Charles Hua is the founder and executive director of PowerLines. Abe Silverman is a former general counsel of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and researcher at Johns Hopkins University’s Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute. Ted Thomas is a former chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission and founder of Energize Strategies. Earlier this year, the federal government announced significant layoffs across government agencies. At the Department of Energy alone, 3,500 government workers are expected to leave. These talented and skilled professionals are now on the market, looking for new careers.  Meanwhile, immense challenges loom for the nation’s energy system — from skyrocketing utility bills and surging electricity demand to aging grid infrastructure and increased cybersecurity threats. There is a growing need for talented engineers, economists, lawyers, accountants and other professionals to help tackle these challenges. While much attention on energy issues focuses on federal action, most of the critical decisions over our‬ electricity system are taking place at the state level, at state public‬ utilities commissions, state energy offices and state consumer advocate offices. These agencies are juggling an increasingly complex and expansive set of responsibilities, from planning for‬ the buildout of energy resources and courting economic development projects to setting‬‭ electricity rates and securing critical infrastructure.‬  States bear disproportionate responsibility for maintaining affordable, reliable and safe‬ ‭electricity. And it is at the state level that departing federal workers can have the greatest impact on our energy future. The U.S. electricity system is at a crossroads. Nearly 80 million Americans, or one in three, are struggling to pay their utility bills, with electricity costs increasing 30% since 2021. According to a new national online poll conducted by Ipsos, four in five (80%) Americans say they feel powerless over their utility bills. This trend is expected to continue, with

Tallgrass said Tuesday it has signed anchor shipper precedent agreements for a planned Permian Basin pipeline that would carry up to 2.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The firm transport commitments “financially justify construction of the pipeline project, subject to customary regulatory and corporate conditions and approvals, with a target in-service date in late 2028”, the Kansas City-based energy transport infrastructure company said in an online statement. Tallgrass said it would launch an open season for more shippers to subscribe and for the company to determine the pipeline’s ultimate capacity. The pipeline is planned to pick up gas from different points in the Permian for transport to the Rockies Express Pipeline, Tallgrass’ gas pipeline stretching about 1,700 miles from Colorado’s Blanco County to Ohio’s Monroe County. Tallgrass is also eyeing other delivery points. “The new pipeline project is unique in that it will enable affordable and plentiful natural gas to access markets across the U.S., including multiple major markets that are key hubs of activity for industrial, agricultural, and technological development and innovation, from reshoring, policies to promote U.S. agriculture, and AI-driven power demand”, Tallgrass said. “Upon in-service, natural gas from the project will also be able to reach markets across Tallgrass’ approximately 800-mile decarbonization pipeline network, so that consumers of new natural-gas-fired power generation and industrial consumers of natural gas will have an immediate and financially viable opportunity to supply their growing energy demand while decarbonizing through CO2 capture and sequestration and the use of clean hydrogen”. CO2 Pipeline Project Tallgrass is converting a natural gas pipeline that operated for over a decade to transport CO2 to its sequestration site being developed in Wyoming. The converted pipeline is planned to transport over 10 million tons a year of CO2 from industries in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming. Tallgrass expects the converted

Swedish firm CorPower Ocean is set to build the UK’s largest wave energy array at a test site in the Orkney Islands. The Scottish government made the announcement at the All-Energy conference in Glasgow. As part of the berth agreement, CorPower will deploy a 5 MW wave array at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) by 2029. The project will be located at EMEC’s grid-connected Billia Croo wave energy test site and will consist of 14 wave energy converters (WECs) operating for up to 15 years. The wave array mark’s CorPower’s second project at EMEC after it tested its C3 WEC at the Scapa Flow test site in 2018 in partnership with Wave Energy Scotland. Since then, the Stockholm-headquartered firm has demonstrated its C4 WEC device off the coast of Portugal. Speaking at All-Energy in 2024, CorPower head of business development Anders Jansson said the company had wanted to continue its testing at EMEC. However, he said CorPower made the decision to move its testing from Scotland to Portugal after Brexit impacted access to EU research funding. © Supplied by CorPowerA CorPower wave energy converter in Portugal. Ahead of building the wave array at EMEC, CorPower will build three more WECs to its fleet for a small wave farm demonstration project before developing the 5 MW array. The Scottish government said CorPower will produce the hull and other subsystems for its Billia Croo array project in Orkney, alongside using local vessels during deployment. Scotland wave and tidal energy ambitions SNP deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said Scotland is in a “prime position” for the development and deployment wave and tidal stream energy. “This new project will create skilled jobs in Orkney, support a developing supply chain while reinforcing Scotland’s global leadership in marine renewables,” Forbes said. Jansson said the company

The UK will need to invest heavily in renewable energy and upgrading the grid to meet growing electricity demand despite a growing political pushback against net zero efforts, the chief of executive of ScottishPower has said. Speaking at the opening of the All-Energy conference in Glasgow, Keith Anderson said UK electricity demand is set to double “no matter your politics”. His comments come after a swathe of electoral victories by Reform UK in local elections in England which have raised alarm bells in the clean energy sector. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has also said it will be “impossible” for the UK to meet its net zero by 2050 target. But Anderson said the UK needs to continue its energy transition investments because of the “overwhelming consensus” that electrification is becoming “unstoppable”. “Electrification of our economy is critical for energy security, national security, economic growth, the health and wealth of our country, and net zero will come as a result of that electrification,” he said. © Image: SP Energy NetworksA ScottishPower employee standing near grid transmission infrastructure. “No matter your politics, electricity demand will double. “Britain needs the right infrastructure to support it, or we get left behind.” Alongside calls for the UK government to abandon the possible introduction of zonal electricity pricing, Anderson hit out at suggestions that net zero is “doomed to fail”. He said the UK “still has a brilliant pipeline of opportunities” despite a recent announcement that Danish developer Orsted will not proceed with its Hornsea 4 offshore wind project. ‘Go big or go home’ on AR7 Amid these setbacks, he said the UK needs to “go big or go home” in the upcoming seventh Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation around (AR7). “To hit the clean power 2030 targets, [AR7] has to be the most successful auction

Tenaz Energy Corp. has completed the acquisition of 100 percent of the shares of NAM Offshore B.V. (NOBV) from Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij B.V., a joint venture between Shell PLC and ExxonMobil Corporation. Tenaz has assumed the operatorship of NOBV, the company said in a news release. NOBV has been renamed Tenaz Energy Netherlands B.V. (TEN). The base consideration for the transaction was EUR 165 million, prior to closing adjustments and contingent payments, according to an earlier statement. The transaction has an effective date of January 1, 2024. The acquired assets include substantially all of NAM’s offshore exploration and production business, including associated pipeline infrastructure and onshore processing in the Netherlands. The acquisition does not include NAM’s assets in the Ameland area. As a result of free cash flow and other purchase price adjustments from the effective date of January 1, 2024 until May 1, 2025, Tenaz received approximately EUR 15 million cash at closing, the company said. The acquired assets produced approximately 11,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), consisting of 99 percent natural gas, for the first four months of 2025. Production for full-year 2025, including both the four-month pre-closing and eight-month post-closing periods, is expected to be approximately 10,000 boepd, the company said. Tenaz said it plans to invest $55 million to $61 million in the acquired assets for the remainder of 2025, with production benefits beginning primarily in 2026. Approximately 75 percent of the capital expenditures for the acquired assets will fund drilling and workover activities, with the remainder for facilities projects and maintenance capital. Tenaz updated its production and capital guidance reflecting its expected contribution for the eight-month period following closing. On an annual average basis for 2025, TEN will add approximately 6,100 to 6,400 boepd to its annual guidance range, resulting in updated guidance

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects the U.S. regular gasoline retail price to drop this year and next year, according to its latest short term energy outlook, which was released on May 6. According to that STEO, the EIA sees the U.S. regular gasoline retail price averaging $3.09 per gallon in 2025 and $3.07 per gallon in 2026. The EIA highlighted in the STEO that the U.S. regular gasoline retail price averaged $3.31 per gallon in 2024. In its latest STEO the EIA projected that the U.S. regular gasoline retail price will come in at $3.16 per gallon in the second quarter of this year, $3.12 per gallon in the third quarter, $2.99 per gallon in the fourth quarter, $2.96 per gallon in the first quarter of 2026, $3.16 per gallon in the second quarter, $3.17 per gallon in the third quarter, and $2.96 per gallon in the fourth quarter of next year. In its previous STEO, which was released back in April, the EIA projected that the U.S. regular gasoline retail price would average $3.09 per gallon in 2025 and $3.11 per gallon in 2026. That STEO also pointed out that the U.S. regular gasoline retail price averaged $3.31 per gallon last year. The EIA’s April STEO forecast that the U.S. regular gasoline retail price would come in at $3.10 per gallon in the second quarter of 2025, $3.14 per gallon in the third quarter, $3.01 per gallon in the fourth quarter, $2.99 per gallon in the first quarter of 2026, $3.21 per gallon in the second quarter, $3.22 per gallon in the third quarter, and $3.00 per gallon in the fourth quarter of next year. “We expect gasoline prices across the United States will average $3.14 per gallon over 2Q25 and 3Q25, down nine percent from the