The decade-long trend of strong growth in renewable energy capacity continued in 2018 with global additions of 171 gigawatts (GW), according to new data released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) today. The annual increase of 7.9 per cent was bolstered by new additions from solar and wind energy, which accounted for 84 per cent of the growth. A third of global power capacity is now based on renewable energy.

JERA Co, Japan’s biggest power generation company, plans to increase its renewable energy investment to 5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity by 2025, up from 650 megawatts now and an increase over an earlier target of 3 GW, it said on Tuesday

Our unrelenting attention is on minimising costs, enhancing our operational efficiency, and maximising margins to ensure we thrive in the new multi-layered energy landscape.

France's EDF has launched a hydrogen production and distribution subsidiary to support decarbonisation of industry and mobility using low-carbon electricity from its nuclear and renewable energy fleet.

According to the latest figures published by Energy Charts from German solar research institute Fraunhofer ISE, renewable energy accounted for 54.45% of net electricity generation in March.

A research centre to support China's push for nuclear fusion power has been approved. It will be able to test large superconducting magnets and filters under operational conditions. The Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that having an integrated research facility for key systems of fusion reactors is "one of the major scientific engineering projects" in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan.

China has begun construction of the main structure of the 2.24-GW hydropower station on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River. The project is undertaken by China Huadian Corp., with a total investment of about 33.4 billion yuan (about 5 billion US dollars).

WNN - The Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA), bipartisan draft legislation which aims to accelerate the development of advanced nuclear technologies and re-establish US leadership in nuclear energy has been re-introduced to the US Senate.

CT - Provisional figures published by the UK Government on Thursday show that renewable energy sources generated a record amount of electricity in 2018, increasing by 11.8% over 2017 levels, led by a record year for wind energy generation which provided 17.1% of the UK’s electricity.

WNN - The UK and the European Commission signed a contract extension today for the world’s largest fusion research facility, Joint European Torus (JET). The extension secures at least EUR100 million (USD112 million) in additional inward investment from the EU over the next two years and "brings reassurance" for the more than 500 staff at the site in Culham, near Oxford, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said.