Tim McDonnell
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timmcdonnell.bsky.social
Tim McDonnell
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
Climate and energy editor at Semafor. [email protected]. Based in Kyiv.
Pinned
Hi y’all, I’m giving up on the other place & posting here moving forward. If we haven’t met, I’m the climate & energy editor @semafor.com . My newsletter on energy transition comes out every Weds & Fri. It’s free. Sign up here: www.semafor.com/vertical/net... Send me your biz & policy scoops!
Semafor Net Zero - An intelligent, transparent global news platform for breaking stories, analysis and video
Transparent, global reporting by Semafor journalists on climate, the environment, renewable energy including wind, solar, and hydropower, green jobs, and energy companies.
www.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
November 13, 2025 at 6:21 PM
The global press has turned out in force to cover the world’s biggest story #COP30
November 10, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I’m at the function, hmu
November 9, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
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...
May 26, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
🟡 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.
www.semafor.com
May 19, 2025 at 3:25 PM
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.
www.semafor.com
May 19, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
😲 “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
April 25, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
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-...
April 9, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
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
April 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
This story is now free for all to read:

www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
April 9, 2025 at 3:07 PM
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
March 18, 2025 at 7:28 PM
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
March 12, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
I have been collecting these the last few weeks - they are timely once again:
March 11, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
"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.
www.semafor.com
March 11, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
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
March 11, 2025 at 4:47 PM
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.
www.semafor.com
March 11, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
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, ...
www.wsj.com
March 4, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Trump admin kills US support for Ukraine’s energy security www.nbcnews.com/politics/sta...
www.nbcnews.com
March 1, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
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
www.channel4.com
February 28, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
February 28, 2025 at 2:36 PM
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
February 25, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Tim McDonnell
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
February 22, 2025 at 12:41 AM
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.
www.semafor.com
February 20, 2025 at 12:09 PM
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...
February 19, 2025 at 2:11 PM