Utilities agree to $105 million settlement

Romania Ends CGN Cernavoda Nuclear Deal, as Nuclearelectrica moves to terminate negotiations on reactors 3 and 4, citing the EU Green Deal, US partnership, NATO, and a shift to alternative nuclear capacity options.

Key Points

Romania orders Nuclearelectrica to end CGN talks on Cernavoda units 3-4 and pursue alternative nuclear options.

✅ Negotiations on Cernavoda units 3-4 to be formally terminated

✅ EU Green Deal and US partnership cited over security concerns

✅ Board to draft strategies for new domestic nuclear capacity

Romania's government has mandated the managing board of local nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica to initiate procedures for terminating negotiations with China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) on building two new reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, where IAEA safety reports continue to shape operations.

The government also mandated the managing board to analyse and draw up strategic options on the construction of new electricity generation capacities from nuclear sources, as other countries such as India take steps to get nuclear back on track in response to demand.

The company will negotiate the termination of the agreement signed in 2015 for developing and operating units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda, even as Germany turns away from nuclear within the European landscape. 

At the end of last month, Economy Minister Virgil Popescu said that the collaboration with the Chinese company couldn't continue as it has yielded no results in seven years, despite China's nuclear program expanding steadily elsewhere.

"We have a strategic partnership with the US, and we hold on to it, we respect our partners. We are members of the EU and Nato, even as Germany's final reactor closures unfold in Europe. Aside from that, I think that seven years since this collaboration with the Chinese company began is enough to realise that we can't move on," Popescu said at that time.

Liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban announced in January that the government would exit the deal with its Chinese partner. He invoked the European Union's Green Deal rather than security issues or cost concerns circulated previously as the main reason behind a potential end of the deal with CGN to expand Romania's only nuclear power plant, amid concerns that Europe is losing nuclear power when it needs energy.

In August last year, the US included CGN on a blacklist for allegedly trying to get nuclear technology from the US to be used for military purposes in China, even as nuclear cooperation with Cambodia expands in the region.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Power Generation News

Egypt Renewable Energy Expansion targets solar and wind power projects to diversify the energy mix, adding 6.6 GW by 2020 and reaching 8,200 MW, with UK cooperation, grid upgrades, and investment in the electricity sector.

Key Points

A plan to boost solar and wind by 6.6 GW by 2020, reaching 8,200 MW and diversifying Egypt's energy mix.

✅ Adds 6.6 GW by 2020; targets 8,200 MW total capacity

✅ Focus on solar, wind, grid upgrades, and investment

✅ UK-Egypt cooperation in electricity sector projects

Egypt is planning to expand into renewable energy projects in a bid to increase its contribution to the energy mix, in step with global records being set in renewables, and amid Saudi Arabia’s 60 GW drive in the region, the country’s minister of electricity and renewable energy Mohamed Shaker said.

Renewable power is expected to add 6.6 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2020, a scale comparable to Saudi wind expansion underway, with plans to reach 8,200 megawatts (MW) after the completion of the renewable energy projects currently under consideration, reflecting gains seen since IRENA’s 2016 record year for renewables, Shaker added in a statement on Tuesday, even as regional challenges persist.

This came during the minister’s video-conference meeting with the British ambassador to Egypt Geoffrey Adams to explore the potential means for cooperation between the two countries in the electricity sector, including lessons from the UK project backlog now affecting investments and from Ireland’s green-electricity goals being pursued.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Renewable Energy News

ComEd Smart Grid Reliability drives outage reduction across Illinois, leveraging smart switches, grid modernization, and peak demand programs to keep customers powered, improve power quality, and enhance energy savings during extreme weather and severe storms.

Key Points

ComEd's smart grid performance, cutting outages and improving power quality to enhance reliability and customer savings.

✅ Smart switches reroute power to avoid customer interruptions

✅ Fewer outages during extreme weather across northern Illinois

✅ Peak Time Savings rewards for reduced peak demand usage

While the summer of 2019 set records for heat and brought severe storms, ComEd customers stayed cool thanks to record-setting reliability during the season. These smart grid investments over the last seven years helped to set records in key reliability measurements, including frequency of outages metrics, and through smart switches that reroute power around potential problem areas, avoided more than 538,000 customer interruptions from June to August.

"In a summer where we were challenged by extreme weather, we saw our smart grid investments and our people continue to deliver the highest levels of reliability, backed by extensive disaster planning across utilities, for the families and businesses we serve," said Joe Dominguez, CEO of ComEd. "We're proud to deliver the most affordable, cleanest and, as we demonstrated this summer, most reliable energy to our customers. I want to thank our 6,000 employees who work around the clock in often challenging conditions to power our communities."

ComEd has avoided more than 13 million customer interruptions since 2012, due in part to smart grid and system improvements. The avoided outages have resulted in $2.4 billion in estimated savings to society. In addition to keeping energy flowing for residents, strong power reliability continues to help persuade industrial and commercial companies to expand in northern Illinois and Chicago. The GridWise Alliance recently recognized Illinois as the No. 2 state in the nation for its smart grid implementation.

"Our smart grid investments has vastly improved the infrastructure of our system," said Terry Donnelly, ComEd president and chief operating officer. "We review the system and our operations continually to make sure we're investing in areas that benefit the greatest number of customers, and to prepare for public-health emergencies as well. On a daily basis and during storms or to reduce wildfire risk when necessary, our customers are seeing fewer and fewer interruptions to their lives and businesses."

ComEd customers also set records for energy savings this summer. Through its Peak Time Savings program and other energy-efficiency programs offered by utilities, ComEd empowered nearly 300,000 families and individuals to lower their bills by a total of more than $4 million this summer for voluntarily reducing their energy use during times of peak demand. Since the Peak Time Savings program launched in 2015, participating customers have earned a total of more than $10 million in bill credits.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Utility Operations News

Ukraine Electricity Exports resume to the European grid, starting with Moldova and expanding to Poland, Slovakia, and Romania, signaling energy security, grid resilience, added megawatts, and recovery after Russian strikes with support and renewables.

Key Points

Ukraine Electricity Exports are resumed sales of surplus power to EU neighbors, reflecting grid recovery and resilience.

✅ Initial deliveries to Moldova; Poland, Slovakia, Romania to follow.

✅ Extra capacity from repairs, warmer demand, and renewables.

✅ Exports may vary amid ongoing Russian strikes risk.

Ukraine began resuming electricity exports to European countries on Tuesday, its energy minister said, a dramatic turnaround from six months ago when fierce Russian bombardment of power stations plunged much of the country into darkness in a bid to demoralize the population.

The announcement by Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko that Ukraine was not only meeting domestic consumption demands but also ready to restart exports to its neighbors was a clear message that Moscow’s attempt to weaken Ukraine by targeting its infrastructure did not work.

Ukraine’s domestic energy demand is “100%” supplied, he told The Associated Press in an interview, and it has reserves to export due to the “titanic work” of its engineers and international partners.

Russia ramped up infrastructure attacks in September, when waves of missiles and exploding drones destroyed about half of Ukraine’s energy system. Power cuts were common across the country as temperatures dropped below freezing and tens of millions struggled to keep warm.

Moscow said the strikes were aimed at weakening Ukraine’s ability to defend itself, and has also moved to reactivate the Zaporizhzhia plant through new power lines, while Western officials said the blackouts that caused civilians to suffer amounted to war crimes. Ukrainians said the timing was designed to destroy their morale as the war marked its first anniversary.

Ukraine had to stop exporting electricity in October to meet domestic needs.

Engineers worked around the clock, often risking their lives to come into work at power plants and keep the electricity flowing. Kyiv’s allies also provided help. In December, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $53 million in bilateral aid to help the country acquire electricity grid equipment, and USAID mobile gas turbine plant support, on top of $55 million for energy sector support.

Much more work remains to be done, Halushchenko said. Ukraine needs funding to repair damaged generation and transmission lines, and revenue from electricity exports would be one way to do that.

The first country to receive Ukraine’s energy exports will be Moldova, he said.

Besides the heroic work by engineers and Western aid, warmer temperatures are enabling the resumption of exports by making domestic demand lower, even as Germany’s coal generation shapes regional power flows.

Renewables like solar and wind power also come into play as temperatures rise, taking some pressure off nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

But it’s unclear if Ukraine can keep up exports amid the constant threat of Russian bombardment, with any potential agreement on power plant attacks still uncertain.

“Unfortunately now a lot of things depend on the war,” Halushchenko said. “I would say we feel quite confident now until the next winter.”

Exports to Poland, Slovakia and Romania are also on schedule to resume, he said.

“Today we are starting with Moldova, and we are talking about Poland, we are talking about Slovakia and Romania,” Halushchenko added, noting that how much will depend on their needs.

“For Poland, we have only one line that allows us to export 200 megawatts, but I think this month we will finish another line which will increase this to an additional 400 MW, so these figures could change,” he said.

Export revenue will depend on fluctuating electricity prices in Europe, where stunted hydro and nuclear output may affect recovery. In 2022, while Ukraine was still able to export energy, Ukrainian companies averaged 40 million to 70 million euros a month depending on prices, Halushchenko said.
 

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Power Generation News

Summer Power Grid Reliability and Climate Risk drives urgent planning as extreme heat, peak demand, drought, and aging infrastructure strain ERCOT, NERC regions, risking outages without renewables integration and climate-informed grid modeling.

Key Points

Assessment of how extreme weather and demand stress the US grid, informing climate-smart planning to reduce outages.

✅ Many operators rely on historical weather, not climate projections

✅ NERC flags elevated blackout risk amid extreme heat and drought

✅ Renewables and storage can boost capacity and cut emissions

As heat ramps up ahead of what forecasters say will be a hotter than normal summer, electricity experts and officials are warning that states may not have enough power to meet demand in the coming months. And many of the nation's grid operators are also not taking climate change into account in their planning, despite available grid resilience guidance that could inform upgrades, even as extreme weather becomes more frequent and more severe.

Power operators in the Central US, in their summer readiness report, have already predicted "insufficient firm resources to cover summer peak forecasts." That assessment accounted for historical weather and the latest NOAA outlook that projects for more extreme weather this summer.

But energy experts say that some power grid operators are not considering how the climate crisis is changing our weather — including more frequent extreme events — and that is a problem if the intent is to build a reliable power grid while accelerating investing in carbon-free electricity across markets.

"The reality is the electricity system is old and a lot of the infrastructure was built before we started thinking about climate change," said Romany Webb, a researcher at Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. "It's not designed to withstand the impacts of climate change."

Webb says many power grid operators use historical weather to make investment decisions, rather than the more dire climate projections, simply because they want to avoid the possibility of financial loss, even as climate-related credit risks for nuclear plants are being flagged, for investing in what might happen versus what has already happened. She said it's the wrong approach and it makes the grid vulnerable.

"We have seen a reluctance on the part of many utilities to factor climate change into their planning processes because they say the science around climate change is too uncertain," Webb said. "The reality is we know climate change is happening, we know the impact it has in terms of more severe heatwaves, hurricanes, drought, with recent hydropower constraints in British Columbia illustrating the risks, and we know that all of those things affect the electricity system so ignoring those impacts just makes the problems worse."

An early heatwave knocked six power plants offline in Texas earlier this month. Residents were asked to limit electricity use, keeping thermostats at 78 degrees or higher and, as extreme heat boosts electricity bills for consumers, avoid using large appliances at peak times. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, in its seasonal reliability report, said the state's power grid is prepared for the summer and has "sufficient" power for "normal" summer conditions, based on average weather from 2006 to 2020.

But NOAA's recently released summer outlook forecasts above average temperatures for every county in the nation.

"We are continuing to design and site facilities based on historical weather patterns that we know in the age of climate change are not a good proxy for future conditions," Webb said.

When asked if the agency is creating a blind spot for itself by not accounting for extreme weather predictions, an ERCOT spokesperson said the report "uses a scenario approach to illustrate a range of resource adequacy outcomes based on extreme system conditions, including some extreme weather scenarios."

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC — a regulating authority that oversees the health of the nation's electrical infrastructure — has a less optimistic projection.

In a recent seasonal reliability report, NERC placed Texas at "elevated risk" for blackouts this summer. It also reported that while much of the nation will have adequate electricity this summer, several markets are at risk of energy emergencies.

California grid operators, who recently avoided widespread rolling blackouts as heat strained the grid, in its summer reliability report also based its readiness analysis on "the most recent 20 years of historical weather data." The report also notes the assessment "does not fully reflect more extreme climate induced load and supply uncertainties."

Compounding the US power grid's supply and demand problem is drought: NERC says there's been a 2% loss of reliable hydropower from the nation's power-producing dams. Add to that the rapid retirement of many coal power plants — all while nearly everything from toothbrushes to cars are now electrified. Energy experts say adding more renewables into the mix will have the dual impact of cutting climate change inducing greenhouse gas emissions but also increasing the nation's power supply, aligning with efforts such as California's 100% carbon-free mandate that aim to speed the transition.
 

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Climate Change News

Nuclear Plant Climate Risks span flood risk, heat stress, and water scarcity, threatening operations, safety systems, and steam generation; resilience depends on mitigation investments, cooling-water management, and adaptive maintenance strategies.

Key Points

Climate-driven threats to nuclear plants: floods, heat, and water stress requiring resilience and mitigation.

✅ Flooding threats to safety and cooling systems

✅ Heat stress reduces thermal efficiency and output

✅ Water scarcity risks limit cooling capacity

Climate change can affect every aspect of nuclear plant operations like fuel handling, power and steam generation and the need for resilient power systems planning, maintenance, safety systems and waste processing, the credit rating agency said.

However, the ultimate credit impact will depend upon the ability of plant operators to invest in carbon-free electricity and other mitigating measures to manage these risks, it added.
Close proximity to large water bodies increase the risk of damage to plant equipment that helps ensure safe operation, the agency said in a note.

Moody’s noted that about 37 gigawatts (GW) of U.S. nuclear capacity is expected to have elevated exposure to flood risk and 48 GW elevated exposure to combined rising heat, extreme heat costs and water stress caused by climate change.

Parts of the Midwest and southern Florida face the highest levels of heat stress, while the Rocky Mountain region and California face the greatest reduction in the availability of future water supply, illustrating the need for adapting power generation to drought strategies, it said.

Nuclear plants seeking to extend their operations by 20, or even 40 years, beyond their existing 40-year licenses in support of sustaining U.S. nuclear power and decarbonization face this climate hazard and may require capital investment adjustments, Moody’s said, as companies such as Duke Energy climate report respond to investor pressure for climate transparency.

“Some of these investments will help prepare for the increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events, highlighting that the US electric grid is not designed for climate impacts today.”

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Climate Change News