Bloomberg President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has selected a senator and former Petrobras official to lead Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant with the aim of turning it into a renewable energy powerhouse. Jean Paul Prates, a senator for Lula’s Workers’ Party, confirmed Lula’s invitation in a note sent from his press office. Moments later, Lula congratulated Prates on Twitter, …

  Bloomberg Power plants that burn coal and natural gas to produce electricity had significant drops in generation as a winter storm hit the US Southeast, forcing blackouts that left hundreds of thousands in the dark. Duke Energy Corp. and the Tennessee Valley Authority cut power to homes and businesses during the holiday season as an extreme winter storm pummeled …

Bloomberg South Africa’s state-owned power company, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., will carry on cutting 2,000 megawatts of electricity from the national grid indefinitely due to the breakdown of five generating units, reversing plans to suspend the outages on New Year’s Eve, the utility said in a text message. Eskom has cut power on a record 205 days this year, with …