The US Department of Commerce has opened an investigation into whether solar modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are circumventing duties. California-based panel assembler Auxin Solar filed a petition in February, alleging imports from these countries use components from China, allowing the Chinese components to avoid duties. The four countries account for over half the US' non-Chinese solar cell imports, according to engineering services group Clean Energy Associates. Because it could mean retroactive tariffs, the probe will slow solar growth before the case is even decided, industry groups say.
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E15 'council' convenes without Dem. lawmakers
E15 'council' convenes without Dem. lawmakers
New York, 5 February (Argus) — A council of Republican lawmakers tasked with negotiating major changes to US fuel policy held its first meeting Tuesday evening, leaving out Democrats that had pushed for a seat at the table. The US House of Representatives last month punted on a proposal that would have allowed year-round sales of gasoline with up to 15pc ethanol (E15) and restricted how many refiners can win hardship exemptions from annual biofuel mandates. Instead, lawmakers tasked a new "rural domestic energy council" with developing policy recommendations by 15 February in the hopes that Congress will weigh legislation by 25 February. The full council met for the first time Tuesday evening, four people familiar with the matter said. The task force includes more than 20 House Republicans with a range of views on biofuel policy, but no Democrats, two of the people said. The office of House speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who was in charge of appointing council members, did not respond to Argus' requests for comment. "My Democratic colleagues and I have been clear about the need for Democratic voices on this council — a concern leadership has so far failed to address," representative Nikki Budzinski (D-Illinois) said. "I will continue to press for real, bipartisan action that our growers deserve." Proposals to expand E15 have historically drawn bipartisan support, particularly from Midwestern lawmakers keen to help the region's farmers. Democrats could still support legislation that includes an E15 deal even if left out of negotiations this month. But some lobbyists close to the debate privately doubt that the council will reach any substantial compromise, especially after the earlier E15 proposal drew strong opposition from mid-sized oil refiners that want to maintain their ability to avoid the costly biofuel quotas. The council includes members from states with those refineries, including Gabe Evans' district (R-Colorado), where a Suncor refining complex is located, while CVR Energy and HF Sinclair have units in council co-chair Stephanie Bice's state (R-Oklahoma). Some Republican US senators that have long wanted deeper reforms to the biofuel mandate program are also skeptical of the earlier proposal, complicating any deal's chance of passage. "The federal government should not force Americans to put ethanol in their gas tanks," senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) said. "It is not good for the economy, the environment or car engines. We should not subsidize the corn industry at the expense of hardworking American families." The latest E15 proposal was developed partly by the American Petroleum Institute — an influential lobby within the Republican Party — and has won the support of larger oil refiners like Valero. Farmers' and fuel groups that support the earlier bill have urged the council to focus narrowly on improving it, rather than considering more divisive fuel market issues too. President Donald Trump, who has backed the biofuel industry with a proposal last year for record-high blend mandates, has made clear that he would sign legislation expanding E15 access. He said in an Iowa speech last month that he was optimistic Congress could strike a deal. It is unclear when the council, which includes a number of farm-state biofuel supporters too, plans to meet again. The large majority of gasoline in the US is sold as a 10pc ethanol blend. Farm advocates have pushed for over a decade to loosen summertime smog rules that forbid sales of higher blends in much of the country without emergency waivers . By Cole Martin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Romania withdraws power traders' profit margin cap bill
Romania withdraws power traders' profit margin cap bill
Bucharest, 5 February (Argus) — The Romanian energy ministry issued an emergency ordinance on Wednesday that would limit the level of profit that could be made from electricity and gas trading, but withdrew the document from its website later that day. The ordinance envisaged the introduction from 1 April of a temporary mechanism that would limit the profit margin for electricity and gas trading activities to a maximum of 3pc, and for electricity and gas supply transactions to 5pc. Power and gas producers as well as transmission and distribution system operators would be exempt from this mechanism. The ministry defined the commercial mark-up as the difference between the selling price and the sum of the purchasing price along with the operational costs associated with the trading activity. The scheme would be in place until 31 March 2027, aiming to address recent increases in electricity and gas prices for consumers. The bill indicates that the ministry is considering whether market participants have raised final prices to levels that do not reflect the real cost of production, making it increasingly challenging for consumers to be able to pay their bills, generating market distortions, reducing the competitiveness of the country's economy, and exacerbating the risk of energy poverty. The bill has sparked uncertainty, despite its immediate withdrawal, because it shows the ministry's intentions, market participants told Argus on the sidelines of the Energy Week Black Sea conference in Bucharest. The introduction of such a scheme would reduce market liquidity and make the signing of power purchase agreements (PPAs) almost impossible by increasing exposure, market participants told Argus . Romanian energy regulator Anre last year introduced a mechanism requiring market participants to provide a financial guarantee for each electricity purchase made on the country's forward trading platforms, in an attempt to discourage players from purchasing large volumes of electricity only to resell them before delivery to take advantage of price differentials. By Apostolos Tsarikas Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Octopus acquires Australia battery storage projects
Octopus acquires Australia battery storage projects
Singapore, 5 February (Argus) — Octopus Australia, a subsidiary of UK firm Octopus Investments, has acquired the Hanworth and Dunmore battery storage projects, as part of its plan to accelerate the direct replacement of retiring coal-fired plants with stable renewable energy sources. The 1.2GW/4.8GWh Hanworth battery energy storage system sits in New South Wales (NSW), while the 150MW/300MWh Dunmore battery project in Queensland comes with a 300MW solar farm. The acquisitions mark the newest additions to the company's A$16bn ($11.2bn) renewable project pipeline Octopus took over the Hanworth project from Australian energy developer Enervest, Octopus said on 4 February. The project connects to Transgrid's Bannaby Terminal Station and will help facilitate low-emission power supply at stable prices, it said. The company has also taken over the Dunmore project from Samsung C&T Renewable Energy Australia. Australia is turning to renewables to transition its electricity markets, and it has set a target to achieve an 82pc share of renewables in the grid by 2030. But slow transmission build-out to integrate wind and solar into its electricity grid is hampering progress. "While some investors are stepping back, we're stepping forward," said Octopus Australia's chief executive officer Sam Reynolds. "Australia still needs new power stations to replace ageing coal plants." The latest acquisition follows Octopus' purchase of the 100MW Coleambally battery storage project located at NSW's Murrumbidgee late last year from Australian renewable firm Risen Energy. The company also started the construction of two other projects — the Blind Creek project and the Fulham solar farm and battery storage project last year. The Blind Creek project has a 300MW solar farm with 243MW/486MWh battery storage, valued at around A$900mn. The Fulham project includes 80MW of solar capacity paired with 128MWh of battery storage, and is valued at over A$300mn. By Joseph Ho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Italian net imports from Switzerland at lowest in Jan
Italian net imports from Switzerland at lowest in Jan
London, 4 February (Argus) — Italian net imports from Switzerland fell to a record low in January as Switzerland faced tight supply and higher generating margins for Italian gas-fired units incentivised more domestic gas burn. Italy net imported about 860MW from Switzerland last month, falling nearly threefold from the 2.4GW net imported in January 2025. The Italian January forward contract expired at a €2.60/MWh discount to Switzerland, compared with a €8.50/MWh premium for January last year. And the Italian single national price (Pun) index delivered nearly €0.50/MWh below the Swiss spot over 1-31 January 2026. The north zone delivered less than €0.10/MWh below Switzerland. Overall Italian net imports fell significantly on the year — down to 4.4GW from 6.6GW in January 2025 — as exports hit their highest since 2020 at 1.1GW and imports were the lowest since 2022 at 5.6GW. Exports to Switzerland were the highest in three years for any given month in January at 424MW. Exports peaked on average over 11:00-12:00 local time, coinciding with peak Italian wind generation, which averaged 4GW across all hours, nearly doubling on the year. Milan was hit by a cold spell at the beginning of the month, with overnight lows 4.3°C below seasonal norms on 1-12 January, bottoming out at minus 8.7°C on 8 January. Overall, demand in January averaged 34.1GW, around 1GW above the five-year average. While demand was up on the year, so was domestic generation, which increased by about 10GW to 30GW — the highest for January since 2022 — as gas burn was around 5GW above the five-year January average at 18GW. Each hour recorded higher gas-fired generation on the year on average in January, with output peaking over 16:00-19:00 local time. Working day-ahead clean spark spreads for 55pc-efficient units in January averaged €36.74/MWh, compared with €25.41/MWh over the same month last year, as working day-ahead PSV gas averaged over €10/MWh lower on the year — cushioned by expectations of looser global LNG supply — despite increased EU emissions trading system (ETS) allowances. Meanwhile, Swiss nuclear generation was around 1GW lower on the year last month, according to Fraunhofer ISE data, as the 1.02GW Gosgen nuclear plant remained off line in an outage. And hydro run-of-river and reservoir output were down by 540MW and 140MW, respectively, as rainfall in Sion averaged 1.6 mm/d lower than in January 2025. Although pumped storage output recorded a small 20MW increase — likely on higher demand and to make up for the drop in baseload capacity — hydropower stocks continued to widen their deficit to the long-term average over last month. Swiss load was up by around 330MW, supported by minimum temperatures around 1.6°C lower on the year on average in Zurich. And Switzerland flipped on the year to net exporting 117MW to Austria last month — after net importing 351MW in January 2025 — due in part to tightness in eastern and central-eastern Europe, with Ukrainian net imports reaching a record January high , as well as a 243MW curtailment at Hungary's 2GW Paks nuclear plant over last month. But net imports from Germany and France rose by around 225MW and 614MW, respectively, from January 2025. Gosgen's scheduled return to the grid at the end of February will likely ease tightness in Switzerland, potentially allowing for a better accumulation of hydropower reserves owing to the additional baseload capacity buffer. And minimum temperatures and rainfall in Sion are forecast at a respective 1.6°C and 3.6 mm/d above the norm over 1-20 March, which could provide additional price pressure. Similarly, minimum temperatures in Milan are forecast to be 1.6°C above seasonal norms for the first three weeks of March, possibly limiting some heating demand. And rainfall in Malpensa is expected to be 1.3 mm/d above averages over the same period, likely contributing to national reserves, which are currently at a large deficit to the norm. Clean spark spreads for 55pc-efficient units for March were last assessed by Argus at €21.65/MWh, slightly up on the year. But Switzerland's front-quarter discount to Italy has widened by €3.10/MWh over the past month as the latter has made faster gains. While low snowpack at the Donin du Jour and L'Ecreuleuse stations — both below the historical average as of 4 February — currently points to below-average second and third-quarter snowmelt in Switzerland, further decreasing the chance of the country replenishing its hydropower reserves over summer, even weaker hydro conditions later in the year could be expected in Italy. Italian snow water equivalent has remained consistently below seasonal norms since November, according to meteorological association Cima. Widespread snowfall in late December helped tighten the national deficit to the 2011-24 average to approximately 33pc as of 10 January, from 52pc on 13 December, the latest data show. And snow accumulation at higher elevations, which contributes more to the spring and summer water reserves, has remained well below expectations. By Bea Leverett and Ilenia Reale Swiss January net exports GW Italian wda clean sparks for 55pc-efficient units €/MWh Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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