Latest news with #BillFlores
Business Wire
04-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
New Era Helium Advances Permian Basin AI Data Center Strategy with Power MOU and Board Realignment to Support Data Center Vision
MIDLAND, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New Era Helium, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEHC) ('NEHC' or the 'Company'), a next-gen exploration and production platform in the Permian Basin, today announced that the Texas Critical Data Centers, LLC ('TCDC') joint venture has entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding ('MOU') with PowerForward Energy Solutions ('PFES') to provide 250MW of on-site generation capacity to power its planned AI and high-performance computing ('HPC') campus in Ector County, Texas. TCDC, the joint venture established between New Era Helium and Sharon AI, Inc. in 2024, is focused on building a 250MW data center to support the rapidly growing demand for AI and cloud GPU infrastructure. Under the terms of the MOU, signed on April 23, 2025, PFES has agreed to manufacture, install, and operate 250MW of generation assets at the TCDC site, with the first 100MW targeted for delivery within 12 months of funding and full deployment expected within 18 months. PFES is a joint venture between Progen Industries, a U.S.-based manufacturer of natural gas-fired engine-driven generators, and MBS Engineering, Inc. The partners bring more than 70 years of combined experience in delivering resilient, distributed power solutions for critical infrastructure. Work at the site continues to progress, including the completion of the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment and ongoing planning for air permitting. NEHC, Sharon AI, and PFES are also jointly evaluating carbon capture technologies. TCDC is in active discussions with potential customers, including parties interested in acquiring powered land for near-term deployment. Near-term milestones include securing natural gas supply agreements and advancing interconnection planning with regional grid partners. Recent Board Transitions Board members Bill Flores, Phil Kornbluth, and Stan Borowiec have recently stepped down from the Board of Directors. Mr. Flores resigned due to a potential conflict with his leadership role at a state regulatory body as New Era Helium advances its data center initiative. Mr. Kornbluth and Mr. Borowiec, both respected helium industry experts, stepped away as the Company broadens its strategy to include natural gas and digital infrastructure in addition to its core helium business. A search is actively underway to appoint new board members whose experience aligns with New Era Helium's evolving growth strategy. E. Will Gray II, CEO of New Era Helium Inc., commented: 'With the initial site now identified and due diligence well underway, TCDC is positioned to execute on its planned power strategy for the behind-the-meter data center campus. Concurrently, TCDC is in negotiations to secure offtake from intrastate and interstate natural gas transmission lines located in close proximity to the property. We are excited about what we are building in Ector County and believe that access to low-cost, reliable power is key to attracting top-tier partners. As we expand our strategic focus to include natural gas and data center infrastructure, we are positioning New Era Helium to deliver long-term value across multiple energy verticals.' Wolf Schubert, CEO of Sharon AI Inc., said: 'We are excited to announce our collaboration with PowerForward Energy Solutions, who bring considerable power experience to the project. We believe their ability to deliver substantial capacity over 12-18 months allows us to offer a highly commercial solution to customers looking to deploy as soon as feasible.' Brian James and John Manning, Founders, PowerForward Energy Solutions, commented: 'We are at the forefront of a generational shift in how America produces and consumes power. As AI, cloud, and high-density computing reshape the industrial landscape, the demand for resilient, on-site generation is no longer optional – it is essential. PowerForward is proud to partner with TCDC to deliver the next chapter of power infrastructure: intelligent, integrated, and built for the future.' About New Era Helium, Inc. New Era Helium, Inc. is a next-gen exploration and production platform unlocking the full value of its Permian Basin assets. The Company controls over 137,000 acres in Southeast New Mexico, with more than 1.5 Bcf of proved and probable helium reserves sourced alongside natural gas production. Through its joint venture, Texas Critical Data Centers, LLC, NEHC is capturing multi-sector growth across helium, power, and data infrastructure. For more information, visit Follow New Era Helium on LinkedIn and X. About Sharon AI, Inc Sharon AI, Inc., is a High-Performance Computing company focused on Artificial Intelligence and Cloud GPU Compute Infrastructure. Sharon AI has a hybrid operational model that sees it deploy in co-location data centers as well as design, build and operate its own proprietary specialized data center facilities. With the expected addition of NVIDIA H200s to the company's GPU fleet in 2025, Sharon AI will be able to offer a wide range of AI/HPC GPUs as a Service (GPUaaS), including NVIDIA H200, H100, L40S, A40, RTX3090 and AMD MI300X. For more information, visit: About PowerForward Energy Solutions PowerForward Energy Solutions is dedicated to shaping a sustainable energy future through innovative power solutions. Formed as a strategic partnership between PROGEN INDUSTRIES and MBS ENGINEERING, the company's mission is to deliver comprehensive, turn-key power solutions that address the diverse needs of today's energy landscape. The company's combined expertise in engineering and industry-leading manufacturing allows it to provide custom solutions that enhance energy efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. Forward Looking Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms 'believe,' 'estimate,' 'project,' 'anticipate,' 'expect,' 'seek,' 'predict,' 'continue,' 'possible,' 'intend,' 'may,' 'might,' 'will,' 'could,' would' or 'should' or, in each case, their negative, or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this press release and include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our product candidates, commercialization objectives, prospects, strategies and the industry in which we operate. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and may not be accurate indications of when such performance or results will be achieved. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ERCOT approves $54 million plan to move CenterPoint's mobile generators to San Antonio
Texas' main grid operator on Tuesday approved a $54 million plan to replace two aging natural gas-powered plants near San Antonio with the massive mobile generators that CenterPoint Energy came under fire for not deploying in the wake of Hurricane Beryl in July. Under the plan, 15 mobile generators currently leased by CenterPoint will be moved from Houston to San Antonio this summer. Customers across the state grid will pay the estimated $54 million cost to move, connect and operate the diesel-fueled generators. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas board unanimously approved the agreement on Tuesday after San Antonio's municipal utility, CPS Energy, said in March that it planned to retire three of its gas-powered units at the Braunig Power Station this year. Each of those units is roughly 60 years old — decades older than gas-powered plants are typically built to last. ERCOT said that the loss of those units, which sit near a problem area in the state's transmission infrastructure, would increase the risks of power outages across the grid. Transmission capacity has not kept up with an increasing demand for power in North Texas, causing a bottleneck in the San Antonio area where the risk of overloaded lines and widespread outages increase when wind and solar power from South Texas come pouring in. In December, ERCOT agreed to reimburse the utility $50 million to keep one of the three units, Braunig 3, running. Tuesday's decision allows the other two units, Braunig 1 and 2, to be retired this year. Their capacity will be replaced by CenterPoint's large mobile generators, each of which provide around 30 megawatts of generation. (ERCOT estimates that one megawatt can power around 250 homes.) 'This is a solution to bridge that gap, to lower that chance of load shed,' or rolling outages, Bill Flores, chair of the ERCOT Board of Directors, said Tuesday. 'Load shed has a severe cost. We're trying to avoid that, but you have to spend money, essentially, for insurance to avoid that.' CPS Energy, San Antonio's utility, is working on expanding transmission infrastructure to address the bottleneck, but that project will take years to complete. State regulators and lawmakers are also focused on how to build out transmission to address increasing demand for power across the state. CenterPoint committed to releasing the mobile generators to ERCOT for two years, during which ERCOT could deploy the generators during grid emergencies. ERCOT said it would continue to evaluate updates to transmission infrastructure that could allow it to end its lease of the generators sooner. ERCOT's analysis showed that taking on the generators was more cost-effective than maintaining the power plants, which would cost $59 million. The agency sought out alternative proposals to replace the plants, and rejected the only plan it received — a battery storage project — for failing to meet its requirements. Flores said that the plan would increase Texans' average monthly electricity bills by 0.4% — a fraction compared to the costs of a widespread outage due to a transmission overload. ERCOT noted that the actual costs of the plan could end up being higher than estimated. '$54 million is a boatload of money,' Flores said, 'but it's four tenths of a percent on an average bill, and that is offsetting a much higher cost of a load shed event.' CenterPoint came under fire by state lawmakers and the public for not deploying the generators in its response to Hurricane Beryl, which left millions in Houston in the dark for days. The Public Utility Commission had allowed CenterPoint to increase its customers' electricity bills to help pay the $800 million needed to lease and profit from the massive generators. But CenterPoint did not use the generators in its Beryl response, leading to calls out of the Legislature for regulators to bar the company from passing the costs of the generators onto its customers. CenterPoint defended its investment, saying the generators — which could not be easily moved to critical facilities needing power — were meant to help in a situation like Winter Storm Uri in 2021, when days of freezing weather caused a statewide power generation failure, rather than outages caused when Beryl sent trees and limbs crashing onto thousands of power lines. In agreeing to release the generators, CenterPoint will forgo the profits it would have earned on them. Jason Ryan, executive vice president of regulatory services and government affairs at CenterPoint, said the company will ask the PUC to stop charging its customers for the generators. Some grid experts criticized ERCOT's plan as both unnecessarily expensive and insufficient. Instead of spending tens of millions to maintain one aging power plant and operate the massive generators, energy consultant Doug Lewin argued that targeted investments in battery storage near San Antonio would provide greater reliability at lower costs. 'We're talking about way more than $100 million in ratepayer money — all to maintain an inadequate status quo for two years, ultimately with nothing to show for it,' he wrote in his newsletter, Texas Energy and Power. 'Arbitrarily building a portfolio of zombie power plants — at huge expense to ratepayers — when better alternatives are clearly and obviously available, is, to put it mildly, not something ERCOT should be doing.' The plan also raised concerns among regulators that the diesel-fueled generators would not qualify for needed air emissions permits. ERCOT was working with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to address the issue, such as by securing an agreement for more discretionary enforcement. 'This is a fairly limited use case that we expect may justify some sort of special permitting approach,' Nathan Bigbee, ERCOT's chief regulatory counsel, said Tuesday. We can't wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more. Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
