/ Energy News

CEOs of the top 15 U.S. utility companies listed on the S&P 500 Utilities Index by market value ​are sitting on $993 million in combined stock-based pay, according to a Reuters examination of company disclosures, with the average payout estimated at $66 million.

"America's energy affordability crisis is made worse by the misalignment of utility profits and customers' high energy burdens," said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program for Public Citizen.

M Squared Renewables, a development corporation owned by the nine Nations of the MLTC, as well as the Mistawasis NêhiyawakFirst Nation, will hold majority ownership of the 28 wind turbine project.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) reached an agreement to loan more than $160-million for the project, located near the town of Assiniboia in the Rural Municipality of Excel No. 71.

In December, Fitch rated the sector’s outlook as “neutral,” but warned about potential resistance to utility rate increases. Developments in the first half of this year indicate that the risk is materializing “faster and more broadly” than expected, the credit ratings agency said.

Colorado regulators pushed back on plans by the state’s largest power provider to spend nearly $600 million on gas infrastructure, saying the investments don’t account for a trend towards electrification and could leave ratepayers with unnecessary costs on redundant equipment.

Xcel Energy had sought a sweeping set of investments ($567M) to expand its natural gas network, including pipelines and compressor stations.

Meta has signed a power purchase agreement with renewable energy company Zelestra for a solar plant located in Freestone County, Texas, the companies announced Tuesday.

The electricity generated at the Palmera Solar Plant will help support Meta’s goal of adding more renewable generation to the grid while powering its operations with 100% clean energy, according to a release.

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision in 2024 to lower the return on equity for transmission owners in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator footprint and to order refunds to ratepayers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed arguments from the transmission owners that the Federal Power Act limits refunds to a single 15-month period.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday approved the PJM Interconnection’s proposal for an “expedited interconnection track” for large generating projects, rejecting concerns raised by Vistra, state regulators and others.

Under the process, PJM will consider up to 10 interconnection requests a year on a fast-track basis for new or uprated capacity resources of at least 250 MW that can come online within three years.

The Champlain Hudson Power Express is delivering hydroelectric energy from Quebec to Queens, providing a major supply of carbon-free power to help New York State meet its targets for renewable capacity and emissions cuts.

The 339-mile transmission line can transmit up to 1,250 megawatts of electricity and is expected to deliver about 10.4 terawatt-hours of clean energy annually to the New York metropolitan area.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday approved the Southwest Power Pool’s proposal for providing transmission service to data centers and other large loads that agree to be curtailed during grid emergencies.

Under the “conditional high impact large load service,” or CHILLS, SPP will provide transmission service using available transmission capacity for up to seven years while large loads acquire firm service.

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission’s staff on Monday determined that the state’s largest electric provider and the private equity firm seeking to acquire it violated state law in 2025 by conducting a $400 million stock sale tied to the takeover without first obtaining PRC approval.

Hearing examiners late Monday morning issued a recommended decision, which requires PRC approval, to reverse the stock sale and mandate PNM and Blackstone Infrastructure produce a written report explaining how they reversed the deal and how they will make sure ratepayers are not adversely affected.

Calgary-based power producer TransAlta Corp. said on Wednesday it will acquire two natural gas-fired peaking facilities near Denver, Colo., from Blackstone for about US$1-billion, strengthening its presence in the Western U.S. power market.

The assets, Mountain Peak Power and Canyon Peak Power, have a combined capacity of 318 megawatts and are fully contracted under long-term tolling agreements with investment-grade customers for more than 25 years.

The resource outlook for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator continues to improve, with excess power supplies expected over the next five years, according to a survey discussed at a workshop the grid operator held Thursday.

MISO members are expected to add 15 GW a year, on average, in accredited summer capacity over the next five years, up from expectations for up to 8.6 GW in annual additions a year ago, according to the latest Organization of MISO States-MISO annual survey.

Google will fund a three-year, 100-MW virtual power plant in the PJM Interconnection with the aim of creating an “industry-leading scalable blueprint” for unlocking capacity to meet data centerdemand, the tech giant announced Tuesday.

The company is partnering with VPP operator Voltus, which will aggregate distributed energy resources from residential, commercial and industrial customers across the regional transmission organization, a spokesperson for Voltus said in an email.

Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, met with the Republic of Korea’s Chief of Staff to the President and Special Envoy for Strategic Economic Cooperation, Kang Hoon-Sik.

They agreed that the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources and Natural Resources Canada will develop a joint plan on critical minerals stockpiling by the end of 2026 as part of a shift to a more integrated supply chain partnership.

Newfoundland and Labrador is launching calls for bids on 16 offshore oil and gas parcels, with the province set to provide up to $30-million to support the drilling of exploration wells, Premier Tony Wakeham announced Tuesday.

The province hopes that the financial incentive for companies – along with the recent benefit agreement signed for the deep-water Bay du Nord project – will help boost exploration for new wells, kick-starting a new wave of offshore development.