A project described as the “world’s largest offshore wind farm” took a major step forward over the weekend after producing its first power.

Located off the coast of northeast England in the North Sea, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being developed in three phases — A, B and C — and will have a total capacity of 3.6 gigawatts once fully up and running. A fourth phase, known as Dogger Bank D, has been proposed.

“The project’s first turbine at Dogger Bank A started turning and producing electricity at 8.37pm BST on Saturday 7 October,” the Dogger Bank Wind Farm Project said in an announcement Monday.

“Power from the first offshore wind turbine is now being transmitted to the UK’s national grid via Dogger Bank’s high-voltage direct current … transmission system, marking the first-time use of HVDC technology on a UK wind farm,” it added.

The scale of the project is considerable, with those behind it saying it will be able to power as many as 6 million homes per year. Dogger Bank is using GE Vernova’s huge Haliade-X turbines, which boast blades measuring 107 meters, or about 351 feet.

Dogger Bank is a joint venture partnership involving SSE Renewables, Equinor and Vårgrønn, which hold stakes of 40%, 40% and 20% respectively.

In a statement, SSE Chief Executive Alistair Phillips-Davies said Dogger Bank would “provide a significant boost to UK energy security, affordability and leadership in tackling climate change.”

“This is exactly how we should be responding to the energy crisis,” he added.

Equinor is a Norwegian business better known for its production of oil and gas, but it also is involved in wind energy projects like Dogger Bank and Hywind Tampen.

“A renewable mega-project like Dogger Bank constitutes an industrial wind hub in the heart of the North Sea, playing a major role in the UK’s ambitions for offshore wind and supporting its net zero ambitions,” Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the news. Sunak — who has faced sharp criticism from some quarters after a shift in climate policy — described offshore wind as being “critical to generating renewable, efficient energy that can power British homes from British seas.”

The United Kingdom is home to a mature offshore wind sector, with the U.S. government’s International Trade Administration highlighting traits such as good wind speed, a long coastline and a “relatively shallow seabed,” among other things.

Major offshore wind farms in waters off the U.K. include Hornsea 2, a fully operational, 165-turbine facility that boasts a capacity of more than 1.3 GW. Danish energy firm Orsted has previously called it “the world’s largest installed windfarm.”

While those involved in Dogger Bank have repeatedly called it “the world’s largest offshore wind farm,” Monday’s statement also referred to it as the “world’s largest offshore wind farm under construction,” an apparent nod to the fact that significant work is still required before it’s complete.

Across the Atlantic, the U.S. has some way to go to catch up with countries like the U.K., with a range of factors creating a challenging environment for the sector’s development there.

America’s first offshore wind farm, the 30 megawatt Block Island Wind Farm, started commercial operations only in late 2016, although the U.S. is planning to ramp up its offshore wind capacity in the coming years.

In November 2021, ground was broken on Vineyard Wind 1, which has been dubbed the United States’ “first commercial scale offshore wind farm.”

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

BOE’s supersized surprise hikeThe Bank of England raised interest rates by 50 basis points, bringing rates to 5%. Markets were betting on a 25-basis-point hike. But May’s inflation reading for the U.K. was a scorcher: Inflation last month remained unchanged from April, while core inflation actually rose from 6.8% to 7.1% year over year. If inflation remains stubborn, expect more surprises from the BOE.

Turkey’s welcome hikeTurkey’s central bank — under its new governor Hafize Gaye Erkan — doubled the country’s interest rate from 8.5% to 15%. That goes some way in tackling Turkey’s soaring inflation which, aided by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s insistence on keeping rates low, hit 39.6% in May. But some analysts criticized the hike for being too modest — most were expecting rates to hit 20%.

Capital requirements hikeOn the second day of his Senate testimony, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said new regulations  aren’t likely to apply to banks below $100 billion in assets. Those rules would increase the amount of capital banks need to maintain, among other conditions. Separately, FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg said the rules are expected to kick in next year.

Mixed marketsU.S. markets mostly rose Thursday, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite snapped their three-day losing streak, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average remained virtually unchanged. The pan-European Stoxx 600 lost 0.51%, but one stock had a great day: shares of British online grocer Ocado rocketed 32.05% amid speculation that Amazon might buy the company.

[PRO] Bearish market, overvalued stocksEven with the recent rally in the S&P 500, the index is still trying to climb beyond the high it reached in January 2022 — which would usher in an official bull market. Yet market strategists from UBS and JPMorgan Chase and are already warning that the stock market may be overvalued.

Investors have been lulled by a sense of security that inflation in the U.S. is falling, albeit slower than hoped, and interest rates will gradually fall as the beast is slayed. That’s the engine behind markets’ astounding rally in recent weeks.

But investors are being rudely returned to a world they thought they had put behind them — a world, in other words, of continual rate hikes. Fed Governor Michelle Bowman thinks “additional policy rate increases will be necessary” — to the extent that they are “sufficiently restrictive” — so that inflation will drop further. Bowman, who is on the Federal Open Market Committee, essentially echoed Powell’s Wednesday comments that more rate hikes are necessary despite June’s pause. (“Pause” is a word Powell dislikes, by the way, which sheds light on how the Fed is thinking.)

The prospect of more hikes might be why investors are fleeing to technology stocks. Amazon, Apple and Microsoft all climbed yesterday. It sounds contrary, I know. Don’t tech stocks, dependent on growth, suffer the most from high interest rates, which erode the value of future earnings?

My sense is that investors see artificial intelligence as a moat around earnings, a barrier which rates cannot encroach. Well, that’s the hope, anyway.

Still, excitement over AI might not be enough to sustain the whole market. Despite adding close to 1% Thursday, the Nasdaq is on track to break its eight-week winning streak. Likewise, the S&P’s 0.37% gain might be too little to preserve its five consecutive weeks of closing in the green.

Some analysts hoped that bullish markets would charge forward, seeing red. But the hue in sight now seems less a matador’s red cape than traffic-halting red lights.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the date of the S&P’s all-time high.

LONDON — Doctors are concerned for the health of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and have advised that she remain under medical supervision, Buckingham Palace said Thursday.

Immediate family members have been informed and are currently traveling to Balmoral Castle, the queen’s royal residence in Scotland.

“Following further evaluation this morning, The Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

It added that the queen, 96, remains comfortable and at Balmoral.

The heir to the throne, Prince Charles, the Duke of Cornwall, and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, have now arrived at Balmoral.

The queen’s other three children, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, as well as her grandson Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, have also arrived.

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is on his way. His wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is not traveling with him but potentially could join Harry in Scotland at a later date, according to a spokesperson.

Princess Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, has remained in Windsor as Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are on their first full day at their new school, Kensington Palace said.

The queen, who is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, has reportedly been suffering from deteriorating health for the past several months, with doctors citing ongoing “episodic mobility problems.”

She spent a night in the hospital last October and has been forced to cut back on her public engagements since then. She has been on vacation at her Scottish estate since late July.

On Tuesday, the queen broke with tradition and appointed her 15th prime minister from Balmoral rather than traveling to Buckingham Palace, as is typical. She was also forced to cancel a planned virtual meeting with senior ministers after being advised to rest by her doctors.

Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, who met with the queen Tuesday, said her thoughts were with her and her family.

“My thoughts — and the thoughts of people across our United Kingdom — are with Her Majesty The Queen and her family at this time,” she said.

The BBC, the U.K.’s national broadcaster, suspended all regular programming until 6 p.m., local time, following the news.

Keir Starmer, leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, said he was deeply concerned about the news.

“Along with the rest of the country, I am deeply worried by the news from Buckingham Palace this afternoon,” he said in a statement.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said she was “profoundly concerned” and Wales’ first minister, Mark Drakeford, sent his best wishes on behalf of the people of Wales.

The news of the queen’s ill health came as members of Parliament were gathered in the House of Commons to hear details of the government’s plan to help households and businesses with rising energy costs.

Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi was seen entering the chamber during the meeting and speaking urgently to Truss. Notes about the developing situation were also passed to the Commons speaker and the Labour leader.

Elizabeth has been queen of Britain and more than a dozen other countries since 1952, when she acceded to the throne at aged 25.

Her reign has seen 15 prime ministers, from Sir Winston Churchill to Liz Truss, and 14 U.S. presidents.

Earlier this year, she marked her 70th year on the throne with a series of Platinum Jubilee celebrations spanning four days. The queen only traveled to Buckingham Palace twice during that time, first for her Trooping the Colour balcony appearance and then for a finale after the pageant.

Her husband Philip, the longest-serving royal consort in history, died last year at aged 99.

U.K.-based startup Tevva on Thursday launched a hydrogen-electric heavy goods vehicle, becoming the latest company to make a play in a sector attracting interest from multinationals like Daimler Truck and Volvo.

According to Tevva, which says it has raised $140 million in funding, its vehicle will have a range of as much as 310 miles, or slightly under 500 kilometers.

Refilling the hydrogen tanks will take 10 minutes while charging the battery “from fully depleted to 100%” will take five to six hours.

The company’s first hydrogen-electric truck will weigh 7.5 metric tons, with later versions planned to weigh 12 and 19 metric tons.

In a statement, Tevva sought to explain the rationale behind combining a fuel cell and battery. “The fuel cell system tops up the battery, extending the vehicle’s range and allowing the truck to carry heavier loads over longer distances.”

Alongside its hydrogen-electric truck, the business has also developed an electric truck that it says has a range of up to 160 miles. Details of both the electric and hydrogen-electric trucks had been previously announced by Tevva.

In an interview with CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” on Thursday, Tevva CEO Asher Bennett was asked whether his company was looking to diversify into smaller vehicles.

“We’re not interested in developing the smaller vans or the pickup trucks,” Bennett said. “Those are, in many instances, very similar technology to the larger EV sedans, which work very well,” he added.

“We’re very focused on the heavy goods trucks and we’re slowly going heavier and heavier because those are the segments that are much harder to electrify.”

With governments around the world looking to reduce the environmental footprint of transportation, a number of companies in the trucking sector are exploring ways to develop low and zero-emission vehicles, including ones that use hydrogen.

Last month, Volvo Trucks said it began to test vehicles that use “fuel cells powered by hydrogen,” with the Swedish firm claiming their range could extend to as much as 1,000 kilometers, or a little over 621 miles.

Gothenburg-headquartered Volvo Trucks said refueling of the vehicles would take under 15 minutes. Customer pilots are set to begin in the next few years, with commercialization “planned for the latter part of this decade.”

Alongside hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Volvo Trucks — which is part of the Volvo Group — has also developed battery-electric trucks.

Like Volvo Trucks and Tevva, Daimler Truck is focusing on both battery-electric vehicles and ones that use hydrogen.

In an interview with CNBC last year, Martin Daum, chairman of the board of management at Daimler Truck, was asked about the debate between battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cells.

“We go for both because both … make sense,” he replied, before explaining how different technologies would be appropriate in different scenarios.

While there is excitement in some quarters about the potential of hydrogen-powered vehicles, there are hurdles when it comes to expanding the sector, not least when it comes to the development of adequate refueling infrastructure. The way hydrogen is produced is also an issue.

Both of these points were acknowledged by Volvo Trucks in June when it pointed to challenges including the “large-scale supply of green hydrogen” as well as “the fact that refueling infrastructure for heavy vehicles is yet to be developed.”

Hydrogen can be produced in a number of ways. One method includes using electrolysis, with an electric current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.

If the electricity used in this process comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar then some call it “green” or “renewable” hydrogen. Today, the vast majority of hydrogen generation is based on fossil fuels.

For its part, Tevva said it would help its customers “access sustainable and affordable hydrogen supplies safely and conveniently, alongside their purchase or lease of Tevva Hydrogen Trucks.”