Grid Affordability Fight (Maryland): Maryland electricity bills jumped 50.9% over five years, now about 24% above the national average, as Gov. Wes Moore blames utility “double dipping” and data-center demand while critics argue state decarbonization rules are forcing more imports and raising reliability risks, with warnings of possible voltage collapse and rolling blackouts by summer 2027. Political Pressure (Kerala): A week of prolonged night outages has become Kerala’s first major political headache for Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan’s Congress-led government, with residents reporting disrupted charging and daily life and the Left using the crisis to attack the administration. Solar Policy (China): China’s MIIT clarified five mandatory solar PV standards for 2027, covering efficiency, safety, exports, testing, and labeling, with staged enforcement starting Jan. 1, 2027. Renewables Buildout (UK): Plug-in solar panels became legally available across England, Wales and Scotland, giving renters and leaseholders a new path to solar—though Northern Ireland is still not covered. Transmission & Permitting (India): India’s Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled landowner consent isn’t required to survey and align certain transmission lines once Electricity Act Section 164 powers are conferred. Nuclear for Resilience (US): The U.S. Army selected Fort Benning, Georgia, for three 1-MW microreactors to keep critical base systems running if the grid fails. Clean Power Project (UK/NI): Mutual Energy filed plans for up to 465 kW of solar near the Auchencrosh converter station, using underground cables to connect to the Moyle Interconnector.