** A U.S. Energy Department report warns the risk of blackouts could surge by the end of the decade amid growing power demand and calls for keeping gas and coal power plants online — though the GOP budget bill will stymie clean power development that could help meet that demand.
** In a televised cabinet meeting Tuesday, President Trump called the Green New Energy plan of the Biden administration the “greatest scam ever.”
** The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) extended a commitment to collaboration in water power research and development with Norway’s Royal Ministry of Energy. The extension of this previously established Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which facilitates planning and coordination activities between the two countries, will further the Trump Administration’s efforts to reduce energy costs, strengthen grid reliability and security, and unleash American energy innovation.
** Southwest Virginia is once again looking like a likely place for the Commonwealth to develop its proposed nuclear energy future. On Monday, the Virginia Department of Energy issued a press release, saying the state is moving forward with plans to use Southwest Virginia as the base of operations for a nuclear reactor.
** Data gathered by Pew Research shows that, as of 2024, the U.S. had 94 nuclear power reactors, including the one that went online in Georgia that year. These reactors collectively generated 18.6% of all U.S. electricity in 2023.
** Vistra has announced that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a 20-year extension for its 1,268MW Perry nuclear power plant, extending the plant’s original license an additional 20 years to 2046.
** House Democrats will unveil legislation this week that would put $10 billion toward critical material projects.
World
** A decision regarding the Chevron Corporation CVX’s planned $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corporation HES and its dispute with Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM has reportedly been made but will remain confidential for now.
** Submerged in about 40 meters (44 yards) of water off Scotland’s coast, a turbine has been spinning for more than six years to harness the power of ocean tides for electricity — a durability mark that demonstrates the technology’s commercial viability.
** India’s southern state of Kerala has sued Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company and sought $1.1 billion in compensation after one of its container vessels sank and leaked fuel into the Arabian Sea in May.
** China’s BYD is poised to start assembling electric vehicles at a new factory in Brazil as early as this month, a top executive said, reducing imports as tariffs start to rise in its largest foreign market.
