may diminish their economic edge over coal. It also adds metallurgical coal that’s used to make steel to the list of critical minerals qualifying for tax credits. The law is the latest Trump move to prop up the fossil fuel. In April, he signed an executive order pushing for coal-fired electricity for data centers. His administration also intervened to stop the retirement of a coal-fired power plant. Industry supporters hailed the decision as a way to cushion an occasionally stressed electric grid, but the carbon emissions from burning the dirtiest fossil fuel endanger the climate. Such a move also risks increasing local energy prices, says Leah Stokes, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who specializes in energy and climate change. Nuclear Just a few years ago, aging nuclear reactors were facing down extinction. Now, the AI boom has revived interest in carbon-free power plants capable of providing round-the-clock electricity, leading to efforts to revive two shuttered plants. But only two

The Economist July 14, 2025 “Climate change is a by-product of progress, not an existential crisis, says Trump’s energy czar” By Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy Nearly every aspect of modern life depends upon energy. It fuels opportunity, lifts people out of poverty and saves lives. That is why, as a lifelong energy entrepreneur and as US Secretary of Energy, I am honoured to advance President Donald Trump’s policy of bettering lives through unleashing a golden age of energy dominance—both at home and around the world. Over the past two centuries, two forces dramatically transformed the human condition: the rise of bottom-up social organisation—human liberty—and the explosion in the supply of affordable energy. The result has been a doubling in life expectancy. In the same period, extreme poverty has plummeted from affecting 90% of the world’s population to under 10%. Energy and human liberty matter. The world needs more energy—in particular, more American energy. The growth of American energy production is a win for our citizens, for our geopolitical standing and for our allies. We need energy that is affordable, reliable and secure.This administration is focused on energy addition, not subtraction—a complete reversal from the previous four years. By the time President Trump took office, American energy had become more uncertain, more expensive and less reliable. One in five American households were struggling to pay their energy bills. Half of the electric grid faced the risk of blackouts. In the name of a single risk—climate change—the Biden administration launched a regulatory assault aimed at eliminating hydrocarbons in favour of so-called renewables.. . .Was this damage at least offset by progress with Joe Biden’s promise to green the economy? In short, no. Hydrocarbons made up 82% of American primary energy consumption in 2024, nearly the same as in 2019. Hydrocarbons are

Oil fell as US President Donald Trump reignited his global trade war, while his latest plan to pressure Russia into a ceasefire with Ukraine didn’t include new measures aimed directly at hindering Moscow’s energy exports. West Texas Intermediate fell 2.1% to settle below $67 a barrel after Trump threatened 100% “secondary” tariffs on countries that do business with Russia if there’s no ceasefire in 50 days. But he didn’t announce direct sanctions on the nation’s oil shipments, which traders had speculated might be coming when Trump promised a “major statement” on Russia last week. Secondary tariffs are difficult to enforce, and investors have limited conviction that they’ll stick, said Joe DeLaura, global energy strategist at Rabobank. Before Trump released his new Russia plan, oil had gained as much as 1.8%. “The only thing that would have supported this rally would have been some sort of direct US escalation against the Russian oil or gas industry,” he added. In another headwind, Trump threatened 30% tariffs on goods from the European Union and Mexico over the weekend, damping the outlook for energy demand. The president’s barrage of tariff demand letters last week contained some of the highest tax rates yet on major US trading partners. The attacks revived concerns that energy demand would deteriorate and added to widespread expectations of a glut later this year, leading hedge funds to turn bearish on oil at the fastest pace since February last week. In the near-term, though, demand appears to be holding. China ended the first half of the year with a record trade surplus, with factories riding out the tariff roller-coaster. The trade data also showed that crude imports have risen so far this year. The country’s purchases of Iranian barrels jumped in June, according to data from Vortexa. Oil is still more

Slovakia aims to reach a solution on guarantees against the impact of a planned halt in Russian gas imports – a condition for backing the European Union’s 18th sanctions package against Moscow – by Tuesday, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday. Fico said he discussed the issue with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Saturday morning, describing the talks as “extremely tough.”  Slovakia has been blocking the adoption of the EU’s latest sanctions package against Russia for its war against Ukraine since June, insisting that the European Commission first provide guarantees to offset the potential negative impact of a separate proposal to stop Russian gas imports from 2028. “We want to resolve this by Tuesday because tensions are rising on all sides,” Fico told journalists in Bratislava, reiterating his opposition to cutting off Russian gas supplies. He warned that such a move would drive up energy prices and hurt Slovakia’s competitiveness. European Union foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on Tuesday and could vote on the new sanctions package then.  If Slovakia doesn’t receive the necessary guarantees, it’s prepared to continue blocking the approval of sanctions, Fico said.  Fico has called on the EU to prepare measures to ease high transit costs, provide financial support for households and industry in case of rising energy prices, and to offer legal guarantees in the event Slovakia faces arbitration from Russia’s Gazprom over a potential breach of contract – worth EUR 16 billion ($18.7 billion). Slovakia, a landlocked Eastern European country that borders Ukraine, holds a long-term gas contract with Gazprom that runs through 2034. It continues to receive Russian gas via the southern route through TurkStream and Hungary. With transit through Ukraine now halted, Russian deliveries account for less than half of Slovakia’s gas imports, as the country of some 5.4 million people works to