Vermont utilities to buy wind from New Hampshire

Ontario Teachers SSEN Transmission Investment advances UK renewable energy, with a 25% minority stake in SSE plc's electricity transmission network, backing offshore wind, grid expansion, and Net Zero 2050 goals across Scotland and UK.

Key Points

A 25% stake by Ontario Teachers in SSE's SSEN Transmission to fund UK grid upgrades and accelerate renewables.

✅ £1,465m cash for 25% minority stake in SSEN Transmission

✅ Supports offshore wind, grid expansion, and Net Zero targets

✅ Partnering SSE plc to deliver clean, affordable power in the UK

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (‘Ontario Teachers’) has reached an agreement with Scotland-based energy provider SSE plc (‘SSE’) to acquire a 25% minority stake in its electricity transmission network business, SSEN Transmission, to provide clean, affordable renewable energy to millions of homes and businesses across the UK, reflecting how clean-energy generation powers both the economy and the environment.

The transaction is based on an effective economic date of 31 March 2022, and total cash proceeds of £1,465m for the 25% stake are expected at completion. The transaction is expected to complete shortly.

Measures such as Ontario's 2021 electricity rate reductions have aimed to ease costs for businesses, informing broader discussions on affordability.

SSEN Transmission, which operates under its licenced entity, Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc, transports electricity generated from renewable resources – including onshore and offshore wind and hydro – from the north of Scotland across more than a quarter of the UK land mass amid scrutiny of UK electricity and gas networks profits under the regulatory regime. The investment by Ontario Teachers’ will help support the UK Government’s Net Zero 2050 targets, including the delivery of 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Charles Thomazi, Senior Managing Director, Head of EMEA Infrastructure & Natural Resources, from Ontario Teachers’ said, noting that in Canada decisions like the OEB decision on Hydro One's T&D rates guide utility planning:

“SSEN Transmission is one of Europe’s fastest growing transmission networks. Its network stretches across some of the most challenging terrain in Scotland – from the North Sea and across the Highlands – to deliver safe, reliable, renewable energy to demand centres across the UK.

We’re delighted to partner again with SSE and are committed to supporting the growth of its network and the vital role it plays in the UK’s green energy revolution.”

Investor views on regulated utilities can diverge, as illustrated by analyses of Hydro One's investment outlook that weigh uncertainties and risk factors.

Rob McDonald, Managing Director of SSEN Transmission, said:

“With the north of Scotland home to the UK’s greatest resources of renewable electricity we have a critical role to play in helping deliver the UK and Scottish Governments net zero commitments.  Our investments will also be key to securing the UK’s future energy independence through enabling the deployment of homegrown, affordable, low carbon power.

“With significant growth forecast in transmission, bringing in Ontario Teachers’ as a minority stake partner will help fund our ambitious investment plans as we continue to deliver a network for net zero emissions across the north of Scotland.” 

Ontario Teachers’ Infrastructure & Natural Resources group invests in electricity infrastructure worldwide to accelerate the energy transition with current investments including Caruna, Finland’s largest electricity distributor, Evoltz, a leading electricity transmission platform in Brazil, and Spark Infrastructure, which invests in essential energy infrastructure in Australia to serve over 5 million homes and businesses.

In Ontario, distribution consolidation has included the sale of Peterborough Distribution to Hydro One for $105 million, illustrating ongoing sector realignment.

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Hurricane Ida New Orleans Infrastructure faced a split outcome: levees and pumps protected against storm surge, while the power grid collapsed as transmission lines failed, prompting large-scale restoration efforts across Louisiana and Mississippi.

Key Points

It summarizes Ida's impact: levees and pumps held, but the power grid failed, causing outages and slow restoration.

✅ Levees and pumps mitigated flooding and storm surge impacts.

✅ All transmission lines failed, crippling the power grid.

✅ Crews and drones assess damage; restoration may take weeks.

Infrastructure in the city of New Orleans turned in a mixed performance against the fury of Hurricane Ida, with the levees and pumps warding off catastrophic flooding even as the electrical grid, part of the broader Louisiana power grid, failed spectacularly.

Ida’s high winds, measuring 150 miles (240 kilometers) an hour at landfall, took out all eight transmissions lines that deliver power into New Orleans, ripped power poles in half and crumpled at least one steel transmission tower into a twisted metal heap, knocking out electricity to all of the city. A total of more than 1.2 million homes and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi lost power. While about 90,000 customers were reconnected by Monday afternoon, many could face days without electricity, and frustration can mount as seen during the Houston outage after major storms.

In contrast, the New Orleans area’s elaborate flood defenses seem to have held up, a vindication of the Army Corps of Engineers’ $14.5 billion project to rebuild levees, flood gates and pumps in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While there were reports of scattered deaths tied to Ida, the city escaped the kind of flooding that destroyed entire neighborhoods in Katrina’s wake, left parts of the city uninhabitable for months and claimed 1,800 lives. 

“The situation in New Orleans, as bad as it is today with the power, could be so much worse,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Monday on the Today Show, praising the levee system’s performance. “All you have to do is go back 16 years to get a glimpse of what that would have been like.”

While the levees’ resiliency is no doubt due to the rebuilding effort that followed Katrina, the starkly different outcomes also stems from the storms’ different characteristics. Katrina slammed the coast with a 30-foot storm surge of ocean water, while preliminary estimates from Ida put its surge far lower. 

Ida’s winds, however, were stronger than Katrina’s, and that’s what ultimately took out so many power lines, a dynamic that also saw Texas utilities struggle during Harvey. Deanna Rodriguez, the chief executive officer of power provider Entergy New Orleans, declined to comment on when service would be restored, saying the company was using helicopters and drones to help assess the damage.

Michael Webber, an energy and engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin, estimated power restoration will take days and possibly weeks, a pattern seen in Florida restoration timelines after major hurricanes, based on the initial damage reports from the storm. More than 25,000 workers from at least 32 states and Washington are mobilized to assist with power restoration efforts, similar to FPL's massive response after Irma, according to the Edison Electric Institute.

“The question is, how long will it take to rebuild these lines,” Webber said. The utilities will first need to complete their damage assessments before they can get a sense of repair timelines, a step that Gulf Power crews have highlighted in past recoveries, he said. “You can imagine that will take days at least, possibly weeks.”

The loss of electricity will have other affects as well, and even though grid resilience during the pandemic was strong, local systems face immediate constraints. Sewer substations, for example, need electricity to keep wastewater moving, said Ghassan Korban, executive director of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board. The storm knocked out power to about 80 of the city’s 84 pumping stations, he said at a Monday press conference. “Without electricity, wastewater backs up and can cause overflows,” he said, adding that residents should conserve water to lessen stress on the system.

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British Columbia Bomb Cyclone disrupts coastal travel with severe wind gusts, heavy rainfall, widespread power outages, ferry cancellations, flooding, and landslides across Vancouver Island, straining emergency services and transport networks during the early holiday season.

Key Points

A rapidly intensifying storm hitting B.C.'s coast, causing damaging winds, heavy rain, power outages, and ferry delays.

✅ Wind gusts over 100 km/h and well above normal rainfall

✅ Power outages, flooded roads, and downed trees across the coast

✅ Ferry cancellations isolating communities and delaying supplies

A powerful storm, dubbed a "bomb cyclone," recently struck the British Columbia coast, wreaking havoc across the region. This intense weather system led to widespread disruptions, including power outages affecting tens of thousands of residents and the cancellation of ferry services, crucial for travel between coastal communities. The bomb cyclone is characterized by a rapid drop in pressure, resulting in extremely strong winds and heavy rainfall. These conditions caused significant damage, particularly along the coast and on Vancouver Island, where flooding and landslides led to fallen trees blocking roads, further complicating recovery efforts.

The storm's ferocity was especially felt in coastal areas, where wind gusts reached over 100 km/h, and rainfall totals were well above normal. The Vancouver region, already susceptible to storms during the winter months, faced dangerous conditions as power lines were downed, and transportation networks struggled to stay operational. Emergency services were stretched thin, responding to multiple weather-related incidents, including fallen trees, damaged infrastructure, and local flooding.

The ferry cancellations further isolated communities, especially those dependent on these services for essential supplies and travel. With many ferry routes out of service, residents had to rely on alternative transportation methods, which were often limited. The storm's timing, close to the start of the holiday season, also created additional challenges for those trying to make travel arrangements for family visits and other festive activities.

As cleanup efforts got underway, authorities warned that recovery would take time, particularly due to the volume of downed trees and debris. Crews worked to restore power and clear roads, while local governments urged people to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel, and BC Hydro's winter payment plan provided billing relief during outages. For those without power, the storm brought cold temperatures, and record electricity demand in 2021 showed how cold snaps strain the grid, making it crucial for families to find warmth and supplies.

In the aftermath of the bomb cyclone, experts highlighted the increasing frequency of such extreme weather events, driven in part by climate change and prolonged drought across the province. With the potential for more intense storms in the future, the region must be better prepared for these rapid weather shifts. Authorities are now focused on bolstering infrastructure to withstand such events, as all-time high demand has strained the grid recently, and improving early warning systems to give communities more time to prepare.

In the coming weeks, as British Columbia continues to recover, lessons learned from this storm will inform future responses to similar weather systems. For now, residents are advised to remain vigilant and prepared for any additional weather challenges, with recent blizzard and extreme cold in Alberta illustrating how conditions can deteriorate quickly.

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Enegix Base One Green Hydrogen Plant will produce renewable hydrogen via electrolysis in Ceara, Brazil, leveraging 3.4 GW baseload renewables, offshore wind, and hydro to scale clean energy, storage, and export logistics.

Key Points

A $5.4bn Ceara, Brazil project to produce 600m kg of green hydrogen annually using 3.4 GW of baseload renewables.

✅ 3.4 GW baseload from hydro and offshore wind pipelines

✅ Targets 600m kg green hydrogen per year via electrolysis

✅ Focus on storage, transport, and export supply chains

In March, Enegix Energy announced some of the most ambitious hydrogen plans the world has ever seen. The company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of the Brazilian state of Ceará to build the world’s largest green hydrogen plant in the state on the country’s north-eastern coast, and the figures are staggering.

The Base One facility will produce more than 600 million kilograms of green hydrogen annually from 3.4GW of baseload renewable energy, and receive $5.4bn in investment to get the project off the ground and producing within four years.

Green hydrogen, hydrogen produced by electrolysis that is powered by renewables, has significant potential as a clean energy source. Already seeing increased usage in the transport sector, the power source boasts the energy efficiency and the environmental viability to be a cornerstone of the world’s energy mix.

Yet practical challenges have often derailed large-scale green hydrogen projects, from the inherent obstacle of requiring separate renewable power facilities to the logistical and technological challenges of storing and transporting hydrogen. Could vast investment, clever planning, and supportive governments and programs like the DOE’s hydrogen hubs initiative help Enegix to deliver on green hydrogen’s oft-touted potential?

Brazilian billions
The Base One project is exceptional not only for its huge scale, but the timing of its construction, with demand for hydrogen set to increase dramatically over the next few decades. Figures from Wood Mackenzie suggest that hydrogen could account for 1.4 billion tonnes of energy demand by 2050, one-tenth of the world’s supply, with green hydrogen set to be the majority of this figure.

Yet considering that, prior to the announcement of the Enegix project, global green hydrogen capacity was just 94MW, advances in offshore green hydrogen and the development of a project of this size and scope could scale up the role of green hydrogen by orders of magnitude.

“We really need to [advance clean energy] without any emissions on a completely clean, carbon neutral and net-zero framework, and so we needed access to a large amount of green energy projects,” explains Wesley Cooke, founder and CEO of Enegix, a goal aligned with analyses that zero-emissions electricity by 2035 is possible, discussing the motivation behind the vast project.

With these ambitious goals in mind, the company needed to find a region with a particular combination of political will and environmental traits to enable such a project to take off.

“When we looked at all of these key things: pipeline for renewables, access to water, cost of renewables, and appetite for renewables, Brazil really stood out to us,” Cooke continues. “The state of Ceará, that we’ve got an MOU with the government in at the moment, ticks all of these boxes.”

Ceará’s own clean energy plans align with Enegix’s, at least in terms of their ambition and desire for short-term development. Last October, the state announced that it plans to add 5GW of new offshore wind capacity in the next five years. With BI Energia alone providing $2.5bn in investment for its 1.2GW Camocim wind facility, there is significant financial muscle behind these lofty ambitions.

“One thing I should add is that Brazil is very blessed when it comes to baseload renewables,” says Cooke. “They have an incredibly high percentage of their country-wide energy that comes from renewable sources and a lot of this is in part due to the vast hydro schemes that they have for hydro dams. Not a lot of countries have that, and specifically when you’re trying to produce hydrogen, having access to vast amounts of renewables [is vital].”

Changing perceptions and tackling challenges
This combination of vast investment and integration with the existing renewable power infrastructure of Ceará could have cultural impacts too. The combination of state support for and private investment in clean energy offsets many of the narratives emerging from Brazil concerning its energy policies and environmental protections, even as debates over clean energy's trade-offs persist in Brazil and beyond, from the infamous Brumadinho disaster to widespread allegations of illegal deforestation and gold mining.

“I can’t speak for the whole of Brazil, but if we look at Ceará specifically, and even from what we’ve seen from a federal government standpoint, they have been talking about a hydrogen roadmap for Brazil for quite some time now,” says Cooke, highlighting the state’s long-standing support for green hydrogen. “I think we came in at the perfect time with a very solid plan for what we wanted to do, [and] we’ve had nothing but great cooperation, and even further than just cooperation, excitement around the MOU.”

This narrative shift could help overcome one of the key challenges facing many hydrogen projects, the idea that its practical difficulties render it fundamentally unsuitable for baseload power generation. By establishing a large-scale green hydrogen facility in a country that has recently struggled to present itself as one that is invested in renewables, the Base One facility could be the ultimate proof that such clean hydrogen projects are viable.

Nevertheless, practical challenges remain, as is the case with any energy project of this scale. Cooke mentions a number of solutions to two of the obstacles facing hydrogen production around the world: renewable energy storage and transportation of the material.

“We were looking at compressed hydrogen via specialised tankers [and] we were looking at liquefied hydrogen, [as] you have to get liquefied hydrogen very cool to around -253°, and you can use 30% to 40% of your total energy that you started with just to get it down to that temperature,” Cooke explains.

“The other aspect is that if you’re transporting this internationally, you really have to think about the supply chain. If you land in a country like Indonesia, that’s wonderful, but how do you get it from Indonesia to the customers that need it? What is the supply chain? What does that look like? Does it exist today?”

The future of green hydrogen
These practical challenges present something of a chicken and egg problem for the future of green hydrogen: considerable up-front investment is required for functions such as storage and transport, but the difficulties of these functions can scare off investors and make such investments uncommon.

Yet with the world’s environmental situation increasingly dire, more dramatic, and indeed risky, moves are needed to alter its energy mix, and Enegix is one company taking responsibility and accepting these risks.

“We need to have the renewables to match the dirty fuel types,” Cooke says. “This [investment] will really come from the decisions that are being made right now by large-scale companies, multi-billion-euro-per-year revenue companies, committing to building out large scale factories in Europe and Asia, to support PEM [hydrolysis].”

This idea of large-scale green hydrogen is also highly ambitious, considering the current state of the energy source. The International Renewable Energy Agency reports that around 95% of hydrogen comes from fossil fuels, so hydrogen has a long ways to go to clean up its own carbon footprint before going on to displace fossil fuel-driven industries.

Yet this displacement is exactly what Enegix is targeting. Cooke notes that the ultimate goal of Enegix is not simply to increase hydrogen production for use in a single industry, such as clean vehicles. Instead, the idea is to develop green hydrogen infrastructure to the point where it can replace coal and oil as a source of baseload power, leapfrogging other renewables to form the bedrock of the world’s future energy mix.

“The problem with [renewable] baseload is that they’re intermittent; the wind’s not always blowing and the sun’s not always shining and batteries are still very expensive, although that is changing. When you put those projects together and look at the levelised cost of energy, this creates a chasm, really, for baseload.

“And for us, this is really where we believe that hydrogen needs to be thought of in more detail and this is what we’re really evangelising about at the moment.”

A more hydrogen-reliant energy mix could also bring social benefits, with Cooke suggesting that the same traits that make hydrogen unwieldy in countries with established energy infrastructures could make hydrogen more practically viable in other parts of the world.

“When you look at emerging markets and developing markets at the moment, the power infrastructure in some cases can be quite messy,” Cooke says. “You’ve got the potential for either paying for the power or extending your transmission grid, but rarely being able to do both of those.

“I think being able to do that last mile piece, utilising liquid organic hydrogen carrier as an energy vector that’s very cost-effective, very scalable, non-toxic, and non-flammable; [you can] get that power where you need it.

“We believe hydrogen has the potential to be very cost-effective at scale, supporting a vision of cheap, abundant electricity over time, but also very modular and usable in many different use cases.”

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Lawa Hydropower Station approved on the Jinsha River, a Yangtze tributary, delivers 2,000 MW via four units; 784 ft dam, 12 sq mi reservoir, Sichuan-Tibet site, US$4.59b investment, Huadian stake, renewable energy generation.

Key Points

A 2,000 MW dam project on the Jinsha River with four units, a 784 ft barrier, and 8.36 billion kWh annual output.

✅ Sichuan-Tibet junction on the Jinsha River

✅ 2,000 MW capacity; four turbine-generator units

✅ 8.36 bn kWh/yr; US$4.59b total; Huadian 48% stake

China has approved construction of the 2,000-MW Lawa hydropower station, a Yangtze tributary hydropower project on the Jinsha River, multiple news agencies are reporting.

Lawa, at the junction of Sichuan province and the Tibet autonomous region, will feature a 784-foot-high dam and the reservoir will submerge about 12 square miles of land. The Jinsha River is a tributary of the Yangtze River, and the project aligns with green hydrogen development in China.

The National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China, which also guides China's nuclear energy development as part of national planning, is reported to have said that four turbine-generator units will be installed, and the project is expected to produce about 8.36 billion kWh of electricity annually.

Total investment in the project is to be US$4.59 billion, and Huadian Group Co. Ltd. will have a 48% stake in the project, reflecting overseas power infrastructure activity, with minority stakes held by provincial firms, according to China Daily.

In other recent news in China, Andritz received an order in December 2018 to supply four 350-MW reversible pump-turbines and motor-generators, alongside progress in compressed air generation technologies, for the 1,400-MW ZhenAn pumped storage plant in Shaanxi province.

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Ultra-Low Overnight Price Plan delivers flexible electricity pricing from Hydro One and the Ontario Energy Board, with TOU, tiered options, off-peak EV charging savings, balanced billing, and an online calculator to optimize bills.

Key Points

An Ontario pricing option with ultra-low night rates, helping Hydro One customers save by shifting usage to off-peak.

✅ Four periods with ultra-low overnight rate for EV charging

✅ Compare TOU vs tiered with Hydro One's online calculator

✅ Balanced billing and due date choice support budget control

Hydro One has announced that customers have even more choice and flexibility when it comes to how they are billed for electricity with the company's launch of the Ontario Energy Board's new Ultra-Low Overnight Electricity Price Plan for customers. A new survey of Ontario customers, conducted by Innovative Research Group, shows that 74 per cent of Ontarians find having choice between electricity pricing plans useful.

"As their trusted energy advisor, we want our customers to know we have the insights and tools to help them make the right choice when it comes to their electricity plans," said Teri French, Executive Vice President, Safety, Operations and Customer Experience. "We know that choice and flexibility are important to our customers, and we are proud to now offer them a third option so they can select the plan that best fits their lifestyle."

The same survey revealed that fewer than half of Ontarians are familiar with either tiered or the new ultra-low overnight price plans. To better support its customers Hydro One is providing an online calculator to help them choose which pricing plan best suits their lifestyle. The company also offers additional flexibility and assistance in managing household budgets by providing customers with the ability to choose their billing due date and flatten usage spikes from temperature fluctuations through balanced billing.

During the pandemic, Ontario introduced electricity relief to support families, small businesses and farms, complementing these customer options.

"By offering families and small businesses more choice, we are putting them back in control of their energy bills," said Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. "Starting today Hydro One customers have a new option - the Ultra-Low Electricity Price Plan - which could help them save money each year, while making our province's grid more efficient."

Electricity price plan options

• New Ultra-Low Overnight price plan (ULO): Designed for customers who use more electricity at night, such as those who charge their electric vehicle, this new price plan can help customers keep costs down and take control of their electricity bill by shifting usage to the ultra-low overnight price period and related off-peak electricity rates when province-wide electricity demand is lower.
• This plan has four price periods that are the same in the summer as they are in the winter and includes an ultra-low overnight rate.
• Time-of-Use price plan (TOU): TOU provides customers with more control over their electricity bill by adjusting their usage habits with time-of-use rates used in other jurisdictions as well.
• In this plan, electricity prices change throughout each weekday, when demand is on-peak, and peak hydro rates can affect overall costs.
• Tiered price plan (RPP): Tiered pricing provides customers with the flexibility to use electricity at any time of day at the same low price up until the threshold is exceeded during the month, after that usage is charged at a higher price.
• For residential customers, the winter period (November 1 – April 30) threshold is 1,000 kWh per month and the summer period (May 1 – October 31) threshold is 600 kWh per month. 
• For small business customers, the threshold is 750 kWh throughout the year, while broader stable electricity pricing supports industrial and commercial companies.

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