Natural Gas Power Plants the Big Winner Under Trump Presidency
There’s no shortage of articles about the incoming Trump administration and what it will mean for the energy space. We’re trying not to bury you with such speculation. However, when we notice items that pique our curiosity and interest, things that make us sit up and take notice, we will bring you those items. This is one such article. Writing on the OilPrice.com website, a pair of economist/financial analysts write that gas-fired power plants will be the big winner in the coming Trump administration. They explain their reasoning, which we find cogent… Read More “Natural Gas Power Plants the Big Winner Under Trump Presidency”
We spotted a press release that fascinates us but will take some explaining. Yesterday, Hanwha Power Systems Co. (headquartered in South Korea) announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with pipeline giant TC Energy to develop a sCO2 WHR (super-critical carbon dioxide waste heat recovery) project which will use the heat stream at a TC natural gas pipeline compressor station in West Virginia. 
Living in New York State, as MDN editor Jim Willis does, is like watching a slow-motion train wreck. You can see it coming; you warn those nearby to get off the tracks and leave the area, but no one is listening. We’re talking about the coming brownouts and blackouts across the state (especially in New York City) due to the state’s climate policies blocking new natural gas-fired power plants. This past summer, Danskammer Energy, which operates a gas-fired peaker power plant along the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY, withdrew its request to expand the plant (see 
UGI Corporation, a diversified energy company with midstream (pipeline) operations in the Marcellus and one of Pennsylvania’s largest utility companies, is selling its 169-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant near Wilkes-Barre, PA, to Castleton Commodities International for an undisclosed amount. The plant’s owner/seller is actually a wholly-owned subsidiary of UGI Corp. called UGI Energy Services. 
Dominion Energy plans to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, near Richmond (see 
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) released its annual Winter Reliability Assessment (WRA) last Thursday (full copy below). The report expresses concern about the potential for freezing temperatures to impact the delivery of natural gas to power plants this winter. Texas has worked hard to winterize its natgas infrastructure following previous disasters. Outside of Texas, there is “little to no information to indicate that upstream gas producers, gatherers, and processors have improved winterization of their operations,” said the report. Should we be concerned? 
In September 2022, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC), which oversees and regulates public utilities in the state, approved the takeover of the Fortistar gas-fired power plant in North Tonawanda, NY, a town close to Niagara Falls, by Canadian crypto mining company Digihost. In December 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) offered its blessing too. All of which prompted the radicals of Earthjustice, representing two other disgusting radical groups—the Sierra Club and Clean Air Coalition of Western New York—to sue (see 
Two weeks ago, MDN brought you the news that Christmas had come early with the announcement of a plan to build the country’s largest natural gas-fired power plant at a proposed data center site in Pittsylvania County, Virginia (see 
Two days ago, Energy Transfer (ET), a major midstream (pipeline) company with assets in the Marcellus/Utica, issued its third quarter update. ET has assets in many areas of the country, so there was plenty of discussion about pipelines in other areas. However, the centerpiece of the update and the conference call with analysts was the incredible (and we mean incredible) demand ET is seeing from both gas-fired power plants (new and existing) and data center projects. In his opening remarks, Tom Long, co-CEO of ET, said the company has received requests to connect to approximately 45 power plants the company does not currently serve in 11 states. The demand from those 45 plants would be 6 Bcf per day. In addition, ET has requests from over 40 prospective data centers in 10 states that would use another 10 Bcf/d. A combined 16 Bcf/d of new demand for one company. Incredible! 
AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company, is a utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation. In August, AES Indiana said that it wants to invest $1.1 billion in Pike County, IN, to convert the company’s two remaining coal-fired power plants to use natural gas (see 
The great folks at Steel Nation, headquartered in Canonsburg, PA, have built over 2,200 compressor stations and other structures for the oil and gas industry in the Marcellus/Utica (and beyond) over the past 17 years. Yesterday, Steel Nation announced it has launched a new division to build electric microgrids for companies looking to create their own on-site power plants to ensure their operations run efficiently 24/7/365. The new division, Steel Nation Microgrids, will work on projects from small 20 MW microgrid centers up to large hyperscale data centers that can require over a gigawatt of reliable on-site electricity to run AI facilities. This is exciting stuff!