Regional transmission authority PJM Interconnection says it's approved rebuilding a transmission line from West Virginia to Maryland.
The Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based organization says rebuilding the 500-kilovolt line from Mount Storm in West Virginia and Doubs, Maryland would increase capacity more than 60 percent. It's expected to cost between $320 million and $370 million.
PJM says its board also reaffirmed support for the proposed Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, or PATH, project. The 277-mile PATH project calls for a 765-kilovolt line from American Electric Power's John Amos plant in West Virginia, across parts of northern Virginia, to a substation near Kemptown, Maryland.
The $2.1 billion project won PJM approval in 2007, but regulators are still mulling approval.
ITER Nuclear Fusion advances tokamak magnetic confinement, heating deuterium-tritium plasma with superconducting magnets, targeting net energy gain, tritium breeding, and steam-turbine power, while complementing laser inertial confinement milestones for grid-scale electricity and 2025 startup goals.
Key Points
ITER Nuclear Fusion is a tokamak project confining D-T plasma with magnets to achieve net energy gain and clean power.
✅ Tokamak magnetic confinement with high-temp superconducting coils
✅ Deuterium-tritium fuel cycle with on-site tritium breeding
✅ Targets net energy gain and grid-scale, low-carbon electricity
It sounds like the stuff of dreams: a virtually limitless source of energy that doesn’t produce greenhouse gases or radioactive waste. That’s the promise of nuclear fusion, often described as the holy grail of clean energy by proponents, which for decades has been nothing more than a fantasy due to insurmountable technical challenges. But things are heating up in what has turned into a race to create what amounts to an artificial sun here on Earth, one that can provide power for our kettles, cars and light bulbs.
Today’s nuclear power plants create electricity through nuclear fission, in which atoms are split, with next-gen nuclear power exploring smaller, cheaper, safer designs that remain distinct from fusion. Nuclear fusion however, involves combining atomic nuclei to release energy. It’s the same reaction that’s taking place at the Sun’s core. But overcoming the natural repulsion between atomic nuclei and maintaining the right conditions for fusion to occur isn’t straightforward. And doing so in a way that produces more energy than the reaction consumes has been beyond the grasp of the finest minds in physics for decades.
But perhaps not for much longer. Some major technical challenges have been overcome in the past few years and governments around the world have been pouring money into fusion power research as part of a broader green industrial revolution under way in several regions. There are also over 20 private ventures in the UK, US, Europe, China and Australia vying to be the first to make fusion energy production a reality.
“People are saying, ‘If it really is the ultimate solution, let’s find out whether it works or not,’” says Dr Tim Luce, head of science and operation at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), being built in southeast France. ITER is the biggest throw of the fusion dice yet.
Its $22bn (£15.9bn) build cost is being met by the governments of two-thirds of the world’s population, including the EU, the US, China and Russia, at a time when Europe is losing nuclear power and needs energy, and when it’s fired up in 2025 it’ll be the world’s largest fusion reactor. If it works, ITER will transform fusion power from being the stuff of dreams into a viable energy source.
Constructing a nuclear fusion reactor ITER will be a tokamak reactor – thought to be the best hope for fusion power. Inside a tokamak, a gas, often a hydrogen isotope called deuterium, is subjected to intense heat and pressure, forcing electrons out of the atoms. This creates a plasma – a superheated, ionised gas – that has to be contained by intense magnetic fields.
The containment is vital, as no material on Earth could withstand the intense heat (100,000,000°C and above) that the plasma has to reach so that fusion can begin. It’s close to 10 times the heat at the Sun’s core, and temperatures like that are needed in a tokamak because the gravitational pressure within the Sun can’t be recreated.
When atomic nuclei do start to fuse, vast amounts of energy are released. While the experimental reactors currently in operation release that energy as heat, in a fusion reactor power plant, the heat would be used to produce steam that would drive turbines to generate electricity, even as some envision nuclear beyond electricity for industrial heat and fuels.
Tokamaks aren’t the only fusion reactors being tried. Another type of reactor uses lasers to heat and compress a hydrogen fuel to initiate fusion. In August 2021, one such device at the National Ignition Facility, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, generated 1.35 megajoules of energy. This record-breaking figure brings fusion power a step closer to net energy gain, but most hopes are still pinned on tokamak reactors rather than lasers.
In June 2021, China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor maintained a plasma for 101 seconds at 120,000,000°C. Before that, the record was 20 seconds. Ultimately, a fusion reactor would need to sustain the plasma indefinitely – or at least for eight-hour ‘pulses’ during periods of peak electricity demand.
A real game-changer for tokamaks has been the magnets used to produce the magnetic field. “We know how to make magnets that generate a very high magnetic field from copper or other kinds of metal, but you would pay a fortune for the electricity. It wouldn’t be a net energy gain from the plant,” says Luce.
One route for nuclear fusion is to use atoms of deuterium and tritium, both isotopes of hydrogen. They fuse under incredible heat and pressure, and the resulting products release energy as heat
The solution is to use high-temperature, superconducting magnets made from superconducting wire, or ‘tape’, that has no electrical resistance. These magnets can create intense magnetic fields and don’t lose energy as heat.
“High temperature superconductivity has been known about for 35 years. But the manufacturing capability to make tape in the lengths that would be required to make a reasonable fusion coil has just recently been developed,” says Luce. One of ITER’s magnets, the central solenoid, will produce a field of 13 tesla – 280,000 times Earth’s magnetic field.
The inner walls of ITER’s vacuum vessel, where the fusion will occur, will be lined with beryllium, a metal that won’t contaminate the plasma much if they touch. At the bottom is the divertor that will keep the temperature inside the reactor under control.
“The heat load on the divertor can be as large as in a rocket nozzle,” says Luce. “Rocket nozzles work because you can get into orbit within minutes and in space it’s really cold.” In a fusion reactor, a divertor would need to withstand this heat indefinitely and at ITER they’ll be testing one made out of tungsten.
Meanwhile, in the US, the National Spherical Torus Experiment – Upgrade (NSTX-U) fusion reactor will be fired up in the autumn of 2022, while efforts in advanced fission such as a mini-reactor design are also progressing. One of its priorities will be to see whether lining the reactor with lithium helps to keep the plasma stable.
Choosing a fuel Instead of just using deuterium as the fusion fuel, ITER will use deuterium mixed with tritium, another hydrogen isotope. The deuterium-tritium blend offers the best chance of getting significantly more power out than is put in. Proponents of fusion power say one reason the technology is safe is that the fuel needs to be constantly fed into the reactor to keep fusion happening, making a runaway reaction impossible.
Deuterium can be extracted from seawater, so there’s a virtually limitless supply of it. But only 20kg of tritium are thought to exist worldwide, so fusion power plants will have to produce it (ITER will develop technology to ‘breed’ tritium). While some radioactive waste will be produced in a fusion plant, it’ll have a lifetime of around 100 years, rather than the thousands of years from fission.
At the time of writing in September, researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion reactor in Oxfordshire were due to start their deuterium-tritium fusion reactions. “JET will help ITER prepare a choice of machine parameters to optimise the fusion power,” says Dr Joelle Mailloux, one of the scientific programme leaders at JET. These parameters will include finding the best combination of deuterium and tritium, and establishing how the current is increased in the magnets before fusion starts.
The groundwork laid down at JET should accelerate ITER’s efforts to accomplish net energy gain. ITER will produce ‘first plasma’ in December 2025 and be cranked up to full power over the following decade. Its plasma temperature will reach 150,000,000°C and its target is to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for every 50 megawatts of input heating power.
“If ITER is successful, it’ll eliminate most, if not all, doubts about the science and liberate money for technology development,” says Luce. That technology development will be demonstration fusion power plants that actually produce electricity, where advanced reactors can build on decades of expertise. “ITER is opening the door and saying, yeah, this works – the science is there.”
Rooftop Solar Battery Backup helps Californians keep lights on during PG&E blackouts, combining home energy storage with grid-tied systems for wildfire prevention, outage resilience, and backup power when solar panels cannot supply nighttime demand.
Key Points
A home battery paired with rooftop solar, providing backup power and blackout resilience when the grid is down.
✅ Works when grid is down; panels alone stop for safety.
✅ Requires home battery storage; market adoption is growing.
✅ Supports wildfire mitigation and PG&E outage preparedness.
Californians have embraced rooftop solar panels more than anyone in the U.S., but amid California's solar boom many are learning the hard way the systems won’t keep the lights on during blackouts.
That’s because most panels are designed to supply power to the grid -- not directly to houses, though emerging peer-to-peer energy models may change how neighbors share power in coming years. During the heat of the day, solar systems can crank out more juice than a home can handle, a challenge also seen in excess solar risks in Australia today. Conversely, they don’t produce power at all at night. So systems are tied into the grid, and the vast majority aren’t working this week as PG&E Corp. cuts power to much of Northern California to prevent wildfires, even as wildfire smoke can dampen solar output during such events.
The only way for most solar panels to work during a blackout is pairing them with solar batteries that store excess energy. That market is just starting to take off. Sunrun Inc., the largest U.S. rooftop solar company, said some of its customers are making it through the blackouts with batteries, but it’s a tiny group -- countable in the hundreds.
“It’s the perfect combination for getting through these shutdowns,” Sunrun Chairman Ed Fenster said in an interview. He expects battery sales to boom in the wake of the outages, as the state has at times reached a near-100% renewables mark that heightens the need for storage.
And no, trying to run appliances off the power in a Tesla Inc. electric car won’t work, at least without special equipment, and widespread U.S. power-outage risks are a reminder to plan for home backup.
European Solar Inverter Demand surges as photovoltaics and residential solar expand during the clean energy transition, driven by high natural gas prices; Germany leads, boosting Enphase and SolarEdge sales for rooftop systems and grid-tied installations.
Key Points
Rising European need for solar inverters, fueled by residential PV growth, high energy costs, and clean energy policies.
✅ Germany leads EU rooftop PV installations
✅ Enphase and SolarEdge see revenue growth
✅ High gas prices and policies spur adoption
Solar equipment makers are expected to post higher quarterly profit, benefiting from strong demand in Europe for critical components that convert energy from the sun into electricity, amid record renewable momentum worldwide.
The continent is emerging as a major market for solar firms as it looks to reduce its dependence on the Russian energy supply and accelerate its clean energy transition, with solar already reshaping power prices in Northern Europe across the region, brightening up businesses of companies such as Enphase Energy (ENPH.O) and SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG.O), which make solar inverters.
Wall Street expects Enphase and SolarEdge to post a combined adjusted net income of $323.8 million for the April-June quarter, a 56.7% jump from a year earlier, even as demand growth slows in the United States.
The energy crisis in Europe is not as acute as last year when Western sanctions on Russia severely crimped supplies, but prices of natural gas and electricity continue to be much higher than in the United States, Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said.
As a result, demand for residential solar keeps growing at a strong pace in the region, with Germany being one of the top markets and solar adoption in Poland also accelerating in recent years across the region.
About 159,000 residential solar systems became operational in the first quarter in Germany amid a solar power boost that reflects policy and demand, a 146% rise from a year earlier, according to BSW solar power association.
Adoption of solar is also helping European homeowners have greater control over their energy costs as fossil fuel prices tend to be more volatile, Morningstar analyst Brett Castelli said.
SolarEdge, which has a bigger exposure to Europe than Enphase, said its first-quarter revenue from the continent more than doubled compared with last year.
In comparison, growth in the United States has been tepid due to lukewarm demand in states like Texas and Arizona where cheaper electricity prices make the economics of residential solar less attractive, even though solar is now cheaper than gas in parts of the U.S. market.
Higher interest rates following the U.S. Federal Reserve's recent actions to tame inflation are also weighing on demand, even as power outage risks rise across the United States.
Analysts also expect weakness in California where a new metering reform reduces the money credited to rooftop solar owners for sending excess power into the grid, underscoring how policy shifts can reshape the sector. The sunshine state accounts for nearly a third of the U.S. residential solar market.
Enphase will report its results on Thursday after the bell, while SolarEdge will release its second-quarter numbers on Aug. 1.
Hydro One Avista merger faces regulatory scrutiny in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, as political risk outweighs defensive utilities fundamentals like stable cash flow, rate base growth, EPS outlook, and a near 5% dividend yield.
Key Points
A planned Hydro One-Avista acquisition awaiting key state approvals amid elevated political and regulatory risk.
✅ Hold rating, $24 price target, 28.1% implied return
✅ EPS forecast: $1.27 in 2018; $1.38 in 2019
✅ Defensive utility: stable cash flow, 4-6% rate base growth
A seemingly positive development for Hydro One is overshadowed by ongoing political and regulatory risk, as seen after the CEO and board ouster, Industrial Alliance Securities analyst Jeremy Rosenfield says.
On October 4, staff from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission filed updated testimony in support of the merger of Hydro One and natural gas distributor Avista, which had previously received U.S. antitrust clearance from federal authorities.
The merger, which was announced in July of 2017 has received the green light from federal and key states, with Washington, Oregon and Idaho being exceptions, though the companies would later seek reconsideration from U.S. regulators in the process.
But Rosenfield says even though decisions from Oregon and Idaho are expected by December, there are still too many unknowns about Hydro One to recommend investors jump into the stock.
Hydro One stock defensive but risky
“We continue to view Hydro One as a fundamentally defensive investment, underpinned by (1) stable earnings and cash flows from its regulated utility businesses (2) healthy organic rate base and earning growth (4-6%/year through 2022) and (3) an attractive dividend (~5% yield, 70-80% target payout),” the analyst says. “In the meantime, and ahead of key regulatory approvals in the AVA transaction, we continue to see heightened political/regulatory risk as an overhand on the stock, outweighing Hydro One’s fundamentals in the near term.”
In a research update to clients today, Rosenfield maintained his “Hold” rating and one year price target of $24.00 on Hydro One, implying a return of 28.1 per cent at the time of publication.
Rosenfield thinks Hydro One will generate EPS of $1.27 per share in fiscal 2018, even though its Q2 profit plunged 23% as electricity revenue fell. He expects that number will improve to EPS of $1.38 a share the following year.
France Nuclear Heatwave Output Restrictions signal reduced reactor capacity along the Rhone River, as EDF curbs output to meet cooling-water rules, balance the grid, integrate solar peaks, and limit impacts on power prices.
Key Points
EDF limits reactor output during heat to protect rivers and keep the grid stable under cooling-water rules.
✅ Cuts likely at midday/weekends when solar peaks
✅ Bugey, Saint Alban maintain minimum grid output
✅ France net exporter; price impact expected small
The high temperature warning has come early this year but will affect fewer nuclear power plants, amid a broader France-Germany nuclear dispute over atomic power policy that shapes regional energy flows.
High temperatures could halve nuclear power production at plants along France's Rhone River this week, as European power hits records during extreme heat.
Output restrictions are expected at two nuclear plants in eastern France due to high temperature forecasts, nuclear operator EDF said, which may limit energy output during heatwaves. It comes several days ahead of a similar warning that was made last year but will affect fewer plants.
The hot weather is likely to halve the available power supply from the 3.6 GW Bugey plant from 13 July and the 2.6 GW Saint Alban plant from 16 July, the operator said.
However, production will be at least 1.8 GW at Bugey and 1.3 GW at Saint Alban to meet grid requirements, and may change according to grid needs, the operator said.
Kpler analyst Emeric de Vigan said the restrictions were likely to have little effect on output in practice. Cuts are likely only at the weekend or midday when solar output was at its peak so the impact on power prices would be slim.
During recent lockdowns, power demand held firm in Europe, offering context for current price dynamics.
He said the situation would need monitoring in the coming weeks, however, noting it was unusually early in the summer for such restrictions to be imposed.
Water temperatures at the Bugey plant already eclipsed the initial threshold for restrictions on 9 July, underscoring France's outage risks under heat-driven constraints. They are currently forecast to peak next week and then drop again, Refinitiv data showed.
"France is currently net exporting large amounts of power – single nuclear units' supply restrictions will not have the same effect as last year," Refinitiv analyst Nathalie Gerl said.
The Garonne River in southern France has the highest potential for critical levels of warming, but its Golfech plant is currently offline for maintenance until mid-August, the data showed, highlighting how Europe is losing nuclear power during critical periods.
"(The restrictions were) to be expected and it will probably occur more often," Greenpeace campaigner Roger Spautz said.
"The authorities must stick to existing regulations for water discharges. Otherwise, the ecosystems will be even more affected," he added.
BC Hydro COVID-19 Relief offers electricity bill credits for laid-off workers and small business support, announced by Premier John Horgan, while FortisBC customers face deferrals and billing arrangements across Kelowna, Okanagan, and West Kootenay.
Key Points
BC Hydro COVID-19 Relief gives bill credits to laid-off residents; FortisBC offers deferrals and payment plans.
✅ Credit equals 3x average monthly bill for laid-off BC Hydro users
✅ Small businesses on BC Hydro get three months bill forgiveness
✅ FortisBC waives late fees, no disconnections, offers deferrals
On April 1, B.C. Premier John Horgan announced relief for BC Hydro customers who are facing bills after being laid-off during the economic shutdown due to the COVID-19 epidemic, while the utility also explores time-of-use rates to manage demand.
“Giving people relief on their power bills lets them focus on the essentials, while helping businesses and encouraging critical industry to keep operating,” he said.
BC Hydro residential customers in the province who have been laid off due to the pandemic will see a credit for three times their average monthly bill and, similar to Ontario's pandemic relief fund, small businesses forced to close will have power bills forgiven for three months.
But a large region of the province which gets its power from FortisBC will not have the same bail out.
FortisBC is the electricity provider to the tens of thousands who live and work in the Silmikameen Valley on Highway 3, the city of Kelowna, the Okanagan Valley south from Penticton, the Boundary region along the U.S. border. as well as West Kootenay communities.
“We want to make sure our customers are not worried about their FortisBC bill,” spokesperson Nicole Brown said.
FortisBC customers will still be on the hook for bills despite measures being taken to keep the lights on, even as winter disconnection pressures have been reported elsewhere.
Recent storm response by BC Hydro also highlights how crews have kept electricity service reliable during recent atypical events.
“We’ve adjusted our billing practices so we can do more,” she said. “We’ve discontinued our late fees for the time being and no customer will be disconnected for any financial reason.”
Brown said they will work one-on-one with customers to help find a billing arrangement that best suits their needs, aligning with disconnection moratoriums seen in other jurisdictions.
Those arrangement, she said, could include a “deferral, an equal payment plan or other billing options,” similar to FortisAlberta's precautions announced in Alberta.
Global News inquired with the Premier’s office why FortisBC customers were left out of Wednesday’s announcement and were deferred to the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.
The Ministry referred us back to FortisBC on the issue and offered no other comment, even as peak rates for self-isolating customers remained unchanged in parts of Ontario.
“We’re examining all options of how we can further help our customers and look forward to learning more about the program that BC Hydro is offering,” Brown said.
Disappointed FortisBC customers took to social media to vent about the disparity.
