/ Energy News

ContourGlobal, owned by U.S. investment firm KKR, has secured a $350 million funding package to support its solar installations in Colorado, the company said Thursday.

The package combines a tax equity investment from Tyr Energy, part of Japan’s ITOCHU Corporation, with debt financing arranged by a consortium of international lenders, including Crédit Agricole CIB, ING Capital LLC, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mizuho, and MUFG.

The funds will back the Black Hollow Sun project, a large-scale solar facility expected to reach a 324-megawatt peak output once its second phase is completed by the end of 2026.

John Ketchum, NextEra chairman, president and CEO, said that the company expects to return the 615-MW Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa to service by early 2029 or possibly in the fourth quarter of 2028 — earlier than some analysts had expected.

On Oct. 27, the company announced it had signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Google to reopen the plant, which stopped operating in 2020. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.

Batteries have quickly become a crucial part of the U.S. electricity grid — and a whole lot more are about to come online.

Over the next five years, the country will build nearly 67 gigawatts’ worth of new utility-scale batteries, per data from research firm BloombergNEF, enough to send almost 284 gigawatt-hours of stored-up electricity back to the grid.

Those are massive figures. Should the forecast bear out, the U.S. will have roughly three times more battery capacity in 2030 than it does now.

Another natural gas power plant is being built in Texas, this time in the Permian Basin in west Texas. It’s the largest capacity project to date through a Texas Energy Fund program.

Competitive Power Ventures is building a 1,350 megawatt natural gas generation facility. It’s expected to begin generating power in 2029 and will interconnect in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) West Load Zone.

According to the PUC-CPV loan agreement, total project costs are estimated to be $1.88 billion. The PUC is providing a 20-year TxEF loan of $1.12 billion, or 60% of the total project cost, at a 3% interest rate.

The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill that would help build 3 GW of utility-scale battery storage in the state. By incentivizing new storage buildouts and VPP programs, the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act aims to help the unstable grid better accommodate skyrocketing demand posed by new data centers and increasing electrification.

The bill would also place new requirements on utilities to establish time-of-use rate policies to encourage homeowners to reduce demand on the grid at peak times through the use of solar + storage.

AEP, operator of the country’s biggest electric transmission network, is leaning into the country’s fast-growing appetite for electricity. Skyrocketing demand from AI-powered data centers and manufacturing hubs has pushed the company to boost its five-year capital plan by $18 billion since July. That brings the total to $72 billion, sending AEP’s shares up 3.2% in premarket trading. The utility now has firm agreements in place for 28 gigawatts of new load—4 GW more than this summer—plus another 190 GW in potential requests. 

Hitachi Energy has snapped up a minority stake in Shermco, just after Blackstone’s $1.6 billion buyout of the company, marking a joint effort to tackle surging US grid demand.

Hitachi Energy, backed by Japan’s Hitachi Ltd, wants to team up with Shermco to become North America’s go-to provider of grid services. The deal lands just weeks after Hitachi Energy pledged $1 billion to US infrastructure, showing that major players are doubling down on fixing up aging grids—especially as new AI-powered data centers add unprecedented pressure.

Out of the top 25 highest energy-consuming countries, the United States now ranks 11th in energy efficiency policy and performance, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s 2025 assessment.

ACEEE previously ranked the U.S. 10th in its 2018 and 2022 International Energy Efficiency Scorecards. In 2025, the top four countries in order are France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy. France also ranked first in 2022.

Private energy company Cygnet Energy Ltd. has signed an agreement to buy Kiwetinohk Energy Corp. in a deal that values the company at $1.4-billion.

Under the proposal, Kiwetinohk shareholders will receive $24.75 per share.

Shares in the company closed at $15.20 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on March 5 before it first announced a business strategy review, including a possible sale.

Kiwetinohk produces natural gas, natural gas liquids, oil and condensate.

The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority Tuesday issued a final decision that approves an annual revenue requirement for the United Illuminating Company for the rate year Nov. 1, 2025, through October 31, 2026.

In its application, UI proposed a 27.4 percent, or $105,418,797 increase over currently authorized revenues of $384,865,000, for a total revenue requirement of $490,283,797. The company sought approval of a 10.5 percent ROE, which would amount to a 140 basis point increase from the currently allowed 9.10 percent ROE.

Google and American electrical utility giant NextEra Energy announced a partnership Monday to revive Iowa’s only nuclear power plant to meet growing low-carbon energy demand from artificial intelligence.

The Duane Arnold Energy Center, which closed in 2020, could begin operating in early 2029, pending regulatory approval.

“Once operational, Google will purchase power from the 615-MW plant as a 24/7 carbon-free energy source to help power Google’s growing cloud and AI infrastructure in Iowa, while also strengthening local grid reliability.”

The Department of Energy said that it is directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to initiate rulemaking it has proposed to give FERC jurisdiction over the interconnections of loads larger than 20 MW, to “rapidly accelerate” their addition to the grid.

The rule cites load growth driven by AI and manufacturing, which will require “unprecedented and extraordinary quantities of electricity,” as the reason for an altered approach to large load interconnection.

Convenience stores have been slowly moving into electric vehicle charging in recent years, but leaders from several companies said they’re having a tough time justifying continued expansion as consumer perceptions of EVs have shifted in the U.S.

“The business case isn’t there quite honestly,” said Joe Hamza, chief operating officer for Nouria, during an industry roundtable in August. “We spent a lot of resources and money doing so, but we’re not getting the return right now.”

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) voted to suspend and investigate a proposed rate increase by PPL Electric Utilities Corporation.

The increase would affect nearly 1.5 million customers in 29 counties in central and eastern Pennsylvania.

The PUC voted 5-0 to investigate PPL’s proposed rate increase, which was filed on Sept. 30, and seeks an annual increase in revenues of $356.3 million, a 33.4% increase.

Ontario and the federal government are spending a collective $3 billion to build Canada’s first small modular reactors, a new nuclear energy technology to be built next door to the Darlington power plant.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who joined Premier Doug Ford in Bowmanville Thursday to announce the new spending, said he has added the Darlington New Nuclear Project to his list of projects deemed to be in the national interest and therefore worthy of fast-tracking.