A big announcement
The almost headlines
In case you missed
Control deals with repeat teams across solar, storage, EV charging, CCS, and DC power.
New fund NGP Sustainable Real Assets II (with $450M anchored) will write $50–$150M checks into 10–12 asset developers, using the same “back the team, own the platform” strategy NGP ran in oil & gas.
Builds on ~$481M already invested in Segue Renewables II, Liminal, EV Realty, CO280, and Cloverleaf; NGP says it’s targeting projects that work on rising power demand (AI, reshoring) rather than those that only pencil with rich subsidies.
From mining to models: Hut 8 pivots into greenfield AI campuses at River Bend.
Phase 1: 245 MW at River Bend (backed by 330 MW of utility capacity), with ROFO on up to 1,000 MW more at the site and option to develop an additional 1,050 MW.
Anthropic and Fluidstack bring AI demand and infra design; target is to have large-scale compute online by early 2027.
Energy landlord meets AI infra startup (backed by Eric Schmidt) on nearly 1M Permian acres.
Bolt raises $150M with $50M from TPL, gaining equity, warrants, and water rights; campuses will blend gas, renewables, and future nuclear to power hyperscale compute.
TPL monetizes its land, minerals, and water position in the Permian; Bolt targets “world’s largest and most efficient” DC platform by tying energy ownership directly to AI build-out.
Private owners, public obligations: rate freeze and credits while transmission build-out continues.
Minnesota Power customers get a one-year base-rate freeze plus credits totaling ~$200M; utilities remain regulated with Duluth HQ and local leadership intact.
CPP & GIP will fund a 5-yr plan to strengthen transmission and support the region’s clean-energy transition; ALLETE stock is taken private at $67/sh.
Data centers push demand up; market rules and new programs try to backfill reliability gap.
Auction clears at the $333.44/MW-day cap, totaling $16.4B in capacity payments; total available capacity including FRR regions 145,777 MW, but reliability target still undershot by 6,623 MW.
Resource mix: gas 43%, nuclear 21%, coal 20%, DR 5%; PJM cites ~5.1 GW of new DC load, and is leaning on faster interconnection, AI-driven queue reforms, and new Reliability Resource programs (11 GW proposed) ahead of the next auction in June 2026.
High-efficiency blocks to backstop renewables and load growth in West Texas.
Diamondback and Granite Ridge provide fixed capacity payments in exchange for power revenue sharing; phased installs begin 2026 via Conduit’s QSE.
Projects use efficient gas tech (with BESS) to provide low-carbon, dispatchable power, improving reliability and offering attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Corporate buyer (undisclosed) takes all energy + RECs from a big SPP solar build.
Puts Doral’s contracted capacity near 2 GW, following deals like Mammoth Solar and Great Bend; portfolio nears 18 GW across 17 states.
Construction will bring hundreds of jobs and long-term local tax and agrivoltaics benefits as part of the developer’s farmer-plus-corporate model.
From local RNG to global biomethane platform for shipping, power, and industry.
Led by CEO Cynthia Walker, Mobius aims to produce >5.5M MMBtu/yr of biomethane from landfill gas and AD, integrating operations like GreenGasUSA.
Target markets include trucking, marine, power, utilities, and industrials as biomethane shifts into “infrastructure-grade” global fuel; IFM focuses on disciplined growth and acquisitions.
Bio-methanol plus CCS: durable engineered removals tied to a $2.5B plant and 600 jobs.
Beaver Lake will produce bio-methanol while capturing ~1 MtCO₂/yr, with each carbon removal unit representing 1 t of verified, permanently stored CO₂ under tight lifecycle accounting.
Project supports Louisiana forestry, builds CO₂ pipeline/storage infrastructure, and advances Microsoft’s large-scale engineered CDR portfolio toward 2030 carbon-negativity.
Ambition: fund utility-scale fusion plants (350–500 MW each) while pairing with TMTG’s balance sheet and platform.
Combined company targets building its first utility-scale fusion plant in 2026 and future 350–500 MW units, with TMTG committing up to $300M to accelerate commercialization.
Ownership split roughly 50/50; co-CEOs Devin Nunes and Dr. Michl Binderbauer to lead, with closing expected mid-2026 (regulatory approvals pending) amid big claims around U.S. energy, AI, and industrial leadership.
Woodside chief steps in as BP looks to get leaner, more profitable, and growth-ready.
Current CEO Murray Auchincloss steps down Dec 18, 2025; Carol Howle acts as interim CEO until O’Neill starts.
Board frames the transition as a chance to sharpen BP’s strategy; O’Neill aims to refocus on safety, returns, and disciplined low-carbon growth while leveraging BP’s global asset base.
Turns a contentious continuation-fund transfer into a live auction for Ohio’s biggest gas producer.
Offer tops EMG’s proposed ~$5.5B fund-to-fund sale and gives current Ascent investors the option to roll up to 49% into the new vehicle, contingent on 60 days of exclusivity and diligence.
Bid lands amid an Abu Dhabi sovereign LP lawsuit accusing EMG of self-dealing and follows a separate push from Mason Capital to run a full competitive sale process.
Dallas manager raises Fund II above target for direct U.S. upstream plays.
Fund II is Tricrest’s third vehicle since its 2021 founding; focuses on direct E&P deals for HNWIs, family offices, and institutions.
No placement agent used; King & Spalding advised; strategy is opportunistic, targeting long-term appreciation and downside protection across cycles.
Bigger CA-heavy, low-decline oil & CCS platform with optionality in the Uinta
Barnett-heavy gas producer starts returning capital while leaning into power + CCUS.
Customer protections baked in: bill credits, no acquisition debt at utility, and job safeguards.
AI-enabled early-fault detection for overhead lines to avoid fires and outages.
San Antonio muni plots >1,000 MW of BESS as part of Vision 2027 and 2050 net-zero plan.
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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.