October 13, 2026 · Energy & Climate Daily Digest
Energy and climate highlights compiled for October 13, 2026, with summaries, links, and brief commentary.
I. Climate and Disasters
1. Six dead in Mexico as Simon and Rachel's remnants flood the coast; the hurricane still at 150 km/h (Hurricane)
Summary:
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the death toll from Hurricane Simon and the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel rose to six after flooding and landslides along Mexico's Pacific coast. At least five people died in Ensenada from Rachel's remnants, and five others were missing; one person died over the weekend in Guerrero. The Mexican army used helicopters to rescue 32 people, including 13 minors and 22 foreign nationals, from Rancho Genesis near Ensenada. The U.S. National Hurricane Center placed Simon about 180 kilometers west of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, with maximum sustained winds of 150 km/h, moving west at 4 km/h. Nayarit and Sinaloa remained on alert.
Links:
Commentary:
The new deaths are concentrated on streams in Baja California, while Simon itself is still moving slowly offshore.
2. Eastern Pacific accumulated cyclone energy passes the 2018 record (Hurricane)
Summary:
Associated Press science writer Seth Borenstein reported Tuesday that accumulated cyclone energy east of the international date line passed the 2018 record on Sunday, a measure that combines wind speed and longevity. Colorado State University's Phil Klotzbach said that on Tuesday the basin would tie the record for days with a hurricane spinning and was likely to break it soon after. The last five Pacific hurricanes — Nolo, Odalys, Polo, Rachel, and Simon — all reached major-hurricane status, and Polo spent two and a half days at Category 5, a record at that strength. Atlantic accumulated cyclone energy was under 18 percent of normal for the date. The National Hurricane Center gave the next disturbance, Trudy, a 90 percent chance of becoming a tropical storm.
Links:
Commentary:
The record is storms that last and intensify, not the peak wind of a single landfall.
3. Super El Niño: central Pacific weekly sea temperatures reach a recorded high (Climate)
Summary:
BBC Weather reported Tuesday that Australia's Bureau of Meteorology now shows average weekly sea-surface temperatures in the central Pacific at their highest level on record, with readings above 30C for the first time in parts of the tropical Pacific. A September daily record in the central-eastern Pacific already exceeded the very strong El Niño of 2015. Zeke Hausfather of Berkeley Earth called the event unprecedented in the historical record. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expect a December peak. Guangming Daily the same day carried a Xinhua report that China's National Climate Center found a super event had formed in September, and that the World Meteorological Organization said on October 8 that October–December sea temperatures would reach record levels, peak in December, and had a near-100 percent chance of lasting through February 2027.
Links:
- BBC Weather — Super El Niño breaks a sea-temperature record weeks before the expected peak
- Guangming Daily — El Niño keeps strengthening and the world faces multiple risks
Commentary:
What broke this week is the ocean temperature; the peak in rain and drought is still scheduled after December.
II. Policy and the Power Grid
4. U.S. EPA proposes to restore all 770 million extra 2025 renewable-fuel credits (Biofuels)
Summary:
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, speaking Tuesday in Peosta, Iowa, proposed revisions to Renewable Fuel Standard "Set 2" volumes. Small-refinery exemption decisions issued on August 31, 2026, exempted 770 million more renewable identification numbers for 2025 obligations than the agency had projected. Both options would reallocate 100 percent of that gap: one splits it equally between the 2026 and 2027 compliance years, and the other places all of it in 2027. Comments run until December 4, 2026. A revision of the 2026 standards may also extend the compliance-reporting deadline now set for March 31, 2027.
Links:
Commentary:
The exemptions are already granted; the comment period is about which year carries the gap.
5. DOE emergency order for PJM takes effect today, with demand forecast near 111,500 MW (Grid)
Summary:
On October 12 the U.S. Department of Energy issued emergency Order No. 202-26-50 under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, effective October 13 through October 16. PJM's October 11 application forecast demand at or around 111,500 MW or higher on October 13, within about 900 MW of its reserve margin on October 14, and generation outages of 61,591 MW, with the tightest conditions in the BGE, PEPCO, and Dominion zones. The order directs PJM to dispatch specified units as needed and authorizes it to call backup generation at large loads, including data centers, as a last resort before or during an Energy Emergency Alert 3. Those units may run beyond environmental operating limits.
Links:
- U.S. Department of Energy — Order No. 202-26-50 for PJM
- U.S. Department of Energy — Text of Order No. 202-26-50
Commentary:
What takes effect today is authority to run past limits and to call backup units, not a load shed already under way.
6. France publishes the third ecological-transition financing strategy and the 2027 green budget (Climate finance)
Summary:
Energies de la Mer reported Tuesday that the French government published the third multi-year strategy for financing the ecological transition and national energy policy, known as SPAFTE, and the seventh green budget, annexed to the 2027 finance bill. The reports are framed as a way to keep public and private money moving into the transition under a tight budget. Carbon Pulse reported the same day that the strategy, published Tuesday, says France needs at least €81.5 billion in additional low-carbon investment every year, while sharply cutting fossil-fuel spending, to meet its 2030 climate goals. The public summaries do not set out a sector-by-sector list.
Links:
- Energies de la Mer — Publication of the multi-year transition financing strategy and the 2027 green budget
- Carbon Pulse — France sees an €81.5 billion annual investment gap for the 2030 climate goal
Commentary:
What was published is the size of the gap and a green-budget annex, not a new appropriation.
7. Bulgaria's energy committee adopts renewable-energy amendments at second reading (Renewables)
Summary:
The Bulgarian News Agency reported Tuesday that the parliamentary Energy Committee, meeting in Sofia, adopted amendments to the Renewable Energy Sources Act at second reading to finish transposing Directive (EU) 2023/2413, whose deadline was May 21, 2025. The changes extend the validity of wind-connection opinions, encourage decentralized generation and storage, and cover heating and cooling so the power system can be balanced. They also create a mechanism to issue and trade renewable-electricity credits in transport. The Energy Ministry said the amendments leave the procedures in the Environment Protection Act and the Biological Diversity Act unchanged, and that wind priority zones still exclude protected areas, bird migration routes, forests, and permanent grassland.
Links:
Commentary:
This is a committee second reading that catches up an overdue EU directive, not a law the full chamber has enacted.
III. Renewables, Storage, and Nuclear
8. California says the September 9 peak hit 50,335 MW without emergency measures (Grid)
Summary:
Governor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that California's high-voltage grid had handled its highest electricity use in four years without emergency measures or a call for extra conservation. The peak came on September 9, 2026, at 50,335 megawatts, about 3 percent below the all-time record of 52,061 megawatts set in the September 2022 heat event. The state says it has added more than 39,000 megawatts of utility-scale clean energy since 2019, and that batteries serving California grew from fewer than 700 megawatts to more than 23,000. As of the end of 2024, clean energy supplied 67 percent of retail electricity sales, and last year clean energy met all demand for at least part of the day on 279 days.
Links:
Commentary:
The announcement is about a peak the grid already carried on September 9, with batteries holding midday solar for after sunset.
9. HELLENiQ brings a 100 MW / 200 MWh battery online in Thessaloniki (Storage)
Summary:
The Cyprus Mail reported Tuesday that HELLENiQ Energy has started its first large battery at the group's industrial site in Thessaloniki after an investment of about €50 million. The plant is rated at 100 megawatts and 200 megawatt-hours, among the largest power-storage projects in Greece and southeastern Europe. It was selected in the first storage tender by Greece's Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water and funded through the Greece 2.0 recovery plan and NextGenerationEU. The site covers about 100,000 square meters, uses lithium iron phosphate with liquid cooling, and required a new 33/150-kilovolt substation plus about five kilometers of underground high-voltage line. The company said the plant will complete at least one full cycle a day. A second project in Florina, 50 MW / 200 MWh, is nearing completion. More than 700 MW of renewables are already operating, and the development portfolio exceeds 6 GW.
Links:
Commentary:
What came online is about a two-hour battery, aimed at midday curtailment rather than multi-day shifting.
10. Google subscribes to Georgia nuclear uprates, expected to add about 96 MW (Nuclear)
Summary:
Grist reported Tuesday that the Georgia Public Service Commission voted last week to approve a deal under which, starting in 2028, Google will pay a subscription fee on top of its power bill for uprates at four older reactors at Plant Vogtle and Plant Hatch, and will count that power toward its 2030 carbon-free energy goal. Georgia Power said the agreement is expected to add 96 megawatts of nuclear capacity and about $900 million in projected customer benefits over the life of the units. The contract terms were not released. Google also said last week it would fund similar uprates with Constellation Energy in Illinois, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, adding 890 megawatts for PJM.
Links:
Commentary:
The tech company is buying credit for extra output from reactors that already exist, not a new plant.
IV. Oil, Gas, and Markets
11. Burnham has still not decided Rosebank and Jackdaw; climate protesters gathered in London (Oil and gas)
Summary:
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Prime Minister Andy Burnham has not decided whether to approve the Rosebank oil field and the Jackdaw gas field north of Scotland. Public consultations closed in August, and a court in Edinburgh ruled last year that the earlier approvals were unlawful. Rosebank, about 130 kilometers north of Shetland, is reported to hold 300 million to 500 million barrels of oil equivalent over about 25 years. Shell expects Jackdaw to supply about 6.5 percent of U.K. gas at peak, and the Conservatives said approval could heat 1.4 million homes this winter. Climate protesters gathered Tuesday outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The Press and Journal reported an Adura-commissioned analysis finding that blocking Rosebank and other planned North Sea developments would mean £10.8 billion less economic value over the next decade, while approving Jackdaw and Rosebank alone would mean about £4.1 billion in tax revenue over ten years.
Links:
- Associated Press — Burnham weighs approval for North Sea oil and gas drilling
- The Press and Journal — Former adviser says the projects should be approved to limit a price surge
Commentary:
The protest and the industry estimate landed on the same day, and the department still offered only a promise to weigh the evidence, with no decision date.
12. Gulf oil shut-ins fall to 329,059 barrels a day Tuesday morning, 16.13 percent of output (Oil and gas)
Summary:
The U.S. Marine Minerals Administration said Tuesday that, from 19 company reports as of 11:00 a.m. CDT, 329,059 barrels a day of Gulf oil were shut in, 16.13 percent of that day's oil output, and 355 million cubic feet a day of natural gas, 16.59 percent. Personnel remained evacuated from 5 of 371 manned production platforms, 1.35 percent, and from 1 of 11 non-dynamically positioned rigs. None of the 17 dynamically positioned rigs had moved off location. Undamaged facilities are to return once standard checks are finished.
Links:
Commentary:
The shut-in share fell from nearly 30 percent on Monday morning to about 16 percent, and almost no further personnel were pulled off.
13. China's crude futures close higher; lithium carbonate settles at 108,440 yuan a ton (Markets)
Summary:
Ifeng Finance reported Tuesday that most Chinese commodity futures fell on October 13 while conventional energy rose. The Shanghai crude main contract settled at 744.3 yuan a barrel, up 1.90 percent. Low-sulfur fuel oil and fuel oil rose 5.9 percent and 3.5 percent. The lithium-carbonate main contract settled at 108,440 yuan a ton, down 1.88 percent. Shanghai Metals Market quoted battery-grade spot material at 111,600 yuan a ton, a low of more than nine months, and polysilicon fell 0.90 percent. UBS expects Brent to stay around $100 a barrel by year-end. Changjiang Securities said Middle East crude exports averaged 16.99 million barrels a day in September, with flows through the Strait of Hormuz down to 7.94 million barrels a day, or 47 percent, from 14.21 million, or 84 percent, in January.
Links:
Commentary:
Crude is being priced off the share of oil that still moves through the strait, and lithium off expected surplus at the refineries.
14. TC Energy closes an Indigenous investment in Coastal GasLink (Natural gas)
Summary:
TC Energy said Tuesday it had closed an agreement with FN CGL Pipeline Limited Partnership, an Indigenous-led entity for the Haisla Nation, Halfway River First Nation, McLeod Lake Indian Band, Saulteau First Nations, and West Moberly First Nations. Those nations obtain an economic interest in the entity that holds TC Energy's limited-partner stake in Coastal GasLink. This is the first of two Indigenous investments; a second is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. The release does not state the ownership share or the price. The company said the 670-kilometer pipeline delivers 2.1 billion cubic feet a day to LNG Canada at Kitimat, British Columbia, and that Phase 2 would nearly double system capacity.
Links:
Commentary:
The closing changes who receives the return; it does not raise the volume the pipeline can move today.
Today's Summary
- Simon was still a Category 1 hurricane at 150 km/h on Tuesday, and together with Rachel's remnants it has killed six people in Mexico. Eastern Pacific accumulated cyclone energy passed the 2018 record on Sunday, and weekly sea temperatures in the central Pacific reached a recorded high.
- The U.S. Energy Department's emergency order for PJM is in effect from October 13 through October 16, with demand forecast near 111,500 MW on the 13th. California said the September 9 peak of 50,335 MW was met without emergency measures, with more than 23,000 MW of batteries in service.
- The EPA proposed restoring all 770 million extra renewable-fuel credits from 2025 exemptions. France's third financing strategy puts the annual low-carbon investment gap at least at €81.5 billion. Bulgaria's energy committee passed renewable-law amendments at second reading. Britain has still not decided Rosebank and Jackdaw.
- Greece brought a 100 MW / 200 MWh battery online, and Google subscribed to about 96 MW of Georgia nuclear uprates. Gulf oil shut-ins fell to 329,059 barrels a day, 16.13 percent of output. Chinese crude futures rose and lithium carbonate settled at 108,440 yuan a ton. TC Energy closed an Indigenous investment in Coastal GasLink.
Daily Framing:
Tuesday was a day when the storms had already arrived and the permits had not: Pacific heat showed up as floods in Mexico and stress on grids in the eastern and western United States, while the British fields, the French investment gap, and the U.S. biofuel volumes were all still waiting on a decision.
This digest is compiled from real-time search results and is for reference only.