Funding will expand domestic manufacturing of battery supply chains for defense, grid resilience, transportation, manufacturing and other industries WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) today announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for up to $500 million to expand U.S. critical mineral and materials processing and derivative battery manufacturing and recycling. Assistant Secretary of Energy (EERE) Audrey Robertson is currently in Japan meeting with regional allies at the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum (IPEM) to advance shared efforts on supply chain resilience and energy security issues. Her engagements at IPEM underscore the importance of close cooperation with partners as the United States strengthens its supply chain through this NOFO. “For too long, the United States has relied on hostile foreign actors to supply and process the critical materials that are essential in battery manufacturing and materials processing,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Energy is playing a leading role in strengthening these domestic industries that will position the U.S. to win the AI race, meeting rising energy demand, and achieve energy dominance.” “I am delighted to be in Japan meeting with our allies, underscoring the important connection between critical materials and energy security,” said Assistant Secretary of Energy (EERE) Audrey Robertson. “Critical minerals processing is a vital component of our nation’s critical minerals supply base. Boosting domestic production, including through recycling, will bolster national security and ensure the United States and our partners are prepared to meet the energy challenges of the 21st century.” Funding awarded through this NOFO will support demonstration and/or commercial facilities for processing, recycling, or utilizing for manufacturing of critical materials which may include traditional battery minerals such as lithium, graphite, nickel, copper, aluminum, as well as other

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced funding to advance the Genesis Mission’s efforts to tackle the nation’s most complex science and technology challenges. This includes a $293 million Request for Application (RFA),“The Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI.” Through this RFA, DOE invites interdisciplinary teams to leverage novel AI models and frameworks to address over 20 national challenges spanning advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear energy, and quantum information science.    “The Genesis Mission has caught the imagination of our scientific and engineering communities to tackle national challenges in the age of AI,” said Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil and Genesis Mission Director. “With these investments we seek breakthrough ideas and novel collaborations leveraging the scientific prowess of our National Laboratories, the private sector, universities, and science philanthropies.”  The RFA is open to interdisciplinary teams from DOE National Laboratories, U.S. industry, and academia. Phase I awards will range from $500,000 to $750,000 and will support a nine month project period. Phase II awards will range from $6 million to $15 million over a three year project period. Teams may apply directly to either phase in FY 2026, and successful Phase I teams will be eligible to compete for larger Phase II awards in future cycles. Phase I applications and Phase II letters of intent are due April 28, 2026. Phase II applications are due May 19, 2026. DOE plans to hold an informational webinar about this RFA on March 26, 2026.  For full eligibility, application instructions, and challenge details, see the official NOFO: DE-FOA-0003612. Registration instructions and other details will be posted here.  ### 

Emergency order addresses critical grid reliability issues, lowering risk of blackouts and ensuring affordable electricity access. WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today issued an emergency order to ensure Americans in the Northwestern region of the United States have access to affordable, reliable and secure electricity. The order directs TransAlta to keep Unit 2 of the Centralia Generating Station in Centralia, Washington available to operate. Unit 2 of the coal plant was scheduled to shut down at the end of 2025. The reliable supply of power from the Centralia plant is essential to maintaining grid stability across the Northwest, and this order ensures that the region avoids unnecessary blackout risks and costs. “The last administration’s energy subtraction policies had the United States on track to likely experience significantly more blackouts in the coming years — thankfully, President Trump won’t let that happen,” said Energy Secretary Wright. “The Trump administration will continue taking action to keep America’s coal plants running so we can stop the price spikes and ensure we don’t lose critical generation sources. Americans deserve access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy to power their homes all the time, regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.” Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, coal plants across the country are reversing plans to shut down. On December 16, 2025, Secretary Wright issued an emergency order directing TransAlta to keep Unit 2 (729.9 MW) available to operate.According to DOE’s Resource Adequacy Report, blackouts were on track to potentially increase 100 times by 2030 if the U.S. continued to take reliable power offline as it did during the Biden administration. This order is in effect beginning on March 17, 2026, through June 14, 2026. ### 

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Smackover Lithium, a joint venture between Standard Lithium Ltd. and Equinor, through subsidiaries of Equinor ASA, signed the first commercial offtake agreement for the South West Arkansas Project (SWA Project) with commodities group Trafigura Trading LLC. Under the terms of a binding take-or-pay offtake agreement, the JV will supply Trafigura with 8,000 metric tonnes/year (tpy) of battery-quality lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) over a 10-year period, beginning at the start of commercial production. Smackover Lithium is expected to achieve final investment decision (FID) for the project, which aims to use direct lithium extraction technology to produce lithium from brine resources in the Smackover formation in southern Arkansas, in 2026, with first production anticipated in 2028. The project encompasses about 30,000 acres of brine leases in the region, with the initial phase of project development focused on production from the 20,854-acre Reynolds Brine Unit.   Front-end engineering design was completed in support of a definitive feasibility study with a principal recommendation that the project is ready to progress to FID.  While pricing terms of the Trafigura deal were kept confidential, Standard Lithium said they are “structured to support the anticipated financing for the project.” The JV is seeking to finalize customer offtake agreements for roughly 80% of the 22,500 tonnes of annual nameplate lithium carbonate capacity for the initial phase of the project. This agreement represents over 40% of the targeted offtake commitments. Formed in 2024, Smackover Lithium is developing multiple DLE projects in Southwest Arkansas and East Texas. Standard Lithium is operator of the projecs with 55% interest. Equinor holds the remaining 45% interest.

Equinor Energy AS discovered oil in the Troll area and gas and condensate in the Sleipner area of the North Sea. Byrding C discovery well 35/11-32 S in production license (PL) 090 HS was made 5 km northwest of Fram field in Troll. The well was drilled by the COSL Innovator rig in 373 m of water to 3,517 m TVD subsea. It was terminated in the Heather formation from the Middle Jurassic. The primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Late Jurassic deep marine equivalent to the Sognefjord formation. The secondary target was to prove petroleum and investigate the presence of potential reservoir rocks in two prospective intervals from the Middle Jurassic in deep marine equivalents to the Fensfjord formation. The well encountered a 22-m oil column in sandstone layers in the Sognefjord formation with a total thickness of 82 m, of which 70 m was sandstone with moderate to good reservoir properties. The oil-water contact was encountered. The secondary exploration target in the Fensfjord formation did not prove reservoir rocks or hydrocarbons. The well was not formation-tested, but data and samples were collected. The well has been permanently plugged. Preliminary estimates indicate the size of the discovery is 4.4–8.2 MMboe. Oil discovered in Byrding C will be produced using existing or future infrastructure in the area. The Frida Kahlo discovery was drilled from the Sleipner B platform in production license PL 046 northwest of Sleipner Vest and is estimated to contain 5–9 MMboe of gas and condensate. The well will be brought on stream as early as April. The four most recent exploration wells in the Sleipner area, drilled over a 3-month period, include Lofn, Langemann, Sissel, and Frida Kahlo. All have all proven gas and condensate in the Hugin formation, with combined estimated