Dive Brief: A group of nine Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states plans to issue a request for information to gauge the potential for building “no regrets” transmission projects between New England, New York and the PJM Interconnection, according to an action plan released on Monday. No-regrets interregional transmission needs grow to 4 GW between PJM and New York and to 3 GW between New York and New England by 2040 — and could be higher depending on load growth and decarbonization developments, the Brattle Group said in the action plan, which the consulting firm wrote for the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission. “We believe that there are likely low-hanging fruit, no-regrets interregional transmission projects that current transmission planning approaches are failing to identify,” Katie Dykes, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said during a presentation Tuesday on the action plan. Dive Insight: The collaboration intends to break down barriers to interregional transmission development, but the effort may require state and federal legislation, according to Dykes. The states in the collaborative that was formed in 2023 are: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. “The focus is really on … identifying beneficial transmission that states can collectively pursue in order to reduce costs for our consumers and increase the security of our system, because each region going it alone … is inherently more expensive in terms of the overall build of resources, but also less secure because you do not have the benefit of the increased resource diversity that interregional transmission can help provide,” said John Bernecker, director of the Transmission Center of Excellence at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The Brattle Group recommended that the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states work with PJM, the New York Independent System Operator

Hannah Bascom is chief growth officer for Uplight As electricity demand soars — driven by AI-powered data centers, the rise of electric vehicles and beyond — the U.S. grid is feeling the strain. Experts estimate that AI alone could drive a 67 GW increase in energy demand over the next five years, a challenge the U.S. grid is not currently equipped to handle. And while new generation is in the works, building supply fast enough to keep up is a near impossibility. Fortunately, there is a massive but largely untapped resource at utilities’ disposal that doesn’t require years of lead time to start producing: customers and their growing number of distributed energy resources (DERs), including everything from residential solar to home and commercial batteries to combined heat and power systems, are at the ready. Utilities currently tap these DERs to deliver load flexibility through a variety of demand response programs, but there is significant room to expand the impact of these assets through the creation of virtual power plants (VPPs). VPPs operate a portfolio of DERs, comprising multiple technology types, as a cohesive resource to accurately predict and deliver grid flexibility. Aggregating DERs and programs into a coordinated portfolio allows VPPs to unlock substantially more flexibility and economic potential from customer-sited DERs compared to single-technology demand response programs.  By now, many are familiar with the promise of VPPs: the Department of Energy estimates that deploying 80 GW to 160 GW of VPP, enough to serve 10% to 20% of peak load, by 2030 could support rapid load growth while also reducing the cost required to serve new load. Unlocking flexibility and economic potential from customer-sited DERs through VPPs will transform a grid challenge into a grid opportunity, create firm, clean capacity, reduce customer and utility spend and support our journey

Aberdeen-headquartered oilfield services firm Wood is facing a temporary suspension from the London stock market after missing a deadline to publish its 2024 financial results. Wood announced in a statement today that it would miss a 30 April deadline to publish its results due to the “extensive work needed” to complete an audit of its accounts. As a result, Wood confirmed the company will be temporarily suspending from listing and trading of its shares from 1 May until it publishes the 2024 results. Wood reported a $983 million half year loss last August amid a slump in revenues. It comes after an independent review commissioned by the firm identified “material weaknesses and failures” in Wood’s financial culture. The review came as further embarrassment for the embattled company after its former chief financial officer Arvind Balan resigned and its share price plummeted. The missed deadline also comes amid a £240 million takeover attempt from Dubai-based rival Sidara, which Wood’s board said it “would be minded to recommend” to shareholders. Sidara walked away from a previous £1.6bn takeover attempt in August last year. In 2023, American private equity group Apollo Global Management also backed away from its own attempts to buy Wood after making five separate offers. Earlier this year, Apollo acquired Aberdeen-based offshore energy services group OEG for $1bn (£770m). Who is Sidara? Formerly known as Dar Group, the company rebranded to Sidara in December 2023 to coincide with the COP28 conference in Dubai. Jordanian businessman Kamal Al-Shair founded the company as Dar Al-Handasah in Lebanon in 1956 alongside three engineering colleagues at the American University of Beirut. The firm gradually expanded operations in the Middle East and North Africa in the 60s and 70s, and made its first acquisition of US firm Perkins & Will in 1986. Sidara expanded in to the UK

Britain’s electricity system is “highly resilient”, energy minister Michael Shanks has said in a bid to reassure MPs following Spain and Portugal’s widespread blackouts. Power has largely been restored across the Iberian Peninsula, but not before the outage grounded flights, paralysed train systems and disrupted mobile communication. Speaking in the Commons, Mr Shanks said the UK had not been affected by the power cuts but the Government continues to prepare for “all eventualities”. In a statement on energy grid resilience, he said: “I would like to reassure the House that Great Britain has a highly resilient energy network, and the incident in Iberia has not impacted Great Britain. “The Secretary of State has been in regular contact with the National Energy System Operator, the Neso, over the past two days, and they have provided reassurance that there is no increase in risk to our energy supplies or system stability from this incident.” Mr Shanks added: “An event similar in impact to this incident in Great Britain would be the equivalent of a national power outage, which is the total loss of power across the whole of GB. This risk is listed on the national risk register as a high-impact but low-likelihood event.” He said the Government is prepared “for all eventualities no matter how unlikely”, adding: “This includes having robust emergency plans, summarised in the national emergency plan for downstream gas and electricity, and regularly exercising emergency plans with the energy industry and Ofgem (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets).” Shadow energy minister Andrew Bowie said: “We cannot get away from the fact that this Government’s plans to rush ahead to build a grid that is entirely dependent on the wind and the sun, in just five years’ time, makes our electricity grid significantly less reliable.” He added: “Data from

Nature charities are urging the Scottish Government to refuse consent for one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, warning it could kill and displace tens of thousands of seabirds. They warn the Berwick Bank wind farm would be “catastrophic” for Scotland’s seabirds and call for developments in more “appropriate” locations. Berwick Bank would have up to 307 turbines located in the outer Firth of Forth, around 40km off the Scottish coast near seabird sites like Bass Rock, St Abb’s Head and the Isle of May – which is home to puffins. RSPB Scotland, the Marine Conservation Society, National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Scottish Seabird Centre have united to call for the development to be refused and have written to Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney. SSE Renewables said it has amended the development designs to reduce, as much as practical, any potential risks to Scottish seabirds. Anne McCall, director of RSPB Scotland, said: “Offshore wind has a key role in tackling the climate and nature emergency. We fully support well-sited wind farms which work with nature. But they are being held back by a major spanner in the works. “Berwick Bank would be catastrophic for Scotland’s globally important seabirds. Its impacts are so damaging it is blocking plans for new, less-harmful wind farms. © PAUndated RSPB Scotland handout photo of two kittiwakes. “As the First Minister said earlier this year, nature should be at the heart of climate action. Our message to the Scottish Government is clear: Refuse Berwick Bank to unlock the full potential of offshore wind while protecting our outstanding wildlife.” The charities claim new offshore wind developments are being held back due to their combined impacts with Berwick Bank on Scotland’s seabird populations, and suggest refusing it could open up opportunities for other such

Teesside can set an example for the rest of the world with its innovative carbon capture plans – while also creating thousands of jobs – the Managing Director of Net Zero Teesside Power (NZTP) has said. Talking to Energy Voice at the Innovation Zero conference, Ian Hunter heralded plans to build the planet’s first major gas-fired power station with carbon capture. Some 742MW of “low carbon flexible power” will be provided, he explained. NZTP is working closely with East Coast Cluster and the Northern Endurance Partnership on the project, which will involve transporting CO2 and storing it “permanently and safely” deep off the North Sea. Mr Hunter said the proposals had been drawn up amid “global agreement” around the need for a “massive amount” of CCS in the future. “This is exciting as it would be the first gas-fired power station in the world with this technology,” he continued. “It is really important for the UK…we need a power source that can meet our energy demands when it is not windy or sunny. “We want to take flexible energy and decarbonise it.” An international blueprint for scale © Supplied by EquinorThe Northern Endurance Partnership CCS project is being developed in Teesside. Mr Hunter said the “real beauty” of the scheme was that, if successful, it could be copied globally. NZTP hope to have the project up and running by 2028. “This is really happening,” he said. “Contracts are all signed, we are now in the execution phase. “The UK is really trying to develop a system where big projects get on line and smaller projects tie in later. “That is how you achieve scale and variety in your carbon capture.” E-FWD Analysis: “Just get moving” on Tees Valley’s path to energy leadership Describing the scheme as important on a national