Bulker Demonstrates Wind Propulsion Integrated with Solar Power

Ultramax bulker Maria Topic was the first bulker retrofit with OceanWing's rigid sail and solar panels (WHISPER)

Published Aug 27, 2026 8:05 PM by The Maritime Executive

Demonstrations are underway on an innovative power solution retrofitted to an ultramax bulker as part of a four-year research project to advance modular retrofit solutions to reduce GHG emissions from the long-distance maritime industry. The project, named WHISPER, recently completed the installation of a rigid wingsail and solar panels on the dry bulk carrier Maria Tipoc as the first of two demonstrations, which will also involve a containership.

The 60,155-dwt bulker was recently retrofitted by Tsuneiship Shipbuilding and is currently sailing trans-Pacific to Vancouver, testing the systems. It included the first installation of the French company OceanWings’ tiltable rigid wingsail on a bulker. It is also the final installation of Solibian’s solar panels, after a previous prototype test aboard the sistership Paolo Topic in March 2024. Building on that experience, it later installed additional panels as part of the WHISPER project in 2025.

The rigid, tiltable OceanWings system is intended to reduce the power required from the vessel's main engine and, consequently, fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions. Solbian's solar panels supply renewable electricity for onboard use and contribute to WHISPER's wider objective of reducing demand on auxiliary generation.

With ongoing sea trials, the project now moves from installation to evidence gathering. The trials will examine system performance in real operating conditions, including energy production, fuel-saving potential, reliability, vessel integration, and the implications for routine ship and port operations. It is part of the work plan that called for generating operational evidence on how modular technologies can be retrofitted to existing vessels while preserving the safety, reliability, and operational flexibility
required in commercial shipping.

The sea trials on board the Maria Topic, the project leaders report, will help the consortium confirm the expected performance of both technologies in day-to-day operations and validate the potential for wider replication across the existing merchant fleet. The resulting evidence will inform technical development, future vessel integration, lifecycle assessment, and the project's work on pathways to commercial uptake.

The WHISPER (Wind Energy Harvesting for Ship Propulsion Assistance and Power) project began in January 2023 and runs until December 31, 2026. It brings together 13 partners from six European countries, and it received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe program. It focuses on the retrofitting of existing vessels and concept designs. WHISPER aims to demonstrate around 30 percent fuel savings on a retrofit bulk carrier and up to 15 percent on a retrofit containership.

The test on a containership will take place aboard a Samskip vessel. Preparations are reported to be underway, where SideWind’s horizontal wind turbines and Solbian’s solar panels will be installed on board a Samskip container ship. One innovation within WHISPER is the installation of Solbian’s solar panels directly onto SideWind’s horizontal wind turbines. As the wind turbines are located in repurposed containers with two sides removed, the container roof provides an ideal surface for installing solar panels.

 

California Sues DOI Calling Offshore Wind Cancellation “Blatantly Unlawful"

Among the areas California was developing was Humboldt Bay to support the offshore wind energy industry (USACE)

Published Aug 28, 2026 4:37 PM by The Maritime Executive

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission moved forward with their earlier challenges and filed a lawsuit on August 28 against the Trump administration and Golden State Wind over what it is calling “the unlawful buyout” of the offshore wind energy lease. The state is contending the deal to buy back the offshore wind lease is illegal and would jeopardize its investments to support the project, the state’s energy policy, and the commitments from the developer for workforce training, the supply chain, and investments in the local communities.

The California Energy Commission in May served an administrative investigative subpoena to Golden State Wind seeking documents and information related to the buyout. The California Department of Justice and CEC followed up in June by sending a Notice of Intent to Sue targeting what it terms an “unlawful agreement between the Department of the Interior and Golden State Wind.” It is asserting that the deal is “blatantly unlawful” and is asking the courts to strike it down.

“The Trump administration’s backroom buyout with Golden State Wind to stop offshore wind development in favor of gas and oil drilling is, unfortunately, a classic playbook for them to line the pockets of their Big Oil donors,” said Attorney General Bonta, announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Golden State Wind, which is a joint venture of Ocean Winds (a 50/50 joint venture of EDP Renewables and ENGIE) and Reventus Power, paid $120 million in a 2022 lease auction for the Morro Bay Energy Area off the Central California coast. The plan called for a floating offshore wind project that, when fully developed, was expected to generate up to 2 gigawatts (GW). The company also provided commitments of more than $30 million for workforce training, supply chain development, and benefits to local communities like fishermen’s associations.

California contends that since the federal offshore wind planning began off California’s coast, the state has invested more than $100 million to ready California’s ports, transmission systems, and industries to support offshore wind generation. It points out that the state issued voter-approved climate bonds as part of its investment. Further, it says the project is part of the state’s offshore wind strategic plan that calls for the development of 25 GW of offshore power generation by 2045.

The Department of the Interior announced in April that it had struck a deal to terminate the lease as part of a move it said to settle litigation by Golden State Wind. It said that Golden State had agreed to voluntarily end its offshore wind lease located in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area, and would be eligible to recover approximately $120 million in lease fees after an investment of an equal amount had been made in the development of U.S. oil and gas assets, energy infrastructure, and/or LNG projects along the Gulf Coast. 

In the lawsuit, California argues that the Trump administration’s deal violated numerous federal laws, including the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which limits DOI’s ability to cancel offshore wind leases. California also argues that the deal violates the Judgment Fund Act because the $120 million payment was not a settlement to resolve an existing lawsuit. Instead, it contends it was a fabricated arrangement designed to justify the unlawful cancellation of the Golden State Wind lease. It also points out that the investments are redirected away from California to other areas of the country.

California asserts that Golden State Wind never brought litigation against DOI challenging an action that it says DOI never took. Further, it highlights the Trump administration’s reference to unspecified national security concerns and responds by highlighting years of analysis and consultation that led to the approval of the lease area by the federal government and the Department of Defense.

The agreement with Golden State Wind was one of several the Department of the Interior has announced in the past few months. That same day, it also announced an agreement with a BlackRock-led project, Bluepoint Wind, for an offshore wind farm in the New York Bight. It also struck a deal with TotalEnergies and, more recently, a deal with Invenergy to terminate its four offshore wind leases located in the New York Bight, Central Coast of California, and the Gulf of Maine.

A coalition of states led by New York and Massachusetts filed suit challenging the deal with TotalEnergies, highlighting many of the same issues as California. In addition, the authorities in California are also investigating the agreement that canceled a second offshore wind lease in the state. The administration started the buyback strategy after it lost other challenges in the courts, including an attempt to stop work on five offshore wind projects that were under construction along the U.S. East Coast.

Australia’s First Offshore Wind Energy Auction is Now Live

The Bass Strait along the Victoria coast east of Melbourne is among the early targets for offshore wind farms (Star of the South file photo)

Published Aug 26, 2026 4:07 PM by The Maritime Executive

After delays and uncertainty among the developers, Australia has finally opened its first offshore wind energy auction. It has been a slow process for the country to move its offshore energy aspirations forward to catch up with its overall leadership in renewable energy.

The first auction is coming from Australia’s Victoria state in the southeast of the country and home to the city of Melbourne. Officials point out that renewables account for 45 percent of the state's total electricity generation currently. 

Plans call for retiring Australia’s aging coal-fired generation capacity. However, demand is also growing, meaning the state must develop new sources.  

In late 2021, Australia set forth the framework for its offshore wind energy industry, and a year later, the first wind zones were declared for the Gippsland area in Victoria. Reports said it could support as much as 10 GW of generation capacity, and Australia followed with the awarding of feasibility licenses. By 2024, it had awarded a dozen feasibility licenses, with several of the major developers actively exploring projects. Three companies, including RWE and Equinor, later relinquished their licenses. Plans for the Victoria auction were further delayed from last year as the industry continued to address the issues and sought more assurances from the Australian government.

“This auction is a giant leap towards getting Australia’s first offshore wind projects built,” said Minister for Energy and Resources Jaclyn Symes. “Victoria has some of the best offshore wind resources in the world. This auction is about harnessing that advantage and building the next generation of energy right here in Victoria.”

The auction officially opened on August 26, but the window runs for a year to August 2027. Victoria reports that the contracts will be awarded in 2028. It expects the projects to be integrated into the National Electricity Services Entry Mechanism.

According to the minister, bids will be assessed based on value for money, deliverability, and benefits for local workers, businesses, and communities.

The first tender calls for 2 GW of offshore wind capacity, which would power up to 1.5 million homes. They said the goal is to integrate offshore wind to complement Victoria’s growing solar, onshore wind, and storage capabilities. 

Victoria was the first state in Australia to legislate targets for offshore wind energy capacity. Its goal is to have the first 2 GW by 2032, grow to 4 GW by 2035, and reach 9 GW by 2040.

Carmakers enter energy storage business amid data centre backlash

28.08.2026, dpa

Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa

US consumers are increasingly against data center developments nationwide. Could that pushback could extend to automakers in the stationary battery energy storage business that supplies data centers?

By Breana Noble, The Detroit News

US consumers are increasingly expressing opposition to data center developments across the country, raising questions about whether that pushback could extend to automakers in the stationary battery energy storage business that supplies data centers.

From Saline Township to Washington Township in Michigan and across the country, some residents are protesting massive data center projects popping up in their communities as demand for artificial intelligence tools grows. Concerns related to the environment, energy costs and the impact of AI's expansion fuel the pushback and have become hot topics in this year's elections.

Meanwhile, data centers also have made stationary energy storage an attractive, high-margin business for automakers, especially as lower-than-expected electric vehicle demand creates overcapacity in EV battery plants.

"I think that’s cordoned off for now," Daniel Ives, analyst at investment firm Wedbush Securities Inc., said in response to a question on the impact of data center controversy on automakers' stationary energy storage businesses. "If that becomes a bigger piece, it throws them into the political argument. It’s a tightrope they need to navigate."

Although data centers have existed for decades, a building boom has come about from a heightened demand for data processing and power for generative AI. The sites often require massive plots of land, energy to power the servers and water to keep equipment cool. Once up and running, they often don't need many people to operate, limiting job creation.

Automakers' turn to stationary energy storage is an agile way to respond to the changing dynamics of EV demand following the elimination of a federal tax credit for plug-in vehicles and deregulation of greenhouse gas and fuel economy regulations. But it also affords them capacity should they need to reverse course again and use these plants for EV battery supply.

"If they needed to change over to the automotive capacity, they could," said Stephanie Brinley, S&P Global Mobility associate director of AutoIntelligence. "It would be expensive, but they still have battery supply."

EV maker Tesla Inc.'s utility-scale Megapacks, long used in the battery storage business, now are driving the division with supply going to centers supporting the likes of SpaceX, Facebook's Meta and others. By itself, Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., an aerospace and defense technology conglomerate, purchased $295 million worth of Megapacks in the second quarter.

Musk recognized the controversy around data centers in a conversation with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon during a road show presentation ahead of SpaceX’s record initial public offering in June: “There are very few people who want a power plant in their backyard. If we wanted to, say, double the electricity usage of the United States, we would have to build twice as many power plants. Most communities are not super excited about that.”

Ford Motor Co.'s new subsidiary, Ford Energy, is retooling one of its battery plants in Glendale, Kentucky, to produce stationary battery storage systems starting next year. Executives are betting on the business to help turn the automaker's money-losing Model e EV division around by 2029 and have said utility companies, industrial manufacturers and data centers are potential customers.

"It's early days, but at the strategy level, there is no doubt that the growth for battery storage, for both data center build-out and grid stability, (in) places like California, and Texas, and Florida is exploding, both for consumers and business users like data centers," Ford CEO Jim Farley said earlier this month on an investor call. "We have been deeply engaged with customers as we develop this business plan, and we continue to engage them in specific contracts for our 20-gigawatt-hour capacity in '27 and beyond."

General Motors Co.'s battery joint venture with LG Energy Solution, Ultium Cells LLC, has launched production for stationary battery storage. GM also plans to enter the stationary battery storage industry itself, though its focus is on residential applications initially.

The first three months of 2026 produced the largest single-quarter concentration of blocked or delayed data center projects on record, according to the most recent report from Data Center Watch, a research project backed by AI security company 10a Labs. At least 75 projects worth about $130 billion faced disruption from local opposition.

"Some of the opposition is grounded in concerns of increased electricity bills, water shortages, noise, and land use changes affecting local character," Emily Hoch, a senior fellow at Data Center Watch, said in an email. "However, we are also hearing about the role of technology, job displacement, and other parallel concerns relating to the technology supported by this construction."

In Michigan, local petitioners in Augusta Township forced a public rezoning vote in which the electorate rejected a data center proposal. Developers withdrew projects in Lansing and Washington Township. The University of Michigan's leadership paused a supercomputer data center in Ypsilanti Township in response to community concerns. Several municipalities have passed moratoriums on data center developments.

Many voters also cited opposition to data centers in the midterm primary elections. In the Democratic contest for U.S. Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, whose plan calls for increasing regulations on data centers, beat out Haley Stevens, who took an AI optimist approach.

"I don't like data centers," Dom Binguit, 25, of Canton Township said earlier this month about casting her vote for El-Sayed. "They're not good for the environment."

Meanwhile, Ultium Cells began producing lithium iron phosphate battery cells for energy storage systems last month at its plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, following a $70 million investment. The plant's cells supply LG Energy Solution Vertech, the U.S. energy storage division of LG Energy Solution. LGES spokesperson Phil Lienert said in a statement that these energy storage systems are used in a variety of applications, but he deferred to end-user consumers to comment on the specifics of the deployment of the products.

The launch in Tennessee came a month after the Detroit automaker said it would build sodium ion battery cells for energy storage systems starting in 2028 in partnership with startup Peak Energy. In a news release, Peak Energy emphasized how its system's passive cooling reduces energy waste.

"GM is focused on residential energy solutions today and is gearing up to support the reliability needs of the electricity grid tomorrow through vehicle-to-grid technology and battery chemistries suited for energy storage," GM spokesperson Stuart Fowle said in a statement. "We play no role in the planning and placement of data centers.”

GM also has a partnership with Redwood Materials that seeks to repurpose EV batteries for second-life applications like energy storage and to recycle the batteries' materials.

Ford plans to start producing stationary battery storage products next year. It's fully taken over the Kentucky site from the joint venture it dissolved with SK On Ltd. after nixing plans last year for future EVs that it didn't see becoming profitable. Ford Energy hasn't announced a deal with data centers at the moment. It does have a five-year framework agreement with EDF power solutions North America, a subsidiary of France's EDF Group and a developer of energy facilities. EDF is deploying grid-scale energy storage projects across the United States.

Ford declined to comment on general data center backlash and its potential impact given its energy storage system business.

Dealers like Jim Seavitt, president of Village Ford in Dearborn, however, aren't worried: "I don’t think that will influence people in buying Fords. I don’t think they will tie them together. They want to know, 'what is the new product and what it's going to cost me.' "

It's too early to determine whether consumers will make that leap, S&P Global's Brinley said. She added: "Consumers are notorious for being upset about something and proceeding to make a buying decision that doesn’t align with what they are angry about."

Some issues, however, do sway buyers. Tesla's global sales declined 13% in early 2025 as Musk aligned himself with President Donald Trump. But that plus Musk's position at the center of the AI revolution with his other businesses may make him less vulnerable to fallout, Ives said.

"GM and Ford and Stellantis, if they head down the path, are just dipping their toe in the water," Ives said. "They could get thrust into the political spotlight. Musk is already in that."

Still, automakers supplying energy storage systems helps address some of the points of opposition to data centers, said Glenn Stevens, executive director of MICHauto, the automotive arm of the Detroit Regional Chamber that's a member of the Michigan for Responsible Data Centers coalition. If these centers will be built regardless, energy storage can help alleviate strain on the electrical grid at times of peak demand and encourage more renewable energy supplies that can be stored and deployed at times when the wind doesn't blow, or the sun doesn't shine.

"As we proceed, the demand for them is not going to go away," Stevens said of data centers. "For Michigan, we are citizen- and community-first, but we also have to understand we have to move the way the world is going, the way technology is going and prepare people for the jobs of that future. Otherwise, we could get left behind, and that’s not an option."

(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH

 

Vehicle-mounted spectroscopy system detects methane in real time

New system could help locate hidden methane emissions that contribute to climate change and pose safety risks

Optica

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Researchers developed a vehicle-mounted spectroscopy system that detects methane in real time while driving. This conceptual illustration shows how the vehicle-mounted platform might be used to detect methane emissions from sources such as livestock farms, landfills, gas stations and oil and gas facilities.

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Credit: Daping Luo, Chenglin Gu, and Wenxue Li, East China Normal University

WASHINGTON — Researchers have developed a vehicle-mounted spectroscopy system that can reliably detect methane in real time while driving. Using a moving vehicle to detect methane could make it easier to locate hidden methane emissions across large areas.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas released from sources such as natural gas infrastructure, livestock farms, landfills and coal mines. Leaks from natural gas infrastructure, which are typically invisible to the naked eye, can also create fire and explosion hazards.

“Dual-comb spectroscopy uniquely enables simultaneous, high-precision measurement of multiple gases, but is sensitive to environmental noise, which can degrade its performance. Our work addresses and overcomes this key challenge,” said research team leader Wenxue Li from East China Normal University. “SUVs equipped with our spectroscopy system could cruise residential streets day and night. If an underground gas pipeline has a methane leak, the system could capture the concentration of the gas, record the GPS coordinates and notify maintenance crews.”

In the Optica Publishing Group journal Optics Express, the researchers describe their new vehicle-mounted system, which is based on mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy. They show that it can identify simulated natural gas leaks and map the 2D gas diffusion distribution around emission sources across multiple outdoor sites and road environments.

“With further development, this technology could help cities and industries quantify hard-to-detect greenhouse gas emissions, providing data to support emissions-reduction policies,” said Li. “More accurate methane leak localization could enable targeted repairs, reduce resource waste and improve air quality for nearby residents. The technology could also be integrated into unmanned aerial vehicles, allowing methane detection in off-road areas and further expanding potential applications.”

From the lab to the road

Mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy detects gases using two precisely matched frequency combs — light sources that produce many evenly spaced wavelengths. The mid-infrared region is especially useful because many molecules have strong, distinctive absorption signatures there, making it well suited for sensitive gas detection.

While dual-comb systems are commonly used in laboratories, taking the technology into the field is challenging. The systems typically rely on precisely aligned optics, including fixed telescopes and mirrors, which limit their ability to move freely and search for unknown leak sources. In real-world settings, emission sources can be scattered across an area and shift with changing wind direction.

To address this challenge, the team combined several advances to create a compact system that can perform high-precision gas detection reliably on a moving vehicle. The frequency combs are generated by specially designed, vibration-resistant fiber lasers. The researchers also developed a method that allows the two frequency comb light sources to stay naturally synchronized, eliminating the need for complex hardware to actively keep them in phase.

The mid-infrared light enters a compact, open-path gas cell that provides an effective 25-meter path through air drawn from the surroundings, increasing the system’s sensitivity without requiring a large instrument.

“Our system requires no pre-deployed hardware at the field site, maintains near-laboratory-grade detection accuracy while in motion, supports vehicle speeds up to 100 km/h and can geolocate gas plume hotspots,” said Luo. “In addition, the overall hardware is compact, relatively low in power consumption and has a modular plug-and-play design.”

Road-testing the system

To test the new system, short drives were carried out on a university campus at approximately 20 km/h while collecting data at multiple locations. This was followed by a one-hour, 47-km road test conducted on urban roads and expressways at speeds up to 100 km/h, with readings taken every second.

The system achieved a figure of merit of 3.4 × 10⁶ Hz, which is comparable to typical laboratory‑based mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy systems. It also measured methane with a precision of 66 ppb and water vapor with a precision of 114 ppm. During the long-distance urban measurements, background methane averaged 1.815 parts per million (ppm), while water vapor averaged 1.072%. The measurements remained consistent, providing a stable baseline for identifying localized increases in gas concentrations.

The researchers also conducted controlled methane-release tests, driving past two simulated leaks to detect and locate the plumes. They drove in circles around one of the leaks to create a 2D concentration map, which closely matched local wind patterns.

The testing confirmed that the hardware withstands the vibration and outdoor weather conditions of real roads and can accurately detect both atmospheric background concentrations and high-concentration gas plume signals from controlled leak sources.

To advance the research prototype, the researchers plan to improve performance by expanding spectral coverage to enable simultaneous detection of multiple trace gas species and further suppressing baseline drift during long integration times. They also plan to develop automated analysis software optimized for massive volumes of mobile data and continue miniaturizing the system to reduce its size, weight and cost. Ultimately, they hope to integrate the system onto drone platforms for monitoring off-road areas.

Paper: X. Jing, K. Wei, C. Gu, X. Qin, J. Li, X. Yang, Z. Huang, J. Zhang, C. Sun, C. Liu, Z. Zhu, D. Luo, W. Li, H. Zeng, “Vehicle-mounted mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy for on-road trace gas detection,” Opt. Express, 34

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DOI

10.1364/OE.601094 

Method of Research

Experimental study

 

The researchers conducted vehicle-mounted field-deployment experiments around East China Normal University (ECNU) and the surrounding urban area of Shanghai. The red trace in (a) indicates the 47 km driving route from ECNU to Laogang Town (LT). (b) shows the route of the on-campus field tests, with A-G showing various buildings on campus. A controlled natural-gas leakage patrol measurement was conducted near point D (green segment). (c) is a photograph of the vehicle-based system during outdoor measurements. (d) shows the dual-comb spectroscopy system and open gas cell installed on the vehicle roof, fully exposed to ambient air. (e) shows the beam spots observed on one side of the Herriott gas cell.

 

The image shows a close up of the dual-comb spectroscopy system and open gas cell installed on the vehicle roof, fully exposed to ambient air.

Credit

Daping Luo, Chenglin Gu, and Wenxue Li, East China Normal University

 

Skyrocketing windmills: The world’s tallest wind power plant is going to dwarf the Eiffel tower

By Hans von der Brelie

Published on 28/08/2026 - EURONEWS

The world’s tallest wind turbine is currently under construction in eastern Germany; it will rise 365 metres above ground level. This makes it taller than the Eiffel Tower. The technical masterpiece is due to be operational this autumn. Hans von der Brelie was granted access to visit the site.

Smalltown Klettwitz lies at the very heart of Germany’s Lusatia region. Lignite used to be mined here for decades. The bucket-wheel excavators have left gaping scars across the landscape.

But the country is reaching a turning point: Germany is now getting serious about ending coal burning. And Klettwitz is transforming into a frontrunner in the countrys race to handle the climate crisis in a more sustainable way.

Solar and wind farms now stand on the spoil heaps of the former opencast mine, as far as the eye can see. Among these, one steel structure in particular catches the eye - the GICON high-altitude wind power plant. It is still under construction but already outgrowing the neighbouring giant windmills.

It is a big day for the GICON team: Europe’s biggest and most powerful crane, a yellow monster machine, is lifting a tower segment weighing many tonnes into place. Up there, some 160 metres above ground level, climbers are putting the pieces together.

High above ground level, climbers are putting the pieces together spiderman-style... Hans von der Brelie

GICON employs some of Germany’s finest engineers. The company was founded by Jochen Großmann. Why is the GICON team building such a massive structure in the first place? Euronews wants to know.

Related

• World's tallest wind turbine being built in Germany's former coal mining region

Why so high, Professor Großmann?

“Because the wind blows stronger and more steadily the further I get from the Earth’s surface,” Großmann explains on site, while a team of high-altitude climbers is moving up and down the steel struts spiderman-style. “That’s why wind turbines have become taller and taller – because there’s so much wind up there that they generate more than double the output of the turbines standing here in the surrounding area.”

Großmann’s idea: future wind farms should have ‘two storeys’ so that the wind can be ‘harvested’ twice – once at the bottom and once at the top. “Retrofitting existing wind farms with taller windmills alongside regular ones give us two tiers of high-altitude windmills, and allows us to triple the yield from the same area,” Großmann estimates.

Großmann’s idea: future wind farms should have ‘two storeys’ so that the wind can be ‘harvested’ twice – once at the bottom and once at the top. Hans von der Brelie

GICON plans to erect 100 high-altitude windmills by the early 2030s, then the objective is to scale it up to 1,000 plants in a few years’ time. GICON could become a global player, “the opportunity is there”, Großmann tells Euronews.

“All the wind farms in Germany would offer the potential for 4,000 additional high-altitude wind turbines,” the GICON-CEO stresses, “Simply by retrofitting existing wind farms. That’s an incredible amount of potential. This also applies to African countries. We’ve had enquiries from Asia. The Chinese are asking about it. I think there’s huge international potential here.”

 

Can Pax Silica De-Sinicize U.S. Supply Chains? – Analysis

Diplomats pose for a photograph after signing the Pax Silica declaration on December 12, 2025. (US State Department)

 August 23, 2026

By Lucio Blanco Pitlo III

Key Takeaways:

• Pax Silica is a U.S.-led coalition of about 24 countries aimed at building China-independent supply chains for critical minerals, semiconductors, and AI, with an early industrial hub planned in the Philippines.
• Its success hinges on long-term endurance and concrete delivery; past U.S. initiatives (Blue Dot, B3W/PGII, IPEF) largely stalled at standards and pledges, while China has locked in partners through sustained industrial policy, refining capacity, and tangible BRI projects.
• To compete, Washington must offer developing partners real value-added processing, technology transfer, and better regulation rather than mainly raw-material extraction or security-for-minerals deals, or risk losing credibility and ground in the tech race.

The U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative seeks to reduce dependence on China across critical-mineral, semiconductor, and AI supply chains, but its success will depend on sustained commitment, concrete project delivery, and meaningful benefits for developing-country partners.

In the high-stakes race for AI and computing power, China is moving up from the foundation to the front, catching up with the West. The United States is doing the reverse, rebuilding its material and production base to reinforce its lead. Washington is working backward to develop a complete supply chain independent of Beijing. Last December, the U.S. launched Pax Silica, a coalition of 24 countries aimed at creating a future AI ecosystem from energy and raw materials to advanced manufacturing. Its pioneering project, an industrial hub, is set to open in the Philippines. Endurance, continuity, and the question of whether geopolitics can trump economics will shape the prospects of this U.S.-led endeavor. 

From mining and refining critical minerals to accelerating domestic semiconductor production, China is becoming an emerging rule-maker in the evolving technology order. Since 2018, it has been hosting annual international AI conferences. To meet the challenge, Washington rolled out the Clean Network program in 2020 to prevent Chinese suppliers from dominating global information and communication solutions. However, outside U.S. allies, calls to ban Huawei and other Chinese vendors largely went unheeded, especially in the Global South. Affordability, performance, compatibility, lack of competitive alternatives, and the opportunity cost of being left out prevailed over US pressure. In 2023, Beijing proposed the Global AI Governance Initiative. Last July 16, 29 countries agreed to establish the World AI Cooperation Organization, which will be headquartered in Shanghai. With China’s entrenched capacity and growing confidence in both the hard and soft dimensions of the global digital infrastructure, the stakes are high for Pax Silica. Failure to compete may mean further erosion of U.S. technological lead. Two key challenges stand out. 

Playing the long game 

First is endurance. China’s rise as the world’s largest mineral refiner and production hub is neither inevitable nor providential. Rather, it is the result of a consistent industrial policy to develop national capacity, assured of a huge domestic demand, driven by ambitious targets and sustained by a willingness to bear great costs. It took about three to four decades for the country to become the world’s top ore processor and global factory. And it paid a steep price to attain this position, enduring tremendous environmental, health, and social harm, which were redressed in later years as the country’s economic strategy produced developmental dividends. 

China produces 76.35% of the world’s refined cobalt and 44.44% of refined copper. It also accounts for 79.38% of global graphite output, 69.23% of rare earths, 42.31% of molybdenum, 20.67% of bauxite (from which aluminum is derived), 17.8% of lithium, and 13.1% of silver. The U.S. has high import reliance on China for a range of critical minerals with civilian and military applications. These include yttrium (93%), bismuth (60%), rare earths (56%), antimony (54%), arsenic (52%), graphite (43%), magnesium (32%), tantalum (22%), gallium (19%), and tungsten (14%). These minerals are used in the manufacture of microchips, mobile phones, computers, consumer electronics, wind turbines, solar panels, electric batteries, transmission cables, precision-guided munitions, jet engines, and missile propulsion systems, among others. 

Pax Silica brings together affluent, technologically advanced countries and resource-rich developing nations. The U.S. is leveraging its alliances and partnerships to disperse production of critical minerals and industrial inputs and reduce the time needed to develop an integrated supply chain untangled from China. Cost and gain will be unevenly distributed, valuations may differ, and negotiation skills among members may vary. But lopsided deals in which some parties bear disproportionate harm, with few safeguards and little benefit, should be avoided. Metrics should go beyond commercial viability to include improved mining regulation, technology transfer, and more value-added processing or manufacturing in developing member countries. This will increase the initiative’s appeal and help future-proof long-term deals from potentially disruptive domestic politics. 

China offered market, investment, and infrastructure to lock in long-term supply agreements. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) built roads, railways, ports, and industrial parks. On the ideational level, Beijing is positioning itself as a leader of the Global South, pursuing South-South cooperation with resource-rich developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In 2021, the country launched the Global Development Initiative. The so-called resource curse has long plagued several poor but mineral-rich countries wracked by persistent conflict, corruption, and weak governance. The absence of such countries in Pax Silica is likely deliberate. The project does not want to get sucked into risky conflict areas early on or create missionary expectations. But there are cases that show how access to capital and technology can transform commodity exporters. For instance, Chinese investment upgraded Indonesia’s nickel-refining capacity, vindicating Jakarta’s resource nationalism and inspiring other countries to leverage their natural resources to elevate their position in the value chain. 

Washington should recognize this development. More developing states are exercising their agency to chart policies that maximize the value of their finite natural bounty, create better opportunities for their people, and reduce adverse impact on the environment. The U.S. should go beyond transactional minerals-for-security deals like those floated for Ukraine and DR Congo. Concerns that reshoring may mean Global South members will simply perform their usual role of supplying raw ores for processing abroad need to be allayed. America has to offer enticing incentives beyond alarming partners about the perils posed by a rival’s near-monopoly on rare earths and overcapacity. 

Less optics, more execution 

The second hurdle is continuity. Pax Silica is not the first major U.S. initiative intended to counter China’s burgeoning economic clout. The Blue Dot Network, rolled out in 2019, aimed to certify projects to access a diverse pool of funds, thereby providing an alternative to China’s largely state-backed BRI finance. It morphed into the Build Back Better World (B3W) in 2021 and rebranded as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) the year after. But beyond adopting standards and principles, these pitches did not lead to a pipeline of projects. In 2020, the U.S. also proposed the Economic Prosperity Network to restructure supply chains disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), launched in 2022, was seen as America’s counteroffer to free trade agreements (FTAs), which have become unpopular at home, but which regional partners hope to see as the economic largesse that complements deepening alliance ties. None of these proposals made much headway. 

In contrast, China’s BRI, criticisms and all, has delivered concrete projects. These include highways, a mass transit system, coal power plants, and fiber optic cable under the massive China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In Southeast Asia, notable completed projects include the Laos-China railway and Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (HSR). Malaysia’s East Coast Rail Link, set to open next year, and the ongoing Thailand-China HSR construction are also part of BRI’s broad portfolio. In an apparent role reversal, while Washington retreats from globalization, Beijing doubles down on promoting free trade, ratifying its membership in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2021 and upgrading its trade accord with ASEAN last year. In 2021, Beijing also applied to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) and a free trade pact that the US used to champion, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was rechristened as the Comprehensive and Progressive TPP (CPTPP) in 2018. The U.S. also ceded leadership in green energy and mobility to China by rolling back incentives for renewables and electric vehicles in favor of fossil fuels. Hence, Pax Silica needs to do better. Restoring the credibility of U.S. economic pitches is on the line. 

Even in the Philippines, site of the proposed debut Pax Silica project, U.S. pledges fell short. The $300 million acquisition by American private equity firm Cerberus of the former Hanjin shipyard in Subic, which filed for bankruptcy in 2019, was billed as the biggest public-private partnership in the 75-year history of Philippines-U.S. relations. But while the investment may have forestalled a possible Chinese takeover of the insolvent enterprise, the deal failed to revive the shipyard’s fortunes until another Korean company with a solid shipbuilding track record, HD Hyundai, entered the equation in 2024. In 2022, when Vice President Kamala Harris visited Manila, the US proposed a menu of initiatives, such as developing a nickel and cobalt processing facility and a geothermal power plant in Mindanao. Not much has been heard about these promises since then. 

Pax Silica can be transformative. Washington’s desire to break Beijing’s stranglehold on critical minerals can dovetail with partners’ desire to diversify markets and investors and grow their own industries. It makes sense for the Philippines, eager to catch up with fellow ASEAN peers, to offer attractive concessions to secure a potentially groundbreaking deal. Negotiation delays, whether efficiency-seeking firms will follow their governments, and leadership changes are variables that cannot be ignored. For instance, elections in Pax Silica members and non-signatory participants, such as the U.S., Philippines, and Taiwan, in 2028 may affect investors’ calculus. For sure, the initiative has stirred interest. Building urgency may be the next step. But the most important work is to ensure that proponents stay committed. Absent continuity and endurance, Pax Silica may worryingly join a growing number of U.S. initiatives that did not measure up.

• This article was published at China-US Focus

About Lucio Blanco Pitlo III

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III is a Research Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation. He was a lecturer at the Chinese Studies Program at the Ateneo de Manila University and the International Studies Department at the De La Salle University and contributing editor (Reviews) for the journal Asian Politics & Policy. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies. He obtained his Master of Laws from Peking University and a MA International Affairs at American University in Washington D.C.

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