Amy Akers is a senior counsel at Clark Hill. Throughout the last five years the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has made significant efforts to increase power supply while managing the consumer price tag through transmission reform.  Beginning in June 2021, under docket RM21-17, FERC invited public comment on three specific topics (1) reforms for longer-term regional transmission planning and cost-allocation processes that take into account anticipated future generation, (2) rethinking cost responsibility for regional transmission facilities and interconnection-related network upgrades, and (3) enhanced transmission oversight over how new transmission facilities are identified and paid for.  In April 2022, after resounding industry support, in the same docket, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the resiliency and reliability of the electric grid through regional transmission planning and cost allocation, and generator interconnection.  However, motivated by the excessive interconnection queue in 2022 of over 2,000 GW of potential generation and storage capacity across the nation represented by over 10,000 active interconnection requests, FERC issued a NOPR in June 2022 under docket RM22-14 on the single question of reforming and streamlining generation interconnection processes and procedures.  FERC approves transmission, interconnection reforms Maintaining its momentum of reducing the interconnection backlog, FERC issued Order 2023 in July 2023, which among other requirements, ensures interconnection access to new technologies. Nearly a year later, in May 2024, under docket RM21-17, FERC issued Order 1920 requiring transmission providers to conduct long-term planning over a 20-year horizon for future regional transmission facilities including the cost-effective expansion of transmission being replaced and determining how it will all be paid for.  As is common practice, FERC issued rehearing orders for Orders 2023 and 1920 respectively titling them 2023-A and 1920-A, each largely providing clarifications to the original orders.  New initiatives Continuing its effort to improve grid efficiency, FERC issued an advance

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the fund management arm of Norway’s central bank, has signed an agreement with RWE to acquire a 49 percent stake in the German utility’s Nordseecluster and Thor offshore wind projects in Germany and Denmark respectively. The purchase price is EUR 1.4 billion ($1.55 billion). RWE will retain 51 percent. “RWE remains in charge of construction and operations throughout the lifecycle of these offshore wind farms”, RWE said in an online statement. Both projects are under construction. Their combined capacity will be enough to power over 2.6 million households in Germany and Denmark according to RWE. Nordseecluster, about 50 kilometers (31.07 miles) north of Juist island on Germany’s side of the North Sea, will have a capacity of 1.6 gigawatts (GW). It is being built in 2 phases. The 660-megawatt (MW) phase 1 is planned to be commissioned 2027. The 900-MW phase 2 is expected to be commissioned 2029. Thor, around 22 kilometers off the west coast of the Jutland peninsula, will produce up to 1.1 GW. It will be Denmark’s biggest offshore wind farm according to RWE. Commissioning is targeted 2027. “The projects will have long-term contracted revenues that provide stable cash flows and reduce risk to the projects”, RWE said. NBIM’s investment will raise the value of the projects to approximately EUR 2.87 billion. “In total, Norges Bank Investment Management’s expected commitment to acquire and fund its share of constructing the wind farms will be approximately 4,000 million euros”, NBIM said separately. “No external debt financing will be involved in the transaction”. The parties expect to complete the transaction in the third quarter, subject to customary approvals. NBIM is tasked with managing Norway’s oil and gas revenue through the Government Pension Fund Global. Last year renewable energy comprised 0.1 percent of NBIM’s investments. It

The INEOS Group has completed its purchase of China National Offshore Oil Corp.’s (CNOOC) stakes on the United States side of the Gulf of Mexico. The acquisition consisted of non-operating stakes in deepwater early-production projects Appomattox and Stampede, as well as “several mature assets and supporting business”, according to INEOS. CNOOC held a 25 percent stake in Stampede, operated by Hess Corp., and 21 percent in Appomattox, operated by INEOS’ fellow British company Shell PLC. The new assets raise the global production of INEOS’ energy arm to over 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed), according to diversified company INEOS. “The USA is a very attractive place for INEOS Energy to invest”, INEOS Energy chief executive David Bucknall said in a statement. “This is our third deal in three years following the 1.4 mtpa LNG deal with Sempra and the acquisition of Chesapeake Energy’s oil and gas assets in South Texas. “Total capital spend on energy assets in the USA now exceeds $3 billion, providing a strong platform for future growth”. INEOS Energy chair Brian Gilvary commented, “This is a major step for us into the deepwater US Gulf, which builds on our growing energy business”. “INEOS Energy is all about competing in the energy transition to provide reliable, affordable energy to meet world demand as the population continues to grow – and progressing carbon storage projects”, Gilvary added. For CNOOC, the divestments will help it “optimize” its global portfolio, CNOOC International Ltd. chair Liu Yongjie said in a statement December 14, 2024, announcing the transaction agreement. Early last year Shell put into production a subsea tie-back to the Appomattox floating production hub, adding an estimated peak production of 16,000 boed. Located in the Mississippi Canyon, the Rydberg project has estimated proven and probable reserves of 38 million boe, according

It’s getting cheaper to bring a shipment of liquefied natural gas into Europe because of heightening competition between terminals to accommodate extra cargoes. The delivered price of LNG for northwest Europe widened its discount to the continental benchmark Title Transfer Facility in recent weeks, according to data from Spark Commodities Pte Ltd. The price difference was as much as minus 71.5 cents last week, according to the data. Imports in western Europe reached their highest level for March in records going back to 2017, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s happening as demand in Asia weakens, most noticeably in China, and Europe prepares to refill depleted inventories during the summer.  Greece’s Public Power Corp. SA last week bought an LNG cargo on a DES basis for May delivery at roughly a 70-cent discount to the TTF benchmark.  The widening difference demonstrates an increase in demand for delivery slots at European terminals, said Qasim Afghan, a commercial analyst at Spark. As a result, all those facilities are now in the money, he said. What do you think? We’d love to hear from you, join the conversation on the Rigzone Energy Network. The Rigzone Energy Network is a new social experience created for you and all energy professionals to Speak Up about our industry, share knowledge, connect with peers and industry insiders and engage in a professional community that will empower your career in energy. MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR Bloomberg

Innes Grant has been appointed as the chief operating officer for decommissioning tech company rahd.AI as it looks to scale up its operations in Aberdeen. Grant has previously worked in a similar role for 24 years with digital consulting giant Avanade, a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture. Founded in Perth, Western Australia, the Scotland-based company uses artificial intelligence in its platform, which aims to reduce the cost of decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure. The group has successfully completed pilots in both Australia and the UK. Grant said: “We want to become the global default for facilitating decommissioning – the same way Skyscanner became the default for travel. And in doing so, we can save governments, operators and ultimately taxpayers tens of billions of pounds. “Earlier this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer posed the question on whether the UK wanted to be an AI taker or an AI maker. There is a global race for jobs of tomorrow and we can anchor many of these jobs in Aberdeen as we scale up this game-changing technology. “Our platform not only aligns with the UK government’s AI ambition, it also helps it tackle one of its most expensive industrial problems – reducing the cost of oil and gas decommissioning.” rahd.AI is a portfolio company of Ventex, the Aberdeen-based climate tech venture studio led by Steve Gray and Stuart McLeod, who both have a track record of success in building global businesses. The business is led by energy tech specialist Jake Stride, a former global technology strategist for Microsoft and current board member of Subsea Energy Australia. © Supplied by VattenfallVattenfall head of business area wind Helene Biström. Helene Biström has stepped down as Vattenfall’s head of business area wind. Having served in the role since 2021, Biström will remain in her role

TotalEnergies has announced the completion of its acquisition of VSB Group, a wind and solar developer across Europe, and SN Power, a hydropower developer in Uganda. Concurrently it announced the signing of agreements to buy several wind and solar projects in the Canadian province of Alberta from RES. TotalEnergies said it had just closed the acquisition of one of these projects, the 184-megawatt (MW) Big Sky Solar, commissioned late February. “The completion of these three acquisitions in Europe, North America and Africa will contribute to our targets of 35 GW [gigawatts] of gross renewable capacity by 2025 and over 100 TWh [terawatt hours] of electricity production by 2030”, Stéphane Michel, TotalEnergies president for gas, renewables and power, said in a company statement. In Europe TotalEnergies’ renewable energy portfolio now consists of 500 MW installed or under construction and a pipeline of over 15 GW of solar and wind. In Africa the company has 255 MW of installed renewables capacity plus 560 MW of hydro-generation projects. In Canada TotalEnergies has raised its installed RE capacity to 180 MW. It also has more than 600 MW of solar and wind projects, according to the company. “These acquisitions strengthen our operations in markets where we are deploying our Integrated Power business, like Germany and in North America, and in countries, such as Uganda, where we can leverage synergies with our exploration and production activities”, Michel added. “Furthermore, these acquisitions will contribute to cash flow growth and to our goal of reaching our 12 percent profitability target in the electricity segment”. VSB, acquired from Swiss asset manager Partners Group for EUR 1.57 billion ($1.72 billion), contributes to TotalEnergies over 15 GW of projects in the pipeline, in addition to 7 GW operational or being built. However, TotalEnergies said, “Given its targeted strategy for certain key European