The Duck Curve#united kingdom
UK Fusion Energy missed four of 21 targets in 2025/26, spent £118.8m
UK Fusion Energy, which is developing the STEP prototype fusion plant at West Burton, spent £118.8 million in the year to March 31, 2026 and achieved 16 of its 21 corporate performance measures, its annual report says. High-heat-flux testing left one measure partly achieved, and the company decided not to appoint an engineering partner at this time.
EDF and CIP buy into Five Estuaries; Ørsted to buy back Gunfleet Sands
RWE completed the sale of its 33.33% of the Five Estuaries offshore wind project to EDF power solutions UK and Ireland on October 8, 2026, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners said on October 13 it had acquired the Macquarie-led consortium's 25%. Ørsted has exercised a buyback right to take full ownership of the 172 MW Gunfleet Sands 1 & 2 for about GBP 15 million, with closing expected in November.
UK ZEHID e-trucks log 85,000 trips, about half a diesel sample's weekly km
Battery-electric trucks in the UK's ZEHID programme logged 85,000 trips and 3.60 million km by June 17, 2026, with greenhouse gas emissions 81% below diesel assuming average grid electricity, according to the programme's first annual report, by evaluator WSP for Innovate UK. They averaged about 1,350 km a week against about 2,600 km for a diesel sample and cost around 2.7 times diesel to buy; the hydrogen project HyHAUL was terminated in December 2025.
Octopus Fleet launches FleetBoost, discounted UK public charging for fleets
Octopus Fleet launched FleetBoost on 7 October 2026, discounted public charging for UK business EV fleets at MFG EV Power, IONITY and Be.EV chargers. Octopus says fleets could cut public charging bills by up to 30% and save up to £730 per vehicle a year, net of the subscription, which costs an additional £10 (ex VAT) per driver per month, assuming 15,000 miles a year at 0.3 kWh per mile.
UK announces Great British Grid, a public investor in electricity networks
The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced Great British Grid on September 29, 2026, a publicly owned body within Great British Energy to invest public capital alongside private investment in electricity network infrastructure, with reforms to expand self-build connections and faster competitive tendering of transmission projects. The release gives no investment figure, start date or legislation: start-up costs come from Great British Energy's existing budgets and the long-term budget is left to a future spending review.
Morgan Stanley's 1GT leads €49M Series E for Amber Electric
Amber Electric said on September 21, 2026 it closed a nearly twice oversubscribed Series E led by 1GT, which Amber calls Morgan Stanley's climate tech fund and Morgan Stanley Investment Management calls its private climate equity strategy, with existing backers ETF Partners, Innovation Victoria and E.ON participating, to scale in Australia and expand across Europe. Amber puts the round at $78.5 million with no currency named; Morgan Stanley's release states €49 million (about US$56.3 million). Amber says it orchestrates more than half of Australia's automated home batteries.
UK pushes electric heating appliance rules to October 2028 at the earliest
The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said on September 17, 2026 that the implementation date for electrical heating appliances under its draft Energy Smart Appliances Regulations will be October 31, 2028 or two years after the regulations are made, whichever is later, subject to final parliamentary approval; the December 2025 consultation had proposed December 31, 2027. The interim response also says the government intends to permit alternative compliance routes for the metering and cyber security requirements. The regulations have not yet been laid before Parliament.
UK Fusion Energy joins MTC as Tier 1 member, to spend up to £10m on R&D
UK Fusion Energy Ltd, the UKAEA Group subsidiary delivering the STEP prototype fusion plant at West Burton, said on September 15, 2026 that it has become a Tier 1 member of the Manufacturing Technology Centre and set up an R&D contract route through which it expects to spend up to £10 million (about $13.3 million). A release datelined September 14 announced a partnership with INFINITY, which is developing a 200-acre advanced manufacturing site at Infinity Park in Derby. UKFE says procurement packages for six strategic partner opportunities are in their final stages of development.
Alstom signs over €1.2bn of contracts for 29 TransPennine battery trains
Alstom said on September 11, 2026 that it signed contracts worth more than €1.2 billion with TransPennine Express for 29 battery-electric trains plus maintenance, depot provision and charging infrastructure; the trains are to be built at Derby Litchurch Lane Works from 2028, per Alstom's expected start, and delivered from 2032. TransPennine Express and the Department for Transport put it at £1 billion. Alstom will install charging at Hull, Scarborough and Saltburn; Rock Rail funds the trains, replacing part of the Class 185 fleet. None of the four releases gives battery capacity or range.
Siemens Energy's Newcastle works to build turbines for UK's first SMRs
Rolls-Royce SMR announced on September 3, 2026 that key steam turbine components for its first three reactors at the Gwyndod project on Anglesey, North Wales, including high-pressure turbines and valve casings, will be manufactured at Siemens Energy's Newcastle site, the former CA Parsons Works. The company says the work will support more than 550 jobs and is the first time such components will be produced for a small modular reactor anywhere in Europe.
Ballard closes GeoPura acquisition, takes over hydrogen power rentals
Ballard Power Systems closed its acquisition of UK hydrogen power provider GeoPura on August 28, 2026, for £275 million upfront in cash and stock, adding green hydrogen production, a distribution fleet, and rentable Hydrogen Power Units to become what it calls an energy-as-a-service provider.
