US President Donald Trump urged Iran to accept a nuclear deal to avoid further attacks, hours after Israel bombed the Islamic Republic’s atomic facilities and killed some of its top commanders. “There is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” Trump said on Truth Social. Tehran must make a deal “before it is too late,” he said. Israel said it struck around 100 targets across Iranian cities on Friday morning, using 200 planes. The attacks, which Israel has said will likely continue over the coming days, caused oil to surge as much as 13 percent, though it later pared its gains, and investors to buy havens such as gold and US Treasuries. Iran quickly responded by sending a wave of drones toward Israel, though it was unclear if they caused any damage. Some were intercepted over Jordan. Still, Israel expects Iran to retaliate with more drone strikes and also by firing ballistic missiles, according to a military official speaking on condition of anonymity. Explosions were heard across Tehran, Natanz – home to a key atomic site – and other cities, according to local and social media. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear-enrichment program.”  The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, and the military’s chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, were both killed, according to Iranian media. At least two other senior IRGC members also died. The United Nations’ atomic watchdog said there were no indications of increased radiation levels at Iran’s main uranium-enrichment site of Natanz, an early sign the strikes haven’t penetrated the layers of steel and concrete protecting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear stockpile. Still, Netanyahu said the strikes “will continue for as many days as it takes

Spain’s largest renewable fund Qualitas Energy is the frontrunner to acquire clean-energy company Cubico Sustainable Investments, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Qualitas has emerged as the leading bidder for the business after interest from KKR & Co.’s ContourGlobal, the other remaining suitor, has cooled, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. London-based Cubico is owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and PSP Investments. The Canadian pension funds have been working with Bank of America Corp. on the potential deal, seeking a valuation of about EUR 7 billion ($7.9 billion), Bloomberg News reported last year. A sale of Cubico could rank as one of the largest renewable energy deals this year globally and comes at a time the US administration’s refocus on boosting oil and gas supplies has reduced investor appetite for such assets. Qualitas may consider bringing in partners to help fund the acquisition or seek to divest some of Cubico’s assets shortly after a deal is completed, one of the people said. There’s no certainty the deliberations will lead to a transaction, and ContourGlobal’s interest could still be rekindled, the people said.  Representatives for Qualitas, KKR, OTPP and PSP declined to comment. Cubico was launched in 2015 by its current owners alongside Spain’s largest lender, Banco Santander SA, which sold its stake a year later. The company’s portfolio includes onshore wind and solar assets as well as battery energy storage systems and transmission lines, according to its website. It has a total installed capacity of 2.8 gigawatts, as well as 450 megawatts under construction and a development pipeline of more than 17 gigawatts. The firm has more than 500 employees globally. Qualitas chiefly invests in energy transition and sustainability-related assets. It has raised EUR 4.6 billion since its inception in 2006,

Dive Brief: There were 30 weather-related events in the United States and Canada that caused more than $1 billion in damages last year, but “none resulted in operator-initiated load shed, unlike previous events of a similar scale,” the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said Thursday in its annual State of Reliability report. On whole, the bulk power system “remained reliable but challenged by adverse weather conditions and transitions in resource mix and usage,” according to the report. “Today’s transmission system is demonstrably more reliable and resilient with the severity and duration of outages declining,” the reliability watchdog said. The North American grid is challenged by the proliferation of large loads, such as data centers, and the operating profile of inverter-based resources, NERC said. But “reliability improvements were observed in areas with high concentrations of battery energy storage systems,” also known as BESS. Dive Insight: The size and speed with which data centers are expanding across the country presents “a significant near-term reliability challenge,” NERC said. Though there is uncertainty surrounding how much data center capacity will be built, and how quickly, experts agree they are driving up electricity demand. Data centers could account for 44% of U.S. electricity load growth from 2023 to 2028, Bain & Company said in an October analysis. These large loads can be developed faster than the generation and transmission infrastructure needed to support them, “resulting in lower system stability,” NERC said in its report. “Additionally, the voltage sensitivity and rapidly changing, often unpredictable, power usage of these facilities creates new operating challenges.” NERC said more accurate models of the operational characteristics of data centers “are essential to reliability to prevent instability caused by these large changes in electricity demand.” There was also more than 45 GW of new inverter-based capacity added to the bulk power system in

The popular levelized cost of electricity metric doesn’t consider several key variables that are important for long-term system planning and deep decarbonization, according to a Tuesday report from the Clean Air Task Force. LCOE is widely used by regulators and developers, but system planning “should rely on more in-depth analyses,” the task force said. The LCOE “is an economic assessment of the cost of the energy-generating system including all the costs over its lifetime: initial investment, operations and maintenance, cost of fuel, cost of capital,” according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “[The] LCOE is the minimum price at which energy must be sold for an energy project to break even.” Examining the LCOE does not consider a power system’s needs, CATF said, nor a technology’s generation profile or generation characteristics such as dispatchability and inertia. “While the cost of projects is relatively straightforward to estimate, the value of projects requires a system assessment of needs, which often requires complex modeling analysis,” the report said. LCOE “often does not account for the full electricity system cost necessary to deploy a generator at a large scale, such as the transmission and distribution infrastructure necessary to deliver power to consumers,” the report argued. Clean firm technologies like nuclear fission and fusion, geothermal, combustion with carbon capture and storage, and zero-carbon fuel combustion “have been shown to significantly reduce the cost of decarbonization despite having a higher LCOE than wind and solar due to their offsetting impacts on reducing infrastructure and costs,” the report said. CATF noted that others have recognized LCOE’s limitations and devised more comprehensive measures, like the International Energy Agency’s Value-Adjusted LCOE, or VALCOE. LCOE is a “good metric to track historical technology cost evolution,” the report said, but “jurisdiction-specific system-level analysis” would better serve “decarbonization policy, industry strategy, and

Tory McKeag is principal software architect at GE Vernova and lead maintainer of LF Energy TROLIE. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 881 introduces a markedly new approach to managing transmission system capacity in the United States. By requiring the use of ambient-adjusted ratings, known as AARs, for transmission lines, the order enables operators to more accurately reflect real-time and forecasted weather conditions when determining power flow limits. This can unlock significantly more capacity on the existing grid, without the need for costly and time-consuming new transmission construction. And the anticipated benefits are substantial. Improved accuracy in line ratings should help ease interconnection backlogs, increase grid reliability during periods of extreme heat and improve safety by addressing cases where traditional seasonal ratings may be too optimistic. Additionally, dynamic ratings can serve as a valuable bridge while awaiting long-term infrastructure upgrades. Order 881 also impacts wholesale electricity markets by requiring AARs to be incorporated into both day-ahead and real-time energy and ancillary service market models. These ratings must be archived and made transparent to all stakeholders, including market monitors, energy traders and regulators. This level of transparency is unprecedented and supports more efficient market outcomes; however, it also introduces a new level of technical and operational complexity. AAR compliance: A shared burden Unlike many FERC orders that place primary implementation responsibility on independent system operators and regional transmission organizations, Order 881 imposes significant obligations on both ISOs and transmission owners, or TOs. While ISOs must aggregate AAR data, integrate it into market and reliability systems and ensure transparency, TOs are now responsible for computing these ratings in the first place and transmitting them to the ISOs. For many utilities operating bulk electric system facilities, this means adopting new AAR forecasting capabilities, implementing rating calculation software and integrating that output into ISO processes —

Trigon Pacific Terminals Ltd. has made an FID (final investment decision) to build a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) export facility in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, with a capacity of 2.5 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa). The bulk commodity export terminal operator expects the CAD 750-million ($549.88 million) project to start operation late 2029, subject to regulatory approvals. Trigon chief executive Rob Booker said in an online statement, “We’ve come to the table with investment dollars and now we need the federal government to expedite this shovel-ready project that is clearly in the national interest”. The company, partly owned by the Lax Kw’alaams Band and the Metlakatla First Nation, said, “The new infrastructure addresses a pressing need for Canadian energy producers who have faced significant challenges accessing export markets due to capacity constraints at existing Prince Rupert facilities, and broader impediments arising from the current western Canadian export monopoly”. “Trigon’s open-access model will provide much-needed competition and flexibility, as an expansion of Canada’s export capabilities rather than a reallocation of existing capacity”, Trigon added. “Strong international demand for Canadian LPG has been confirmed through robust off-take discussions with key partners in Japan, South Korea, and India, demonstrating the global appetite for reliable energy supplies from Canada”. Jumpei Yamamoto, an executive at Japan’s Astomos Energy Corp., said, “Japan has been increasing LPG import from Canada, achieving stable import volume of two million tonnes in 2024. We welcome the expansion of competitive LPG exports from Canada, contributing to the stable energy supply for Japan”.  Trigon said it has already prepared rail access to the site and that berth loading facilities are ready for integration. Long-lead items for procurement have also been identified. Lax Kw’alaams Chief Councilor Garry Reece said, “This is about bringing long-term benefits to our people, our land, and future