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The US Department of Energy (DOE) announces $1.5B for four transmission projects – including connecting the Texas grid to the rest of the US for the first time ever.

The projects, spanning multiple states, will add nearly 1,000 miles of new transmission lines and increase grid capacity by 7,100 megawatts (MW). They’ll boost grid reliability, lower energy costs, and support the clean energy transition.

The projects will improve transmission congestion and resilience, especially as the country faces more extreme weather events. By improving connections between regions and making it easier to access renewable energy sources like wind and solar, these projects will make energy more reliable and cost-effective. They’ll also generate nearly 9,000 jobs, supporting local economies in Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

In addition to the transmission projects, the DOE released its National Transmission Planning Study, which outlines a long-term vision for meeting future energy needs through 2050. The study highlights the need to double or triple transmission capacity from 2020 levels to ensure reliability and resilience as the energy landscape shifts toward renewables. Here’s a breakdown of the four projects:

By Bouchecl on Wikimedia commons
  • Aroostook Renewable Project (Maine): This 111-mile transmission line with a capacity of 1,200 MW will connect a new substation in Haynesville, Maine, to the larger New England grid, providing access to clean energy from northern Maine. It’s expected to create over 4,200 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs.
  • Cimarron Link (Oklahoma): A 400-mile HVDC line will run from Texas County to Tulsa, moving 1,900 MW of clean wind and solar power to growing load centers in eastern Oklahoma and elsewhere in the Southwest Power Pool. This project will create 3,600 construction jobs and 20 permanent roles.
  • Southern Spirit (Texas to Mississippi): This is a REALLY. BIG. DEAL. Spanning 320 miles, this HVDC line will link Texas’ isolated ERCOT grid with the Southeast grids for the first time, adding 3,000 MW of bidirectional capacity across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It’s designed to prevent outages like the ones during Winter Storm Uri that hit Texas hard in 2021. It’s expected to create 850 construction jobs and 305 permanent jobs.
  • Southline (New Mexico): A 108-mile transmission line will provide 1,000 MW of new bidirectional capacity between Hidalgo County and Las Cruces. It will help meet energy needs of industries investing in the region, including semiconductor, battery manufacturing, and data center facilities. The project will create at least 150 construction jobs.

US Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk said, “DOE’s approach to deploying near-term solutions and developing long-term planning tools will ensure our electric grid is more interconnected and resilient than ever before, while also supporting greater electricity demand.” 

Read more: How EVs were a lifeline for 3 families (and 6 cats) during the Texas blackout

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Audi Concept C: a radical new style that may preview a new electric TT drop top sports car

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Audi Concept C: a radical new style that may preview a new electric TT drop top sports car

Audi has unveiled the Audi Concept C, an all-electric two-seat roadster that aims to redefine the brand’s design language, and which could also preview an upcoming electric TT sports car successor.

Radical Simplicity in Motion

Unveiled in Milan on 2 September 2025, this concept signals Audi’s shift into sleek, minimalist clarity.

From every angle, the Concept C embodies what Audi now calls “radical simplicity”, a philosophy built around geometric purity, emotional precision, and technical clarity, according to the release.

Central to the car’s identity is the vertical frame, Audi’s reimagining of its signature grille, inspired by the legendary Auto Union Type C (1936) and even the third-gen A6 from 2004.

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Its twin-panel, electrically actuated hardtop rocks both coupe-like elegance and open-air allure.

Inside: Clarity Meets Tactility

Inside, the Concept C embraces minimalism without sacrificing substance. Anodized‑aluminum haptic controls, including that satisfying “Audi click,” and a foldable 10.4‑inch center display, offer sleek digital interaction, but nothing feels superfluous.

Audi is calling this “shy tech”—technology that’s always present, never overpowering. Smart, emotional, and intuitive.

Clear Design Vision leaks into Corporate Clarity

This concept is apparently not just a car, it’s a sort of manifesto. CEO Gernot Döllner says that clarity now guides everything at Audi, from design to structure to corporate ethos. The Milan reveal under the banner “Strive for clarity” sets the tone for a bold, focused reimagining of the brand – making this reveal more than about just a new concept.

It’s a full‑scale reorientation, described internally as “The Radical Next” by CCO Massimo Frascella, who emphasizes design as a cultural force, not just a styling exercise.

The Concept C also makes its public debut at IAA Mobility 2025 in Munich, showcased under Audi’s immersive “Feel Audi” experience.

A TT Comeback as an Electric Vehicle?

Now, Autocar released a report adding a lot of context around the concept unveil: Audi is reportedly working on an electric TT‑inspired drop‑top, targeting 2027, and this concept could be fairly close to what the German automaker could bring to production.

It would be positioned as a retro‑styled EV, the car would slot in as a Boxster‑rival, potentially sharing its bones with a Porsche counterpart, which is also going electric.

Audi already retired the TT and the R8—leaving a gap in its two‑door sports car lineage. But according to CEO Döllner, sports cars are still part of Audi’s DNA, and their return is not off the table—especially when the timing is right.

Design chief Frascella has a long‑standing personal connection to the TT—it inspired him as a young designer, and he’s excited about bringing that emotional spark into a new EV concept. But, he cautions, it won’t be derivative. Expect something that captures the essence without cloning the past.

A future electric TT would be Audi Sport’s “emotional compact”, built on the surging wave of electrification, and maybe, just maybe, born from the same radical simplicity that powers the Concept C.

Electrek’s Take

As you know, it’s hard for us at Electrek to get excited about new concept cars, but it does sound like Audi isn’t just sketching a pretty concept here.

The vehicle appears to signal a new design language for the four-ring brand and could even preview a new electric sports car.

If it’s indeed the direction Audi is heading, I like it. It manages to be both retro and futuristic without doing too much. That’s impressive.

I appreciate the minimalism all around, but especially in the interior, where, even though it’s just a concept, it already feels exceptionally refined.

You definetly should make this Audi.

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The stunning Volvo ES90 has arrived and it’s the automaker’s most advanced EV to date

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The stunning Volvo ES90 has arrived and it's the automaker's most advanced EV to date

The ES90 can drive further and charge faster than any of Volvo’s electric cars to date. Its sleek design looks like a fastback, but offers the space of an SUV. After the first ES90 rolled off the assembly line on Thursday, Volvo said its new flagship EV stands in a class of its own.

The first Volvo ES90 EV rolls off the production line

Volvo created quite a stir after unveiling the ES90 in March, its new flagship EV. Although it may look like a sedan, it offers the versatility of an SUV with a spacious interior and higher ground clearance.

It’s also the first Volvo model based on its new 800V SPA2 architecture. The advanced new platform unlocks some of the world’s fastest charging speeds, along with an impressive driving range.

Based on the new platform, the ES90 can gain up to 300 km (186 miles) of range in just 10 minutes using a 350 kW fast charger. It also provides a driving range of up to 700 km (435 miles), making it the “most technically advanced” Volvo EV to date.

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After the first ES90 rolled off the production line on Thursday, Francesca Gamboni, chief industrial operations officer at Volvo Cars, said the automaker is entering “a new era of safety, sustainability, and human-centric technology.”

First-Volvo-ES90-EV
The first Volvo ES90 enters production (Source: Volvo Cars)

By offering the best of a sedan, fastback, and SUV, “the ES90 stands in a class of its own,” Volvo claims. Powered by a 102 kWh battery, the Volvo ES90 offers a whopping 700 km (435 miles) of WLTP driving range.

The inside is just as impressive as the first Volvo car equipped with NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin. With around 508 trillion operations per second, the computer offers an eightfold improvement from the previous DRIVE AGX system.

Volvo-ES90-EV-interior
The interior of the Volvo ES90 (Source: Volvo Cars)

Volvo’s new Superset tech stack enables the ES90 to improve and “evolve” through software updates. All of that, and it’s still designed with Volvo’s advanced safety tech at its core.

The ES90 “is set to be another Scandinavian design classic from Volvo Cars,” the company boasted. Volvo has already opened ES90 orders in several European markets and will soon launch it in the Asia Pacific region. In Germany, the ES90 starts at €71,990 ($84,000) with higher trim options priced upwards of around €95,000 ($110,000).

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Orsted sues to save offshore wind farm from Trump administration axe

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Orsted sues to save offshore wind farm from Trump administration axe

Attendees during a media tour of the Revolution Wind construction hub at the Port of Providence in Providence, Rhode Island, US, on Thursday, June 13, 2024.

Adam Glanzman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Danish renewable energy company Orsted sued the Trump administration on Thursday to prevent it from blocking the completion of a wind farm off the coast of New England.

The Interior Department abruptly ordered Orsted on August 22 to halt construction on Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. The fully permitted project is 80% complete and would provide enough power for more than 350,000 homes across both states.

Orsted asked the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to set aside the stop-work order, calling it “unlawful” and “issued in bad faith.”

Orsted shares hit a record low on August 25 in the wake of the stop-work order.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has justified the order on national security grounds and concerns that Revolution Wind will interfere with other uses of U.S. territorial waters. But Orsted said this justification is just a pretext, pointing to President Donald Trump’s long-standing animus toward wind power going back more than a decade.

“The President has apparent hostility towards offshore wind, including based on statements made on the campaign trail,” Orsted’s attorney told the court.

Revolution Wind has undergone extensive environmental and safety reviews over nearly a decade that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Orsted’s lawsuit. Federal agencies have uniformily concluded based on thousands of pages of data that the project is “environmentally sound, safe and consistent with federal law,” the company said.

Trump has targeted the wind industry since his first day in office, when he issued an order that closed federal waters to new leases for offshore projects. But the renewable industry had hoped that the White House would allow permitted projects such as Revolution Wind to proceed.

Trump has escalated his attacks on the renewable energy industry in recent weeks. The president said his administration would not approve solar and wind projects two days before Revolution Wind was hit with the stop-work order.

And the Trump administration on Friday cancelled $679 million in funding for a dozen infrastructure projects that support the offshore wind industry.

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