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Standard and Poor’s Sees Troubles Ahead for Oil and Gas Industry
Standard and Poor’s has announced downgrades for 23 oil and gas companies, citing a forecast for continued low prices for natural gas and oil, and a consequent lack of profits and capital available for new expenditures. Among the companies downgraded were WPX Energy, Energy XXI, Warren Resources, Swift Energy, Midstates Petroleum, Magnum Hunter Resources, Black […]
Obama’s Trip to India May Spark Renewable Energy Investment
An Associated Press story being picked up today in hundreds of media outlets around the world predicts that President Barack Obama’s trip to India this weekend will include significant discussions about how the U.S. can help finance rapid development of renewable energy in India. The president will be meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi […]
Hawaii Utility Seeks to Tamp Down on Solar
Hawaiian Electric Company, which supplies 95 percent of the electricity in Hawaii, has filed a proposal with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission that would clamp down on the growth of solar net-metering. “It’s the latest utility to challenge its state’s use of net metering, which pays customers the retail electricity rate for the solar energy […]
‘NRG’s Grand Ambition to Dominate the Solar Market’
The Green Tech blog on Forbes.com this morning features an article that delves into NRG Energy’s expanding presence in the U.S. solar-energy market. The article, by Ucilia Wang, writes that NRG is using its market presence—53,000 megawatts of production and 43 million customers—to set “its sight on dominating the commercial and residential solar market.” Wang […]
Ohio Freeze on Renewables Stifles Investment
Midwest Energy News today delves into research of note published last week by the Pew Charitable Trust on the importance of clean-energy investment in Ohio. The Pew report says that while renewable energy has been a driver of job creation and economic growth, it also documents a sharp drop in renewable-energy investments in 2013, when […]
West Virginia Lawmakers Move to Repeal Energy Standards
The West Virginia Senate has voted 33-0 to repeal the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Act, which requires power companies to use alternative fuels for 25 percent of their electricity production by 2025. Phil Kabler of the West Virginia Gazette in Charleston notes today that members of the House advanced a similar bill and that in […]
Fury in Cleveland Over FirstEnergy Rate Plan
John Funk of the Cleveland Plain Dealer does yeoman’s work today in coverage of a hearing last night over FirstEnergy’s plan to put ratepayers on the hook for its flagging business model. Funk describes a five-hour hearing at which most of the 70 people who testified before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio expressed opposition […]
Strong Press Coverage of IEEFA Report on D.C. Merger
IEEFA’s new report on the likely impact on District of Columbia ratepayers of an Exelon Corp. acquisition of Pepco Holdings gets considerable press today. Thomas Heath of the Washington Post, writing under the headline “District Should Reject Exelon-Pepco Merger, Energy Think Tank Says,” notes that the deal “would create a single dominant electricity provider in […]
In a story picked up globally this week, Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb insists that an Indian company’s efforts to develop a new coal-export industry in the Galilee Basin will succeed. Robb tells Sydney Morning Herald columnist Jason Koutsoukis that investors should believe in Guatam Adani, the chairman of Adani Group, which is struggling to […]
Union Deal in Poland Will Keep Money-Losing Mines Open
The agreement that ends a miners’ strike in Poland receives biting coverage today from the Financial Times, which has an article by Henry Foy that says the deal damages “hopes of fixing Poland’s mining woes.” The article details Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz’s failed efforts to close four mines operated by the state-run Kompania Weglowa as […]