LS Marine Solution's submarine cable-laying vessel GL2030.
LS Marine Solution's submarine cable-laying vessel GL2030.
LS Marine Solution, a subsidiary of LS Cable & System, has completed a major upgrade of its cable-laying vessel GL2030, significantly increasing its cable carrying capacity to strengthen its competitiveness in large-scale offshore wind and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission projects.
The company announced on July 22 that it has increased the vessel's submarine cable carrying capacity from 4,000 metric tons to 7,000 metric tons.
The upgrade enables the GL2030 to install submarine cables over distances exceeding 100 kilometers in a single continuous operation, reducing the number of voyages required for a project and lowering both construction time and costs.
LS Marine Solution expects demand for submarine power and telecommunications cable installation to increase as South Korea expands offshore wind generation, advances the West Coast HVDC transmission project and invests in new international submarine communications networks.
The company plans to deploy the GL2030 primarily for coastal projects while assigning its 13,000-ton next-generation cable-laying vessel, currently under construction, to long-distance and large-capacity projects, further expanding its offshore construction capabilities.
"We will expand our participation in domestic power grid projects, including the West Coast HVDC Energy Highway, while strengthening our presence in the US and European markets," an LS Marine Solution official said.
Hanwha Aerospace has completed a $500 million US dollar-denominated public bond offering, becoming the first South Korean defense and aerospace company to issue an overseas public bond.
The company announced on July 21 that it had finalized the issuance of $500 million in fixed-rate notes with a three-year maturity.
The bond offering attracted approximately $3.3 billion in orders from investors across Europe and Asia, representing demand of roughly seven times the issuance size.
In June 2026, S&P Global Ratings assigned Hanwha Aerospace a long-term issuer credit rating of A-, making it the first South Korean defense and aerospace company to receive an A-range long-term rating from the global credit rating agency.
Hanwha Aerospace said it plans to use the proceeds from the bond issuance for working capital and the repayment of existing debt.
The transaction was jointly arranged by Citigroup Global Markets, Crédit Agricole CIB, and UBS.
"We successfully completed our inaugural overseas public bond offering with strong interest from international investors," a Hanwha Aerospace official said. "Supported by a stable funding base, we will continue strengthening our competitiveness in global markets."
From left: Park Sang-jin, chairman of the Korea Development Bank; Moon Ji-hoon, executive vice president of Hanwha Aerospace; Kim Hee-cheul, chief executive officer of Hanwha Ocean; Kim Jong-seo, chief executive officer of Hanwha Engine; Kwak Jong-woo, executive vice president of Hanwha Systems; and Kang Seung-jun, chairman of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund.
From left: Park Sang-jin, chairman of the Korea Development Bank; Moon Ji-hoon, executive vice president of Hanwha Aerospace; Kim Hee-cheul, chief executive officer of Hanwha Ocean; Kim Jong-seo, chief executive officer of Hanwha Engine; Kwak Jong-woo, executive vice president of Hanwha Systems; and Kang Seung-jun, chairman of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund.
Hanwha has partnered with the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) to provide financing support for facility investments by suppliers in the defense and shipbuilding industries.
The company announced on July 20 that it signed a memorandum of understanding on a shared-growth financing program with KDB and KODIT at KDB's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.
The program will support small and mid-sized suppliers of four Hanwha affiliates: Hanwha Aerospace, Hanwha Ocean, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Engine.
Under the agreement, the Hanwha affiliates will contribute funds to KODIT and recommend eligible suppliers. KODIT will provide preferential credit guarantees to those companies, while KDB will extend facility investment loans backed by the guarantees.
The financing will enable participating suppliers to fund investments such as expanding production equipment and building new manufacturing facilities. Hanwha said it will identify suppliers requiring financial support and assist them throughout the financing process.
"We will identify suppliers that need facility investment and help them make full use of this financing program," said Kim Hee-cheul, chief executive officer of Hanwha Ocean.
From left: Matthieu Louvot, chief executive officer of Airbus Helicopters, and Kim Jong-chul, chief executive officer of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
From left: Matthieu Louvot, chief executive officer of Airbus Helicopters, and Kim Jong-chul, chief executive officer of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has agreed with Airbus Helicopters to expand cooperation on next-generation rotorcraft technologies.
KAI announced on July 20 that it signed a joint statement with Airbus Helicopters at the company's headquarters in Marignane, France, to strengthen collaboration in the rotorcraft business.
The two companies have worked together in the rotorcraft sector for nearly two decades, beginning with the development of the KUH-1 Surion in 2006. Their cooperation later expanded to the development of the Light Armed Helicopter (LAH) Miron, and they are currently collaborating on the Marine Attack Helicopter (MAH) program.
Under the new agreement, the companies will strengthen technical support and parts supply systems to ensure the stable operation of the Surion and Miron helicopter fleets. The initiative is intended to improve supply chain resilience, increase aircraft availability and enhance maintenance efficiency.
The partnership will also expand into next-generation rotorcraft technologies. KAI and Airbus Helicopters will jointly explore technology development and business opportunities related to manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to address future battlefield requirements.
"Airbus Helicopters has been our key partner over the past 20 years in the development of the Surion and Miron helicopters," said Kim Jong-chul, chief executive officer of KAI. "We will further expand our cooperation in future technologies, including AI-based manned-unmanned teaming systems."
The US military said it has launched its 10th consecutive round of strikes on Iran to force the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.
Earlier on Monday, Iran’s president said the country is in a “full-scale war” after the US expanded its aerial campaign and Tehran struck Washington’s Gulf allies, even as diplomats said talks to de-escalate were continuing.
From Nevada to Manchester, developers are trialling innovative solutions to clean energy’s biggest challenge
In the deserts of the United Arab Emirates a sprawling clean energy project, stretching across an area roughly the size of 12,600 football fields, will play host to a breakthrough allowing solar energy to power the equivalent of half a million homes through the night.
The Gulf state has been steadily combining 5.2GW of solar power capacity with 19GWh of battery storage to create the largest battery scheme in the world.
Campaigners hope move will force commercial banks to rethink holding assets linked to the fossil fuel
Climate campaigners have declared a victory after the Bank of England said it would no longer accept bonds linked to one of the most polluting industries on the planet for key loan arrangements.
The ban, which comes into force in October, marks a fresh crackdown on thermal coal, which is burned in power plants to create electricity, and has long been a target of green policy activists.
Party manifesto pledged to honour existing North Sea exploration licences but not issue new ones
Andy Burnham risks his first confrontation with Labour MPs if he announces new oil and gas drilling licences when he becomes prime minister, insiders have warned.
Speculation is rife that Burnham will unveil fresh plans for drilling in the North Sea after he is installed in Downing Street.
Apartment living can be a barrier to solar and battery adoption. Here’s how to navigate the hurdles and practicalities
Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint
Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com
Australia is a world leader in household solar, but the benefits of rooftop renewables are unevenly distributed – and many of the 2.5 million people living in apartments or units are missing out.
About 39% of Australians living in detached or semi-detached houses have solar, compared with 6% of those in apartments or units, research by Energy Consumers Australia (ECA) finds. A gap also exists in the take-up of batteries, installed in 7% of houses but only in 3% of apartments or units.
The predicted £264bn cost by 2050 could be even higher, plus renewables avoid a far higher total of emissions than can be captured, writes Andrew Boswell, while Simon Oldridge calls out vested interests
Prof Myles Allen and colleagues, in their letter (12 July) on carbon capture and storage (CCS), propose licensing gasfields on condition that producers store an increasing proportion of “the carbon dioxide their products generate”. Their proposal only considers CO2. Methane is excluded by choice although it leaks throughout global fossil-fuel supply chains, including during extraction, processing, liquefaction and shipping.
A growing academic literature, supported by satellite observations of major methane plumes, shows that these emissions can be very substantial, and are the dominant near-term climate impact for gas supplied as liquefied natural gas.
Campaigners say field will bring minimal benefit for UK economy, as industry lobbies Burnham for go-ahead
More people can fit on to the top deck of a standard London bus than will be directly employed on the new Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, industry documents show.
Prices of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, are rising as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts global fuel markets. Higher oil-product prices are increasing demand for biofuels, particularly for road transport, as governments seek to soften the impact of elevated fuel costs. Prices in Northwest Europe, the largest SAF consumption hub, are set to remain elevated over the next year according to BloombergNEF analysis, averaging $2,746 per metric ton.
“Burnham has been very quiet about the climate [crisis] so far,” says Chris Venables, an environmental campaigner and fellow at the Green Alliance thinktank. “I don’t think [it] is at the forefront of his mind, but that does not mean he will water down this agenda.”
Austin-based SuperCritical Materials Corp. has secured a license from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to commercialize a patented uranium and critical materials extraction technology developed by DOE laboratories.
The development is a significant step toward expanding future nuclear fuel supply through unconventional uranium resources.
Licensed technology is designed to extract uranium from seawater
Developed with support from the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy and led by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the licensed technology is designed to extract uranium from seawater using advanced adsorbent materials. SuperCritical said the agreement grants the company rights to manufacture and deploy the technology at industrial scale in the United States, with plans to expand into allied nations in the future.
The announcement comes as the United States accelerates investment in advanced nuclear energy to meet rising electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence, data centers, advanced manufacturing and other energy-intensive industries. Industry experts have increasingly highlighted that while reactor development is advancing, expanding the upstream nuclear fuel supply chain—including uranium production, enrichment and fuel fabrication—remains a critical challenge.
According to the company, the world’s oceans contain an estimated 4.5 billion metric tons of dissolved uranium, representing a resource far larger than known terrestrial reserves. While extracting uranium from seawater has long been considered technically feasible, commercial deployment has remained limited due to economic and engineering challenges.
SuperCritical intends to commercialize DOE-developed process
SuperCritical said it intends to commercialize the DOE-developed process using advances in adsorption chemistry and materials science. In addition to uranium, the company believes the technology could also enable the recovery of other strategically important critical materials from seawater.
The company describes its long-term strategy as building infrastructure to support what it calls the “Intelligence Economy,” a period of economic growth expected to be driven by artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced computing, defense technologies and digital infrastructure. It argues that reliable nuclear energy and secure fuel supplies will be essential to sustaining this growth.
“Our objective is straightforward,” said Alexander Canon Bryan, founder and chief executive officer of SuperCritical Materials. “If the Intelligence Economy requires abundant, reliable nuclear energy, then it will also require abundant, reliable nuclear fuel.”
SuperCritical noted that its technical team includes former researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, including Dr. Gary Gill, a co-founder of the company and a scientist who has spent more than two decades researching uranium extraction from seawater.
The company said commercial deployment of the technology could contribute to strengthening domestic nuclear fuel supply chains while supporting broader U.S. efforts to improve energy security, expand critical materials production and reduce dependence on imported strategic resources.
The licensing agreement also aligns with ongoing federal initiatives aimed at strengthening America’s nuclear industrial base and increasing domestic production of critical minerals and materials.
Although seawater uranium extraction has been demonstrated in research settings, analysts note that large-scale commercialization will depend on achieving competitive production costs and successfully scaling the technology for industrial use. Industry observers view the DOE licensing agreement as an important milestone toward evaluating the commercial viability of the process.
MIT researchers have developed a new framework that could help energy planners decide where to build renewable energy projects as climate change puts growing pressure on power grids.
The study combines fine-scale meteorology with detailed simulations of energy infrastructure. Researchers found that where new energy projects are built could significantly affect whether future power systems can meet demand reliably.
The team applied the framework to decarbonized energy systems in New England and Texas. Their analysis found that systems designed around historic climate conditions could experience up to a fivefold increase in energy shortfalls by 2050.
By incorporating future climate conditions into energy planning, however, the researchers found that both regions could improve grid resilience at little or no additional cost.
“As we mitigate climate change with renewables, we can also adapt to climate change by using future weather projections in our power system planning, and the extra costs of that adaptation are, at least in this study, not much,” said senior author Michael Howland, an MIT professor.
Climate change adds new risks to power grids
Electricity systems are already changing rapidly as demand rises from trends such as artificial intelligence and transportation electrification, while falling costs drive greater adoption of wind and solar power.
But renewable generation and electricity demand are both affected by weather, creating new challenges as climate conditions change.
“This study explores the joint, simultaneous impacts on multiple components of the energy system, similar to compound events studied in climate science,” Howland explained.
“An extreme weather event can impact wind and solar generation and electricity demand all at the same time. Our hypothesis is that’s likely to be the biggest impact we’ll see from climate change on energy systems,” he added.
The study found that climate change could increase energy failures by as much as 500% by 2050 if future climate conditions are not considered when siting and designing energy infrastructure.
Where wind and solar are built matters
The researchers found that locations best suited for renewable projects under future climate conditions can differ meaningfully from those identified using historic weather data.
“We are telling people where you put your wind and solar matters a lot for your ability to deliver energy when you need it,” Qiu explained.
“We need to think more about the when and where of adding renewables rather than only focusing on adding overall capacity,” he added.
In New England, climate-related disruptions increased the need for solar capacity and transmission lines close to major demand centers.
In Texas, risks were primarily driven by transmission constraints. Climate-informed designs prioritized wind farms in West Texas to better align renewable generation with future demand patterns.
Researchers seek faster planning tools
The current framework relies on expensive, high-resolution models, making it impractical for grid operators to use routinely today.
The researchers hope to develop faster models that could make climate-informed planning easier to apply.
“This study shows the opportunity and the need,” Howland says. “There are risks to not adapting our system, but if we do adapt our system, there could be big opportunities that are not costly.”
The United States is facing nine major supply chain challenges that could delay the rehabilitation of its hydropower infrastructure, according to a new report from the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR).
The report has examined the difficulties hydropower operators encounter when upgrading or replacing large power transformers (LPTs).
These custom-built devices raise the voltage of electricity generated by hydropower turbines, allowing it to travel efficiently across long-distance transmission networks.
Their importance extends beyond hydropower, as more than 90% of the electricity consumed in the United States passes through high-voltage transformers at some stage.
Transformer deliveries can take five years
One of the most serious challenges identified in the report is the time required to procure new transformers.
A typical LPT rated at 100 megavolt-amperes takes approximately 2.5 to three years to acquire. Lead times for extra-high-voltage units can extend to five years because only a limited number of facilities worldwide can manufacture them.
Transformer prices sharply increased by approximately 80% in 2025 compared with 2021 levels, according to the report. A single unit can now cost as much as $10 million.
These pressures come as demand rises across the power sector. Although domestic manufacturing and assembly capacity has expanded in recent years, the report found that it has not grown quickly enough to meet current requirements.
US manufacturers also depend heavily on international suppliers. Approximately 80% of the raw materials used in domestic LPT production, including grain-oriented electrical steel and refined copper, are imported.
Changing trade conditions could further increase the baseline costs of copper and steel, adding uncertainty to transformer procurement.
Remote dams create transportation problems
Delivering an LPT to a hydropower facility presents another layer of difficulty. Many dams are located in isolated regions surrounded by rugged terrain, making them considerably harder to reach than conventional power facilities.
Transformers require specialized vehicles and heavy-duty trailers capable of carrying oversized loads. However, the United States has a limited domestic fleet of such equipment. Transportation routes must also be planned carefully and require special permits.
Permitting and regulatory procedures can produce additional delays, particularly when an operator must remove an existing transformer before installing its replacement.
Federal contracting rules and domestic-content requirements could also create near-term bottlenecks while US production capacity remains limited.
Report could guide domestic investment
The NLR study builds on the US Department of Energy’s broader Hydropower Supply Chain Gap Analysis, which previously identified five gaps affecting the domestic industry.
DOE’s Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office funded the follow-on study to provide a closer examination of the LPT supply chain. Researchers used feedback from hydropower industry participants to define the nine challenges.
The findings could help shape federal policies, incentives, lending programs, workforce initiatives and investments intended to expand US transformer production.
Strengthening the domestic supply chain will be important for new construction as well as upgrades, refurbishments and relicensing work at existing facilities.
Hydropower currently provides more than 6% of total US electricity generation, making the availability of critical transformers essential to its continued contribution to the grid.
The report is titled as Large Power Transformer Supply Chain Gap Analysis and Domestic Content Strategies for Hydropower Rehabilitation.
Fresh off a month that saw all but five states mired in severe drought, the US is reeling from multiple crises of national proportions.
First, there’s the record-breaking heat dome which is currently baking most of the continental US. According to the Guardian, over 100 million Americans are currently living under extreme heat warnings, forecasted to persist well into the weekend.
At the same time, the country is being smoked out by dozens of wildfires across North America, a situation the heat wave isn’t exactly helping. On top of that, smoke from over 800 blazes in Canada is helping choke out the US Midwest and North-East, making the air hazardous to breathe.
Things aren’t necessarily any prettier outside of the smoke-zone — just wetter. Communities situated around the Guadalupe River in Texas are reeling after near endless rainfall triggered massive floods across the state for the second year in a row.
So far, at least one person is dead, while thousands have been forced to evacuate. At least 57 counties representing over six million people were placed under flood watches over the past few days. With even more rain on the horizon, it remains to be seen when Texas will get relief from the torrential downfalls.
Stepping back, it’s clear this cascade of extremes isn’t happening in a vacuum. The overlapping wildfires, floods, and heat waves are all being amplified by the same climate forces: a rapidly warming planet, fueled in no small part by skyrocketing carbon emissions from the US itself.
All in all, it’s been an action-packed summer as the El Niño cycle rolls on — and unfortunately, the devastation is far from over.
Unsure what to do with your rancid old hot dog factory? Apparently, the answer is simple: turn it into a fusion reactor facility.
As TechCrunch reports, a company called Realta Fusion is building a fusion reactor inside an old Oscar Mayer hot dog factory in Wisconsin. The refurbished facility is called Forge, and according to Realta cofounder and CEO Kieran Furlong, it’s due to begin operations by 2029 to test whether fusion reactors can actually make a profit by generating more electricity than they require.
“From sausages to fusion,” Furlong told TechCrunch, touting Realta as Wisconsin’s nuclear “state champion.”
The company chose the site because of its “ample” access to power and its proximity to the startup’s existing headquarters.
Per TechCrunch, Realta recently demonstrated that it could generate electricity using a fusion device dubbed Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror, or WHAM for short, a successful experiment that the startup claimed as the first of its kind.
Put simply, nuclear reactors replicate the process our Sun uses to generate energy by fusing atoms together under extreme conditions. Realta’s WHAM uses a novel process called direct energy conversion (DEC), which extracts electricity from charged particles emitted by plasma. That sets it aside from other fusion reactor designs that capture heat to spin turbines and generate electricity.
Despite early promising results — scientists only recently started showing that fusion reactors can indeed generate a surplus of energy — we’re still far from proving that it’s a scalable and renewable source of electricity.
But that hasn’t stopped a flourishing cottage industry of fusion startups from trying. With backing from some of the most influential names in tech, from OpenAI’s Sam Altman to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, companies are promising a safer alternative to conventional nuclear fission reactors that can’t experience catastrophic meltdowns.
Even old hot dog factories are fair game as firms like Realta pursue the idea. Besides, we think that it’s only natural that Realta works on turning some old Oscar Mayer Weinermobiles into fusion-powered cars.
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