/ Energy News

The Texas-based utility said it activated ​its cybersecurity incident response protocols and ​enlisted third-party cybersecurity experts after learning of ⁠the post, while also taking steps ​to further protect its systems.

The company said ​its investigation determined that an unauthorized third party obtained personal information relating to a portion of its ​customers through one of its external-facing ​systems.

Three electric utilities in Massachusetts – Eversource, National Grid and Unitil – filed a lawsuit against Hydro-Québec in U.S. federal court Sept. 8 over its decision to stop sending clean energy south over two periods totalling 12 days this past January and February. Hydro-Québec has countersued, claiming non-payment after talks between the two sides failed to yield a resolution.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to formally rescind carbon pollution standards for fossil fuel power plants today, according to multiple media reports.

The repeal would complete the Trump administration’s elimination of climate policies enacted under the Obama and Biden administrations and could prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gases emissions from power plants, according to The New York Times.

Gas consumption to produce electricity for data centers is expected to grow by 15 billion cubic feet per day in the ten years to 2035, even accounting for many currently planned projects never being built.

The abundance and low cost of producing natural gas in the US, combined with gas power plants’ ability to quickly ramp up and down as needed by 24/7 data centers, are a key part of why the fuel is expected to supply 69% of the power needed by new grid-connected facilities in BloombergNEF’sforecast.

Invenergy, North America’s largest privately held developer, owner, and operator of independent power infrastructure, and HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. (HASI), a leading investor in sustainable infrastructure assets, has closed a strategic equity partnership supporting a 2.7-GW portfolio of select Invenergy projects across the US, including utility scale solar, solar-plus-battery storage, and wind projects.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is teaming up with Google, Rewiring America and other partners to enroll tens of thousands of existing and new distributed energy assets in two Northern California counties to support what it says is a new kind of virtual power plant.

Dubbed SHARE and operated by PG&E and Demand Side Analytics, the “proof-of-concept” VPP aims to create additional capacity, boost reliability and “help put downward pressure on rates” while reducing participating households’ net electricity bills, PG&E said on Sept. 3.

A 66-page “prospectus” booklet, reviewed by The Globe and Mail, was shared Wednesday with summit attendees ahead of the Sept. 14-15 event at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto.

There are eight categories of proposed projects, spread across the country: conventional energy, clean energy, minerals and metals, marine and port infrastructure, power and utilities, digital technology, advanced manufacturing and transportation.

The Trump administration is loaning as much as $1.9 billion to restart a shuttered NextEra Energy Inc. nuclear power plant in Iowa, part of a broader push to revive the US nuclear industry.

The Duane Arnold Energy Center, which ceased operations in 2020, is one of three nuclear power plants being restarted with help from the US government as the Trump administration seeks to address rising customer utility bills and make good on a commitment to build out nuclear power.

More utilities are asking prospective large-load customers to pay upfront for system impact studies, ramp up to full load within a set number of months and pay an exit fee if they stop or significantly reduce service before their contract expires, according to a recent technical brief prepared by researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Brattle Group.

These “emerging” practices have become more common in the 18 months since the researchers last surveyed the large-load tariff landscape.

SpaceX is developing a foundry in Bastrop, Texas, that will manufacture turbine blades and vanes. These components have become a major constraint on new gas turbine production, contributing to increasingly long waits for the equipment needed to power new data centers.

Recent deals are taking shape around a three-party model involving developers, utilities and large energy customers. The arrangements give utilities a role integrating the power without requiring them to finance and own first-of-a-kind reactors, while large customers provide demand and help absorb development risk.

Microsoft is throwing its support behind legislation that would prevent data centers from passing along water usage costs to consumers, as tech companies seek to allay community concerns about the AI infrastructure.

The Water Cost Accountability Act would direct states to block public water systems from recovering costs associated with connecting data centers from anyone other than their developers or owners.

Mr. Carney will open the summit’s main program on Sept. 15 with a keynote speech and a fireside chat with Deborah Orida, chief executive officer of the $321-billion Public Sector Pension Investment Board, according to an agenda circulated to attendees and reviewed by The Globe and Mail.

An afternoon panel discussion will pitch the country as a stable place to invest in a range of energy assets, from pipelines to nuclear power. The speakers will be Ontario Power Generation Inc. CEO Nicolle Butcher, Suncor Energy Inc. CEO Rich Kruger and TC Energy Corp. CEO François Poirier.

A set of 13 “high value” inter- and intraregional transmission projects in the Eastern Interconnection could produce up to $15.3 billion in net system value through 2050, according to a study released Tuesday.

Also, the transmission projects would lower retail electricity rates, enhance system reliability and improve resilience to extreme weather events, according to Powering Growth and Affordability: The Role of Transmission in Economic and National Security, which was prepared by S&P Global’s CERA Consulting for the Electricity Customer Alliance, National Grid and Converge Strategies.

Canadian energy company Enbridge said on Thursday it had agreed to ​form a joint venture with KKR and Apollo to invest ‌about C$2.7 billion in expansions of its Westcoast natural gas pipeline system in British Columbia.

Under the agreement, KKR and Apollo will fund the Aspen Point and Sunrise expansion projects, while Enbridge will receive C$700 million in cash at closing and ​retain majority ownership and operational control of the pipeline.