News
Therecord.
Announcements from the network era, and the restored archive of the festival years, recovered post by post.
From the network era
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Energy & storage
Bulgaria adds 1 GW of batteries in five weeks as recovery-plan projects hit their deadline
Bulgaria's grid-scale battery capacity rose from 4.4 GW to 5.4 GW between 10 July and 17 August, more than five times Romania's fleet. This summer, as drought cut hydro and nuclear output, the batteries helped double the country's power exports.
Innovations
Brookfield commits up to US$600m to ACME's green ammonia platform in India and Oman
The investment, Brookfield's first in green molecules in the region, backs ACME's green ammonia and methanol projects, including a phased build-out at Duqm. The first phase there already has Yara signed as buyer.
Mobility
Punjab plans 1,500 more electric buses for 91 tehsils from January 2027
Pakistan's most populous province is taking its electric bus programme beyond the big cities, with a target of 3,000 e-buses by June 2027 and 5,000 within five years. A further 488 buses are due from China this month.
Mobility
Thailand ties car excise tax to local manufacturing as electrified models take 55% of sales
Thailand's EV policy committee has agreed in principle to a four-tier excise structure that rewards local assembly and local content and charges importers without Thai plants more. BOI-approved EV investment now stands at 151.4bn baht.
Data-centre & digital infrastructure
Philippines sets out US$34.4bn plan for 1.5 GW of AI data centres by 2033
The Department of Information and Communications Technology's AI+ Infrastructure Masterplan aims to take AI-oriented data-centre capacity from 50 MW to 1.5 GW. By 2033, 40% of the power is meant to come from solar and geothermal, with Clark–Bataan as the main hub.
Energy & storage
MTerra Solar's first 600 MWac enters commercial operation, selling power to Meralco
MGEN and Actis have started commercial deliveries from the first phase of their solar-and-battery project in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan. The grid operator has approved 950 MWac of solar and 825 MW of batteries for connection.
Greenhouse
NADEC agrees SAR 85m purchase of Pure Harvest's six-hectare Haradh greenhouse
Saudi Arabia's National Agricultural Development Company is buying the solar-powered hydroponic tomato greenhouse that sits inside its own Haradh complex. Handover is targeted for 1 November.
Data-centre & digital infrastructure
Thailand gives data centres their own power tariff and opens direct clean-power deals to all industries
Thailand's energy policy council has created a separate electricity rate for data centres, expected at 5–6 baht per kWh. It has also removed the 2,000 MW cap on direct renewable power purchase agreements, and a screening framework for new data-centre grid connections is due in the fourth quarter.
Water
Karachi's K-IV bulk water scheme cleared at Rs172bn, with first-phase capacity cut to 260 MGD
Pakistan's planning body has approved the revised Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme and sent it to ECNEC for final approval. Its cost has risen almost elevenfold since 2007, and completion is now targeted for June 2027.
Greenhouse
80 Acres Farms winds down after a sale collapses, a fresh test for vertical-farm finance
The Ohio-based vertical-farming company has closed after an acquisition fell through and no other capital could be found. It had raised about US$390m and supplied more than 18,000 shops.
Innovations
CATL and Bulgaria's Solarpro agree 2 GWh of sodium-ion storage for Central and Eastern Europe
The Chinese battery maker will supply its TENER Sodium systems for what the partners call the region's first large-scale sodium-ion storage project. It is CATL's second sodium-ion storage deal in Europe in a month.
Recycling
Construction starts on a US$50m zinc recycling park at Oman's SOHAR Freezone
Oman Zinc Group has broken ground on a plant that will recover zinc from industrial residues. At full output it will make 100,000 tonnes of refined zinc ingots and 50,000 tonnes of zinc oxide a year for export.
Recycling
Danantara breaks ground on Bali's first waste-to-energy plant, a Rp3 trillion, 1,500-tonne-a-day project
Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund has started building the first plant in its national waste-to-energy programme, in Denpasar. China's Weiming will be the technology partner, and the plant will handle more than 40% of Bali's waste.
Water
Oman awards SUEZ-led consortium a 15-year, OMR 900m water and wastewater contract
Nama Water Services has handed a consortium led by SUEZ a performance-based contract to run water and wastewater services for 2.3 million people in Muscat and Al Sharqiyah. Water losses must fall from 34% to 11% by 2040.
