Energy News Roundup: July 2026 Edition

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MEPs Back Faster Permitting for Grids and Renewables

The European Parliament's industry committee adopted its position on the Permitting Directive on 1 July, the part of the European Grids Package that amends the Renewable Energy, Electricity and Gas Market Directives to cut approval times. The text introduces digital one-stop permitting portals, a presumption that electricity and renewable projects serve an overriding public interest, tacit approval where national authorities miss their response deadlines and simplified procedures for renewable infrastructure. Negotiations with the Council follow. For developers, the practical question is whether tacit approval survives the trilogue intact, since that single provision would put a hard ceiling on how long a permitting authority can sit on a file.

Source: The European Sting

Belgium Lands Europe's Largest Euro Battery Financing

Giga Storage reached financial close on 9 July for €450 million of debt financing for the 700 MW / 2,800 MWh Green Turtle project at Dilsen-Stokkem in Belgium, backed by a consortium of ten banks including ABN AMRO, ING, Rabobank, Belfius, Santander and SMBC, with equity from InfraVia Capital Partners. It is the largest euro-denominated battery storage financing closed to date. Tesla is the EPC partner, supplying its Megablock systems. Construction starts in September with operations expected in 2028. At peak output the plant can cover roughly the daily consumption of 385,000 households. The deal shows that lenders are now comfortable underwriting merchant-exposed storage at gigawatt-hour scale.

Source: ESS News

Record Solar Output Pushes Negative Prices to New Highs

Europe generated a record 129 TWh of solar electricity in the second quarter, almost 20% more than in any previous second quarter, driving repeated midday curtailment and negative wholesale prices across the continent. Spain recorded 596 negative-price hours in the first half of 2026, Portugal 462 and France 370. Prices came close enough to the technical floor that exchanges lowered it from -€500/MWh to -€600/MWh at the end of April. Operators of flexible thermal plants and batteries are now withholding capacity from day-ahead auctions and reserving it for intraday, balancing and ancillary services, which thins day-ahead liquidity and raises the value of assets that can respond within minutes.

Source: pv magazine

Commission Sets a 46% Electrification Target for 2040

The European Commission published its Electrification Action Plan on 17 July, alongside a proposed review of the Emissions Trading System. It sets an indicative target of 46% electrification of final energy consumption by 2040, roughly double the current 23% share, which has not moved in a decade. The Commission estimates that hitting it would cut the EU fossil fuel import bill by up to €260 billion a year by 2040. The plan targets the electricity-to-gas price gap, upfront switching costs and faster grid deployment. It also trails a legislative proposal on network charges intended to reward system-friendly grid use rather than penalise it.

Source: European Commission

UK Reopens Its CfD Auction With Tighter Price Caps

Applications for the UK's eighth Contracts for Difference allocation round opened on 20 July and closed on 7 August. Administrative strike prices, expressed in 2024 prices, are set at £92/MWh for onshore wind above 5 MW, £75/MWh for solar PV above 5 MW, £113/MWh for fixed-bottom offshore wind and £271/MWh for floating offshore wind. Pots 1 and 2 cover delivery years 2028/29 to 2030/31. With capture rates falling across Europe, a fifteen-year indexed strike price is looking materially more attractive than it did two rounds ago. The spread between CfD and merchant routes is now the central route-to-market decision for UK projects.

Source: Osborne Clarke

Solar PPA Prices Rise for the First Time in a Year

The average European solar PPA signed in the second quarter reached €56.59/MWh, a 2.8% quarter-on-quarter increase and the first rise in a year, driven by surging prices in Poland and higher German deals. Solar remains the cheapest of the tracked technologies, below both wind and blended contracts. Hybrid renewables-plus-storage deals were tracked for the first time this quarter, pricing around 24% above standalone solar and 15% below standalone wind, with the potential to lift captured values by up to 80%. France, Germany, Spain and Poland each recorded more negative price hours in the first half of 2026 than in all of 2025. Spanish and German hybrid projects made up 29% of European offers in the quarter.

Source: PV Tech

Germany Ties Fast Grid Connection to Waiving Curtailment Compensation

The German federal cabinet approved the 2027 EEG amendment and an accompanying grid connection package on 29 July. In designated grid hotspots, defined as areas where more than 5% of the previous year's generation could not be fed into the grid, renewable investors would only receive an immediate grid connection if they waive compensation for future curtailment. Economy minister Katherina Reiche argues that projects should carry the curtailment risk and that small rooftop solar no longer needs support. The reform is also driven by EU state aid rules requiring windfall recovery from 2027. The final legislative text is still pending.

Source: Clean Energy Wire

Poland Switches On a 200 MW Capacity-Contracted Battery

Greenvolt Power inaugurated the 200 MW / 800 MWh Turośń Kościelna battery facility in Podlaskie, north-eastern Poland, on 30 July. The four-hour plant connects at 110 kV, uses 196 lithium iron phosphate enclosures supplied by BYD and holds a 17-year capacity market contract with a 170 MW obligation, equal to 85% of nameplate output, running from 2028. Revenue will be stacked across FCR, aFRR, day-ahead and intraday markets. Construction of the 600 MW / 2,400 MWh Siedlce project starts in the third quarter, which would make it Poland's largest. Storage de-rating in the Polish capacity market fell to 13% in the December 2025 auction, from 60% a year earlier.

Source: Energy-Storage.News