New All-Time Power Demand Tuesday – NatGas Came Thru Like a Champ

PJM is the largest electric grid operator in the U.S. It serves 65 million people in 13 states plus the District of Columbia (including PA, OH, and WV). PJM came under withering criticism for an almost blackout during the cold Christmas snap of December 2022. If not for certain gas-fired peaker plants, like that in…

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LS Power Buying NatGas-Fired Power Plant in Gettysburg, PA

LS Power, headquartered in New York City, has developed or acquired 47,000 MW of power generation, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, battery energy storage, and natural gas-fired facilities. We’ve previously mentioned LS Power in a number of MDN articles (see our LS articles here). The company issued a press release yesterday to announce it has…

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WV Still Waiting to Build State’s First Big Gas-Fired Power Plant

West Virginia continues to lag behind both Pennsylvania and Ohio with respect to building combined cycle natural gas-fired power plants. PA and OH have a combined 39 such power plants. WV has zero. In March 2023, West Virginia Senate Bill (SB) 188, aimed at making WV’s gas-fired power generation more competitive with its neighbors in…

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PJM Begs Talen to Delay Shutting Down O&G Power Plants in Maryland

On Wednesday, PJM Interconnection, the largest U.S. power grid operator, asked (more like begged) Talen Energy to delay retiring several fossil fuel-powered plants in Maryland by three years. Why? PJM is afraid of blackouts due to unreliable “renewables” like wind and solar. Talen notified PJM last October that it intends to retire three oil-burning units…

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TVA Brings 3 New Gas-Fired Power Generators Online in Paradise

Welcome to Paradise, where natural gas is the fuel of choice to generate electricity! In 2017, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) held a dedication ceremony for the Paradise Combined Cycle Gas Plant in Drakesboro, Kentucky (see Paradise Comes to Kentucky: TVA NatGas Elec Plant Fires Up). The Paradise plant is a natural gas-fired plant that…

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County Approves Land Sale to Wisconsin Gas-Fired Power Plant

In September 2022, MDN told you about a relatively modest-sized gas-fired power plant planned for Superior, Wisconsin, called the Nemadji Trail Energy Center (see Midwest Elec Grid Roasted for Supporting New Gas-Fired Power Plant). As we pointed out in that post, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) supports the project, which earned it scorn from…

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Cambria Gas-Fired Power Plant Shows Grace in Tax Refund Due

Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Fairview Energy Center is a 1,050-megawatt natural gas and ethane-fueled two-by-one combined-cycle electric generating plant 60 miles east of Pittsburgh (Cambria County) that came online in December 2019 (see CPV Marcellus-Fired Power Plant in Cambria “Ahead of Schedule”). It is the only plant of its kind, using both natural gas and…

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NET Power Takes Another Step – Signs Deal with Lummus Technology

Last December, 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 Co….

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Massachusetts Commits Energy Hari-kari – Plans to Ban NatGas

After more than three years of “study,” the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) issued an order yesterday meant to signal gas utilities that they don’t have a long-term future in the state. With Order 20-80, the DPU aims to “guide the evolution of the natural gas distribution industry to clean energy” with an eye…

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DUG Appalachia: Energy Trader Says New England in for Nasty Surprise

Yet another top-notch speaker at Hart Energy’s DUG Appalachia event in Pittsburgh was leading energy trader Dennis Kissler from BOK Financial. During his talk, Kissler said, “New England has dodged a bullet because they’ve actually seen mild winter followed by mild summer and a mild winter to the start of this year.” And, says Kissler,…

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Big Green Files Appeal of PA Court Rejecting RGGI Carbon Tax

Last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced that he will appeal a decision by the Commonwealth Court that blocks PA’s entrance into the obscene Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme (see PA Gov. Shapiro Proves He’s Radical Left – Appeals RGGI Decision). PA’s Commonwealth Court was not fooled by the Democrat left’s attempt…

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TVA Proposes 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. Two years ago, MDN told…

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NatGas Continues to Dominate in U.S. Electric Generation in 2024

We spotted a pair of articles noting a decrease in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the U.S. energy sector in 2023. One of the articles, from the Bidenistas at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), credits an increase in so-called renewable power generation as the main reason for the decrease. The second article, from Philadelphia…

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Energy Groups Gear Up to Oppose Shapiro’s Appeal of Carbon Tax

Last Wednesday, before heading out the door for the Thanksgiving holiday, MDN brought you the sad (but not unsurprising) news that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro had decided to appeal a Commonwealth Court decision striking down his predecessor’s attempt to force the state to implement a multi-billion-dollar carbon tax, called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (see…

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SWPA Unions Split with Dem Left re Loss of Gas-Fired Power Plant

In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natural gas-powered electric plant in rural Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County, PA (see Invenergy Eyes SWPA for Second Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant). It took a few years, a lawsuit, and a new location, but eventually, Elizabeth commissioners approved Invenergy’s plan in December 2018 (see Elizabeth Twp…

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