Category
From its remote headquarters in Newfoundland, Canada’s largest investor-owned utility is making inroads into the U.S. energy market. Fortis Inc. began trading on the New York Stock Exchange this month, after completing its acquisition of ITC Holdings, the biggest independent electric transmission company in the U.S., for $11.3 billion. (Read more)
Continue reading
Hurricane Sandy dealt a devastating blow to the U.S. in 2012, leaving about $70 billion in damages, 147 people dead and millions without electricity, mostly in New York and New Jersey. The impact on the electric grid from Sandy’s storm surge and high winds on the Atlantic coast prompted utility executives and government officials to work more closely than ever to find new ways of coordinating their resources and strengthening infrastructure in response to storms. Four years later, those efforts are paying off. (Read more)
Continue reading
Putting a price on carbon emissions remains a divisive topic in the USA, even as polls indicate considerable public support for actions to address climate change. Voters in Washington state may show the way Nov. 8 when they decide on a referendum that would assess a carbon tax on coal, oil and natural gas, a move aimed at lowering emissions that contribute to climate change without digging deeply into people’s wallets. (Read more)
Continue reading
For General Electric, the timing of its new $125 million oil and natural gas technology center in Oklahoma City couldn’t be better. The oil and gas industry is suffering one of its worst slumps ever, with recovery slow to take hold and unlikely to deliver any time soon the much higher prices producers enjoyed a few years ago. (Read more)
Continue reading
Integrated oil majors like ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell once dominated the standings of the world’s leading energy companies, with assets, revenue and earnings far outpacing just about everyone else. That’s not the case anymore, as companies that sell electricity and refine crude oil into fuel are gaining ground, as seen in a new survey by S&P Global Platts, a provider of energy information and benchmark prices. (Read more)
Continue reading
The OPEC oil cartel plans to hold an informal meeting in Algeria this week to consider whether steps should be taken to stabilize oil prices following a slump of more than two years. Ministers of the 14 OPEC nations flirted with a similar notion earlier this year in a meeting with Russia in Qatar, but the prospect of a freeze in oil output failed because rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran refused to back off on their drives to increase market share, regardless of price. (Read more)
Continue reading
North Dakota is about as far from an ocean and surfing as any place in the U.S. So why would a North Dakota energy official use a popular surfing term, “hang ten,” to describe the condition of his state’s oil industry? “You have to find the right wave, and generally it’s a big wave,” Lynn Helms, the director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, said the other day, sounding like a surfing aficionado. (Read more.)
Continue reading
How much would you pay on your electric bill to combat climate change? Is $10 or $20 a month reasonable? $50 too much? Or, maybe you’re unwilling to shell out anything at all. A new survey offers some insight regarding the extent to which Americans consider climate change a legitimate threat and how much they’re willing to pay for government policies that would respond to the phenomena. (Read more)
Continue reading
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has made alternative energy a top priority since taking office in 2009, but this week he took his commitment to new heights, literally. The civilian leader for the Navy climbed aboard an EA-18G Growler fighter jet as a passenger on one of a series of test flights using 100% biofuel. (Read more.)
Continue reading
The largest solar trade show in North America opens in Las Vegas on Monday with another round of good news for the tiny but growing component of the U.S. electric power supply. Among the announcements planned for the Solar Power International 2016 is a report by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association that more than 2 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems were installed in the second quarter of 2016 – the 11th straight quarter that solar connections to the grid exceeded 1 gigawatt. (Read more)
Continue reading
Recent Tweets by Bill Loveless
