U.S. ENERGY Firefighters Battle Blaze at Texas Decommissioned Power Plant Firefighters in southeastern Texas battled a massive blaze Sunday at a decommissioned power plant in Texas City, Galveston County, sending large plumes of smoke into the air. The fire broke out around 2:30 a.m., drawing 50 to 60 firefighters from multiple departments who worked throughout …
Category: Wind Energy
Energy Brief: Chevron Plans Gas Build, Grid Outages, Ukraine
U.S. ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS Illinois Supreme Court Hears Grain Belt Express Appeal The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments from Grain Belt Express developers who claim a lower court ruling against their $7 billion multi-state power line project was incorrect. The proposed line would stretch from southwest Kansas to the PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest electricity market, …
Energy Brief: Regulators, EPA, Carbon Storage, Google Probe
NARUC Urges FERC to Respect State Authority The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to respect state authority over retail electricity sales and protect ratepayers from higher costs linked to data center interconnections. Regulators warned that federal overreach could raise prices for consumers already facing infrastructure …
Energy briefs
** The U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear an appeal in a case that will prevent utilities from issuing certain customer surcharges that will save ratepayers about $400 million by 2031. ** In a speech at the United Nations’ COP30 climate summit in Brazil, California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticizes the Trump administration’s absence from the …
Data centers and where should they be built
A new study that focused on where data centers should be built across the U.S. cautioned that the net zero promises of tech companies aren’t likely to hold up against the energy and water needs of the massive facilities. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study also showed pluses and minuses when it comes to …
Energy briefs
** FirstEnergy wants to add $108 million to the rates paid by customers of its Ohio utilities so the company can avoid taking a loss for a corporate accounting foul-up flagged repeatedly in audits by state and federal utility regulators. A 2022 audit by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found that FirstEnergy’s subsidiaries may have mischarged customers for corporate …
Energy Brief: Solar Panels, FAA Orders, Nuclear Disputes
Solar Panel Maker Qcells Furloughs 1,300 Workers Solar panel maker Qcells announces it will furlough 1,000 workers and 300 staffing agency employees at its Georgia factories. U.S. customs officials detained shipments of solar cells at U.S. ports because of a 2021 law banning imports from a region of China. These detentions disrupt manufacturing continuity. Qcells …
Energy Brief: Ford EV Sales, Natural Gas, Data Centers
Ford Considers F-150 Lightning Withdrawal as EV Sales Expectations Fall Ford reportedly discussed scrapping its electric F-150 Lightning. The automaker expects energy sector EV sales to fall over the next few years. Ford leadership now questions near term EV adoption curves. The company sees stubborn pricing compression and higher consumer hesitancy. Industry analysts said weakening …
Oil group fights OGE battery project
CWIP request triggers new internal energy divide One of the groups that signed on in support of the controversial CWIP request by Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company to cover construction costs for added electric generation projects is also putting up a strong fight against one part of the utility’s request. Additionally, this dispute puts a …
Energy Brief: Amazon, China COP30, Russia refinery
Amazon power supply complaint ** Amazon files a complaint with Oregon regulators accusing PacifiCorp of failing to meet obligations to provide the tech giant’s data centers with sufficient power.Additionally, this signals growing strain between hyperscale load and regulated utility delivery as rapid data center buildout accelerates U.S. electricity demand. Georgia utility election backlash ** Georgia …