Tim McDonnell
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
Climate and energy editor at Semafor. tmcdonnell@semafor.com. Based in Kyiv.
My main takeaways from this great piece: Trump deeply miscalculated energy market risk from Iran war; thought Hormuz would never be blocked; didn't include top energy officials in planning. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/u...
How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran
nytimes.com
In a world where grids are increasingly at risk from attacks, they are also themselves a vital military asset, and in my @semafor.com scoop today I focus on how Trump’s nat sec strategy is tangled up in a legal battle over Puerto Rico’s grid. www.semafor.com/article/03/2...
Exclusive: Grid fight in Puerto Rico snarls US military base upgrades
Plans to boost power reliability at two increasingly strategic US bases in the Caribbean are tangled up in a legal battle over Puerto Rico’s electricity grid.
semafor.com
Statement with @eucopresident.consilium.europa.eu on the Druzhba pipeline ↓
@maxbergmann.bsky.social + @msnegovaya.bsky.social welcome Andrian Prokip + @timmcdonnell.bsky.social to #RussianRoulette to discuss Ukraine’s deepening energy crisis––including Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and the impact on average Ukrainians. www.csis.org/podcasts/rus...
Ukraine's Ongoing Energy Crisis | Russian Roulette | CSIS Podcasts
Max and Maria were joined by Andrian Prokip and Tim McDonnell to discuss the relentless Russian bombardment of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, and what this means for average Ukrainians trying to sur...
csis.org
From the Caribbean to the Black Sea, the high seas are increasingly dangerous territory for autocratic petrostates. www.semafor.com/article/12/1...
View: The energy wars hit the high seas
On Wednesday, US military and law enforcement agents seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast.
semafor.com
Join me in the Ukraine pavilion tomorrow to talk about finding capital for its very unique energy transition! #cop30 cop.ukrainian-climate-office.org/program/de-r...
De-risking Capital at Scale – Transition Finance for Ukraine
This discussion will bring together financial and industry leaders to explore how to mobilise private capital for Ukraine’s energy transition.
cop.ukrainian-climate-office.org
Bleakly poetic finale for one of Europe’s big green industrial hopes: there’s now a homepage auctioning off the entire Northvolt factory in Sweden - complete sell-off, right down to the parking signs and bike racks. nvx.psauction.com?gad_source=1...
🟡 SCOOP: The US Department of Energy plans to cancel seven major loans and loan guarantees that had been conditionally approved under the Biden administration, @timmcdonnell.bsky.social reports.
US plans to cancel 7 conditional commitments for green projects
The projects, which had been conditionally approved by the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, are mostly battery factories.
semafor.com
Scoop, per a source close to the process: LPO will cancel 7 conditional loans/guarantees, the projects are listed here and include Monolith, Sunnova, and others www.semafor.com/article/05/1...
US plans to cancel 7 conditional commitments for green projects
The projects, which had been approved by the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, are mostly battery factories.
semafor.com
😲 “We built our last gas-fired facility in 2022, at $785/kW. If we wanted to build that same gas-fired combined cycle unit today…$2,400/kW" - NextEra CEO John Ketchum gasoutlook.com/analysis/cos... 🔌💡
Costs to build gas plants triple, says CEO of NextEra Energy - Gas Outlook
NextEra Energy’s CEO said that gas turbines have a multi-year backlog, leading to soaring costs for new gas-fired power plants.
gasoutlook.com
Yesterday Donald Trump said he was going to keep Cholla Generating Station, a coal plant in Arizona, open. The utility that owns it, Arizona Public Service, told that it had already stopped generating and they had procured enough resources to replace it heatmap.news/energy/coal-...
This just in: IEEFA analysis suggests LNG is unlikely to play a major role in displacing coal (or oil) in China. Notes that "volatility in global markets and escalating tensions with suppliers like the U.S. have only weakened the case for LNG in China"; global oversupply incoming.
Understanding the competitive landscape for China’s LNG market
Gas exporters have touted the potential of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to replace coal and reduce emissions in China. China’s LNG demand appears limitless when viewed as a simple substitute for coal. ...
ieefa.org
This story is now free for all to read: www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
Trump moves to hobble major US climate change study
The cuts are a potentially fatal blow to the National Climate Assessment that Congress mandated to ensure the government understands the threats posed by rising temperatures.
politico.com
Zack Colman@zcolman.bsky.social · last yr.SCOOP: Trump canceled funding for the US Global Change Research Program, imperiling the sweeping federal government National Climate Assessment climate study due by 2027. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...
Reaching out for comment to a number of well-placed energy sources in Ukraine about possibility of energy ceasefire discussed by T & P, all think it’s too soon to mark any notable breakthrough and point to the massive attack happening right now on Kyiv as the sign T has so far achieved very little
Hands down best interview of CERA Week has been with Charlie the conference’s official emotional support pup. Her third birthday is coming soon and she is an absolute delight
I have been collecting these the last few weeks - they are timely once again:
"What we don’t want to do is drive ourselves to only one solution — that being a gas-fired solution — that’s now more expensive than it ever has been in its history,” NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum told @timmcdonnell.bsky.social: www.semafor.com/newsletter/0... 🔌💡
🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Trump’s Big Oil bear hug won’t help the AI race | Semafor
Renewables offer a cheaper and faster way to meet surging power demands, said the CEO of the largest US electricity provider.
semafor.com
NET Power's first full scale project with Oxy appears to have doubled in cost and been delayed. #energysky subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
E&E News: Net Power delays low-emission Texas gas plant as costs climb
The company’s stock price tumbled 31 percent Monday following an update on a key project in the Permian Basin.
subscriber.politicopro.com
In today’s @semafor.com Net Zero, does Big Oil regret backing Trump? A scooptastic dispatch from CERAWeek in Houston, featuring NextEra CEO John Ketchum, the latest on Equinor’s renewables calculus, and more www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Trump’s Big Oil bear hug won’t help the AI race | Semafor
Renewables offer a cheaper and faster way to meet surging power demands, said the CEO of the largest US electricity provider.
semafor.com
Ontario will impose a 25% export tax on the electricity it sends to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
Ontario to Slap Export Tax on Electricity to U.S.
Canada’s province of Ontario will slap a 25% export tax on electricity it sends to 1.5 million homes in Minnesota, Michigan and New York, in retaliation for President Trump’s tariffs, said Doug Ford, ...
wsj.com
Trump admin kills US support for Ukraine’s energy security www.nbcnews.com/politics/sta...
nbcnews.com
Journalist Mstyslav Chernov's BAFTA-winning and Oscar-winning documentary is an unflinching inside look at the suffering that Russia's invasion has unleashed upon the Ukrainian people. Available on @channel4tv.bsky.social www.channel4.com/programmes/2...
20 Days in Mariupol
(2023) Unflinching, Oscar-winning inside view of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
channel4.com
Coming to CERA Week in Houston in a couple of weeks? Make sure to join our Monday night cocktail party featuring NextEra CEO John Ketchum and United CSO Lauren Riley, among others. events.semafor.com/accleratinge...
Semafor's Accelerating Energy Innovations
events.semafor.com
another great example along with Wired and Teen Vogue of how real journalism these days can be a lot braver at outlets where no one is trying to get in good with the White House press secretary they’re out here with us, reporting on what’s happening to us all, instead of trying to get inside access
Gravel Influencer@gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · last yr.It's pretty cool that Eater put together resources for restaurants about how to handle ICE raids
In today’s @semafor.com Net Zero, looking at the risks of Trump’s possible energy deal with Putin. Ukraine fears a repeat of Biden’s deal to lift Nord Stream 2 sanctions, which “has been haunting us for many years.” www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Trump is playing a dangerous game with Russian energy | Semafor
Lifting sanctions and allowing Russian oil and gas back into the global market could backfire for the US.
semafor.com
One key piece of the geopolitical puzzle of U.S.-Panama relations is this mine, unpopular in Panama but which Trump could push to open, maybe with the kind of mineral swap he tried to push on Ukraine last week www.semafor.com/article/12/2...
A massive, embattled copper mine in Panama turns to Trump for rescue
Economic competition between the US and China is playing out in Latin America’s mineral mines.
semafor.com
Hamed Aleaziz@haleaziz.bsky.social · last yr.They arrived at the United States border from around the world, hoping to seek asylum. Instead, they were detained, shackled and flown by the U.S. military to a faraway country, Panama. Our exclusive look at a new front in Pres. Trump’s immigration crackdown:
