Kevin O’Rourke

How Trump’s Case Against Revolution Wind Fell Apart The administration argued in the name of national defense — but Orsted had receipts.

The Trump administration's strategy seems to be weaponizing law to achieve ideological and/or material interests, but the legal case is often shallow and not well thought out. That's why legal mobilization rather than caving is critical.
heatmap.news/energy/revol...

Note to lefties who think RFK Jr. is terrible on vaccines but makes sense about agriculture: He is terrible on agriculture, too. You should ask yourself why you’re nodding along with the anti-science brain worm guy.

Trump admin halts construction of nearly finished offshore wind farm Ørsted's Revolution Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island is hit with a stop-work order over vague "national security" concerns.

My story about Revolution Wind dropped. Trump just halted construction of the offshore wind farm due to "national security."

NEW: Navy, Army Corps, and Coast Guard raised "no major military issues" during a 2009-2015 federal task force that sited Rev Wind where it's now being built, says insider.

Plenty of will. We’re just currently in a new era of unprecedented corruption from the Executive Branch.

Thanks for the heads up, will be in NY for our Finance Forum. Will have to try and catch the next one.

Repealing energy tax credits would raise electricity costs, study says The Clean Energy Buyers Association, which represents big tech companies and other large off-takers, said the Republican budget proposal could hurt their members.

Big Tech wants clean energy tax credits. Repealing them would make electricity costs higher, both for them and for you.
www.utilitydive.com/news/repeali...

The U.S. needs more grid capacity.

Panel of expert offers bipartisan solutions to ensure reliable, low-cost service.

Register here: acore.swoogo.com/SinkorSwim?u...

Good morning with good news: Solar, batteries, and wind will be 93% of the utility-scale capacity added to US grid in 2025! That does NOT include ~8 GW of small solar.

Utility-scale solar will double from 91 GW to 182 GW in 3 years (2023-2026). Great!
#energysky pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/04/11/u...

🚨 Join ACORE on April 22 at 1 p.m. ET for a webinar about a new report from The Brattle Group. With demand expected to rise significantly in the coming years, this report showcases how ATTs are an important tool for meeting this load growth.

Register here: acore.swoogo.com/ReducingEner...

Wind energy providing >60% of the electricity this morning in the Southwest Power Pool region. Parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas have negative power prices thanks to wind. #energysky #arleg #arpx

790,000 Jobs, $160 Billion GDP: Shocking Costs Of Inflation Reduction Act Repeal Inflation Reduction Act repeal would harm America's economy, costing 790,000 jobs, cutting $160 billion in GDP, and forcing families to pay $32 billion in energy costs

www.forbes.com/sites/energy...

Solar accounted for 84% of new US power added in 2024, report says Solar energy accounted for 84% of new electricity generation capacity added to the U.S. power grid last year, but the industry faces a challenging future with the new U.S. administration's energy policies, a report published on Tuesday said.

“Solar and energy storage accounted for 84% of new electricity generation capacity added to the U.S. power grid last year”

www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Glad to see PJM and FERC adopt our recommendations.

Devil will be in details of implementation, but an important step forward.

Kudos to colleagues @gabetabak.bsky.social and Melissa Alfano at SEIA, as well as the team at Gabel Associates.

Our report: acore.org/resources/re...

The Pentagon is changing which media outlets have the closest access The changes — which a Pentagon memo said were intended to "broaden access" — are set to take effect on February 14.

See, e.g. www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-def...

I can, they’re on the Trump shortlist for access at the moment. I’m sure there were preconditions.

Nice work!

The US's largest solar cell factory is now online in South Carolina ES Foundry will become the largest producer of crystalline silicon solar cells in the US with the launch of its new factory in South Carolina.

The US’s largest solar cell factory is now online in South Carolina electrek.co/2025/02/03/u...
🔌💡

Slide from NEE earning deck showing relative cost of firmed generation resources from wind+storage, solar+storage, combined cycle gas and nuclear SMR, showing renewables and storage as "least cost energy and capacity resources". Also shows a graph of expected demand growth and diagram of technology availability by timeframe.

In today's earnings report, NextEra Energy makes the case for renewables and storage as least-cost resource to meet growing US electricity demand. www.investor.nexteraenergy.com/~/media/File...

Energy dominance requires non-discriminatory efforts to promote all forms of low-cost domestic energy.

Senator Capito (R-WV) is right to question the efficacy of this EO.

“the idea that you would have a pro-business administration trying to stop private companies from taking economically appropriate action on private land is just so out of step with the role of government that we’re expecting they’re going to clarify their intent.”

Thank you for your service.

Important point embedded here: American energy dominance depends on low-cost, reliable power.

Continuing to utilize public-private partnerships is necessary to rapidly scale the infrastructure necessary to bring that power online.

E&E News: DOE finalizes major power line contracts The deals commit $1.5 billion to transmission projects as the Biden administration races to finalize clean energy funding before Donald Trump's inauguration.

The DOE has finalized $1.5 BILLION in capacity contracts for four major transmission projects 💰

Made possible in part by Grid Deployment Office funding, these projects will bolster the grid’s capacity and reliability across the U.S. ⚡️
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

Deal Digest: LPO’s Latest Conditional Commitments Help Keep Power Affordable Through New Generation and Expanded Transmission for Utility Customers in Twelve States On January 16, 2024, LPO announced eight conditional commitments through its Title 17 Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program, comprising $22.92 billion to utilities serving more than 14.78 m...

LPO has announced 3 additional transmission-related commitments for nearly $6B:
• $3.52B to PacifiCorp, 700 miles of new lines in ID, OR, & UT
• $1.6B to AEP to finance reconductoring 5,000 miles of transmission in IN, MI, OH, OK, & WV
• $716M to JCP&L to help fund the NJ Clean Energy Corridor 🔌💡

Sec. of Energy nominee Chris Wright to Sen. Martin Heinrich:

"I'm aligned with you and will seek to find the best ways to improve our transmission grid, including expansion and new lines."

The U.S. must build regional and interregional lines while deploying GETs and HPCs to meet growing demand.

Study underway between MISO and PJM, talks underway on next steps to build on JTIQ between SPP and MISO.

In short, there’s progress but important to keep the public pressure on!

“The nation’s infrastructure is once again at a critical juncture. Strategic competition with China on artificial intelligence is straining the U.S. power grid, as new data centers are struggling to come online due to challenges in connecting to new power generation.”

Midwest to lead in ‘build, baby, build’ MISO has proven itself as a national leader in regional transmission planning — and other regions should take note.

MISO is leading the path forward in building new transmission to drive economic growth and grid reliability: www.utilitydive.com/news/midwest... @ferc.gov

“Whether it was James Monroe's advocacy for new roads, canals, and bridges; Abraham Lincoln’s leadership enabling transcontinental railways; or the federal highway system championed by Dwight D. Eisenhower, public-private infrastructure partnerships have reliably served as an economic catalyst.”

Infrastructure Investment: The Key to Energy Dominance & Economic Prosperity A common thread among these seemingly disparate challenges is a lack of adequate transmission lines connecting America’s balkanized power grids.

Presidents Monroe, Lincoln, and Eisenhower all delivered 🇺🇸 economic prosperity through enabling infrastructure investment.

Winning in strategic competition with China will once again require a leap forward in infrastructure.

My column: nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

As 2024 comes to a close, here’s to pursuing hard challenges with integrity and persistence.

May 2025 yield even greater personal and professional heights for those that pursue that path.