Dive Brief: U.S. electricity demand could grow 25% from 2023 to 2030 and 78% by 2050, driven in the near term by artificial intelligence data centers, new manufacturing capacity and widespread electrification in the oil and gas sector, ICF said Tuesday. The new forecast is significantly higher than the international consulting firm’s September projection of 9% load growth by 2028 and 18% by 2033 as new data center and industrial loads materialize faster than anticipated, the consulting firm said. Residential electricity rates could rise 15% to 40% over the next five years and double by 2050, according to an ICF analysis of select U.S. utilities. Demand-side management efforts such as demand response programs, energy efficiency investments and behind-the-meter generation and storage deployments can relieve some of the expected pressure on the grid, ICF said. Dive Insight: ICF sees peak U.S. electricity demand increasing 14% by 2030 and 54% by 2050, marking a dramatic increase from last year’s forecast. ICF’s September projection called for a 5% increase in peak demand by 2028. The latest load growth forecast shows that the United States’ data center and manufacturing booms are already exerting pressure on the grid. Their impact comes as longer-term tailwinds like building and transportation electrification continue apace, ICF said.  While demand-side management can soak up at least 10% of U.S. electricity demand by 2030, the grid needs about 80 GW of annual capacity additions over the next 20 years — roughly double the current 40 GW annual pace, ICF said. ICF now anticipates an average annual load increase of 3.2% through 2030 and 2.2% through 2050. That’s more bullish than an outlook published last month by the National Association of Electrical Manufacturers, which said electricity demand would increase 2% annually and 50% by 2050. But ICF’s latest forecast is marginally less

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced it will redirect $365 million in funding to address Puerto Rico’s grid resiliency and expand access of affordable, reliable, and secure power supply for the people of Puerto Rico. The funding, allocated through the Puerto Rico Resilience Fund (PR-ERF), will be deployed to support practical fixes and emergency activities that offer a faster, more impactful solution to the current crisis, benefiting critical facilities like hospitals and community centers. Today’s announcement follows U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright’s decision to issue two emergency orders for Puerto Rico just weeks after the most recent island-wide blackout, underscoring the urgency of deploying immediate solutions for the millions of people who depend on Puerto Rico’s fragile grid to power their homes and businesses. “With President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Energy is focused on fortifying America’s electric grid and ensuring the reliable delivery of electricity across the country, and nowhere is this more needed than in Puerto Rico,” said Secretary Wright. “By redirecting these funds, we will ensure taxpayer dollars are used to strengthen access to affordable, reliable and secure power, benefiting more citizens as quickly as possible. This strategic shift allows us to address the root causes of the grid’s instability, strengthening the grid’s fragile infrastructure and delivering lasting relief for Puerto Rico.” “Puerto Rico is facing an energy emergency that requires we act now and deliver immediate solutions. Our communities, businesses, and healthcare facilities cannot afford to wait years, nor can we rely on piecemeal approaches with limited results. Rather than impacting a few customers, deploying these funds for urgent projects that improve the resiliency and reliability of our grid will have widespread, lasting benefits for all 3.2 million Americans in Puerto Rico,” said Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González-Colón. “Since day one, President

The Trump administration is setting the stage to sell mining rights off the coast of American Samoa as demand surges for critical materials used in electric vehicle batteries, smart phones and other technology. The Interior Department said Tuesday it planned to seek information from the public and gauge commercial interest from companies in potentially exploring the area, a first step toward a possible lease sale near the US territory in the South Pacific. The move follows a request for a lease sale from a company the Interior Department identified as US-based Impossible Metals. It also comes less than a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to accelerate offshore mining and open new opportunities for extracting critical materials from the ocean floor. “Critical minerals are fundamental to strengthening our nation’s resilience and safeguarding our national interests,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a news release. “By providing opportunities to responsibly access deep-sea mineral resources, we are supporting both American economic growth and national security.” There’s growing appetite in Washington for new domestic sources of critical minerals, following China’s decision to curb exports of rare-earth materials. Yet environmentalists have warned against deep-sea mining, arguing it could threaten sea life and marine habitats. Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy already sells oil and gas leases on the US Outer Continental Shelf. The agency has also leased offshore waters for wind farm development. But the move to evaluate a potential mineral lease sale in federal waters is the first action of its kind in more than 30 years, Interior said. The Interior Department did not provide a timeline for a potential sale but said it would review input from indigenous Island communities, ocean users, industry and other stakeholders. The agency said the ocean energy bureau will assess geologic conditions in the

Oil dropped after a second consecutive weekly gain in US crude inventories overshadowed a CNN report that Israel is preparing for a potential strike on Iranian nuclear sites. West Texas Intermediate fell 0.7% to settle below $62 a barrel after the government reported US crude inventories climbed to the highest since July and gasoline demand fell. A lackluster Treasury sale also weighed on broader markets, adding to the declines. Brent futures slid below $65. Oil has been volatile since last week on mixed headlines about the fate of Iran-US nuclear talks, which could pave the way for more barrels to return to a market that’s expected to be oversupplied later in the year. An attack by Israel would hinder any progress in those negotiations and add to unrest in the Middle East, which supplies about a third of the world’s crude. It wasn’t clear whether a final decision on any attack had been made, CNN said, citing US intelligence and unidentified American officials. “Either the impact on the oil market in case of an attack is assumed to be low, or the probability for an attack is assumed to be low,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB AB. Wednesday’s gain “is not much when we are talking bombs in the Middle East major oil producing region.” Geopolitical concerns have for now overshadowed expectations of looser balances heading into the second half of the year, as OPEC and its allies bring back barrels to the market. Still, WTI could tumble to as low as $40 a barrel if sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s oil exports are lifted, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Iran has been able to keep exporting crude in spite of increasing sanctions by the US and allies including the UK and Europe. Tehran has even managed to

Dive Brief: The U.S. has 9.8 million metric tons of annual blue hydrogen production capacity in development — enough to power more than 18 million homes and employ 62,200 people, according to a report by the Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Forum, a right-leaning advocacy energy group in Washington D.C. Much of this capacity was prompted by the creation of the 45V tax credit for low-carbon hydrogen production, according to Heather Reams, president of the CRES Forum. Blue hydrogen is derived from natural gas. Ending the hydrogen tax credit prematurely, as currently proposed by a budget reconciliation bill now before the House Rules Committee, could push the industry overseas and delay the decarbonization of sectors like heavy duty shipping, Reams said. Dive Insight: The late release of the IRS’s guidance on the 45V clean hydrogen production tax credit has slowed the buildout of hydrogen production capacity in the U.S. and likely made the tax credit a harder sell to House Republicans. But credit’s limited track record doesn’t mean that it lacks economic value, according to the CRES Forum. A new report by the CRES Forum estimates that the millions of tons of blue hydrogen production capacity that is in development throughout the U.S. could support 62,200 jobs by the time they came online, while generating $1 billion in federal tax revenue and $400 million in state and local tax revenue. These figures include jobs created directly through hydrogen plant operations as well as new natural gas jobs and other positions in chemical and manufacturing supply chains that would be needed to support blue hydrogen production, according to the report. Projects that plan to use water and electricity to make hydrogen, called green hydrogen, would likely also be heavily impacted by the tax credit repeal, though CRES Forum did not have specific

Dive Brief: The Tennessee Valley Authority on Tuesday became the first American utility to submit a small modular reactor construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The application is a key step in TVA’s plan to build a 300-MW SMR by 2032 at its 1,200-acre Clinch River Nuclear site in Tennessee. Non-nuclear construction could begin next January “or sooner” as the NRC works through an expected two years of review and six months of public hearings, TVA spokesperson Scott Fiedler said in an email. TVA aims to begin nuclear construction at Clinch River in late 2028 and commission the new power plant by the end of 2032, “subject to change based on regulatory approval and other factors,” it says. Dive Insight: In a statement hailing “a significant milestone for TVA, our region and our nation,” TVA President and CEO Don Moul said the application would accelerate “the development of new nuclear technology, its supply chain and delivery model to unleash American energy.”  TVA says it will be the first U.S. utility to deploy GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 boiling water SMR. The design borrows from larger boiling water reactors developed by GE since the 1960s, but occupies a significantly smaller footprint and incorporates passive safety features that nuclear experts say reduce the risk of safety events.  Advanced nuclear reactors like the BWRX-300 will help power producers deliver the energy needed to support artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced manufacturing industries, TVA said in a news release announcing the application. In 2023, TVA said it would form a working group with GE Hitachi, Ontario Power Generation and Synthos Green Energy to develop a standard design for the BWRX-300 and its modular components. The $400 million effort aimed to ready the reactor for deployment in the U.S., Canada, Poland and other countries, TVA