Invenergy Cancels NJ Offshore Wind, to Invest in NatGas Instead
Invenergy announced Wednesday it is surrendering offshore wind leases in New Jersey, New York, California, and Maine, pivoting instead to natural gas and geothermal projects. Under a settlement with the Justice and Interior Departments, the Chicago-based developer will receive a $765 million partial refund (money it paid the government for the leases) and will invest in gas-fired plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, as well as Western geothermal projects. Big Wind is out, natgas is in! Wow, what a change. Read More “Invenergy Cancels NJ Offshore Wind, to Invest in NatGas Instead”
In February 2024, members of the South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a proposed project to build a 1,020-megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plant in the state’s Lowcountry, in Colleton County (see 
Owensboro (KY) Municipal Utilities (OMU) is studying a proposed 545-megawatt natural gas power plant on roughly 30 acres at the former Elmer Smith Station site along the Ohio River, where coal generation ended in 2020. The developer, Green River East GenCo, holds an option to lease and has filed a grid interconnection application. OMU hired GDS Associates for a six-month study funded by the developer. OMU General Manager Tim Lyons stressed that the early-stage project isn’t guaranteed and that OMU won’t own the roughly $1 billion plant, citing customer risk. Instead, the plant may pursue power purchase agreements ahead of joining the MISO market in 2027. The plant will employ 15–20 workers. 
New York State, with its bizarre energy policies, has officially bankrupted yet another company. Danskammer Energy, which operates a gas-fired peaker power plant along the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY, had tried for years to upgrade the plant (since 2018), but finally threw in the towel in June 2024 (see 
The name Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) pretty much says it all. PGW is a natural gas utility serving the Philly region. PGW is the country’s oldest and largest municipal-owned gas company, serving 500,000 customers. It’s NOT an electric company; it’s a natural gas company. Yet PGW is now seriously considering two strategies to reduce “carbon emissions” as part of its Low Carbon Pathways project. The first option involves full electrification, shifting from natural gas to electric systems for heating, cooking, and appliances. Again, PGW has ZERO electric infrastructure in place. In Philadelphia, PECO (formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company) is the sole local utility company responsible for delivering electricity. In other words, PGW is considering committing suicide (going out of business) by giving all of its business to PECO. Bring out Old Sparky. 
In February, President Donald Trump unveiled a record-breaking $33 billion natural gas power plant in Piketon (Pike County), Ohio, to be operated by SB Energy, a subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank (see 
Earlier this year, the board of commissioners in Montour County, PA, voted unanimously to reject Talen Energy’s request to rezone empty agricultural land near Talen’s Montour Power Plant for a proposed data center (see 
In February 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a plan by PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest electric grid (which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV), to fast-track the addition of new gas-fired power plants (see 
According to José Costa of the Northeast Gas Association, Massachusetts’ high energy bills (some of the highest in the country!) stem from infrastructure constraints rather than price volatility. That is, Democrat politicians like Gov. Maura Healey have blocked new pipelines with additional capacity from entering the state. Although the nearby Marcellus Shale produces abundant, affordable natural gas, New England’s pipeline system operates at capacity during extreme winter cold. These physical bottlenecks restrict gas delivery, driving up spot prices to nearly 17 times Pennsylvania’s levels. The same supply with far more demand equals soaring prices. It’s Economics 101. 
Google has partnered with Voltus to fund a three-year, 100-megawatt (MW) so-called “virtual power plant” in the PJM Interconnection (roughly the Marcellus/Utica region). VPPs are designed to address soaring data center demand. Voltus will “aggregate” distributed energy resources from residential, commercial, and industrial customers. We call foul. So-called VPPs are fake—they don’t actually exist. They simply use existing grid electricity taken from other sources. Creating a VPP just takes a little software and a lot of apathy from citizens to make it work. Google will, in essence, pay other electricity consumers to shift or forgo energy use. Google says it’s faster and more cost-effective to buy electricity from other electricity users rather than build an actual, honest-to-God power plant. 
ISO New England’s Internal Market Monitor reported that total wholesale electricity costs in New England reached $15 billion in 2025, up 48% from 2024. The increase was driven by higher natural gas prices, tighter supply, changes in the resource mix, and shifts in market design. Day-ahead energy prices averaged $71.81/MWh, up 73%, while real-time prices rose 67% to $65.89/MWh. Natural gas prices more than doubled to $6.27/MMBtu. Carbon taxes added $1.1 billion to energy costs. Boiling it all down, aside from carbon taxes, high natgas prices are the main culprit. The report (full copy below) has some thoughts about why natgas prices are so high in New England. 
Homer City Generation announced the early completion of demolition and excavation work at its Indiana County, Pennsylvania, site, marking a major milestone in transforming the former coal-fired power plant into a gas-fired power plant and AI data center complex. Over nine months, partner Independence Excavating led 130 union workers and 65+ pieces of equipment to recycle over 112,000 tons of scrap material and excavate approximately 3 million cubic yards (comparable to the Great Pyramid’s volume), all while maintaining zero safety incidents. 
Data center developers are turning to behind-the-meter natural gas generation as grid interconnection delays now exceed five years, making traditional utility connections commercially unworkable for AI-scale (hyperscale) facilities. Natural gas turbines and engines provide continuous, dispatchable baseload power that unreliable renewables cannot deliver at the required scale and reliability. However, this shift transforms data centers from energy consumers to energy producers, requiring sophisticated gas supply strategies including managing basis risk, securing firm pipeline transport capacity, evaluating supply reliability during site selection, and structuring contracts that accommodate volume growth. 
Pennsylvania families face rising electricity bills despite the state’s abundant energy resources. In an excellent op-ed, Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko explains that local utilities like Penelec and PECO don’t control electricity costs—they only deliver power. Prices are set by PJM Interconnection’s regional market, where costs are soaring as baseload power plants retire while demand from manufacturing, data centers, and AI surges. Pennsylvania produces massive natural gas from the Marcellus Shale but lacks sufficient modern power plants to convert it into electricity. 