Load growth, plant retirements could drive 100x increase in blackouts by 2030: DOE | Utility Dive Skip to main content An article from Dive Brief The U.S. Department of Energy on Monday published a methodology for assessing grid reliability, but clean energy advocates say it likely exaggerates the risks of blackouts. Published July 8, 2025 Power outage hours could increase from single digits today “to more than 800 hours per year,” the U.S. Department of Energy said in a report published July 7, 2025. Marizza via Getty Images Dive Brief: Blackouts could increase by 100 times in 2030, relative to today’s averages, if the United States continues to shutter power plants and fails to add additional firm capacity amid rising demand, the U.S. Department of Energy said in a Monday report. The report includes a uniform methodology to identify regions at risk of power outages and guide federal reliability “interventions,” DOE said. The report was required by President Donald Trump’s April executive order which directed the agency to respond to an “energy emergency” he declared in January. But clean energy advocates say the report appears to exaggerate the risks, and undercount the contributions of wind, solar and battery storage resources. “If the analysis is overly pessimistic about advanced energy technologies and the future of the grid, consumers will end up paying too much for resources we no longer need,” Caitlin Marquis, managing director at Advanced Energy United, said in an email. Dive Insight: DOE’s report assumes 104 GW of plant retirements by 2030, alongside the addition of 210 GW of new generation — but only 22 GW of the additions will be “firm, reliable, dispatchable generation.” “Modeling shows annual outage hours could increase from single digits today to more than 800 hours per year. Such a surge would leave millions of households and

The PJM Interconnection’s market monitor on Monday urged federal regulators to set conditions on a pending $12 billion deal between NRG Energy and LS Power citing concern over potential market abuses. Under the planned transaction, NRG would buy from LS Power 18 natural gas-fired power plants, totaling about 13 GW across nine states, some of which fall in PJM’s territory. NRG would also acquire CPower, a commercial and industrial virtual power plant platform that has about 6 GW of capacity and operates in all deregulated markets in the U.S., according to a news release announcing the deal.  Setting conditions on the deal would help prevent NRG from exerting market power, Monitoring Analytics, PJM’s independent market monitor, said in a filing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The companies expect to close the deal early next year, subject to FERC and other approvals. Without the conditions, Monitoring Analytics said it would oppose the transaction because it would increase NRG’s ability to affect electricity and capacity prices. Under the pending deal, NRG’s capacity in PJM would jump from about 2.1 GW to 9.5 GW. The transaction would also add to NRG’s emergency and pre-emergency demand response capability. Even with the increased capacity, NRG and LS Power contend that NRG would be unable to exert market power, according to their June 12 application at FERC. However, the transaction would increase NRG’s market power in some parts of PJM, according to Monitoring Analytics. Also, under PJM’s market conditions, capacity prices are likely to continue being “very high,” the market monitor said.  “The market conditions and structural market power increase the potential impact of market power on customers under the current market structure,” it said. The market monitor said it is concerned that NRG would be able to affect capacity prices using its increased ownership in emergency and

United Energy LNG and Power LNG signed Monday a merger agreement to form “a scalable small-scale LNG platform serving industrial, power, and transport markets across North America”. United Energy LNG will survive as the expanded entity, immediately overseeing three liquefied natural gas (LNG) production sites in “advanced stages of development”, a joint statement said. The projects have an estimated capital of $240-270 million. Concurrently United Energy LNG announced the start of the first phase of front-end loading (FEL-1), or early planning work, for the first project site, in Houston, Texas. It said the second project is “underway” in a confidential location while the third site, in Independence, Kansas, is scheduled to begin FEL-1 this month. United Energy LNG plans to achieve financial close on the projects by the first quarter of 2026. It expects to commission the projects by the first quarter of 2027. “The company is actively engaging with feedgas suppliers, utilities, and logistics providers to build out a nationwide virtual LNG delivery network”, the statement said. “The company estimates that its addressable domestic market exceeds 2 billion cubic feet equivalent annually, representing a $3+ billion opportunity in underserved power, transport, and industrial sectors”. The combined entity targets a liquefaction capacity of “up to 540,000 MTPA at full deployment”, the companies said. “While the majors are focused on megaprojects, we’re deploying modular, nimble solutions that get LNG to the people and industries who need it now”, said United Energy LNG chief executive Brian Guinn. Power LNG chief executive Austin Terry said, “This merger represents the alignment of speed, innovation, and execution. By combining our development and operational expertise with United Energy’s capital platform, we’re unlocking a scalable model for delivering LNG where it’s needed most”. The companies said, “Unlike traditional LNG developments requiring multi-billion-dollar investments and long permitting timelines,

Natural gas and water utility NW Natural Holding Co. (NW Natural Holdings) and its subsidiary Northwest Natural Gas Co. (NW Natural) have appointed the chief of a construction firm and a sportswear executive as directors. Peter Bragdon, executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel of Columbia Sportswear Co., will serve as an independent director at Portland, Oregon-based NW Natural Holdings effective July 12. NW Natural also named Bragdon to its board of directors from the same date, as well as Hoffman Construction Co. president and chief executive Dave Drinkward effective June 30. “They are both leaders at respected, industry-leading companies and their insights will be invaluable as the company continues to grow”, NW Natural Holdings board chair Malia H. Wasson said in an online statement. “We greatly value both Peter and Dave’s contributions to our local Pacific Northwest community, which is in line with NW Natural’s core values”. Bragdon has served in his current roles at Columbia since 2015. Previously he served as chief of staff at Oregon’s gubernatorial office from January 2003 to June 2004. Currently Bragdon serves as board chair at the Oregon Community Foundation. He also serves on the boards of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry and the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, as well as the board of trustees of Reed College. Bragdon received a Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School, a Master of Studies in Law degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Amherst College, according to NW Natural Holdings. Drinkward has held his current positions at Hoffman since November 2018. Drinkward also serves on the boards of several organizations including the ACE Mentor Program of America, Meals on Wheels People and the Oregon Business Council. He is also a trustee of Willamette

It appears that Iran was not very close to trying to block shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.  That’s what Edward L. Morse, Senior Advisor and Commodities Strategist at Hartree Partners LP, and previously the Global Head of Commodity Research at Citi Group, told Rigzone in an exclusive interview recently. “Iran’s position in the Middle East and in the global market has deteriorated significantly since the October 7 Hamas attacks in Southern Israel, which Iran with no question helped to orchestrate,” Morse said. “It has lost effective utility of all of its external proxies. It has lost its position in a number of countries almost completely … It has lost its air defense completely. And it … [has] seen its vulnerability to its control over the domestic economy, including the availability of natural gas for power generation and industry as summer demand was starting to surge,” he added. “On top of that the combination of Israeli and particularly U.S. attacks have reduced the possibility of significant assistance from the two outside powers tha[t]… have been their main global backers – Russia and China,” he continued. “The former has limited ability to provide arms given its situation vis-à-vis Ukraine while the later has absolutely no interest in seeing a disruption of critical supplies through the Strait of Hormuz,” Morse went on to state. “In short, a shutting of flows through the Strait would actually be an existential threat to Iran, and a threat to do that is not only not a critical element of its national security, it is a direct danger to its existence,” he highlighted. When asked how high oil prices would have climbed if Iran had shut the Strait, Morse told Rigzone that it is close to impossible to see how much oil prices would have increased had Iran shut

DNO ASA said its Norwegian operating subsidiaries have entered into an offtake agreement with France’s ENGIE SA for the company’s Norwegian gas production. The offtake agreement covers the entirety of DNO’s Norwegian gas production following its acquisition of Sval Energi Group AS, the company said in a news release. The four-year agreement is effective October 1 and “offers premium pricing,” DNO said. Related to the agreement, DNO said it has entered into an offtake financing facility with an undisclosed U.S. bank for up to $500 million. Under the facility, the bank finances DNO the value of up to 270 days of scheduled gas production based on future gas sales receivables. The all-in interest rate for drawn amounts under the facility is “significantly below” conventional reserve-based lending (RBL) terms available to DNO, with no charges for undrawn amounts, DNO said, adding that there are no financial covenants related to the facility. Proceeds from the offtake financing facility will be used to replace Sval Energi’s existing similar facilities as well as for general corporate purposes, DNO stated. “We have received strong interest by buyers to prepurchase our enlarged North Sea production of 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day split about equally between oil and gas,” DNO Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said. “These three-way transactions are made possible because buyers are eager to lock in secure supplies of Norwegian oil and gas and U.S. banks, in particular, have significantly stepped up fossil fuel lending,” he added. DNO said it has repaid and will not renew over $ 600 million in RBLs across its North Sea subsidiaries, “given [the] availability of attractive offtake financing terms”. In addition, the company has borrowed $300 million under a one-year bank bridge loan “to add more arrows to our quiver,” Mossavar-Rahmani said. Separately, DNO is also in