/ Energy News

Nine First Nations have filed two new Federal Court applications seeking to quash Ottawa’s designation of the proposed Pacific Link oil pipeline as a project of national interest, alleging inadequate consultation.

The challenges follow a similar case filed in October by Cold Lake First Nations in Alberta, raising the total number of legal challenges against the pipeline’s approval process.

Exelon utilities could spend $3 billion to $7 billion building 1.5 GW to 3.5 GW of regulated energy storage, not including a $1 billion, 500-MW project already proposed for New Jersey, company officials said Friday during an earnings call.

Exelon’s current capital expenditure plan calls for investing $16.3 billion on transmission through 2029, and the Chicago-based company sees opportunity for $12 billion to $17 billion in transmission spending beyond that plan, including on infrastructure for large loads.

In a recent meeting, the city council voted unanimously to explore alternatives to DTE Energy after a tornado left thousands of residents without power.

The city had a public electric utility until 2013 when the city was facing bankruptcy.

Blackstone and four major Canadian pension funds are paying US$1.6-billion for a 49.9-per-cent stake in a Mitsubishi subsidiary that holds a share of LNG Canada, with a further US$1.5-billion committed to expansion.

LNG Canada operates Canada’s first natural-gas export terminal in Kitimat, B.C.; a confirmed second phase will double annual output to 28 million tonnes.

Hubbell’s Electrical Solutions segment saw organic sales rise 22% year over- year, Chief Financial Officer Joe Capozzoli said. Sales to data centers rose more than 80% — exceeding the company’s expectations for the year — while demand from light industrial and other nonresidentialmarkets remained strong.

CEO Scott Straziktouted GE Vernova’splanned acquisition of Trench Group in a $9 billion deal the parties expect to close in late 2027. Trench Group has more than 800 utility and hyperscalercustomers for its bushings, instrument transformers and coils, according to GE Vernova.

CenterPoint Energy expects to see 14 GW of new demand online through 2030, and has added $4 billion to the utility’s 10-year capital investment plan, company officials said Tuesday in a third-quarter earnings call with analysts.

Total planned capital expenditures through 2035 stand at $70.7 billion, up from $66.7 billion the company announced in July.

An amended complaint filed with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) cites approximately $178.4 million in proposed network upgrades associated with a hyperscale data centercampus.

The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) alleges that $21.5 million would be assigned to the data centercustomer, while $156.9 million would be allocated to other ratepayers.

Alberta’s power regulator has approved a 920-megawatt power-plant project intended to service a large-scale data centre northeast of Edmonton.

The power plant will be constructed and operated by Heartland Power Generation LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Beacon Group Holdings Inc., which holds a controlling interest in data-centre developer Beacon Data Centers Inc.

NextEra Energy has secured definitive agreements to build three federally backed energy “hubs” and has a pipeline of 30 to 40 such projects, Chairman, President and CEO John Ketchum said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

Two of the hubs, to be built in Texas and Pennsylvania, are backed by the Government of Japan and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The United States will pursue trade negotiations rather than implementing fresh tariffs following a Section 232 investigation into wind turbine imports, according to a proclamation President Donald Trump signed Thursday.

Based on the results of the probe, which was launched in August 2025 by the Commerce Department, Trump directed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to jointly open or continue discussions with trading partners to address concerns tied to imports of wind turbines and their components.

The PUC required Xcel Energy — the state’s largest electricity provider with 1.6 million customers — to develop a “large load tariff,” a set of requirements designed to protect retail customers from the cost of data centers and other high-demand electricity customers.

Xcel Energy filed its proposed tariff in April and since then it has been the focus of a debate between environmental and consumer advocates who want even tougher protections and business and data centergroups seeking to trim requirements.

Dominion Energy, which serves the booming Data CenterAlley in northern Virginia, disclosed an annual utilization rate of 41% between July 2025 and 2026, indicating there’s a lot of potential headroom to serve additional loads particularly if electricity demand can be controlled or shifted, the utility said. During infrequent peak hours, however, the grid operates at an average 80% capacity, though that rate is higher or lower depending on the location.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, D, has proposed a six-year rate freeze as part of a suite of conditions she says state regulators should impose if they approve a proposed merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy that could create the largest regulated electric utility in the world.

“Any proposed merger involving Virginia’s primary state-regulated utility must benefit families, small businesses, and Virginia’s workforce — not just the shareholders of these multi-billion-dollar corporations,” Spanberger said in a statement Monday.

NATO allies Canada and Turkey are expected ‌to sign a joint declaration aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation in four areas, including defence and energy, during Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit later this week, a person briefed on the matter said.

Turkey anticipates that energy discussions will also include potential purchases by Turkey of liquefied natural gas from Canada as well as critical minerals, according to the person briefed on the matter.