Power Markets

Russian drone attacks have damaged a thermal plant in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, overnight. This has left at least 100,000 people in the cold without heat as temperatures plummet below freezing. The President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated on Telegram that "this has nothing to do the fighting and the current situation at the front but it proves again that the Russians fight against our people and life in Ukraine." They are fighting viciously without releasing the pressure. "This is not the behavior of those who are really preparing to negotiate and want peace restored." Denys Shmyhal, the Prime Minister at the time,...

Two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed on Friday that the administration of Donald Trump laid off between 1,200 and 2,000 employees at the Department of Energy. This includes workers in the Nuclear Security Administration (NSA) and the Loans Office. Democratic lawmakers said that the layoffs also included workers at national laboratories, hydroelectric plants and Cold War-era nuclear sites which pose safety risks. DOE employs approximately 14,000 federal workers and 95,000 contractors. Two sources claim that the layoffs occurred after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which is led by three representatives of the billionaire Elon Musk, arrived at...

Cuba told all non-essential employees to stay at home as the electrical grid failed due to the failure of an important power plant. This led the island into a blackout. According to reports from the government, only six of 15 oil-fired plants in the country are currently operating. A severe fuel shortage has also made it impossible for smaller clusters diesel-fired generators to be used to back up the system. The island's electrical system has been crippled by the predicament, leading to the biggest blackouts since late last year when several grid failures across the country left the entire 10...

American Electric Power, a U.S. utility, posted an increase in its fourth-quarter profits on Thursday as the demand for electricity from commercial customers was boosted by data centers. Big Tech is investing billions of dollars in artificial intelligence and the infrastructure required to develop it. As a result, power utilities are experiencing a massive surge in demand. Bill Fehrman, CEO, said: "In 2024 we saw significant growth in commercial loads, due largely to the economic development of Indiana, Ohio, and Texas." The utility said that it expects retail loads to grow by up to 9% per year over the next...

The White House reported that U.S. Vice-President JD Vance spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra modi on Tuesday to discuss how the United States could assist India in diversifying energy sources through investments in U.S. Nuclear Technology. Why it's important The two men met in Paris, France, on Tuesday to attend a summit on artificial intelligence. This was ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to the United States later this week, during which trade, investment and technology are likely topics for discussion. India announced earlier this month that it would amend its nuclear liability laws to encourage foreign and private...

The Geneva-based World Trade Organization announced on Wednesday that China had formally filed a complaint with the WTO over the tariffs placed by U.S. president Donald Trump on Chinese products. Trump ordered tariffs against goods coming from Mexico, Canada, and China on Saturday, demanding that they stop the flow of illegal immigration and fentanyl. Trump then froze tariffs on the two North American nations, but continued with those against China. China, to which Trump imposed a 10% tariff on exports of goods, had promised to contest the move at the WTO. China, in a statement quoted by the WTO said...

The Mexican government is planning to invest $22,4 billion in new electricity generation capacity before the end of this administration, which will be 2030. This investment will come from the state-owned CFE. According to data collected by the government in 2023, the country's power sector has a total installed capacity of 95 GW. The majority of Mexico's power is generated by burning fuel oil and natural gas. According to a CFE Presentation, the government's expansion plan for 2030 is divided into 51 projects. However, half of these are generation projects initiated by the former government. The CFE's newly appointed director,...

Germany will hold an immediate national election on February 23 after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way alliance. The main political parties, their polling positions, and key policy issues are listed below: Parties Germany has two "big-tent", centrist parties: Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats and the opposition Conservatives, an alliance between the Christian Democrats (CDU), and their Bavarian counterpart party, the Christian Social Union CSU. In recent years, smaller parties like the Greens or Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party, have gained ground. All four parties, the SPD, Greens, Conservatives and AfD, have candidates running for chancellor. According to...

The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday, 56-42, to confirm former Republican congressman Lee Zeldin as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin will be tasked to roll back climate regulations from former President Joe Biden, which were aimed to reduce emissions from factories, power plants, and vehicles. Zeldin is the 44-year-old nominee of President Donald Trump to lead EPA deregulation efforts. He will remove obstacles on oil and natural gas drilling, and reverse course on Biden's emission rules aimed at encouraging more electric vehicle usage. Three Democrats supported the former New York Representative, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly, Ruben Gallego...

According to a draft bill that was seen on Tuesday, a legislative proposal in Mexico supported by the government would permit public-private energy generation projects. However, the state must hold a minimum of 54% of the project. The proposal, backed by President Claudia Sheinbaum and expected to be revealed by the leftist leader, is part of the legislation implementing an energy reform that was passed by lawmakers from the ruling party last year. The bill also requires that the state-owned electricity company, Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), supply at least 54% to the national grid. This is in line with...

Talen Energy has asked a U.S. court of appeals to review a federal regulator's decision last year to reject an Amazon power agreement that would have connected the data center directly to Talen’s Pennsylvania nuclear facility. According to court documents filed this week, Talen Energy wants to know what the court thinks about the decision. Co-location, also known as colocation, is a popular option for industries that need to obtain large amounts of electricity quickly. Talen sold Amazon its data center campus located at the Susquehanna Nuclear Generating Facility in early last year. The deal would allow the center eventually...

Poland and Canada have signed an arrangement that supplies a legal framework for more extensive cooperation on nuclear power, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday after fulfilling his Canadian equivalent Justin Trudeau. Poland, which is working to decrease its reliance on coal, has picked Westinghouse Electric to build its first nuclear plant on the Baltic Sea coast, but financing is still not totally agreed. It is now preparing to start the process of choosing a. partner for a 2nd plant. Canada is the primary supplier of innovation for Poland's. first nuclear plant - Westinghouse is owned by Canadian....

An industry source said on Wednesday that the Ukrainian parliament will vote on a bill next week to allow for the construction and startup of two new nuclear power plants. This would help support Ukraine as it is constantly under attack by Russian missiles. Ukrainian energy officials said that the new reactors would be built at Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant in western Ukraine, and will be equipped with Russian designed equipment which Kyiv is looking to import from Bulgaria. The Ukraine planned to sign an agreement last June with Bulgaria to purchase two nuclear reactor bodies to compensate for the...

Denmark's energy agency on Tuesday said it had actually approved Nord Stream 2 AG, a system of Russia's. Gazprom, consent to carry out preservation deal with. the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, which was. harmed in a series of blasts in 2022. The upkeep work is necessary to decrease ecological. and security threats coming from the pipeline being filled with. seawater and staying gas, the agency stated in a. declaration. The work intends to protect the damaged pipeline by. installing customised plugs at each of the open pipeline ends to. avoid even more gas blow-out and...

Russiainstalled authorities in Ukraine's partlyoccupied Zaporizhzhia region stated Ukrainian drones on Wednesday assaulted Enerhodar, a city serving the Russianheld Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia seized the nuclear plant, Europe's biggest with 6 reactors, in the early days of the war and each side has because implicated the other of staging periodic attacks on the facility. Russia-installed regional authorities have actually reported attacks on Enerhodar, particularly on 2 electrical power substations nearby. Russian media quoted the city's authorities as stating at least 4 drones had actually attacked Enerhodar. It stated there were no casualties and no details on damage were offered....

A Russian assisted bomb attack on Saturday wounded 10 individuals, including two children, in a town in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy area, near the Russian border, local authorities stated. The area borders Russia's Kursk region and has been frequently shelled by Russian forces for months. Video published by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy revealed parts of a building in the village of Svesa minimized to rubble. Rescue groups ferried homeowners out of the building on stretchers. A whole block of the building, from the ground to the fifth floors was destroyed, Zelenskiy said in his nighttime video address. Neighbouring houses were likewise damaged....

Russia assaulted Ukraine's. energy system and cities in its eastern region with cruise and. ballistic rockets on Wednesday morning, Ukraine's energy. minister and local officials said. At least three people were injured in a missile attack. on Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine on Wednesday morning, Mayor. Ihor Terekhov said. Ukrainian flying force stated Kharkiv was assaulted by ballistic. missiles and regional guv Oleh Syniehubov said on the. Telegram messaging app that there were damages to civilian. non-residential infrastructure. Separately, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said on. Telegram: Since the morning, the Russian army has actually been. massively assaulting the Dnipro region. It...

The U.N. nuclear watchdog's. 35nation Board of Governors passed a resolution on Thursday. condemning attacks on Ukraine's energy facilities, but. stopping working to discuss Russia as the perpetrator. Ukraine called Thursday's emergency International Atomic. Energy Agency (IAEA) Board conference to talk about a wave of attacks. on Nov. 28 that Russia released on its energy infrastructure,. triggering deep power cuts throughout the nation. The drone and rocket attacks strike electricity sub-stations. used by 3 of Ukraine's nuclear reactor to get and. transfer off-site power, which is vital to their security since. that power is necessary to cool their nuclear fuel...

A drone hit and seriously damaged an official car of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the roadway to Ukraine's Russianheld Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Tuesday, the agency's head said. There were no casualties and the teams are safe, Rafael Grossi, director general of the U.N. nuclear guard dog, said in a. video published on X. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the strike was. a purposeful Russian attack that showed Moscow had overall. disregard for worldwide law and institutions. Moscow made no. instant declaration after the occurrence took place. I condemn in the most firm terms this attack on...

Former SpaceX engineer Scott Nolan, CEO of start-up General Matter, is on an objective to assistance end Russia's monopoly on a kind of moreenriched nuclear fuel by producing it at industrial scale in the United States and slashing its expenses. Nolan incorporated San Francisco-based General Matter this year in order to make high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, for a range of planned atomic plants including small modular reactors, or SMRs, that backers hope will take off in the 2030s. HALEU is uranium enriched to in between 5% and 20%, which backers say has the possible to make brand-new modern reactors...

Iran is drastically. accelerating its enrichment of uranium to as much as 60% pureness,. near the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, U.N. nuclear guard dog chief Rafael Grossi informed Reuters on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Firm later validated in a. private report to member states that Iran was accelerating. uranium enrichment, a process that refines the raw material so. that it can be utilized as fuel in civil nuclear power generation. or, potentially, nuclear weapons. The IAEA findings will deepen alarm in Western nations. that say there is no reason for enhancing uranium to such. a high...

The United States is ruling out going back to Ukraine the nuclear weapons it quit after the Soviet Union collapsed, White House national security consultant Jake Sullivan said on Sunday. Sullivan made his remarks when questioned about a New york city Times article last month that stated some unknown Western officials had actually suggested U.S. President Joe Biden could offer Ukraine the arms before he leaves workplace. That is not under factor to consider, no. What we are doing is surging different traditional capabilities to Ukraine so that they can effectively safeguard themselves and take the battle to the Russians,...

Below are crucial passages from a. resolution on Iran that diplomats said the International Atomic. Energy Firm's 35nation Board of Governors passed at a. quarterly meeting on Thursday night. The Board of Governors ... ( d) Noting the Director General's deep concern that. undeclared nuclear material had actually been present at several. undeclared areas in Iran which its present place( s). are not known to the Company, and his evaluation that nuclear. product used in Iran was not stated as needed under Iran's. NPT Safeguards Contract, ... ( g) Recalling the Board of Governors' resolutions of 19 June. 2020 ...,...

Hungary's government has sent an expense to parliament to allow a change of its nuclear plant contract with Russia and raise the prepared cost of the construction task if called for, according to the legislation published on parliament's website. The expense, dated Nov. 19, says the objective is to enable the building of the 2 new atomic power plants at Paks to continue smoothly. The project was granted in 2014 without a tender to Russian nuclear giant Rosatom, and has been delayed by years. The project is often mentioned as an indication of continuing close ties in between NATO and...