October 26, 2026 · Energy & Climate Daily Digest
A roundup of energy and climate developments for October 26, 2026, with summaries, links, and commentary.
I. Policy and Markets
1. China's wind and solar fleet reaches 2.01 billion kilowatts by the end of September (capacity)
Summary:
Xinhua reported on October 26 that the National Energy Administration announced the same day that combined wind and solar capacity reached 2.01 billion kilowatts by the end of September 2026, with solar at 1.31 billion kilowatts, up 16.5%, and wind at 700 million kilowatts, up 20.4%. From January through September, wind and solar generated 1,933.3 billion kilowatt-hours, 193.7 billion more than a year earlier, and that increase accounted for 64% of the growth in electricity use. On the summer peak-load day, maximum midday wind and solar output exceeded 40% of load at the time. Over the same nine months, wind and solar investment was about one-third of completed energy investment. Liu Zhiqiang, deputy director of planning and development at the China Electricity Council, said the milestone consolidates renewables as the mainstay of installed capacity. The renewable-energy plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period calls for more than 300 million kilowatts of additional reliable peak renewable capacity.
Links:
Commentary:
Once installed capacity clears 2 billion kilowatts, the plan's next test is whether midday output can become reliable peak power in the evening.
2. Environment ministry report: coal-fired generation falls to 49.7% in the first half (climate policy)
Summary:
Caixin reported on October 26 that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released its annual climate-policy report ahead of the U.N. climate summit. Coal-fired plants supplied 49.7% of electricity generation in the first half of 2026, the first time a half-year share has fallen below 50%, and by the end of July installed solar capacity had surpassed coal, making photovoltaics the largest source of installed capacity. The report says carbon dioxide per unit of GDP in 2025 was 17.7% below 2020, non-fossil energy was 21.7% of energy consumption, combined wind and solar capacity was 1.84 billion kilowatts, and new-energy vehicles were 50.8% of new vehicle sales. Renewable capacity in the first half of 2026 was 2.455 billion kilowatts, about 60.7% of national installed capacity. The national carbon market covers about 8.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, more than 65% of national emissions, with cumulative allowance trading above 1 billion metric tons, and authorities plan to add petrochemicals, chemicals, and other industries by 2027. Vice Minister Li Gao said climate change has become an immediate crisis, and the ministry is guiding 39 cities in expanded climate-adaptive city pilots. COP31 is scheduled for November 9–20 in Antalya, Turkey.
Links:
- Caixin — Coal falls below half of China's power output for the first time
- Ministry of Ecology and Environment — China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change 2026
Commentary:
A generation share below one-half means substitution has reached kilowatt-hours, and the carbon-market expansion plus 39 adaptation pilots still have to be delivered.
3. The southern regional power market moved to formal operation on October 24 (power market)
Summary:
Science and Technology Daily reported on October 26 that China's first regional power market, covering Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hainan, moved to formal operation on October 24. Since continuous settlement trials began in June 2025, coal, hydro, nuclear, wind, solar, and gas have bid under one set of rules. From January through September, traded electricity was nearly 900 billion kilowatt-hours, more than 70% of regional sales; renewables supplied 40% of the increase in electricity sold; the largest single-day clearing exceeded 4 billion kilowatt-hours; and registered market entities passed 290,000. Xinhua the same day reported Hainan's side of the market: renewables are above 50% of installed capacity, one year of settlement trials covered 30.978 billion kilowatt-hours, 55% of provincial consumption, with 1.301 billion kilowatt-hours bought from other provinces and 357 million exported, and more than 1.6 billion kilowatt-hours moved on the cross-sea cables, sending out surplus midday solar and importing power at night.
Links:
- Science and Technology Daily — China's first regional power market begins formal operation
- Xinhua — The southern regional market and Hainan's clean-energy island
Commentary:
With five provinces clearing together, the island grid turns midday solar surplus into a cross-province trade that sends power out by day and brings it back at night.
4. The EU launches the T-MED platform with up to €4.5 billion in guarantees (cross-border investment)
Summary:
The European Commission on October 26 launched the T-MED Investment Platform under the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean Tech Cooperation Initiative. Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica presented it at a stakeholder event in Brussels. EU support includes up to €4.5 billion in guarantee capacity under the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus, to reduce risk in renewable generation, renewable hydrogen, transmission and distribution, storage, cross-border interconnectors, and clean-tech manufacturing. The Commission said that by 2035 the initiative aims to mobilise up to €25 billion and train up to 10,000 workers. Projects already cited include modernisation and expansion of Egypt's national grid, with a total investment of €1.6 billion; the first green-ammonia project in North Africa at Ain Sokhna, a €575 million operation; a hybrid solar project in Egypt worth about €430 million; the Niat and Rasgha wind projects, 500 MW combined on the Gulf of Suez; and two 100 MW solar plants plus transmission in Tunisia, with EU support of about €92 million and €80 million.
Links:
Commentary:
The guarantee line is aimed at grids, green ammonia, and wind on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, and the €25 billion figure for 2035 still depends on projects closing one by one.
5. The EU opens consultation on a new hydrogen strategy, with comments due November 23 (hydrogen)
Summary:
The Commission's Directorate-General for Energy announced on October 26 a four-week call for evidence and a targeted stakeholder consultation on the forthcoming hydrogen strategy. Comments are due by 23:59 CET on November 23, 2026. The strategy is meant to support a resilient and competitive European hydrogen value chain and give investors stability and predictability. The Commission said it will be developed in parallel with the renewable-energy framework through 2040, so that renewables serve the EU's 2040 climate target while responding to geopolitical pressure to cut dependence on imported fossil fuels. The consultation page says that, since the 2020 hydrogen strategy, a regulatory framework is in place, while production and use of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen are still slower than first expected, with limited operating capacity and projects that have not reached sufficient maturity.
Links:
- European Commission — Hydrogen strategy consultation opens
- European Commission — Targeted consultation on a renewed hydrogen strategy
Commentary:
The consultation records that output and project maturity have lagged the 2020 vision, and the new strategy is being written alongside the 2040 climate target.
6. Maryland opens a $200 million Megawatts for Maryland clean-energy auction (power prices)
Summary:
Governor Wes Moore announced on October 26 the launch of Megawatts for Maryland, administered by the Maryland Energy Administration under the Utility RELIEF Act he signed earlier this year. The two-year program draws up to $100 million a year, $200 million in total, from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund and awards competitive grants to renewable generation and storage projects that have already completed some early development. The aim is several hundred megawatts of in-state supply, enough for more than 150,000 homes a year. Stage-one applications are due November 30, 2026, and eligible bidders must submit prices by January 22, 2027. Maryland Matters reported that energy-administration director Kelly Speakes-Backman said funds will go to projects delivering the most megawatt-hours per dollar, that projects must come online within seven years of the grant, and that the money will not fully replace federal investment tax credits that were canceled. The governor said regional and national power costs are rising and the program is meant to add cleaner, cheaper in-state generation.
Links:
- Office of Governor Wes Moore — Program to increase generation and lower electricity costs
- Maryland Matters — State opens grants for solar and battery projects
Commentary:
The auction uses alternative-compliance money to add in-state supply, and the energy administration says it does not restore the full force of the canceled federal tax credit.
II. Renewables, Storage, and Large Loads
7. Spain's third-quarter notices cover 27 renewable projects and 1.78 GW of batteries (storage)
Summary:
Energy Storage reported on October 26, citing pv magazine Espana, that public notices in Spain's third quarter of 2026 covered 27 renewable projects involving batteries, with 1.78 GW of storage in total, including standalone systems and batteries paired with existing solar and wind. Larger proposals include Jinko Power's 150.8 MW La Puebla 3 battery in Huelva, and FRV's 108 MW Gaetana battery in Badajoz, planned with a 166.4 MW solar plant as a 180 MW hybrid, plus FRV's 117.6 MW Aurea battery for an existing 171 MW solar plant. X-Elio's La Atalaya battery in Alicante is 83.709 MW for a 96.884 MW solar plant, and Iberdrola filed a 30.3 MW battery for the 70.4 MW Iglesias wind farm. The notices span preliminary permits, construction permits, environmental review, and public-utility declarations, and publication alone does not mean a project has every permit or will be built.
Links:
Commentary:
Most of the 1.78 GW is attached to solar and wind plants that already exist, and the list is still a permitting queue.
8. SEIA publishes a distributed capacity procurement framework (distributed energy)
Summary:
The Solar Energy Industries Association and Current Energy Group on October 26 released the Distributed Capacity Procurement Framework, on how regulators and grid operators can procure distributed solar and storage as demand rises, prices stay high, and grid equipment ages. The paper sets out three pathways, from least to most prescriptive: a programmatic tariff for system-wide capacity needs, a standing tariff whose price is calibrated by competitive bids, and a competitive solicitation only for a specific site. Two of its ten principles are to use the least restrictive pathway that meets the need, and to make customer-owned or third-party-owned resources the default, with utility ownership only in limited cases. SEIA said competitive procurement of third-party resources can reduce utilities' purchases of higher-cost wholesale capacity. The paper keeps utility-owned distributed resources out of the first two pathways and allows them only as bounded exceptions in the third, such as storage co-located with a substation and used strictly for real-time grid control.
Links:
- SEIA — White paper on using solar and storage to lower costs and raise reliability
- pv magazine USA — White paper outlines pathways for distributed resources
Commentary:
The framework makes customer and third-party ownership the default and leaves utility-built assets as an exception inside site-specific bids.
9. Eleven states oppose MISO's 120-day fast study for large loads and paired generation (large loads)
Summary:
Utility Dive reported on October 26 that clean-energy groups, ratepayer advocates, and 11 of the 15 states in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator's footprint urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday to reject the operator's Large Load Addition Resource Study. Earlier this month MISO proposed a 120-day joint study for loads larger than 200 MW and generation in the same local resource zone; there are 10 such zones. The Organization of MISO States said the plan lacks protection against shifting transmission costs onto existing customers and could affect competition in the generator interconnection queue, and it said any similar program should end after five years. Commissions in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi supported the plan. Google said in a separate filing that the cost-allocation rules will not be filed until next month, so existing customers could pay for network upgrades needed by new loads and generation, conflicting with its Ratepayer Protection Pledge. The American Clean Power Association and SEIA said only load-serving entities that are transmission customers may apply, so an independent producer needs one of them to sponsor the request. Duke Energy Indiana, Entergy, and other utilities supported the filing.
Links:
Commentary:
The 120-day fast track is aimed at loads above 200 MW, and the fight is already over who may apply and who pays for the upgrades.
III. Climate Disasters and Energy Security
10. Typhoon Champi is rated the year's strongest storm so far, and Cyclone Arnab may reach India's east coast Wednesday (disasters)
Summary:
The Guardian reported on October 26, citing MetDesk, that Typhoon Champi recorded sustained winds of 185 mph last week and was declared the strongest storm of the year so far. From late Thursday to early Saturday it struck Taiwan and Japan's southern islands, with gusts of 141 mph and 48-hour rainfall above 620 mm in parts of Yilan. The toll stands at one death and 527 injuries. More than 288,000 homes lost power at one point and most have been reconnected. On Monday the storm weakened to a tropical storm southwest of Japan's main island. Greece's weather service issued flood warnings for Monday, with 30–60 mm in 12 hours in central areas and 50–80 mm on the north-east Aegean islands. Cyclonic Storm Arnab in the Bay of Bengal is expected around Wednesday near the north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts, with gusts up to 85 mph and six-hour rainfall up to 100 mm at landfall.
Links:
Commentary:
Champi is weakening, and Arnab puts the landfall window for India's east coast on Wednesday.
11. Storms Boelo and Austen cut power to more than 150,000 homes in northern Europe (outages)
Summary:
Al Jazeera reported on October 26, drawing on AFP and AP, that Storms Boelo and Austen hit northern Europe within 24 hours, killed one person, cut power to more than 150,000 homes, and disrupted flights and phone networks. On Sunday more than 82,000 homes in the United Kingdom, nearly 60,000 in France, and at least 10,000 in Germany were without electricity. A 60-year-old man was killed by a falling tree in southwestern Scotland on Sunday, and winds of 135 km/h were recorded in Argyll and Bute. French distributor Enedis said about 288,000 homes were out at Austen's Saturday peak, and about 59,000 were still out at midday Sunday, mainly in Normandy and Brittany. In and around Freiburg, Germany, about 10,000 homes lost power on Sunday and the main hospital limited service to emergencies. Three crew members were injured on a freighter north of Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands. Hundreds of flights were canceled or diverted, including at Amsterdam Schiphol.
Links:
Commentary:
The first big autumn wind hit distribution lines first, and France's peak outage count and the homes still dark on Sunday differ by an order of magnitude.
12. Turkey prepares for COP31 with storage and a carbon market as Hormuz shipping attacks mount (energy security)
Summary:
Middle East Eye reported from Istanbul on October 26 that, before hosting the U.N. climate summit next month, Turkey is putting battery storage, renewable-electricity certificates, a national emissions-trading system, and electric harbour tugs into its preparations. Energy Exchange Istanbul said installed capacity was 127.3 GW as of October 10, with renewables about 62%. Chief executive Taha Meli Arvas said the next step is more storage so renewable power can act more like baseload. The emissions-trading system will be piloted in 2026 and 2027; 2026 is a monitoring and reporting year, and the price mechanism takes effect in 2027. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy counted 28 confirmed and reported attacks this month and 113 since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28. The International Maritime Organization cited 120 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East, affecting about 20,000 seafarers, port workers, and offshore staff. COP31 runs November 9–20 in Antalya.
Links:
Commentary:
The host country has put a carbon price in 2027, while the nearer constraints are Hormuz shipping and how renewable electricity is stored.
13. Monday's high tide breaks a record in Southern California, with San Pedro at 8.02 feet (sea level)
Summary:
The Los Angeles Times reported on October 26 that the morning tide flooded streets from Newport Beach to Long Beach. The San Pedro gauge reached 8.02 feet, breaking the January 2005 record of 7.93 feet. La Jolla recorded 7.75 feet, 0.06 feet short of the 7.81-foot record set on November 25, 2015, and the National Weather Service said Tuesday could break it. Newport Beach officials said Monday's level was 8.3 feet, nearly 2 feet above the height expected from the astronomical tide alone, and that the coast could reach 8.5 feet at 9:50 a.m. Tuesday. A coastal flood warning for Orange and San Diego counties runs through Thursday afternoon. Scientists said record ocean heat is holding water levels 1.25 to 1.8 feet above the tide produced by the moon and sun alone. On Thursday the surface temperature at Scripps Pier in La Jolla was about 73 degrees Fahrenheit, against an average of 66 for this time of year. Newport Beach distributed about 25,000 sandbags over the weekend.
Links:
Commentary:
San Pedro has already passed the 2005 record, and the weather service has placed a higher tide on Tuesday.
14. Go Energy and Saudi Arabia's SARCO plan a low-carbon fuels project starting near 50,000 tonnes a year (fuels)
Summary:
A ZAWYA report carried on TradingView on October 26 said Go Energy Group, through its parent Go Energy USA Corporation, has partnered with Saudi Arabia's Clean Energy Co and its subsidiary SARCO on a low-carbon fuels project in the kingdom aimed at export markets in Europe and Asia. Initial capacity is about 50,000 tonnes a year, with a phased build-out toward as much as 400,000 tonnes a year at full development. Engineering design has started. The final product mix, expansion, and investment still depend on further technical, commercial, regulatory, and feasibility studies. The partners expect operations in the first quarter of 2029 if studies, approvals, and development milestones are completed. An earlier memorandum on a renewable-ammonia plant was closed after a strategic review, and the companies formalised the fuels collaboration instead. The report says final scope, investment decisions, and the production timeline remain subject to those assessments and the required approvals.
Links:
Commentary:
The shift from a renewable-ammonia memorandum to low-carbon fuels still leaves the 50,000-tonne start and a 2029 start-up behind feasibility work and permits.
Today's Summary
- The National Energy Administration said combined wind and solar capacity reached 2.01 billion kilowatts by the end of September, and January–September wind and solar growth supplied 64% of the increase in electricity use. The environment ministry's annual report put coal-fired generation at 49.7% in the first half and, ahead of COP31, pointed to climate-adaptation pilots in 39 cities. The southern regional power market moved to formal operation on October 24, with nearly 900 billion kilowatt-hours traded from January through September.
- The EU's T-MED platform offers up to €4.5 billion in guarantees, and a four-week hydrogen-strategy consultation runs until November 23. Maryland opened a two-year, $200 million clean-energy auction, with stage-one applications due November 30.
- Third-quarter public notices in Spain cover 27 projects and 1.78 GW of storage, still at different stages of permitting. SEIA set out three pathways for procuring distributed capacity, with customer or third-party ownership as the default. Eleven of the 15 states in MISO's footprint oppose a 120-day fast study for loads above 200 MW.
- Typhoon Champi left one person dead and 527 injured, cut power to more than 288,000 homes at the peak, and has weakened to a tropical storm. Cyclone Arnab is expected near India's east coast around Wednesday. Two northern European storms still left more than 150,000 homes without power on Sunday. San Pedro's tide reached a record 8.02 feet. About 62% of Turkey's 127.3 GW of power capacity is renewable, and 120 shipping incidents have been counted in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Middle East.
Daily Framing:
October 26 was a capacity-crossing day in the energy and climate cycle: China's wind and solar fleet passed 2 billion kilowatts and coal's share of generation fell below half, Europe and the United States used guarantees, a hydrogen consultation, and a state auction to fill investment and integration gaps, while a typhoon, northern European storms, record Southern California tides, and shipping attacks around Hormuz kept physical risk on the same day.
This digest is compiled from real-time search results and is for reference only.