Electric Utilities

Keidanren Japan's largest business lobby has invited Elliott Investment Management, an activist investor, to a private meeting on March 5, to discuss corporate governance issues. This was revealed in a notice to member firms. Elliott has recently been active in Japan, taking stakes in large companies like Toyota Industries, Tokyo Gas and Kansai Electrical Power. They are all members of the lobbying group. This rare meeting highlights the growing influence of shareholder activist in Japan. Keidanren is a corporate pillar that seeks to have a direct dialogue with the most powerful hedge fund in the world. A portfolio manager for...

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...

U.S. Electric Grid Operators on Saturday increased precautions to prevent power shortages and rotating blackouts, as the?cold weather that affected nearly half of the country's residents increased stress?on their operations. The PJM interconnection, the largest regional?grid in the United States that?serves 67,000,000 people in the East & Mid-Atlantic, reported a temporary spike in spot wholesale prices on Saturday morning to almost $3,000 per megawatt-hour from levels as low as $200 per MWh. Stormy weather and temperatures around 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 C), pushed up demand for electricity and caused some operators to close down natural gas production in key basins....

The two firms announced Thursday that Defiance ETFs has launched with Futurum Equities a 'new exchange-traded funds aimed at providing access to stocks they believe will be of most interest to individual investors. This group is becoming a more significant force on the U.S. Stock Market. The Defiance Retail Kings ETF is an actively managed portfolio that will include between 30 and fifty stocks. This team believes it will appeal to self-directed retail investors interested in high-growth investment opportunities. The ETF's supporters say that the fund does not attempt to capture the latest vagaries in the meme stock universe. This...

Southern California Edison filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, Southern California Gas, and water agencies on Friday. They allege that they are responsible for the deadly Eaton Fire, which devastated thousands of homes and businesses last year. SCE, which is owned by Edison International, filed complaints in the Los?Angeles Superior Court where more than 1,000 lawsuits were filed by business and residential owners to hold SCE accountable for the destruction of property that occurred. The Eaton Fire erupted on January 7, 2025 and tore through Southern California. It killed 19 people, destroyed more than 9,400 homes, and destroyed other...

The White House on Saturday urged the U.S. largest electric grid to hold an "emergency auction" to prevent rolling blackouts, as data center energy demands are growing faster than the country's ability to build new generation plants. The Trump Administration initiative calls for PJM Interconnection, a company that serves 67,000,000 customers across 13 states, including Washington, D.C., and conducts an emergency auction to address escalating prices of electricity and increasing reliability risks in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States. PJM will unveil its plan on Friday. PJM has been criticized for its slow response to the rising demand and...

The S&P?500 edged up in choppy trades ahead of the long holiday weekend on Friday. Wall Street was looking to wrap up a week of turbulence that marked the?start?of fourth-quarter earnings. Micron and Seagate Technology, which manufacture memory chips, gained 5,6% and 2,2% respectively in 2025. This is a continuation of their explosive gains from 2025. After President Donald Trump suggested that he might want to keep Kevin Hassett as his economic adviser, the Treasury yields increased. This lowered market expectations that Hassett will succeed Fed chair Jerome Powell. The odds of Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, becoming the...

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv in Ukraine's capital, said that Kyiv only has half the electricity it needs as it is facing its worst?wartime energy crises following waves of?Russian attacks against its infrastructure. Klitschko stated that Kyiv is one of the largest cities in Eastern Europe and requires 1,700 Megawatts per day of electricity to run its services. Klitschko stated that the current energy crisis is the greatest challenge facing the capital since the Russian invasion of February 2022. In an interview at his office in the heart of Kyiv, Klitschko said, "This is the first time ever in...

Wall Street's major indexes were higher on Friday, as chipmakers took the lead in a volatile and busy week. It was also the beginning of the fourth quarter earnings season. Memory chip makers led the gains. Micron, Seagate Technology, and SanDisk all saw their shares rise between?2% to 7%. This is a continuation of their explosive growth in 2025. The iShares Semiconductor ETF rose 2.1% on the Friday, extending its rally of nearly 12% so far this season, which has easily beaten Nasdaq's 1.2% gain. This shows investor confidence in AI-driven chip demand. Even after S&P 500 and Dow set...

S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones are set to open higher on Friday. Chipmakers have taken the lead in a volatile market week which also marked the start of fourth-quarter earnings. Memory chipmakers have led the way, with Micron Western Digital Seagate Technology, and SanDisk up between 3.6% and 5.0%, extending their explosive gains in 2025. The iShares Semiconductor ETF rose 1.8% on the Friday, extending its rally of nearly 12% so far this season, which has easily beaten Nasdaq's 1.2% gain. This shows investor confidence in AI-driven chip demand, even as money is shifting out of heavyweight tech companies...

Two sources familiar with the situation have confirmed that governors of states in the United States experiencing a rapid increase in data center construction are expected to visit the White House this Friday, and sign an agreement with Trump's administration to reduce rising electricity prices. The agreement sets price caps on future auctions for the PJM grid, which covers 67 million people across the mid-Atlantic region and inland states. It also forces new data center operators such as Amazon and Google to pay a larger share of the cost to expand the grid. The White House event is part of...

Duke Energy Florida, a U.S. utility, announced on Wednesday that the storm cost recovery charge will be removed from customers' bills a month sooner than originally planned. Costs are related to the company's response of nearly $1.1 billion dollars to hurricanes Debby Helene and Milton. For this, the Florida?Public Service Commission had received a plan from the company in late 2024. The utility announced that residential customers would see a?reduction of about $33 in their monthly bill starting in February, and another $11 in March, bringing the total?reductions up to $44 from levels in January. Commensurate with the reduction in...

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...

On Saturday, almost 4,000 flights in the U.S. were cancelled ahead of a monster storm that already has?cut off power to thousands utility customers as far as Texas? and threatens to paralyze east states with heavy snowfall. Forecasters predicted that a monster winter storm, which has already 'cut power to thousands of utility customers as far west as Texas,' and threatened to paralyze eastern states with heavy snowfall, will sweep across the eastern two thirds of the country on Sunday, and continue into next week. Donald Trump, who called the storms historic, approved federal disaster declarations on Saturday in South...

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), after completing inspections, will restart a reactor on Wednesday at the?Kashiwazaki - Kariwa?nuclear plant. This is its first move of this kind since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. TEPCO announced that it would bring online the 1,36 gigawatt reactor (GW) No. 6 after 7 pm (1000 GMT). The reactor No. 6, which is one of seven in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's nuclear power plant, can produce 8.2 GW at full capacity. TEPCO investigated an alarm malfunction. TEPCO reported that the equipment was working normally as of early Wednesday morning. Reactor No. Reactor No. Reactor No. Reactor No. 7...

NHK, the public broadcaster, reported Monday that Tokyo Electric Power has delayed its'restart of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa nuclear power plants, which was originally scheduled for 'January 20th. TEPCO would have had to restart its reactors for the first time since Fukushima Daiichi was struck by a powerful tsunami in 2011. The company planned to restart Unit No.6 in Kashiwazaki Kariwa on January 20th and Unit No. The company had planned to restart Unit No.6 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa on Jan 20 and Unit?No. NHK, citing its sources, stated that the delay was caused by an alarm malfunction which occurred during equipment tests...

The nuclear watchdog in Japan said that it will order Chubu Electric Power on Wednesday to submit a report detailing?falsified data? and pause the review of its utility's application?to restart?its only atomic power plant. The Nuclear Regulation Authority in Japan (NRA) warned that it would take a harsh action against Chubu Electric after discovering the utility had manipulated data used for the reviews of its No. The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) of Japan had?previously?warned against a severe response towards Chubu Electric, including scrapping the review altogether after it was revealed that data used in the reviews of reactors No. Hamaoka,...

Experts say that the Japanese plan to grant authorities the authority to order foreign investors retroactively to divest acquisitions aims to protect major companies and supply chains. However, it is unlikely to curb increased M&A activity, they add. Japan proposed Wednesday amendments to its foreign investment screening laws that would give authorities the option to force foreigners into selling investments they deem to be a risk to national or economic security. The proposals are part of a push by the Japanese government to reduce risks associated with a?an?inflow?of foreign money into Japan's economy and to maintain control over its key...

The European Commission announced on Monday that it had opened an investigation to determine whether the public support that Czech Republic plans to provide for?the construction and operation of two new nucleonic units is in compliance with EU State Aid rules. After EDF France's appeals were rejected, the Czech Republic's Competition Authority in April cleared the path for the signing of contracts with South Korea for two units in Dukovany worth at least $400 billion Czech crowns ($19.30billion) after they?rejected their appeals. In a press release, the Commission stated that it had "doubts" about the 'appropriateness' and 'proportionality? of the...

An official from the China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) research arm said that China would begin commercial operation of the Linglong One small modular reactor in the first half of 2026. The APC100 reactor, also known as APC100 was the first SMR approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2016. The first project to use the Linglong One technology, CNNC's project on China's island of Hainan began in 2021. Wang Zhenqing of the China Institute for 'Nuclear Industrial Strategy', spoke at an international energy conference in Beijing. SMRs can be built faster and smaller than traditional reactors, and...

Swakop Uranium is a subsidiary owned by the China General Nuclear Power Group. It has entered into a joint venture agreement with Namibia’s water utility, NamWater to build Namibia's second desalination plant near Swakopmund. The plant is only the second one of its kind in Africa. It will help to bolster water supply to the country's biggest uranium mining operation, Husab. In a joint statement released on Tuesday, partners of the joint venture said that negotiations had ended successfully. The project implementation phase will now begin. Swakop Uranium holds 70% of the stake, and NamWater has the rest. According to...

U.S. utilities are racing to sign supply deals with data-center operators as the artificial-intelligence boom sparks a surge in power demand, setting the stage for higher profits in the coming quarters. Goldman Sachs reported in May that data centers will account for 8% (compared to 3%) of the electricity generated in the U.S. in 2030. Here are some of the deals that utilities have announced for 2024 and 2025. NextEra Energy has expanded its partnership to Alphabet’s Google Cloud in order to increase data center capacity across the U.S. by multiple gigawatts, and improve energy infrastructure. Meta Platforms has signed...

Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki stated on Friday that the restart of Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari Nuclear Power Plant in northern Japan was considered a real option at this time. Suzuki said he would take a final decision about the restart of the project after completing on-site inspections, and collecting feedback from the surrounding communities. The Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan approved a safety assessment for Tomari's 912-megawatt reactor No. The final step in the 12-year-long process of restarting Tomari's reactor No. Suzuki stated that, given the regulatory approvals, the new emergency response plan of the government, and the expectation...

On Friday, a Japanese regional governor will be expected to announce whether he is willing to allow a partial restart at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, which is the largest in the world, as Japan attempts to revitalize its nuclear sector while reducing fossil fuel imports. The approval of Niigata Prefecture governor Hideyo Haazumi will remove the final major obstacle for Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) in its plans to restart Kashiwazaki and Kariwa's two biggest reactors. TEPCO would be able to restart its power plant for the first time since March 2011, when the tsunami destroyed Fukushima Daiichi. This...