News

NTPC has invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the development of utility-scale projects for compressed air energy storage, including liquid air energy storage and other advanced compressed air-based long-duration energy storage systems.

The centralized cloud model is now under strain. India alone is estimated to have reached roughly 2,070 MW of data center capacity by the end of 2025, up from about 1,255 MW in 2024, driven by AI adoption, 5G rollout, and video led consumption, even as power, land, and network constraints become more visible. At the same time, global data center markets are grappling with power constraints, rising energy costs, and land limitations, making the continued expansion of a few large hubs increasingly inefficient.

AM Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Invest UP, the Government of Uttar Pradesh, to develop a 1 GW high-performance computing (HPC) hub, backed by renewable energy, to serve global AI workloads. The project will entail an investment of around $25 billion.

United Solar Holding has secured more than $900 million to complete the financing required for its 100,000 MT polysilicon manufacturing facility in Oman. Production is expected to begin during the first quarter of this year.

Kuldeep Gupta-led ChemVolt Global has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to establish a 5 GWh lithium-ion cell manufacturing gigafactory in the state, with a planned investment of INR 2,500 crore.

The European Commission is revising its Cybersecurity Act. While presenting the proposals in European Parliament, the commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said dependency on a very limited number of solar inverter suppliers could “pose a significant security risk.”

Rays Power Infra Ltd has secured a 300 MW renewable energy project worth INR 1,912 crore from a state-owned company. Following this award, the company’s total order book stands at over INR 8,000 crore.

Iola Hughes, Head of Research at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, tells ESS News that 2026 is set to be another strong year for BESS, with forecast additions exceeding 450 GWh and no material supply constraints in sight. Meanwhile, the initial impact of rising lithium prices is already visible at the cell level, but the full effect has yet to ripple through to system pricing.

GoodEnough Energy has commissioned a 7 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) factory in Noida, marking the largest such facility in India. The company plans to expand the facility’s capacity from 7 GWh to over 25 GWh over the next three years.

IEEFA’s analysis finds that the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) S2 offers robust climate-specific guidance, while the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework adopts a broader, ESG-oriented approach, with limited alignment to climate transition planning needs.