Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s directive pausing new data center interconnections to the ERCOT grid has placed nearly one-fifth of the entire U.S. data center development pipeline at risk of delays, according to analysis from BloombergNEF (BNEF). The move, announced August 3, 2026, requires a comprehensive audit of energy use, water consumption, financing, ownership, and community […]
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Evonik CEO Christian Kullmann has delivered a blunt verdict on Germany’s Energiewende. In July 2026 interviews with the Rheinische Post and others, the head of one of Germany’s largest specialty chemicals companies stated that the energy transition has cost around €1,000 billion—and delivered “nothing.” “Wir haben nicht genug Gaskraftwerke. Wir haben eine Netzinfrastruktur wie in […]
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A recent post by Peter Clack (@PeterDClack) on X captured a growing reality that policymakers and industry advocates have long downplayed: the coming wave of wind turbine and solar panel retirements will expose a physical and financial nightmare of continuous renewal. The fleet average in wind is 19 years, and they are rapidly approaching the […]
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The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted how battery energy storage systems (BESS) are shifting from niche applications to meaningful scale in the United States, with residential deployments accelerating particularly fast. Companies like Base Power are installing home batteries at a rapid clip, and broader market data confirm strong growth in both utility-scale and behind-the-meter segments. […]
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Global oil refineries outside active conflict zones are operating near or at maximum capacity, with almost no remaining buffers to absorb further shocks. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser made the point clearly this week: the system is stretched thin, leaving “little shock absorbers or buffers” against higher fuel prices. A combination of the ongoing war […]
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This action, announced August 3, 2026, comes roughly three weeks after New York became the first state to impose a temporary statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers. It applies to projects seeking to interconnect with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) system and pauses related transmission planning work, including the “Batch Zero” study. […]
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Oil markets swung lower on Tuesday as Qatar and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed to advancing mediation efforts aimed at a short-term arrangement between the United States and Iran, centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The chokepoint, which normally handles roughly one-fifth of global oil and LNG supplies, has been heavily disrupted since […]
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The Bank of England is moving further away from thermal coal. From October 2026, it will no longer accept bonds issued by companies deriving revenue from thermal coal mining as eligible collateral in its lending operations. Commercial banks borrowing from the Bank (including major UK institutions) will not be able to post those bonds. The […]
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New York City’s lights increasingly depend on a pair of half-century-old floating power plants that were never meant to run this hard. The Gowanus and Narrows barge-mounted generating stations, moored off Brooklyn in the Upper Bay, serve as the city’s last line of defense against blackouts. As intense heat waves and rising demand strain the […]
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Texas ratepayers are on the hook for a $33 billion high-voltage transmission expansion that critics call a classic power grab—funneling guaranteed returns to transmission monopolies, condemning thousands of acres of private land, and primarily enabling more intermittent wind and solar that many of today’s assets won’t economically or physically outlast another decade. The Electric Reliability […]
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