Electric Utilities

Nuclearelectrica, a state-owned Romanian nuclear power company, announced on Thursday that it had made a decision to invest in a small modular plant. This could be the first project in Europe using this technology. The project in central Romania, Doicesti, is to have six reactors with a capacity total of 460MW. It will be using technology from the U.S. NuScale Power. Romanian Nuclearelectrica holds a 50% stake in the joint-venture. The first reactor is the final investment decision, and the other five are dependent on the success of the technology. The original deadline of 2029 for the finalization of the...

Exelon, a U.S. utility, forecast a profit for the full year that was largely higher than analysts' estimates after beating fourth-quarter earnings expectations. This was due to rising electricity rates and increasing power demand. In afternoon trading, shares of the Chicago-based firm rose 8.8%, to $48.24. This is the highest price since October 2025. U.S. utilities have raised prices and increased capital expenditures to improve infrastructure to keep up with the'surge in demand for power from tech giants who are building data centers as they race to support 'advanced artificial intelligence related tasks. Exelon, a company that serves over 10.9...

Executives with American Electric Power said on Thursday that the company's five-year capital expenditure plan will exceed $72 billion, as it doubles the number of power contracts signed with data centers. U.S. electric demand is increasing at an unprecedented rate. Utilities are investing more to meet the growing demand from Big Tech, as they build data centers for complex AI-related tasks. AEP claims that 80% of AEP's growth is driven by hyperscalers such as?Alphabet’s Google, Amazon.com, and Meta. AEP shares reached a new record high, and last traded at $127.38 per share. AEP has now signed agreements for 56 gigawatts...

Exelon, a U.S. utility company, forecast a full-year adjusted profit that was largely higher than analysts' expectations. This came after the company surpassed fourth-quarter earnings predictions. The increase in electricity rates and increased?power consumption were to blame. U.S. utilities have raised their prices and increased capital expenditures to improve infrastructure to keep up with the surge of power demand by tech giants who are building data centers in a race to support "advanced artificial intelligence tasks". Exelon has projected a capital expenditure of $41.3 billion over the next four-year period, up from $38 billion. "With a $41.3bn?four-year?capital plan and 7.9%...

PG&E, the utility company, tightened its profit forecast for full year?on Thursday. It raised its lower end as it expects to see strong?power demand?driven?by data _centers and broader %load growth. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the combination of AI data centers in the technology industry and the accelerating electrification at home and business will push U.S. energy demand to new records by?2026. The?utility announced last year that it would spend $73 billion on transmission upgrades by 2030 to keep up with the surge in demand for electricity caused by data centers. Since its third-quarter update the company has...

American Electric Power exceeded Wall Street expectations of fourth-quarter profits?on Thursday and announced that it would increase its?five year capital expenditure plan to $72 billion in order to meet the surge in?demand for electricity. U.S. electric?demand? is increasing at an?unprecedented rate, as utilities increase investments to meet the growing demand from Big Tech to set up data centres to support AI-related complex tasks. AEP has been one of the main beneficiaries of this demand surge, with 80% of its growth driven by large hyperscalers such as Alphabet’s Google, Amazon.com, and Meta. AEP's share price rose by 1.7% during premarket trading....

Entergy, the U.S. electric company, forecast earnings for 2026 below Wall Street expectations on Thursday after it missed estimates for its 'fourth quarter profit. The demand for electricity has increased due to the large industrial consumers and new high-load users. However, higher operating costs, financing?costs, and capital requirements have weighed on utilities' margins and short-term profits. Entergy’s operating and maintenance costs grew 8.6% on an annual basis in the fourth quarter, to $26.67 a megawatt-hour (MWh). Full-year O&M expenses and nuclear refueling expenses rose 1.2%. In 2025, the company's debt level increased by nearly 7% on an annual basis to...

The Trump administration's impending repeal of an Obama-era finding that greenhouse gasses pose a threat to public health could lead to a new avenue for filing suits against power-plant operators, among other companies. Legal experts warned that the policy reversal could lead to an increase in "public nuisance" lawsuits, which were previously blocked by the Supreme Court's 2011 ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency should regulate greenhouse gas emissions instead of courts. Legal experts say that now that the EPA has abandoned this regulatory effort, it is likely that the legal shield created in 2011 will unravel. Robert Percival is...

The U.S. Transportation Department announced on Tuesday that it is proposing to increase the 'American content' of federally-funded electric vehicle charging stations from a minimum of?55% up to a maximum percentage, and to require their production in the United States. This could present significant obstacles to the use the funds. In 2023, the Biden administration agreed to waive certain "Buy America' requirements for the $5 Billion government-funded program that aims to expand electric vehicle charging stations. Once the changes are finalized, the proposal would go into effect immediately. The Department of Energy believes that manufacturers are able to manufacture EV...

The latest example of local opposition to the expansion of server warehouses in the U.S. is a county commission that denied Talen Energy's request on Tuesday to rezone hundreds of acres of land. Residents in the surrounding communities had been protesting the project for months, voicing their concerns about the impact on the environment and the increase of power bills. Talen said in a press release that it would continue to monitor the situation. The company stated that it was grateful for the opportunity to have a continuing conversation with Montour County residents and leaders about the proposed project. This...

Solstice Advanced Materials announced on Tuesday that it would?increase production of uranium-hexafluoride?by about 20% at its Metropolis Works facility?in Illinois by 2026.?As increasing nuclear demand?strains?the U.S. fuel?supply?chain?. The producer of specialty chemicals that Honeywell spun off in October said that the expansion will increase its output from 2024 to over 10 kilotonnes. Metropolis is currently the only US facility capable of converting uranium to uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a critical input for enriching nuclear fuel. Global nuclear fuel supply chains are becoming tighter due to renewed interest in nuclear energy, driven by concerns about energy security and the rising demand for...

Duke Energy announced on Tuesday that it had increased its five-year investment?plan for power infrastructure to $100 billion. This is an 18% increase from the previous?iteration. It has now become the largest capital spending plan?for any U.S. regulated utility. U.S. energy companies are increasing their spending plans at record levels, as power demand forecasts in the United States rise after years of stagnation. The growth is driven by the proliferation and energy-intensive data centres of the tech industry. U.S. energy demand is expected to hit Record highs The U.S. Energy Information Administration has stated that the U.S. will reach a...

Officials said that Russian drones bombarded the southern Ukrainian city Odesa overnight. They killed three people and injured 25 others, as Moscow intensified its strikes to push Kyiv into giving up 'fighting. The attack was part of a winter campaign by Moscow to strike Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Kyiv is under pressure from the United States to accept a peace agreement to end the almost four-year-old war. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said that Russia launched over 50 drones in Odesa. He described this as an "brutal attack" on the city. Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are preparing for a new round...

MOSCOW, January 25. The town that is home to Russia's largest naval base had to switch over?to an emergency generator after old power lines collapsed during bad weather. This cut off electricity and some heating. Severomorsk is the most important naval command in Russia. It's located on the Kola bay of the Barents Sea. The Russian Navy's most important command is located in the closed town of Severomorsk, which is home to Russia's largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines. It also controls a vast arsenal of nuclear warheads and missiles as well as repair yards. Andrei Chibis, governor of the...

China has halted imports of Russian electric power, the?Kommersant?newspaper reported Friday. Citing sources who are familiar with the situation, and citing high prices, Russia stated that it was prepared to resume sales, and talks were in progress. The Chinese government did not respond immediately to a comment request. The Russian energy ministry said that the first priority was to meet the rising demand for electricity in Russia's Far East but it could resume supplying to China if the terms agreed. It said that "Russia could resume electricity exports from China if Beijing makes a similar request and mutually beneficial terms...

Denys Schmyhal, the outgoing chief of defence in Ukraine, was not approved as Energy Minister by Ukrainian lawmakers. This is a rare rebuke to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy who is attempting to shake up important sectors at this critical time in the war against Russia. Shmyhal was appointed by Zelenskiy, the former prime minister, to "steer" an energy sector hampered by allegations of corruption and Russian attacks on infrastructure. Last year, the last permanent energy ministry was dismissed in a corruption scandal that implicated also her predecessor. Shmyhal’s appointment failed to receive the 226 votes needed, with only 210 legislators voting...

Odesa, Ukraine's southernmost port city, and the surrounding area suffered major blackouts on Saturday following a massive overnight?Russian assault?on power grid which left more than one million households without electricity. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said that Russia attacked Ukraine using more than 450 drones as well as 30 missiles. Zelenskiy, a Telegram user, wrote that the attack had a major impact on our energy system in the south, and particularly on Odesa. He added that thousands of families across Ukraine were without electricity. Yulia Svyrydenko, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, said that it was a major attack on...

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned on Friday what they called Russian attacks on critical substations that supply external power to Ukraine's nuclear reactors. A ministry statement released late Friday stated that Russia had carried out "targeted attacks" on these substations. It added that "Deliberate attacks on civilian energy installations which directly affect the safe operations of nuclear facilities bear the hallmarks and are a grave breach of international humanitarian laws." The ministry referred back to a Thursday statement by the U.N. nuclear monitor, the International Atomic Energy Agency. It reported that military activity had "caused damage to critical substations for...

Ilya Rebrov, the deputy director general of Rosatom's Chinese division, was quoted on Thursday as saying that Rosatom had made significant progress in placing bonds on the Chinese market. Interfax reported that Rebrov stated that a placement would take months or even weeks. He said that despite the "pressure" Russian industry was under, Rosatom managed to get a rating by a Chinese credit rating agency. It also took decisions which had brought it closer to its goal of being able raise debts in China. Atomenergoprom, Rosatom's power unit, received a "AAA" credit rating in April from China's Dagong Global Capital...

The Russian nuclear company Rosatom and France’s EDF have positioned large nuclear power plants as the cornerstone for their engagement with India. They are also exploring small modular reactors to be used in targeted applications. India wants to increase its nuclear power production capacity from the current 8 gigawatts to 100 gigawatts in 2047. Reports from April indicated that India was easing rules for foreign entities to be able to own minority stakes nuclear power projects. Rosatom and Indian partners are discussing a range of energy solutions, including large-scale NPPs as well as small modular reactors. Katerina Astashina (South Asia...

Rosatom, Russia's nuclear energy monopoly, has begun development of the Shirondukuyskoye Uranium Deposit in Eastern Siberia. The company plans to produce its first uranium in this deposit by 2028. The deposit, located near Krasnokamensk in the Russian region of the Far East, close to China and Mongolia borders and the city known as the "uranium capitol of Russia", has an estimated 8,000 tons uranium reserves and 40,000 tonnes of molybdenum. The division stated in a press release that "the development of the Shirondukuyskoye Deposit is an important step in the development and growth of Russia's Uranium Mining Industry". It added...

Rosatom, a Russian company, has filed a suit in Moscow against Finland’s Fortum and Outokumpu. The lawsuit demands 227,8 billion roubles (2.8 billion dollars) as compensation for losses resulting from the termination of the contract for the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant in Finland. The dispute between Rosatom and the former Finnish partners over the cancelled contract dates back to May 2022. This was when the Finnish partner terminated the contract shortly after the conflict in Ukraine 2022 began. They cited significant delays, risks of political nature, and doubts regarding the feasibility of the project. Rosatom, which announced its intention to...

According to a Wednesday decree, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized Armenian investment firm Balchug Capital, to purchase shares held by Goldman Sachs Russian subsidiary, in nine major Russian companies, mainly in the energy sector. Balchug Capital, Goldman Sachs and other companies did not respond immediately to our requests for comments. Balchug Capital is The green light According to a separate order, the U.S. Bank will purchase Goldman Sachs’ subsidiary in Russia by January. This will allow the bank to exit the Russian market, and to extract some of the capital that is stuck there. Since the beginning of the Ukraine...

Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that he will speak with Vladimir Putin of Russia on Tuesday to discuss ending the Ukraine conflict. The question of who controls the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is likely to play a major role in the discussions. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of drone attacks and military activity around Zaporizhzhia - Europe's biggest nuclear plant - and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned about the dangers of a catastrophe there for years. The plant is located 500 kilometers (300 miles), away from the site where the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster, which...