TotalEnergies is reportedly seeking to exit 7.5 GW of German North Sea offshore wind concessions, leases for which it paid billions in the 2023 and 2024 auctions, citing grid connection delays by German transmission system operators. The withdrawal, if confirmed, would be the largest single rollback of offshore wind capacity in European history, arriving at the moment Germany needs to add capacity fastest.
The story is not about ambition: TotalEnergies bought the sites. It is about infrastructure: no grid connection date, no project.
Energy Transition
UK offshore wind pipeline firms up: Vestas secures second 1.38 GW contract with RWE.
In March 2026, RWE placed a firm turbine order with Vestas for the 1,380 MW Vanguard East project, 92 V236-15.0 MW turbines installed off the Norfolk coast, following an identical Vanguard West contract in February. Final investment decision is targeted for summer 2026, with commissioning expected in 2029.
Both contracts signal that the UK offshore development machine continues to function: offtake routes, grid connections, and supply chain aligned enough to lock in FIDs, in contrast to the delays stalling German projects. (Vestas)
Spain-Denmark green hydrogen corridor: €2/kg within reach.
A peer-reviewed study published in Applied Energy finds that combining Spanish solar PV with Danish offshore wind could underpin a European hydrogen corridor producing renewable hydrogen at approximately €2.15/kg, using liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) for transport. Spanish PV peaks in summer daytime; Danish offshore wind is strongest in winter.
That complementarity reduces seasonal variability and could supply up to 100 TWh annually. Costs come in near grey hydrogen parity in regions without geological storage options. (PV Magazine)
Offshore wind infrastructure enters security doctrine.
Eight Baltic Sea countries, Lithuania, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Poland, and Sweden, signed the Vilnius Declaration, pledging closer military and intelligence cooperation to protect critical offshore energy infrastructure. Euronews reported this week that attacks on offshore energy are "not only increasing in frequency, but also diversifying," with particular focus on subsea export cables.
The jurisdiction question remains unresolved: when a drone appears over an offshore platform in international waters, it is often neither registered nor reported. The Declaration is a political statement; the enforcement architecture does not yet exist. (Euronews)
Climate Tech
Exergy3: industrial heat from surplus renewables.
The Edinburgh University spinout raised £10 million in seed funding in April to scale its modular thermal energy storage units, which convert surplus renewable electricity into process heat between 50°C and 1,200°C. The round was led by Axeleo Capital, with Bavaria's Bayern Kapital and Singapore's Kibo Invest participating.
The technology addresses one of decarbonisation's harder problems: high-temperature industrial heat for steel, glass, ceramics, and chemicals cannot be served by heat pumps and has limited electrification pathways. Exergy3 plans to open a Munich office this quarter, targeting German industrial markets. (EU-Startups)
EIC commits €146.5 million in equity to eight clean-tech scaleups.
Under the European Innovation Council's STEP Scale Up scheme, eight European startups have been selected to receive equity investments of between €10 and €30 million each, from a 2026 budget of €300 million. The EIC equity tool targets the gap between late-stage venture and large-scale deployment, the stage where European clean tech has historically lost ground to US and Asian competitors.
Company names were not disclosed, but the cohort spans climate and industrial technology sectors. (European Innovation Council)
Policy & Regulation
EU ETS revision: Commission convenes industry, sets July 15 deadline.
On May 12, the European Commission held a high-level stakeholder roundtable on the EU ETS review, gathering nearly 60 representatives from industry, aviation, maritime, and civil society. The Commission's revision proposal is scheduled for July 15.
Carbon Market Watch, in a position paper published May 11, warned against using the revision to integrate biomass credits or slow ETS2, the buildings and transport carbon pricing scheme due from 2027. The EU carbon price stood at €75.51 at week's end, its highest since February 2026.
The ETS has halved emissions from covered sectors over two decades; redesigning it carries significant market-signal risk. (European Commission)
CBAM implementing act opens for consultation.
On May 13, the Commission published the implementing act governing the technical calculation rules for the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, with a 4-week public consultation closing June 10. From 2026, importers of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity, and hydrogen must purchase CBAM certificates priced in line with the EU ETS carbon price.
The consultation is procedural, but it is the last formal input window before the rules are locked for the first full compliance year. (EU Taxation and Customs)
Science
Greenland extreme melt events have expanded sixfold in area since 1990.
A study led by the University of Barcelona, published in Nature Communications in May 2026, found that extreme surface melt events on the Greenland ice sheet now occur more frequently, cover larger areas, and generate significantly more meltwater than three decades ago. The area affected by extreme melt events has expanded by approximately 2.8 million km² per decade since 1990.
The findings raise the lower bound on projected sea-level contribution from Greenland under current emissions trajectories. (ScienceDaily)
One to Watch
ETS revision proposal, July 15: three open questions.
The Commission's upcoming proposal will settle whether carbon removals are integrated into the ETS and on what terms, how ETS2 is protected from political dilution, and whether aviation's international departure emissions are brought into scope. Decisions on all three will move long-term decarbonisation investment cases for renewable energy developers, heavy industry, and airlines.
The political pressure is heaviest on ETS2: watch the July draft to see whether the Commission holds the line on 2027 phasing. (Carbon Market Watch)