Tag: Berkshire Hathaway Energy

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On the first day of September, Berkshire Hathaway Energy consummated its acquisition of Dominion Energy’s fifty-percent limited partnership stake in Cove Point LNG, LP. This boosted Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s ownership interest to seventy-five percent. The ownership interest is held within BHE GT&S, LLC, a Berkshire Hathaway Energy unit.

A subsidiary of BHE GT&S is the general partner and operator of the Cove Point natural gas pipeline and its liquefied natural gas terminal located in Lusby, Maryland. A subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners holds the remaining twenty-five percent limited partnership interest in Cove Point LNG, LP.

On July 10, 2023, Berkshire Hathaway Energy announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Dominion Energy’s limited partnership interest in Cove Point LNG, LP, for cash consideration of $3.3 billion.

Paul Ruppert, president of BHE GT&S, said: “We are pleased for this opportunity to own a greater stake in the Cove Point LNG business. BHE GT&S will continue its excellent operating and commercial performance at Cove Point, which plays an important role in Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s delivery of clean, low-cost and sustainable energy solutions to customers and communities.”

© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s NV Energy will be powering Las Vegas’s newest entertainment venue, Sphere, with renewable energy. NV Energy and MSG Las Vegas LLC have jointly applied for approval from the Public Utility Commission for a 25-year agreement.

The ground-breaking Sphere is billed as a next-generation entertainment medium that will bring wonder to the world and redefine the future of live entertainment. Sphere will be powered by cutting-edge technologies that ignite the senses and transport audiences to places both real and imagined. The first Sphere venue is currently under construction in Las Vegas and is expected to open in fall 2023. Once open, Sphere will host a wide variety of events, including concerts and residencies from the world’s biggest artists; Sphere Experiences from leading Hollywood creatives; and premier marquee events.

Sphere will be a “model for renewable energy use by entertainment venues around the country,” according to the company.

Rich Claffey, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Sphere, noted, “Just as Sphere is setting a new standard for immersive live entertainment, the venue is also setting an industry standard when it comes to renewable energy. From the outset, we designed Sphere to minimize environmental impact and to help create a sustainable operation well into the future. We’re proud to enter into this agreement with NV Energy and partner with them to achieve both of those important goals.”

An estimated 70% of the power needed by the entertainment venue will be derived from dedicated solar and battery resources.

The new NV Energy solar and battery facility, if approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, will serve Sphere and additional NV Energy customers.

© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s PacifiCorp and NV Energy received combined benefits of $83.65 million from their participation in the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) during the second quarter of 2023.

In total, the WEIM has generated $798.7 million in benefits in the first half of 2023, and the real-time energy market’s $379.91 million in second-quarter results is attributed to the growing number of participants providing diversity and economical energy transfers replacing more expensive generation.

The WEIM is designed to enable participating entities to buy and sell power close to the time electricity is consumed. With state-of-the art technology, the market finds and delivers lowest-cost resources to meet immediate power needs and manages congestion on transmission lines to maintain grid reliability. It has set a new record of $4.2 billion in cumulative benefits since the market was launched in late 2014.

The WEIM also provides system operators real-time visibility across neighboring grids, resulting in more efficient balancing of supply and demand.

Since 2020, the number of Western EIM participants has doubled to 22, further diversifying energy resources while improving transmission efficiencies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Western Area Power Administration Desert Southwest region, El Paso Electric and AVANGRID Renewables are the WEIM’s newest entities, joining in April 2023. The WEIM now includes portions of Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Texas and extends to the border with Canada.

The environmental benefits of the market are also noteworthy. With more variable resources such as solar and wind on the grid, excess clean power would typically tend to be curtailed and go unused to keep the grid from becoming overloaded. With greater regional coordination enabled by the WEIM, that clean power can be moved across a large geographic area to displace other resources.

Since 2014, greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by more than 878,000 metric tons, or the equivalent of taking almost 184,000 passenger cars off the road for one year.

Additionally, grid operators have more resource options for balancing supply and demand, which is particularly helpful during summer evenings when electricity use remains high but solar generation is declining.

© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Hot on the heels of Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s acquisition of Dominion Energy’s 50 percent stake in the Cove Point LNG facility in Maryland, the company may have another acquisition opportunity on the horizon.

On Thursday, July 27, American Electric Power’s president & CEO Julie Sloat said during an earnings conference call that the utility company would be divesting its non-regulated assets.

“When people buy AEP shares or invest in our bonds, they’re not necessarily looking to buy something that is not a traditional regulated utility type of business,” Sloat noted.

The company has a minority stake in Prairie Wind Transmission, which is co-owned with Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Evergy. As of June 30, AEP’s stake was valued at $19 million.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which owns 25 percent of Prairie Wind Transmission, and Evergy, which owns 50 percent, are the likely suitors, and the only question is which company will end up with AEP’s stake.

In addition to Prairie Wind Transmission, AEP will be divesting its ownership in Pioneer Transmission, which it co-owns with Duke Energy, and its stake in Transource Energy, its majority-owned joint venture with Evergy.

© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy has successfully executed an agreement to acquire Dominion Energy’s 50% limited partnership stake in the Cove Point LNG, LP business.

Pending regulatory approvals, the purchased interest will be held under the umbrella of BHE GT&S, LLC, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. A subsidiary of BHE GT&S already serves as the general partner and operator of the Cove Point natural gas pipeline and its liquefied natural gas terminal, both situated in Lusby, Maryland.

With a transaction value of $3.3 billion, the deal will primarily be funded through the utilization of existing cash reserves, including proceeds from the liquidation of specific investments. Once the transaction is finalized, Berkshire Hathaway Energy will bolster its ownership by securing a 75% limited partnership stake in Cove Point LNG, LP. It is worth noting that the remaining 25% limited partnership interest in Cove Point LNG, LP will be retained by a subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners.

Paul Ruppert, the president of BHE GT&S, expressed his pride in the operations conducted at Cove Point and shared his excitement regarding this new opportunity to enhance their ownership in these globally renowned facilities. He emphasized that the dedicated Cove Point team would continue to prioritize providing secure, affordable, and dependable service to their esteemed customers.

Located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, the facility is the first such facility on the East Coast. It is recognized as one of the most technically advanced and environmentally sensitive LNG facilities in the world, and has a storage capacity of 14.6 billion cubic feet (BCF) and a daily send-out capacity of 1.8 BCF.

Cove Point produces LNG under 20-year contracts for ST Cove Point, a joint venture of Sumitomo Corporation and Tokyo Gas, and for Gail Global (USA) LNG, the U.S. affiliate of GAIL (India) LTD.

Since the facility first entered commercial service in April 2018 for natural gas liquefaction and export, LNG produced from the facility has supported the energy needs of 28 countries, including many in Europe in recent months. And Cove Point LNG loaded its 300th commercial cargo at the end of July.

With this strategic move, Berkshire Hathaway Energy continues to expand its portfolio of world-class assets. This acquisition not only aligns with the company’s long-term growth strategy but also reinforces its position as a prominent player in the ever-evolving energy sector.

© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s Nevada utility, NV Energy, has chosen Energy Vault Holdings, Inc., a leader in sustainable grid-scale energy storage solutions, to provide a 440 MWh Energy Storage System.

The Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), will be one of the largest in Nevada and is expected to start construction in Q2 2023 with commercial operation expected by the end of 2023.

The 220MW/440MWh grid-tied BESS will be deployed at a site located near Las Vegas. The 2-hour energy storage system is designed to store and dispatch excess renewable energy, including wind and solar power.

The BESS will be charged and discharged on a daily basis and designed to dispatch stored renewable energy at peak consumption hours to help meet the high demand during Nevada’s peak load hours.

“Energy Vault is pleased to be selected by NV Energy for a mission critical project supporting Nevada’s largest electric provider in achieving its goal of net zero emissions by 2050,” said Marco Terruzzin, Chief Commercial and Product Officer, Energy Vault. “This is Energy Vault’s first public utility customer for our short duration energy storage solutions, which furthers our strategy to be the energy storage company of choice for utilities, IPPs and large energy users. We look forward to beginning our relationship with NV Energy to help them meet their IRP needs for both short and long duration energy storage.”

© 2022 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s BHE GT&S, a standalone subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, will have move its Richmond, Virginia headquarters to two Innsbrook office buildings that it recently bought from credit card company Capital One.

BHE GT&S paid a total of $20.75 million for 200,000 square feet of office space in buildings Knolls 4 and Knolls 5 located at 10700 and 10750 Capital One Way.

The deal closed Dec. 1.

The buildings are currently empty, and after renovation will replace the current BHE GT&S headquarters located in Reynolds Crossing. Innsbrook, a mixed-use corporate center in Central Virginia founded in 1979 and is just three minute from Richmond.

BHE GT&S operates around 5,400 miles of transmission lines in the eastern U.S and 756 bcf of total natural gas storage – with 420 bcf of working gas capacity – along with gathering, processing and field services businesses. BHE GT&S also provides a variety of LNG solutions through Pivotal LNG, its 25% operating stake in Cove Point LNG – the import, export and liquefaction facility in Lusby, Maryland – and other LNG processing and storage initiatives.

© 2022 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s PacifiCorp has signed a new set of long-term power purchase agreements with Clearway Energy Group. The PPAs will directly support the construction of two wind energy projects: the 280 MW Two Rivers Wind project, which is jointly developed and owned with BluEarth Renewables US LLC and located in Wyoming, and the 152 MW Cedar Creek Wind project, located in Idaho. Both projects are contracted under 25-year PPAs.

The Two Rivers Wind and Cedar Creek Wind projects are expected to reach commercial operations in 2024.

“We’re proud to once again partner with PacifiCorp and help deliver on their goal of sourcing the cleanest, least-risk, and lowest-cost electricity for their customers,” said Valerie Wooley, Vice President of Origination at Clearway. “We’re grateful to BluEarth for their partnership in the Two Rivers Wind project, and to our partners in the development of the Cedar Creek Wind project. We look forward to helping PacifiCorp serve its customers with non-emitting energy resources across the region.”

The 280 MW Two Rivers Wind Project in Carbon and Albany counties, Wyoming, will generate enough electricity to power over 100,000 homes each year. The project, which was initially developed by Intermountain Wind, is expected to create over 275 jobs during construction as well as multiple permanent positions and represents a $500 million investment in Wyoming’s economy.

Clearway acquired the 152 MW Cedar Creek Wind project in 2021 from rPlus Energies. Located in Bingham County, Idaho, the project will generate enough electricity to power 41,000 homes each year. Cedar Creek Wind will create more than 175 jobs during construction and represents a $250 million investment in Idaho’s economy.

Clearway’s longstanding relationship with PacifiCorp includes a 549 MW solar and wind portfolio in Utah and a 141 MW wind portfolio in Wyoming, both owned and operated by Clearway.

© 2022 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s BHE Renewables has entered into an agreement with the State of West Virginia to purchase more than 2,000 acres of land in Ravenswood, West Virginia, to be developed as a first-of-its-kind renewable energy microgrid-powered industrial site.

Berkshire’s Precision Castparts will be the first company to locate on the site and will develop a state-of-the-art titanium melt facility that will use 100% renewable energy to manufacture titanium products for the aerospace and other industries.

The West Virginia Economic Development Authority will work with BHE Renewables to bring additional businesses to the site to take advantage of the prime manufacturing location and renewable energy infrastructure.

“This is a monumental announcement that will pay dividends for generations to come,” Gov. Jim Justice said. “The partnership we are forging with BHE Renewables and PCC is testament to West Virginia’s ability to compete on the world stage and recruit world-class companies like these to our state. I couldn’t be more proud of the fact that West Virginia will help lead the way into a new era of renewable energy microgrid-powered manufacturing. I can never thank BHE Renewables and PCC enough for their commitment to West Virginia and for the jobs and economic ripple effects this partnership will bring.”

“This project demonstrates how investing in clean energy can revive economies that have served our country’s energy needs for decades,” BHE Renewables President and CEO Alicia Knapp said.

“We are thrilled to partner with PCC and West Virginia to deliver this landmark renewable energy solution, hundreds of jobs and significant economic development,” PCC Metals President Steve Wright said. “Our future facility is an outstanding opportunity to use clean energy as we invest in further strengthening our position as a world leader in titanium metals. Manufacturing our products with 100% renewable energy benefits PCC and our customers as we strive to minimize the impact of our operations and wisely use natural resources.”

On Saturday, Gov. Justice called a Special Session of the West Virginia Legislature to consider a bill establishing a “Certified Industrial Business Expansion Development Program,” within the Department of Economic Development, to encourage the continued development, construction, operation, maintenance, and expansion in West Virginia of high impact industrial plants and facilities, in certain circumstances where the availability of electricity generated from renewable sources is demonstrated to be necessary.

At the conclusion of the announcement today, Gov. Justice signed the bill after it passed both houses of the West Virginia Legislature.

Earlier today, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority voted to authorize an agreement for Berkshire Hathaway Energy to purchase more than 2,000 acres of land in Ravenswood, West Virginia. They also voted to approve a high-impact economic development project designation for Timet, which is the world’s largest producer of titanium airplane parts and a subsidiary of Precision Castparts.

“Today’s announcement is fantastic news for the people of West Virginia and domestic manufacturing efforts here in the United State,” United States Senator Joe Manchin said. “I’m excited by Berkshire Hathaway’s decision to invest in the Mountain State and look forward to seeing the benefits of this investment – including long-term, good-paying jobs and supporting our regional economies – for years to come.”

“Today’s announcement that Berkshire Hathaway Energy Renewables and West Virginia have reached an agreement to invest in Ravenswood is welcome news,” United States Senator Shelley Moore Capito said. “This unprecedented project has the potential to rapidly transform the Ravenswood area, and spark the economic development our communities need to grow and thrive. My staff and I have been involved in this process from the very beginning because we recognize the importance of smart economic and environmental growth to our state. I am thankful for the work of Governor Justice, Mike Graney, Mitch Carmichael, and especially Senator Glenn Jefferies and the West Virginia Legislature for helping make this possible. There is strong momentum growing behind business in West Virginia right now, and we must continue to build off of this economic success into the future.”

“It’s teamwork across the board that gets companies just like Berkshire Hathaway Energy Renewables and others to come to the State of West Virginia,” West Virginia State Senate President Craig Blair said. “I hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship, not just a single announcement”

“To the entire team that made today’s announcement possible, we are deeply thankful for the confidence that you’ve expressed in us,” West Virginia Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw said. “It’s a privilege for us to be able to create an atmosphere and an environment that allows us to create a 21st century economy and we’re pleased to welcome people who represent everything that a 21st century economy means to the world. Having you here in West Virginia does more than just help the men and women who are going to work in your factory and be in your facility every day. It helps our state, it helps our economy, it helps the entire image of the State of West Virginia to be your partners. Welcome to West Virginia, we are delighted to call you our new friends and our new neighbors.”

“Two world-class companies selected West Virginia because we created the best environment for them to do business,” State Senator Glenn Jeffries said. “That includes being home to a world-class workforce. Something this big doesn’t happen without the ingenuity and work ethic of West Virginians.”

“I’m grateful to Gov. Justice, Secretary Carmichael, and everyone who worked together to secure this transformational development for our Jackson County community,” Delegate Jonathan Pinson said. “Our region and our people have long been poised to kick off this kind of resurgence in manufacturing and 21st century job creation, and I’m incredibly excited about what this most recent economic development announcement will mean for our families and future generations.”

“Our state’s growth-focused economic policies are second-to-none,” West Virginia Secretary of Economic Development Mitch Carmichael said. “West Virginia is investing in smart new ways for businesses to build success around clean energy that’s here to stay.”

© 2022 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.