Power Markets

CenterPoint Energy, a U.S. utility, posted higher-than expected third-quarter profits on Thursday, driven by regulatory recoveries and increasing industrial demand. This included new AI data centers in Houston, Texas. Houston Electric's industrial throughput has increased by over 11% in the past year. The Greater Houston region is experiencing strong economic growth, which is supported by the most diverse set of growth drivers within the sector. The impact of the CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells's initiative is not dependent on a single industry. U.S. Public power utilities are increasing their spending to meet the demand, as Big Tech builds more data centers...

Hungarian Foreign Ministry Peter Szijjarto told state news channel M1 on Wednesday that Hungary would start discussions on buying nuclear fuels from the United States in order to diversify its supplies. Szijjarto has been in Washington, D.C. since Tuesday. He said that Hungary needed more nuclear fuel for its expanding nuclear plant to meet its energy needs. It would continue buying nuclear fuels from Russia. Szijjarto said to state broadcaster M1 that "alongside the existing Russian suppliers relations, we are beginning consultations on purchasing nuclear fuel from the United States" in order to be capable of serving our increased nuclear...

Officials said that after a four-week power outage at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, repair work had begun on the damaged power lines off-site. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi stated that the work started after local ceasefire zones had been established to allow the repairs to progress. The plant produces no electricity at the moment, but it needs to produce power in order to keep fuel cool and prevent a meltdown. "Restoring off-site electricity is critical for nuclear safety and secure. Grossi wrote on the social media platform X that both sides had engaged with the IAEA in a constructive manner...

Chris Wright, the Energy Secretary of the United States, said that the Trump administration will start furloughing workers next week at the agency responsible for managing the U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons due to the shutdown. Wright stated in a posting on X, that furloughs would affect National Nuclear Security Administration employees who are "critical for modernizing our nuclear weapons." The NNSA is a semi-autonomous department of energy that also works in Ukraine to protect dangerous nuclear materials as the war against Russia continues. About 2,000 employees supervise 60,000 contractors who maintain and test weapons in national laboratories across the...

Meta Platforms announced on Wednesday that it will invest $1.5 billion into a data centre in Texas. This is the 29th facility of its kind in the world, as Meta Platforms expands infrastructure for artificial intelligence workloads. Meta Platforms' third data center in Texas is set to open in El Paso in 2028. It can scale up to 1 gigawatt, enough to power San Francisco for an entire day. This makes it one of the biggest planned data center campus in the U.S. According to filings by the companies, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft are expected to spend more than $360...

These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch their accuracy. Stellantis plans to invest $13 billion in order to produce more Jeeps, Dodge SUVs, and pickups in the U.S. The global automaker calls this the biggest investment it has ever made. Grindr confirmed Tuesday that it had received a note from Ray Zage, and James Lu. The letter expressed an interest in exploring whether the dating app could be taken private. - MGM Resorts International is no longer looking to turn its slot- and electronic-game-focused Empire City...

Iran is open to a "fair and balanced proposal" from the United States, but Tehran still hasn't received any negotiation proposal, said Iran's top diplomat on Saturday. Abbas Araqchi, Iran's foreign minister, told state TV that he would consider any American proposal for negotiation if it was reasonable, fair, and balanced. Araqchi, however, said that Tehran would not give up "its right to enrich uranium", but could take confidence-building steps regarding "the peacefulness of its nuclear program." Araqchi added that Washington and Tehran had been exchanging messages via mediators. Israel, the United States and its European allies accuse Tehran, of...

Holtec, a private nuclear power company, announced this week that it was abandoning a plan to store radioactive waste in New Mexico despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June which gave some hope for projects aiming at storing the material. The Supreme Court threw away a legal challenge in June by Texas, New Mexico, and some oil companies against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing of nuclear storage projects in the drilling country. Some believed that this opened the door to temporary storage for these states. New Mexico lawmakers and the Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham are opposed to storing...

Three people with knowledge of the situation said that Germany's PSI Software, a maker of software to manage energy networks, is on the verge being acquired by a group financial investors. One source said that PSI is looking for funding to develop next-generation products. PSI is currently recovering from last year's cyberattack. Sources said that among the potential suitors were technology investors Thoma, HgCapital, and Warburg Pincus. A decision could be reached within the next couple of days. PSI's software, which helps power and gas grids, as well as factories run, posted a loss of 15,2 million euros (17.62 million...

Gauss Fusion is a German tech company that announced on Thursday that it would hand over Europe's very first fusion plant design within 10 days to the German Chancellery. Milena Rodeda, CEO of Gauss Fusion, was to present the design during a climate conference hosted by Germany's BDI Industry Federation. This event is just a few days after the German Government announced a 2 billion euro Fusion Action Plan that will last until 2029. Why does it matter? Germany has said that it wants to go beyond basic research to adopt an industrial-led approach. It is positioning itself as the...

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday that the Short-Term Energy Outlook, or STEO, will show record levels of natural gas production and demand in 2025. EIA predicted that dry gas production would increase from 103.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2024, to 107.1 bcfd by 2025, and 107.4bcfd by 2026. This compares to a record of 103.6 bcfd for 2023. The agency also predicted that domestic gas demand will increase from 90.5 bcfd, a record in 2024, to 91.6 bcfd by 2025 and 2026. The EIA forecasts from September were 106.6 bcfd in production and 91.5...

The founders Fermi America, a company that hopes to build the largest data center in the world and fuel it using nuclear power, solar, and gas, said on Wednesday, foreign countries may take an equity stake. Fermi made its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, with shares valued at $14.8 billion. Investors are increasingly interested in AI infrastructure stocks. Founders Rick Perry and Toby Neugebauer, a former U.S. Energy Secretary in the first Trump administration, want to build a site near Amarillo in Texas that will have four Westinghouse Electric AP1000 nuclear reactors. This would be the second U.S. plant to be...

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine has been reconnected to external power by engineers who repaired a damaged line of high voltage, the station's Russian-installed managers announced on Thursday. In the first weeks after the Ukraine war, Russian troops seized the plant, Europe's biggest with six reactors. The plant currently does not produce electricity but it needs external power in order to cool down the nuclear fuel, avoiding the possibility of a meltdown. The International Atomic Energy Agency, U.N. nuclear watchdog, has prioritized the safety of this site, given the nearby fighting. Russia and Ukraine have often accused each...

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said that Russian missiles fired at night ignited fires in several districts and scattered debris, shattering glass and damaging cars. Klitschko, who posted on Telegram, said that emergency services were dispatched at several sites to clean up the debris left by the air weapons, but there had been no reports of casualties. Witnesses heard what sounded as if air defence units were in operation. It was not immediately known the size of the attack and the primary target. Klitschko claimed that the attack was carried out using ballistic missiles. Russia has not yet commented....

Officials said that a new Russian attack in the border region of Chernihiv, Ukraine, on Monday knocked power out to large areas of the northern part of the country. This included the main town near the decommissioned Chornobyl Nuclear Power Station. Chernihivoblenergo (the local power company) in the area said that the latest attack targeted an energy site but refused to identify it. Yuri Fomichev said that a part of Slavutych in Kyiv Region, located 45 km (28miles) west of Chernobyl, had lost electricity in the incident. The water supply system of the town was switched to reserve power, and...

The Kremlin announced on Monday that Russia is ready to expand its cooperation with Iran across all fields. Moscow maintains close ties with Tehran. It has condemned the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear sites in early this year, which were conducted with the stated goal of preventing Tehran acquiring a nuke bomb. Iran denies building a nuclear weapon. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, was asked by reporters to comment on how Russia viewed events surrounding Iran's nuclear program and whether Moscow would strengthen ties with Tehran. "Russia is ready to expand its cooperation with Iran across all fields." "Iran is...

Officials said that Ukraine has introduced emergency power cuts to all regions except two following a series of Russian strikes which have crippled the country's electricity system. As winter approaches, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructures. This has caused serious damage to gas production in Ukraine and plunged major cities like the capital Kyiv deep into darkness. Ukraine's Energy Ministry said in a statement that the impact of recent strikes forced them to make the cuts. In the Donetsk region and in northern Chernihiv, planned power cuts had already taken place. On Wednesday, the leading private energy...

Customs data released on Monday showed that China's imports of coal rose to their highest level in nine months, as domestic coal prices increased, making imported coal more affordable. However, shipments were still below the levels seen a year ago. China's General Administration of Customs reported that the country imported 46 million metric tonnes of coal last month. The decline in prices on the international market was responsible for the lower total of last month compared to September, when it was a record high. This record was broken in November. September 2024 is now the second highest month ever. The...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said that Russia deliberately waited until bad weather conditions existed before launching a massive attack on Ukraine's power system. He added that the bad weather conditions had reduced the effectiveness of Ukraine's air defences between 20 and 30 percent. Zelenskiy, a reporter in Kiev, said that the main assault took place in four areas. I believe the weather conditions have affected our ability to repel by about 20-30%. Overnight, Russian drones and rockets attacked Ukrainian energy facilities, plunging Kyiv in darkness, cutting off power and water for homes, and stopping a metro line across the...

The U.N. nuclear watchdog announced on Thursday that the process of restoring external power had begun at the Russian-owned Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeast Ukraine. This plant has been cut off from electricity for over two weeks. Rafael Grossi said that the process began after consulting with the authorities of Ukraine and Russia who are blaming each other for the destruction of external lines. In the first few weeks of the Kremlin invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces captured the largest nuclear plant in Europe with six reactors. Although the plant does not produce electricity, both sides...

The U.N. nuclear watchdog's head said that he is discussing with Russia and Ukraine proposals to restore power off-site to the Russian Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and to reduce the risk of meltdown. In the first weeks after Moscow invaded Ukraine, Russian forces seized Europe's biggest nuclear plant with six reactors. Since September 23, the facility has not been able to access external power. This is the 10th time that the line has failed. The plant does not produce electricity but the fuel in its nuclear reactors are cooled using emergency diesel generators. Rafael Grossi said that the external line...

Rafael Grossi, chief of the U.N. Atomic Watchdog, said that Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been without power offsite for six days. Since the beginning of the conflict, the plant in southeast Ukraine was under Russian control. Both sides have accused each other of shelling the facility and compromising nuclear safety. Grossi, the director general of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), wrote on X about his meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sbiha and their exchange of views regarding the plant. He also said that the IAEA is working to restore power. UKRAINE WANT TEMPORARY IAEA STEP-IN FOR PLANT Oleh...

Belarus has proposed to build a nuclear plant in the eastern part of the country, which could provide electricity to parts of Ukraine controlled by Russia. President Alexander Lukashenko announced this on Friday. Lukashenko brought up the idea with Russian President Vladimir Putin during Kremlin discussions in Moscow. Lukashenko used the same language as Moscow to describe the territory of Ukraine that was captured by Russia. The offer highlighted the close relationship between Putin and Lukashenko even though U.S. president Donald Trump pursues an incentive-based strategy to encourage the Belarusian leaders to release political prisoners and improve relationships with the...

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...