[SMM Aluminum Express News] Vietnam and Russia have signed an agreement in Moscow to develop Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant following talks between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The project includes two nuclear plants with a combined capacity of 400MW in former Ninh Thuan province (now Khanh Hoa), marking a major step in Vietnam’s long-term energy diversification strategy. The agreement is expected to strengthen cooperation in high technology, research, and industrial development, while supporting Vietnam’s rapidly rising electricity demand. The Government estimates that power consumption will increase by 12-13percent in 2025 and reach 1,200 billion kWh by 2045

The UK government has supported over 780 solar projects since July 2024, ranging from school rooftops to utility-scale power plants. Recent data reveals 8.1 GW secured backing through the 'contracts-for-difference' ('CfD') scheme across the sixth and seventh allocation rounds. An additional 2.7 GW gained approval via the 'National Significant Infrastructure Project' ('NSIP') stream, including the massive 600 MW Cottam Solar Project. Furthermore, 'Great British Energy' and the Community Energy Fund have backed hundreds of distributed installations, while the state-owned National Wealth Fund is injecting hundreds of millions of pounds into gigawatt-scale 'BESS' deployments to support the growing renewable grid.

Trump demanded that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, or its power plants would be destroyed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran retorted that if Trump carried out his threat to attack Iran's power stations, Iran would immediately take four measures, including the complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

March 22, according to the report of the Iranian media on the 22nd, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard said on the same day that if the threat of US President Trump to attack the Iranian power station is carried out, Iran will immediately take four measures, including completely closing the Strait of Hormuz, attacking all Israeli power plants, energy and information technology facilities, completely destroying all US-held companies in the Middle East, and attacking power plants in Middle Eastern countries with US military bases.

On the evening of March 18, 2026, at Chery Automobile Battery Night 2026 in Wuhu, Anhui, Chery unveiled its Rhino all-solid-state battery technology. It had completed the development and pilot production of a 60Ah, 400Wh/kg all-solid-state battery cell and was advancing toward an ultra-high energy density of 600Wh/kg.

[SMM Aluminum Express News] PLN Indonesia Power (PLN IP) has announced plans to develop 268 power plant projects under the RUPTL 2025–2034, with a total additional capacity of 30,276.2 MW (30.2 GW). The projects will be spread across all regions of Indonesia to support equitable energy infrastructure and strengthen national energy security. PLN IP CEO Bernadus Sudarmanta emphasized that the success of this program depends heavily on collaboration with various strategic partners, both domestic and foreign. “We are open to broad cooperation to accelerate the realization of these projects. Collaboration is the key to delivering a reliable, sustainable electricity system that supports national economic growth,” he said.

Recently, Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan and Kobe Steel jointly announced that the world’s first next-generation hydrogen-fueled power generation system for hydrogen-based power generation had officially commenced operation. The system features a liquid hydrogen energy supply model and is designed to provide stable power for future large gas turbine generators, filling the global technological gap in direct liquid hydrogen supply for power generation. The newly commissioned system was developed under the NEDO-funded project in Japan, “Development of Technologies to Improve Hydrogen-Fueled Power Generation Efficiency and Performance Under the Hydrogen CGS Regional Model,” and was deployed at the Kobe Hydrogen Energy Center on Port Island in Kobe. It is the world’s first hydrogen supply power generation system to adopt an intermediate fluid vaporizer (IFV) for hydrogen together with a liquid hydrogen pump , enabling liquid hydrogen to be pressurized above critical pressure and directly supplying hydrogen fuel to power plants in a stable manner. The project had a clear division of responsibilities: Kawasaki Heavy Industries was responsible for optimizing the liquid hydrogen pressurization fuel supply system for gas turbine generators, while Kobe Steel focused on the R&D of IFV equipment utilizing the cold energy of liquid hydrogen. At present, demonstration tests have successfully delivered hydrogen fuel to a wet gas turbine, and subsequent hydrogen supply tests for a dry gas turbine will be carried out, with a focus on verifying operating performance under high summer temperature conditions as well as the long-term operational reliability of the liquid hydrogen pump.

National Aluminium Company (NALCO) reported that its 130 kWp rooftop solar project in the Damanjodi mining area had officially commenced operations. Meanwhile, the smelter's 960 electrolytic cells continued to operate at full capacity, with an annual operating scale of approximately 460,000 mt. At present, NALCO is expected to add 500,000-600,000 mt of aluminum capacity. The project is currently in the feasibility study and environmental impact assessment (EIA) stage; however, its progress is constrained by the construction schedule of the power plant.

[SMM Aluminum Express News] PT PLN (Persero) plans to develop 1.4 GW of hybrid power plants combining mine-mouth coal-fired steam power plants (PLTU) with solar PV (PLTS) and battery energy storage systems (BESS). One unit will be a 200 MW hybrid PLTU in Kalimantan, with Commercial Operation Date (COD) targeted for 2032. Despite Presidential Regulation No. 112/2022 banning new PLTU development (Perpres 112/2022), PLN asserts compliance via Article 3 Paragraph 4, which provides exemptions for certain cases, including strategic needs like mine-mouth plants for energy security or industrial support (often interpreted for captive or hybrid setups in remote areas).

[SMM Aluminum Express News] Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) organized a cross-ministerial Focus Group Discussion (FGD) titled “Accelerating Human Resource and Institutional Readiness for the Development of the First Nuclear Power Plant” in Jakarta on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. The forum integrates five key dimensions of readiness (technology/standards, institutional/bureaucratic, etc.) and aligns with plans for Indonesia's first PLTN to operate in 2032 (initial capacity ~500 MW, possible sites in Sumatra or Kalimantan). BRIN also projects needing ~200 new nuclear researchers to support the ecosystem, with initiatives like competency standards, training centers (Nuclear Energy Management School), and scholarships.