Storm Outages: Strong thunderstorms and straight-line winds hit the Chicago area, leaving more than 230,000 ComEd customers without power and prompting airport ground stops and tornado warnings. Grid Resilience: In Alaska, a hybrid diesel-electric upgrade on a longliner is cutting fuel use and emissions, with fishermen aiming to standardize the tech. EVs & Grid Flexibility: A California pilot is pushing rules for bidirectional EV charging so vehicles can send power back to homes and the grid. Solar Buildout: New Zealand switched on a 5.3 MW rooftop solar system at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare under a PPA, generating 6,600 MWh annually. Distributed Solar Finance: Nexamp closed a $300M securitization facility with Crédit Agricole CIB to speed distributed solar and storage deployments. Nuclear Safety & Security: The IAEA says a drone strike damaged power supply at UAE’s Barakah plant, underscoring risks to nuclear safety systems. Utility Rates: Tampa Electric will remove its storm surcharge earlier, cutting rates about 12% starting in August. Solar Procurement Watch: North Carolina regulators paused Duke Energy’s solar procurement, raising concerns about future supply and higher bills. Grid Tech Partnerships: Schneider Electric and Kraken plan to use demand flexibility software to help utilities connect new loads faster. Solar Manufacturing: Qcells began producing solar cells at its Cartersville, Georgia factory, scaling U.S. supply.