Energy, Utilities & Environment

Columbus – November 03, 2026 -- American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) has created AEP Infrastructure, a new business unit that will invest in, build and operate energy infrastructure as electricity demand accelerates, with Greg Hall as its president.

Hall will continue to report to Bill Fehrman, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. The unit combines AEP's competitive generation, infrastructure development, and retail and wholesale energy capabilities. AEP says demand growth is driven by large-load customers and economic development.

AEP Infrastructure targets generation acquisitions and contracted new-build capacity

The unit will evaluate generation acquisitions to strengthen AEP's competitive portfolio. It will also develop new generation resources backed by long-term customer contracts.

Houston – November 03, 2026 -- Marathon Petroleum and Valero Energy reported third-quarter net income of $7.4 billion and $6.8 billion, up from $1.4 billion and $1.1 billion a year earlier, as wider crack spreads lifted refining margins while U.S.-Iran diplomacy remained unresolved.

Brent trades in a $6.44 range as no ceasefire is announced

As of 10:23 a.m. ET Tuesday, January Brent traded at $103.97 a barrel, against Monday's close of $104.77, after a session range of $100.80 to $107.24. December West Texas Intermediate stood at $96.49, against a Monday close of $96.46. No ceasefire agreement had been announced as of Tuesday morning.

TORONTO – November 03, 2026 -- PowerBank Corporation's 3.26 MW Camillus community solar project in New York has received permission to operate, a key step toward bringing it into service. The project was sold to and built for Solar Advocate Development LLC in a transaction valued at US$7.3 million.

PowerBank builds Camillus on a closed landfill

Camillus is a ground-mount project developed on a closed landfill, converting previously underutilized land into a renewable energy site serving local households. PowerBank (Nasdaq: PBK) developed the project, and Solar Advocate Development LLC is the owner.

President and Chief Operating Officer Andrew van Doorn said engineers and construction partners turned a site "most people would write off" into a source of clean power for local households.

ANNAPOLIS – November 03, 2026 -- Sunraycer Renewables, a Crayhill Capital Management portfolio company, has acquired the Gem City and Mighty Mississippi solar projects, totaling 325 MWac, from Apricus Energy. The deal extends the independent power producer's presence in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) market into Illinois and Missouri. Apricus is a joint venture between NOVI Energy and Osaka Gas USA.

Two projects in Ameren territory add 325 MWac to Sunraycer's pipeline

Gem City is a 175 MWac project in Adams County, Illinois, and will interconnect to Ameren's 138 kV transmission system. Mighty Mississippi is a 150 MWac project in New Madrid County, Missouri, and will interconnect to Ameren's 161 kV system.

Sunraycer describes its development, construction-stage and operational pipeline as roughly 3 GW of solar and battery utility-scale assets.

Halle – November 03, 2026 -- Saale Energie GmbH, the Mibrag subsidiary that operates the Schkopau lignite power plant, won no award in Germany's first tender round for new gas-fired plants, leaving Saxony-Anhalt without a share of the new backup capacity for periods of low wind and solar output.

Saale Energie keeps hopes alive for a later round

Company spokesman Sebastian Exner confirmed the result to the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. He noted that the law provides for at least one further tender, so a final assessment of the Schkopau site is not yet possible.

The Schkopau lignite plant is due to close by 2034 at the latest under the coal phase-out. A new gas-fired plant is planned at the site.

Lexington – November 03, 2026 -- Ramaco Resources Chairman and CEO Randall W. Atkins has been elected chairman of the International Energy Agency's Coal Industry Advisory Board (CIAB) in Paris, winning a unanimous vote of both the CIAB Executive Committee and its full membership.

Created in 1979, the CIAB is the IEA's oldest advisory board. It brings together senior leaders from the global coal, power and critical minerals industries to advise the agency on coal, energy security, power, technology, markets, critical minerals and related government policy. Its current focus covers reliable and affordable energy, the energy transition, grid stability, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and critical minerals.

Juno Beach – – November 03, 2026 -- XPLR Infrastructure, LP (NYSE: XIFR) has published its third-quarter 2026 financial results, with senior management presenting them to investors in a live webcast starting at 9 a.m. ET.

XPLR Infrastructure releases Q3 2026 results on its investor website

The full results are in a news release on the company's website. The announcement itself carries no financial figures, so revenue, cash flow and distribution data are only in the release.

Management presents results in a listen-only webcast

The listen-only webcast is hosted on the same investor page. Investors who miss the live session can access a replay for 90 days.

Houston – November 03, 2026 -- Spark Energy has moved all of its roughly 445,000 residential customer equivalents (RCEs) onto VertexOne's VXretail and VXexchange platforms, VertexOne announced. The migration covers every Spark market and brand across 111 utility service territories in 21 states and Washington, D.C.

Migration folds a decade of acquisition-built systems into one platform

Customer accounts, billing operations, market transactions and associated business processes now run on a single integrated platform. They replace the multiple systems Spark accumulated through more than a decade of acquisitions and growth. Spark's brands include Spark Energy, Major Energy, Provider Power and Verde Energy.

VertexOne's implementation and customer service teams supported Spark at every stage. The teams worked to minimize the impact on Spark's customers and day-to-day operations during the transition.

St. Louis – November 02, 2026 -- Spire Missouri has filed a rate case with the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) that would raise the average residential gas bill by about 11% in western Missouri and 15% in eastern Missouri if approved as filed.

Western and eastern Missouri face different increases

Assuming current natural gas market conditions, the average western Missouri residential bill would climb about $10 per month. In eastern Missouri, the average residential bill would rise about $13 per month. New rates would take effect next fall, because the PSC typically completes its review within about eleven months of filing.

Spire Missouri serves more than 1.2 million customers in the state. President Steve Mills said the utility's focus is on delivering "affordable natural gas service" safely and reliably.

Buenos Aires – November 02, 2026 -- Pampa Energía's third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders reached US$129 million, six times the Q3 2025 level, as lower deferred income tax expense and improved operating margins outweighed reduced FX gains.

Sales rise 34% to US$790 million on wholesale market normalization

Q3 2026 sales grew 34% year-on-year. The normalization of the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) supported higher spot energy prices and B2B sales. Gas sales to the company's combined-cycle plants also increased, as did crude oil sales and Reformer prices.

Lower gas deliveries under the Plan Gas GSA and to industrial customers, together with the impact of crude oil hedges, partially offset these gains. Sales exclude the affiliates CTBSA, Transener and TGS.