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☆ BP settles US natgas market manipulation case for $10.75 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) alleged that BP violated the Natural Gas Act by manipulating the next-day gas market at Houston Ship Channel from mid-September through Nov. 30, 2008. BP paid a civil penalty of $24,356,686 in December 2020 and disgorgement of unjust profits of $250,295 in January 2021 in the case. FERC said under the settlement BP will not seek return of the $250,295 of disgorgement it has paid. The case related to actions by BP traders to take advantage of market dislocations around the time Hurricane Ike smashed into the Houston area in September 2008. FERC's Office of Enforcement alleged BP traders made uneconomic physical gas sales to suppress the Houston Ship Channel Gas Daily index and boost the value of BP's financial position.

Persons: Ike, Scott DiSavino, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Bp, BP, U.S . Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Houston Ship Channel, U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Circuit, FERC, U.S . Court, Federal, FERC's, Enforcement, Houston Ship Channel Gas, Thomson Locations: U.S, Houston

☆ Activist Starboard prepares the groundwork to reduce leverage and build value at Algonquin Power
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Business: Algonquin Power is a renewable energy and utility company that provides energy and water solutions and services in North America and internationally. Algonquin Power is a utility company based in Canada with most of its assets in the United States. Instead, the acquisition would have added to an already over-leveraged balance sheet, putting Algonquin Power in an even less stable financial position. So, companies like Algonquin Power will close facilities and retire equipment and build new facilities and buy new equipment that can be added back into the rate base. Algonquin Power is a holding in the fund.

Persons: Arun Banskota, Ken Squire, Squire Organizations: Algonquin Power, Algonquin Power's, Kentucky Power, Federal Energy Regulatory, JPMorgan, 13D, Algonquin Locations: Algonquin, North America, Canada, United States, EBITDA

☆ Why the U.S. Electric Grid Isn’t Ready for the Energy Transition
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Nadja Popovich | Brad Plumer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +13 min

Power lines 100KV 345kV 500kV Data reflects the contiguous U.S. Power lines 100KV 345kV 500kV Data reflects the contiguous U.S. Power lines 100KV 345kV 500kV Data reflects the contiguous U.S. Power lines 100KV 345kV Data reflects the contiguous U.S. Power lines 100KV 345kV 500kV Data reflects the contiguous U.S. That makes it hard to build the long-distance power lines needed to transport wind and solar nationwide. To make the plan work, the nation would need thousands of miles of new high-voltage transmission lines — large power lines that would span multiple grid regions. Utilities are sometimes wary of long-distance transmission lines that might undercut their local monopolies. “The grid is already a critical element of our energy system,” said Matteo Muratori, an analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

☆ Exclusive: LNG developer Venture Global spars with customers over cargoes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Curtis Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Italian electric utility company, Edison SpA (EDNn.MI), in May brought an arbitration proceeding against Venture Global over its failure to supply cargoes, Edison's spokeswoman said. Venture Global described the complex at the time of its first cargo shipment last year as holding "the global record for the fastest large-scale greenfield LNG facility to ever be built." Edison and Repsol signed purchase contracts with Venture Global in 2017 and 2018, respectively. That volume irked contract customers who believe Venture Global took advantage of high spot LNG prices at their expense. In its reply to DOE, Venture Global chastised Repsol as an "impatient" customer.

Persons: Shaylyn Hynes, Hynes, Repsol, Portugal's, Edison, Venture Global's Hynes, Curtis Williams, Gary McWilliams, Paul Simao Organizations: HOUSTON, Venture Global LNG, U.S, LNG, Edison SpA, Venture Global, Repsol SA, U.S . Department of Energy, DOE, Venture, Reuters, Edison, Shell, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, General Electric Co, Thomson Locations: Calcasieu, Spanish, Arlington , Virginia, Cameron Parish , Louisiana, Europe, Russia, Ukraine

☆ Opinion | Congress Is Turning Climate Gaslighting Into Law
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Jonathan Mingle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

If completed, the Mountain Valley Pipeline will be a very large and long-lived methane delivery device. At the end of the line, the methane will be burned in power plants and furnaces, producing carbon dioxide. But now that wind, solar and battery storage are indeed quite ready and, in many places, cheaper than gas, the jig is up. Though the assertions that the pipeline is necessary and good for the climate defy logic, the political calculus is clear enough. Mr. Manchin was also a supporter of another large gas pipeline that would have originated in his state: the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which I have been reporting on since 2019.

Persons: Biden, Manchin Organizations: U.S . Energy, Administration, Congressional, Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

☆ Opinion | The New Climate Law Is Working. Clean Energy Investments Are Soaring.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Brian Deese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

The largest increase is projected to be in industrial and manufacturing activity for hydrogen, carbon capture, energy storage and critical minerals — areas key to long-term energy security. The law did not provide all the necessary tools to achieve national goals for expanding our supply of clean energy. First, lawmakers must make it easier to build clean energy infrastructure in America. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should more aggressively clear backlogs preventing clean energy projects from connecting to the grid. Policymakers should consider new incentives to expand energy capacity, like conditioning federal assistance to states and localities that reform land-use policies to allow clean energy development.

☆ Opinion | Speeding Up the Update of Our Electrical Grid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “We Desperately Need a New Electrical Grid. Otherwise, America will not be able to decarbonize our grid or our economy. Fortunately, the proposed Streamlining Interstate Transmission of Electricity (SITE) Act would provide F.E.R.C. has decades of experience approving interstate natural gas pipelines. has been more responsive to the legitimate needs of states and other stakeholders when siting pipelines.

May 8 (Reuters) - Vanguard Group, the largest provider of mutual funds, has secured regulatory approval to continue to own big stakes in U.S. power utilities, overcoming Republican concerns over its environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies. Regulators had previously allowed Vanguard to exceed that antitrust limit on the basis that this would not interfere with the utilities' operations. Vanguard countered that its funds do not exert control over the decisions of the utilities. Vanguard reiterated in a statement on Monday that it leaves "management decisions to companies and policy decisions to policymakers." A representative for Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, one of the leaders of the group challenging the FERC extension, said he would comment in coming days.

OMAHA, Nebraska, May 6 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett said on Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) is not planning to acquire Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N) but remains happy with its large investment in the oil company. Speaking at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting, Buffett rejected speculation that Berkshire would buy Occidental after having accumulated a 23.6% stake. "We will not be making any offer for Occidental," Buffett said. "Hollub is an extraordinary manager at Occidental," Buffett said. Last August, Berkshire won U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permission to buy up to 50% of Occidental's common stock.

☆ Amazon is the 500-pound gorilla in a room full of puppies when it comes to corporate buying of wind and solar power
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

In 2022, Amazon bought 10.9 gigawatts of clean power, making it the largest corporate buyer of renewable power in the world, according to data from the market research company BloombergNEF. It's also more than four times the amount of clean energy that the second-largest purchaser of clean power, Facebook parent company Meta , bought in 2022. Since 2019, Amazon has scaled from having one gigawatt of renewable energy to more than 20 gigawatts of publicly announced renewable power. Amazon is focused on building new wind and solar projects, Daitch told CNBC. But that's really more of a bridging solution and not our core strategy, which is around enabling new wind and solar projects," Daitch said.

☆ Wind and solar power generators wait in yearslong lines to put clean electricity on the grid, then face huge interconnection fees they can't afford
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

The local utility in charge of overseeing the interconnection process told Pine Gate it would be more than $30 million. Pine Gate had to terminate the project because it couldn't afford the new fees, its vice president of regulatory affairs, Brett White, told CNBC. "Those projects ended up withdrawing from the queue or terminating, because they don't pencil anymore," White told CNBC. "There is Texas, and then there's the rest of the country with respects to interconnection," White of Pine Gate told CNBC. And that means getting those engineers out of some of the rote manual data entry and into the actual analysis," White told CNBC.

☆ Berkshire Hathaway stake in Occidental Petroleum rises to 23.6%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 27 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) boosted its ownership stake in Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N) to about 23.6% after buying nearly 3.7 million additional shares. It now owns about 211.7 million Occidental shares worth $12.6 billion based on the oil company's closing price of $59.65 on Monday. In August, Berkshire won U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permission to buy up to 50% of Occidental's common stock. It also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock with an 8% dividend, plus warrants to buy another $5 billion of common shares at $59.62 each. Berkshire built a 22.6% stake in BNSF before paying $26.5 billion for the remainder in 2010.

☆ Why Blackouts, Power Outages Are Becoming More Common
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Taylor Dorrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Power outages have increased 64% from the early 2000s, and weather-related outages — many driven by the worsening climate crisis — have increased 78%. A record-breaking blizzard in Buffalo, New York, this winter caused power outages throughout the city, resulting in the deaths of 47 residents. In 2021, a heat wave led to power outages and the deaths of hundreds in the Pacific Northwest. While regional organizations might use fees to penalize companies for power outages, it's now much harder to pinpoint and hold a person or entity responsible. In the meantime, the climate crisis will continue to wreak havoc on an aging grid system that puts profits over reliability.

☆ Berkshire Hathaway resumes Occidental purchases, stake reaches 22.2%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Berkshire paid about $355 million for 5.8 million Occidental shares between March 3 and March 7, according to the filing. Buffett's company now owns about 200.2 million Occidental shares worth $12.2 billion, based on Tuesday's closing price of $60.85. Berkshire also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock that throws off $800 million of annual dividends, plus warrants to buy another $5 billion of common stock. Occidental ended January with about 900 million shares outstanding. Berkshire ended 2022 with $128.6 billion of cash and equivalents.

☆ U.S. regulators seek more answers from Freeport LNG to weigh restart request
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Freeport LNG Development LP FollowMarch 6 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators sent another list of questions seeking information to Freeport LNG on Monday, as they evaluate its request to restart full commercial operations of its export facility in Texas. Last month, the privately held LNG export facility, the second-biggest in the U.S., started to exit an eight-month outage that was caused by a fire in June 2022. FERC and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) sought answers on operating conditions and steps taken to improve safety. The request asked for "a status update on Freeport LNG’s hiring efforts to address operator fatigue and training status of the new hires," according to FERC's letter to Freeport. The fiery blast that knocked the facility offline last June resulted from inadequate operating and testing procedures, operator fatigue and other shortcomings, a review found.

☆ Why it's so hard to build new electrical transmission lines in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Building new transmission lines in the U.S. takes so long — if they are built at all — that electrical transmission has become a roadblock for deploying clean energy. Energy companies that build new transmission lines need to get a return on their investment, explains James McCalley, an electrical engineering professor at Iowa State University. "Someone that benefits more frequent transmission line will pay more than someone who benefits less from a transmission line." transmission lines, energy grid, clean energyGreat River Energy and Minnesota Power are in the early stages of building a 150-mile, 345 kilovolt transmission line from northern to central Minnesota. Engaging with all members of the respective community is a necessary part of any successful transmission line build out, Patel and Johnson both say.

☆ Natural gas prices fall to 25-month low as key Texas LNG facility looks to restart exports
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Natural gas prices declined to a 25-month low on Monday, falling as much as 5%. The fall came despite news that a key LNG export hub in Texas looks to restart operations. The Freeport liquefied natural gas plant first went offline in June of last year due to a fire. Meanwhile, forecasts for mild winter weather continued to weigh on natural gas prices as demand for the heating fuel lags. For now, natural gas is flowing to the Freeport plant even as exports have yet to resume.

☆ U.S. energy regulators questioned on oversight of Freeport, Texas, LNG plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Freeport LNG Development LP FollowFREEPORT, Texas, Feb 11 (Reuters) - U.S. energy regulators on Saturday assured Texas residents they are monitoring repairs and the eventual restart of the fire-idled Freeport LNG plant as a vessel this week began taking the first fuel out of its storage tanks in eight months. When fully operational, Freeport LNG processes about 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas and exports up to 15 million tonnes of LNG per year. Methane is the main component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas. Freeport LNG was invited to send a representative to Saturday's meeting, PHMSA said. Reporting by Arathy Somsekhar in Freeport, Texas Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ LNG developer NextDecade blasts inaction by U.S. energy regulator
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HOUSTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. liquefied natural gas developer NextDecade Corp (NEXT.O) on Monday criticized regulator the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for what it called "inexcusable" delays in reviewing information that would allow it to move ahead with a $15.7 billion export project. The court asked FERC to revisit its environmental review but did not invalidate the original approval. He called on FERC Chairman Willie Phillips to put the project on the commission's meeting agenda this month. The inaction "far exceeds the length of time FERC has taken to respond to other federal appellate court remands," wrote Schatzman. Reporting by Gary McWilliams in Houston Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Skyrocketing natural gas prices should be investigated for market manipulation, California Governor Gavin Newsom says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

California residents are paying nearly a 600% premium on natural gas prices, according to recent estimates. "It is clear that the root causes of these extraordinary prices warrant further examination," Governor Gavin Newsom said in a letter. While overall US gas prices have plunged to $2.80 per million British thermal units, down over 70% from their highs in August of last year, California's gas prices averaged $19.40 per million BTUs in early January, according to the Wall Street Journal. He added that natural gas prices affect the state's industrial, agricultural, and water utilities, and urged regulators to look into the market's price pressures in the west. I therefore ask that FERC immediately focus its investigatory resources on assessing whether market manipulation, anticompetitive behavior, or other anomalous activities are driving these ongoing elevated prices in Western gas markets," Newsom said.

There are "continued calls for violence directed at U.S. critical infrastructure," the agency warned last February, "as a means to create chaos and advance ideological goals." Law enforcement and utility companies, though, say they're working to resolve the open cases and prevent future attacks. Members of accelerationist groups have been charged with several plots in recent years to attack critical infrastructure. "The critical infrastructure element has become one of the core components of neo-fascist accelerationist movements in the US. "They don't really care who is doing the violence, who's doing the critical infrastructure attacks, Lewis said.

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Solar panels and home batteries have soared in popularity because they allow consumers to generate and store their own carbon-free power and save on their electricity bills. When used this way, they are called virtual power plants, or VPPs. "Virtual power plants are at the center of that." U.S. solar companies including Sunrun Inc (RUN.O) and SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) have pooled some of their customers' systems into virtual power plants in California, Hawaii and New England. Sunrun last year, for example, operated a virtual power plant with thousands of homes in New England that provided 1.8 gigawatt-hours to the grid during June through August.

☆ Biden names Phillips acting head of energy regulator
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FollowWASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden has named Willie Phillips, a Democrat, acting chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC said on Tuesday. Phillips joined the commission in December, 2021 after being appointed by Biden and approved by Congress. After Phillips joined FERC, that began to change as Democrats had a 3-2 majority and the Biden administration pursued policies to transition to low-carbon energy. But now Phillips is acting chairman, FERC will be locked at a 2-2 because the former head, Richard Glick, left FERC after Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat, did not hold a confirmation hearing to consider Biden's re-nomination of Glick. Phillips will serve as temporary chief of the commission as the Biden administration considers nominating a permanent chair.

☆ U.S. regulators to probe power outages during historic winter storm
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 28 (Reuters) - An inquiry will be opened into the power outages caused by extreme weather during historic winter storm Elliott, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other North American regulatory authorities said on Wednesday. FERC will probe operations of the bulk power system to identify performance issues and recommend solutions alongside the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and its six regional entities which encompass nearly 400 million customers, mainly in the U.S. and Canada. "This storm underscores the increasing frequency of significant extreme weather events and underscores the need for the electric sector to change its planning scenarios and preparations for extreme events,” said NERC CEO and President Jim Robb. And this was in the early weeks of a projected 'mild' winter," Robb said. Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Here's why the U.S. electric grid isn't running on 100% renewable energy yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

Intermittency and transmissionOne of the biggest barriers to a 100% renewable grid is the intermittency of many renewable power sources. Wind resources in the United States, according to the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. Solar resources in the United States, according to the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy.

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