Electrical Generation

Judge Rules Virginia Can Stay Out of RGGI Carbon Tax…For Now

Last November, a Floyd County Circuit Court judge ruled Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s effort to remove his state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme was not legal—therefore the state would, for now, remain in the carbon tax club (see Circuit Court Judge Rules Virginia Can’t Leave RGGI Carbon Tax). Youngkin promised…

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Net Power Makes Progress with Tech, High Costs a Challenge

In December 2022, Rice Acquisition Corp II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) started by the Rice brothers (Danny, Toby, and Derek), announced a deal to acquire Net Power — an electric power developer with revolutionary new technology to capture every last molecule of carbon dioxide from natural gas-fired power plants (see Dan Rice Buys…

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Diversified JV Targets NatGas for Data Center Power in WV, VA, KY

This morning, Diversified Energy, FuelCell Energy, and TESIAC announced a strategic partnership “intended to address the urgent energy needs of data centers” by supplying as much as 360 megawatts (MW) of electricity to three distinct locations in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The partnership has agreed to create an Acquisition and Development Company (ADC), essentially…

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Dominion Asks Va. SCC to Approve Chesterfield Gas-Fired Peaker Plan

Dominion Energy plans to build small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, near Richmond (see Dominion Plans to Build 1,000-MW Gas Peaker Plant Near Richmond, VA). The Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center (CERC) calls for building four 250-megawatt gas-fired power plants (1,000 MW total) that can jump into action during the coldest and hottest…

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First Energy Plans to Replace 2 WV Coal Plants with NatGas-Fired

In something of a bombshell announcement, the CEO of Mon Power parent First Energy said the company plans to replace its West Virginia coal plants with natural gas plants. Mon Power’s Harrison and Fort Martin coal-fired plants are scheduled to shut down between 2035 and 2040. The company will construct 3 to 4 gigawatts (GW)…

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Williams Investing $1.6B to Build Pipeline, On-Site Powergen for ??

While there has been no public announcement, pipeline giant Williams (owner of the mighty Transco pipeline system) filed a Form 8-K statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to say the company has signed an agreement with “an unnamed large, investment-grade company” to provide onsite natural gas and power generation infrastructure for the unnamed…

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Gas-Fired Cryptocurrency Data Center Coming to Venango County, PA

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published a notice in the March 1 Pennsylvania Bulletin announcing that the agency has approved an Air Quality Permit for a new cryptocurrency data center in Venango County, PA. Venango is in the northwestern part of the state. The permit was issued to a company we had not previously…

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PA Gov. STILL Threatening to Leave PJM & Commit Energy Suicide

Wow! Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is an even bigger bully (and dunce) than we gave him credit for. He’s not only mean and vindictive, he’s energy suicidal. Shapiro is threatening the 12 other states (plus the District of Columbia) that belong to the PJM Interconnection, saying that he may cut them off from 25% of…

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DT Midstream Signs Deal to Provide Gas to Massive WV Power Plant

You know we delight in connecting the dots that others often miss. We spotted big news in the quarterly update for DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, which owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. Earlier this year the company closed on the purchase of three pipeline systems, two…

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Appalachian AI Energy Conference Coming May 21 – Must Attend Event!

MDN has written numerous posts about AI (artificial intelligence) and the data centers that provide the computing power AI requires. Why? AI data centers use enormous amounts of electricity, most of which is generated by natural gas-fired power plants. Some 25% of all the data centers currently operating in the country are located in northern…

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Power Plants Closing in 2025 Include 8.1 GW Coal, 2.6 GW NatGas

U.S. power generators plan to retire about 8.1 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power generation capacity this year, roughly double the amount that was retired in 2024, the Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday. In addition, power generators plan to retire 2.6 GW of U.S. natural gas capacity, representing 0.5% of the natural gas fleet in…

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EQT’s Rice Says Natural Gas Will Take “Lion’s Share” of AI Power

EQT President and CEO Toby Rice joined CNBC’s ‘Mad Money’ host Jim Cramer on Friday to talk about the state of the energy sector, natural gas prices, energy development, and more. Rice claimed that natural gas will be a major source of power for the burgeoning AI boom. “We firmly believe that natural gas is…

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FERC Launches Investigation of PJM Grid Co-Location of Data Centers

We’re still coming to grips with understanding how the power generation market works with respect to providing electricity for AI data centers. Data centers can potentially be huge and important new customers for natural gas—especially Marcellus/Utica molecules, as some 25% of all the data centers currently operating in the country are located in northern Virginia,…

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PJM Report: PA in Desperate Need of More Gas-Fired Power Plants

According to a recent report from PJM Interconnection, the manager of the electric grid in all or parts of 13 states plus D.C., three electric transmission zones that are wholly or partly in Pennsylvania are expected to see sharp increases in power demand from current and new data centers in the next few years. For…

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TVA Green Lights New 500 MW Natural Gas Power Plant in Mississippi

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally-owned electric utility corporation in the U.S. TVA’s service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. TVA is the sixth-largest power supplier and the largest public utility in the U.S. In 2021, MDN told you…

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