Energy

Bloomberg Massachusetts’s top law-enforcement officer is asking regulators to investigate the future of natural-gas utilities in the state as it fights climate change. Attorney General Maura Healey called on the Department of Public Utilities to examine what steps need to be taken as the state weans itself off fossil fuels to help meet its goal to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions …

Bloomberg Tasmania wants to turn itself into a battery. The island state off the Australian mainland’s southern tip is pursuing what its leaders say is the world’s most ambitious renewable energy target, boosting hydro and wind generation to twice its own needs by 2040 and exporting the rest via a planned undersea cable. The strategy could play a key role …

Bloomberg A bipartisan group of senators is planning to introduce legislation that would expand US sanctions against Gazprom PJSC’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany by taking aim at insurance companies that work with Russian vessels on completion of the project. Senator Ted Cruz, one of the lead sponsors of the legislation, said the pipeline poses “a critical …

Bloomberg French oil company Total SA has bought a 51% stake from utility SSE Plc in the development of a massive wind farm off the coast of Scotland. The 70-million-pound investment ($88 million) in the Seagreen 1 wind farm will be Total’s first significant foray into offshore wind as it seeks to expand its green energy business. SSE could also …

Bloomberg A Nigerian court suspended the government’s cancellation of eight oil concessions, hampering the state’s ability to include the withdrawn permits in a bidding round opened this week. A judge at the Federal High Court in Lagos granted an injunction, preventing the government from re-awarding the eight permits before a lawsuit challenging the legality of the terminations is resolved. Ten …

Bloomberg Three years after Elon Musk took up a challenge to solve Australian power outages by building the world’s biggest battery, a Siemens AG venture wants to install even larger ones to bolster renewable investment in the nation. Fluence, a partnership between Germany’s Siemens and Arlington, Virginia-based AES Corp, is proposing to build two giant lithium-ion batteries at strategic points …

Bloomberg China completed construction of a $3.17 billion ultra-high voltage (UHV) electricity line that for the first time will transport only clean energy. It’s the first UHV line in the world built to transmit only carbon-free electricity, its developer, State Grid Corp of China, said. It will allow more renewables to be developed in Qinghai and Gansu provinces and deliver …

Bloomberg China probably won’t hit its nuclear energy target this year, but that’s unlikely to derail a broader ambition to become the planet’s chief proponent of the climate-friendly fuel by the end of the decade. In an energy mix that’ll still heavily feature coal and other fossil fuels, government researchers have said that nuclear capacity could more than double to …

Bloomberg New solar and wind farms will soon cost less than many of the world’s coal-fired power plants, and governments should invest in them to boost economies amid the coronavirus, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Coal plants with a capacity of up to 1,200 gigawatts will probably be more expensive to run by next year than new, large-scale …

Bloomberg Infigen Energy, one of Australia’s biggest wind-farm operators, has received a takeover offer from a group backed by the Philippines’ Ayala Corp valuing the company at A$777 million ($542 million). The A$0.80-per-share bid from UAC Energy Holdings Pty is at a 36% premium to Infigen’s closing price. UAC, which is 75% controlled by Ayala, has already acquired a 12.8% …