Electric Utilities

Abu Dhabi's newest sovereign fund, L'IMAD 'Holding', led by the emirate’s 'crown prince', has increased its share in state-owned 'power and water utility TAQA' by a further '8.09%', TAQA announced on Wednesday. Abu Dhabi Power Corporation (a subsidiary of the fund) has completed the purchase of 9.1 billion TAQA share, bringing the total of its shares in the company to 98.12%. TAQA announced this in a bourse statement. In a separate filing, Two Point 'Zero Group stated that it sold TAQA's entire stake to AD Power in order to continue its "ongoing strategic aims and portfolio optimization." The company did...

Sempra, an energy infrastructure company, announced?on Wednesday it had received approvals for a number of new transmission projects in Texas. These, along with earlier go-aheads are expected to cost over $7 billion. Last week, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the operator of?the electricity grid in Texas, approved the new projects. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. electricity demand reached'record levels' in 2025, and it is expected to continue to rise 'this year as tech companies rapidly build data centers that use as much electricity as an entire town at one site. Sempra’s latest projects include new...

TransAlta Corp, a Canadian power producer, announced on Wednesday that it would 'acquire' two natural gas-fired peaks near Denver, Colorado, from Blackstone, for a price of $1 billion. This will strengthen its position in the Western U.S. energy market. As the power industry prepares to meet a rapidly growing electricity demand, driven in part by data centers that are power hungry, they have added flexible gas-fired capacities. The assets Mountain Peak Power and Canyon Peak Power have a combined 318 megawatts of capacity. They are contracted to long-term customers with high credit ratings for over?25years. The deal involves taking on...

Voss Capital, an activist investor, has asked Sempra to spin-off its Oncor unit. This would create a Texas-focused, high-growth utility that is not burdened by the $60 billion energy company's dominant California business. Houston-based hedge funds, which hold less than 1% of Sempra (roughly 2 million shares), argue that the newly independent Oncor Electric Delivery Company could be worth up to $78 billion at the end of 2028. Sempra owns around 80% of Oncor. Its stake in the spinoff would be more valuable than Sempra’s current market value. Voss says that it would be easier for investors to understand Sempra....

Talen Energy awarded CEO Mark "Mac McFarland" a stock-based compensation of more than $300 million after the Houston company emerged out of bankruptcy and generated an overall return for investors that was 620%. Shares of Talen have soared after its gas-fired plants capitalized on the booming demand for 'electricity by AI-driven data centres in the PJM interconnection, the U.S. largest regional?electric grid. Talen generated $461m in cash flow in the first quarter of 2018, compared with $119m in the same period last year. Talen announced this week that McFarland had received?887.163 shares in restricted and performance stock. According to Talen's...

Two people familiar with this matter say that the SoftBank Group has hired banks to prepare the initial public offerings for its energy and infrastructure developer SB Energy, and its planned autonomous robots spin-off Roze. This is as founder Masayoshi?Son ramps up his Japanese group's push to build out artificial intelligence infrastructure, amid strong investor interest in companies supporting AI buildout. SoftBank has hired JPMorgan Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Citi Mizuho and Mizuho to prepare SB Energy's IPO. The IPO could happen as soon as September, according to the sources. SB?Energy may seek a market valuation of over $50 billion,...

Nuclear power company Oklo said?on? Tuesday that the U.S. Energy Department has selected it for advanced talks about taking Cold War era plutonium - a dangerous, fissile substance - for use as potential fuel for nuclear reactors. Last year, it was reported that the Trump Administration plans to provide about 20 metric tonnes of Cold War-era Plutonium? from dismantled warheads to U.S. energy companies for use as reactor fuel. About a year ago, President Donald 'Trump' signed an executive ordnance ordering the U.S. Government to stop a large part of its program to dilute plutonium and dispose of it and...

The Trump administration further delayed on Thursday the planned closure of Units 3 and 4, at the Eddystone fossil fuel-fired power generation generating station in Pennsylvania, by ordering Constellation Energy Corp. to continue operations beyond the shutdown date. Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an emergency order directing PJM interconnection, the largest power grid in 'North America to work with Constellation Energy in order to ensure 'the two units are operational and to minimize costs for American people, the?Energy Department said in a press release. Wright stated that "energy sources which perform at their peak are the most valuable." This is...

SB Energy, a power?infrastructure company, has filed a confidential IPO in the United States, it said?on Wednesday. The firm is looking to capitalize on investor demand for new listings. Investors are driving the IPO market, and recent'strong debuts' of AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems as well as geothermal -energy firm Fervo Energy have boosted confidence in firms that want to tap into public markets. SpaceX filed for an IPO in the U.S. on Wednesday. SB Energy is a large-scale infrastructure project developer backed by the SoftBank Group and OpenAI. The company was founded in 2019 and is currently building data center...

The massive merger between NextEra and Dominion Energy may hinge on the ability of the combined company to keep electricity costs down, even as it rushes in order to supply energy-hungry data centers that are driving up consumer prices. NextEra?said?buying Dominion would allow it to quickly build new generation in areas where others have lagged, and connect proposed data centres waiting to start operations. These companies will have to pass multiple reviews by local, state and national regulatory agencies who will evaluate the consumer impact of rising power bills in certain U.S. areas due to the demand for AI data...

Lincoln International announced?on Tuesday that it had raised $421 in its U.S. Initial Public Offering, clearing the way for one of the rare public market debuts by an investment bank. Chicago-based boutique investment banks and their selling stockholders, who were based in Illinois, sold 21 million shares at $20 each, which was the upper end of the price range they had set. This gave the company an estimated value of $2.04 billion. The IPO market is fueled by a robust investor demand. Cerebras Systems, a company that makes AI chips, has made a stellar debut, which encourages companies to list....

According to a regulatory filing, Parabilis Medicines filed on Tuesday for an initial public offering in the United States. The company said it would use a portion of the proceeds from the IPO to help develop its drug pipeline. Investors' appetite for new listings is increasing after companies like?AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems, and geothermal power firm Fervo Energy have made strong debuts on the market. Parabilis, a biopharmaceutical firm in clinical development, is developing Helicons. This class of therapies targets proteins that are difficult to treat. The filing stated that the company's "lead drug" candidate, zolucatetide has been evaluated by?more...

NHK, the public broadcaster, reported that Japan aims to ensure a stable power supply by rebuilding between two and five nuclear reactors. The proposal, which will be presented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry during a meeting about nuclear policy, reflects an increased reliance on atomic power to help "meet increasing energy demand and reduce expensive fuel imports." After the Fukushima disaster in 2011, Japan closed its?54 nuclear reactors due to public concern about safety standards. 15 of the 33 units which are still operational have been restarted. Tokyo revised its energy policy last year to maximize the...

SoftBank Group is working with?banks? to prepare its initial public offerings (IPOs) for its energy and technology developer SB Energy, and its autonomous robotics spin-off Roze. This comes as Masayoshi son ramps up his Japanese group's push for artificial intelligence infrastructure, amid strong investor interest in companies that support AI buildout. SoftBank has hired JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Citi, Mizuho and Mizuho to handle SB Energy's IPO. The IPO could happen as soon as September, according to the sources. SB Energy may aim for a market valuation of over $50 billion, according to the sources. Sources say that...

Morgan Stanley analysts stated that advanced artificial intelligence tools can 'help reduce video game development costs by nearly half and unlock about $22 billion per year in profits for game makers around the world. In a note published on Tuesday, the brokerage stated that AI tools could be used to automate tasks such as creating game environments, generating dialog and testing software. This would help reduce production times and costs and increase margins. It added that gains will not be distributed equally across the gaming industry. Wall Street brokerage estimates that global consumer spending will reach $275 billion in video...

Karel Havilicek, Minister of Industry and Trade, said that the 'Czech Republic' will extend the life span of the four existing units at the Dukovany nuclear power plant by 20 years to 80 years and run them until 2065-2067. Dukovany was built by CEZ, a majority-owned state-owned company, in 1985-1987. Its Soviet-designed VVER nuclear reactors are capable of 2,000 megawatts. This decision follows other life extension decisions, particularly in France, as countries seek to ensure sufficient supplies following the gradual demise of fossil fuels. The 'decision' means that the old units will be running for a longer period alongside the...

On Thursday, France announced seven offshore wind projects totaling 10 gigawatts as well as smaller onshore and solar wind tenders. The country said it would favour domestic technologies as part of its quest to achieve energy independence. Due to the political gridlock regarding financing renewables, France is struggling with high debt. The two-year delay in tendering is due to this. Roland Lescure, Finance Minister, said that the projects will help France to further wean itself off of imported oil and natural gas. The Iran War continues to disrupt cargoes that are sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. This is expected...

Dan Lipman, the president of global business initiatives for 'Westinghouse', said that Japan and the United States have reached an agreement on their respective responsibilities in a possible?joint project between Westinghouse and Japanese manufacturers of nuclear power equipment. On Saturday, Dan Lipman, president of?global business initiatives at?Westinghouse's told? Sources told us this month that Japan and the U.S. were working together to include a nuclear project as part of a second tranche of deals in Japan's $550 billion investment package. The deal will involve Westinghouse. As nations seek to increase their domestic energy resources, the momentum for building nuclear facilities...

Tokyo Electric Power announced 'on Friday that it is likely to delay the start of commercial operations at the 'Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power station due to a minor leak in electricity transmission. TEPCO announced that it has decided to suspend?from the No. 6 reactor of the plant. The electricity leak was detected by an alarm in the reactor No. A spokesperson for the utility said that the utility had planned to restart commercial operations on March 18, but needed time 'to investigate the issue.' It is unclear how long this delay will last. The spokesperson stated that the reactor showed...

Kim Jung-kwan, South Korea's Industry Minister, said that Seoul was 'in talks' to invest in a nuclear project in the United States. This is part of Seoul’s pledge of investing $350 billion into U.S.-based projects. Seoul is scrambling to review its deals with Washington, after U.S. president Donald 'Trump' threatened to increase tariffs on goods imported to South?Korea by 25%. He blamed a delay of the Asian ally in implementing a trade agreement agreed last year. Kim responded to a question from a member of the parliamentary committee about Korea's potential investments in U.S. nucleopower plants by saying, "We are...

Is this the Art of the Deal, Gregor Stuart Hunter? U.S. president Donald Trump warned that trade partners should not "play games" and back out of recently agreed trade agreements after the Supreme Court ruled against his 'emergency tariffs. Some foreign governments want to check if they still have the same terms that were originally negotiated. Trump will "come out smokin'" in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, after the tariff setback. He may even take aim at the Supreme Court Justices who are seated there. However, governments in Asia still have concerns. Japan wants to know if...

Prices for two rare earths that are crucial to making super-strong magnets used in EVs or defence equipment have risen on the back of a?firm supply and a?firm demand. This is above an unprecedented price floor set by the U.S. As long as the price of MP Materials' neodymium & praseodymium remains above $110 per kilogram, the U.S. Government will not be required to subsidise the company. The price increase to $123 per kg, which is the highest level since July 2022 will also help other rare earth companies that Western governments are hoping will be able reduce their reliance...

A Trump administration official who is familiar with the plan revealed that President Donald Trump will launch a?strategic critical minerals stockpile? with $12 billion of seed money from the U.S. Export-Import Bank. The investment is a 'last ditch effort by Washington to counter what they perceive as Chinese price manipulation for minerals such as lithium, nickel, and rare earths, which are vital to items like electric vehicles, high-tech weapons, and many other products. Bloomberg News reported that the project, Project Vault will combine private financing with a $10 Billion loan from the EXIM Bank in order to stockpile minerals for...

Tokyo Electric -Power announced on Thursday that its subsidiary TEPCO Power grid will "sell" up to 26 million shares of its Kandenko affiliate as part restructuring efforts to improve the financial health of its company and pursue growth. The sale of shares, which is valued at approximately 150 billion yen (979 million dollars) based on Kandenko’s closing price on Thursday, forms part of Tepco’s plan, announced on Monday, to raise?about?200 billion yen by selling assets over the next three-year period. Tepco stated that the proceeds will be used to?capital invest in order to maintain a stable supply of electricity and...