Latest news with #WoodMac
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Public EV fast charging poised for ‘robust' growth: WoodMac
This story was originally published on Utility Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Utility Dive newsletter. U.S. electric vehicle sales continue to grow and the charging market outlook remains strong despite federal policy headwinds, according to Wood Mackenzie. The sector is showing 'resilience despite challenges,' the firm said Tuesday in its EV charging infrastructure forecast. The U.S. public DC fast charger segment will grow at a 'robust' 14% compound annual rate through 2040, WoodMac said, to reach 475,000 ports and generate $3.3 billion in annual market value. Globally, WoodMac anticipates EV charging ports will increase at 12.3% annually from 2026 to 2040, reaching 206.6 million ports. 'As utilization in public charging increases and infrastructure efficiency improves, we expect the ratio of EVs to public chargers to increase from 7.5 battery electric vehicles per charger in 2025 to 14.2 in 2040,' Oliver McHugh, senior EV charging research analyst for Wood Mackenzie, said in a statement. U.S. federal policy was supportive of electric vehicles under President Joe Biden, who oversaw development of the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program designed to build a public fast charger network. Biden also extended a $7,500 tax credit for EV purchases. These incentives, plus new tailpipe emissions that would force manufacturers to produce more electric models, were intended to help meet Biden's goal of having half of new vehicle sales be an EV by 2030. President Donald Trump has largely opposed the EV transition. The tax and policy bill he signed in July eliminates the EV purchase credit after September. The Trump administration has also moved to weaken or eliminate vehicle emissions standards, and it put the NEVI program on hold for six months, though it has recently been revived. The U.S. Department of Transportation on Aug. 11 issued new NEVI guidance, with changes to make the program more efficient. EV advocates cheered the 'greater flexibility' for states and 'regulatory certainty' around funding rollouts. The market is 'undoubtedly experiencing whiplash' as it shifts between the Biden and Trump administrations, Stan Cross, electric transportation director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, wrote in a Monday blog post. 'Still, the data shows that the US and global EV markets continue to grow steadily, indicating there is likely sufficient market momentum at home and abroad to withstand America's political EV flip-flop,' Cross wrote. EVs reached over 10% market share in 2024, Cross noted, and in the first half of this year more than 600,000 have been sold. EV sales declined 1.4% in June, relative to May, but their market share increased 1.1%, he added. The decline reversed in July, according to Cox Automotive, a services and technology provider for the sector. The EV market 'gained strong momentum in July, with new and used EV sales rising sharply as consumers accelerated purchases ahead of the Inflation Reduction Act's tax credit expiration,' Cox said Friday. 'If you ask me what the state of the EV market is today, I will respond that it is solid despite the shaky political ground,' Cross wrote. 'Though the politics of the moment may slow it down, the EV transition can't be stopped.' Recommended Reading DOT relaunches EV charging fund with stripped-down guidance Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
News.com.au
24-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Bulk Buys: Like a game of Snake, coal's tail is getting longer and longer
Coal could be a major part of the global energy make-up for years beyond its previous use-by date WoodMac says coal demand could be as much as 32% higher than previously assumed on average to 2050 Prices are depressed, but could rebound with little new supply coming to market It's the news of impending doom and cold economic reality renewable investors have been trying to ignore. The move away from coal is getting slower, and the tail for the world's dirtiest fossil fuel is getting longer. We've seen these projections developing for years. Peak coal has been getting delayed: while demand is, on a broader timescale, plateauing, demand still lifted 1.2% in 2024 and is expected by the IEA to edge up from 8.77Bt to 8.87Bt in 2027. India's rapid industrialisation saw the world's most populous country increase demand 5% to 1.3Bt in 2024, while China's grew 1% to 4.9Bt. And in the US, Donald Trump's description of the commodity as "beautiful clean coal" and repudiation of green energy incentives has raised the prospect of a reversal in the US after 17% and 5% declines in the past two years. Now one of the world's top mining and energy consultancies, Wood Mackenzie, says coal is staying in the energy market for a prolonged period. They think coal demand could be "stronger for longer", despite an oversupplied market that has depressed prices in 2025, with thermal coal currently fetching US$110/t and high quality met coal running at ~US$193/t. But demand is stickier than some commentators think. WoodMac's base case for the energy transition has coal-fired power generation declining by 70% by 2050. A high coal demand case however, which is beginning to look more realistic, would see coal generation averaging 32% above the base case through 2050, generating an additional 2Bt in greenhouse gas emissions as 2.1TW of wind, solar, energy storage and natural gas capacity is waylaid between now and 2050. "Extending coal's prominence through 2030 would fundamentally alter the global energy transition timeline. We're talking about delaying the phase-out of the world's most carbon-intensive fuel source during a critical decade for climate action," WoodMac global head thermal coal markets Anthony Knutson said. Price movement While demand could be stronger than most people think, supply will continue to be constrained, Knutson said. That means prices could run higher from today's depressed levels. "Private equity and sovereign wealth funds will be needed to fund greenfield and brownfield mine expansions,' Knutson said. 'We expect most Western financial institutions to continue limiting thermal coal investments, with the strongest impact on supply growth from 2025-2030 and longer-term market implications if supply replacement momentum is not maintained. 'While we understand coal demand may remain resilient in coming years, eventually supply constraints will emerge, and this could accelerate price increases globally and erode future demand." One of the key disruptors in the road to net zero has been the advent of modern generative AI technologies like ChatGPT, Grok and Deepseek. WoodMac says a rapidly electrifying global economy is colliding with the realities of today's energy technologies. "AI's massive appetite for power is driving a strategic race for power supply across every major energy market," the report authors said. "Zero-carbon power cannot do it all. Energy storage has not evolved fast enough to convert wind and solar into baseload resources. In the US, natural gas is now doing much of the heavy lifting as power demand surges, but cannot do it all, making coal a reluctant lifeline for baseload demand." Coal-fired power is also seeing a benefit from incumbency and 'sticker shock', with low cost power sources like solar facing tariff threats, reshoring costs and infrastructure delays, and US gas capacity costs doubling in recent years. "With replacement costs of coal escalating, the value of existing coal assets is rising. Much of this value is tied to the value of capacity rather than to the value of selling energy during high energy price hours. For example, capacity markets in the US have awarded a premium to dispatchable capacity, including coal-fired power," WoodMac said. This puts lower cost coal suppliers in Australia in a decent spot, even if current prices are touch and go. New Hope Corp (ASX:NHC) has regularly delivered strong margins thanks to the low costs of its Bengalla operation, while Yancoal Australia (ASX:YAL) continues to boast a healthy buffer, expected H1 2025 cash costs at the mid-range of its $89-97/t guidance against a first half realised price of $149/t. "We are beginning to see supply-side response to the lower coal prices, which aligns with our view that coal indices are well below marginal cost on the global cost curve. We anticipate further supply-side reductions from higher-cost producers, contributing to a potential recovery in coal price indices, as was the case with past coal price cycles," Yancoal's acting CEO Ning Yue said on the released of the miner's second quarter results last week. It hasn't been so good for small caps like Australian Pacific Coal (ASX:AQC), Bowen Coking Coal (ASX:BCB) and Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN), who are all facing challenges to keep their heads above water at current prices. BCB, which is facing a statutory demand for the payment of ~$6.8m to creditor BUMA, was unsuccessful in its first attempt to have royalties payable to the Queensland Government deferred. It plans to submit a revised proposal after discussions with the Queensland Government. The State's steep and controversial tiered royalty system was introduced in its current form in 2022, during an all time boom in coal prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In its second quarter results on Thursday, Coronado sold 3.7Mt of met and thermal coal, at an average mining cost of US$92/t, down 18.4% on the previous quarter. Its average realised price came in at US$148.40/t, down 1.9% QoQ, with its first half sales price down 24.8% YoY. Financial restructuring has improved the miner's balance sheet, but the company remains reliant on an uptick in coking coal prices to move into the clear. "At current pricing, CRN is loss making and there remains risks to the balance sheet," Argonaut's Jon Scholtz, who has a buy rating and 30c PT on CRN, said in a note. "We are bullish on the medium-term price outlook for coking coal and note that CRN has significant leverage to coking coal prices. On our forecasts CRN has FCF yields of >10% from CY27 onward." ASX coal stocks NAE New Age Exploration 0.004 14% 33% 14% 14% 14% $ 9,470,689.92 CKA Cokal Ltd 0.032 -6% 7% -46% -63% -47% $ 32,368,469.40 BCB Bowen Coal Limited 0.075 0% -22% -89% -98% -91% $ 8,081,816.70 SVG Savannah Goldfields 0.018 -18% 6% 8% -41% -2% $ 20,548,386.70 AKM Aspire Mining Ltd 0.25 -11% -4% 2% -17% -2% $ 137,061,985.95 AVM Advance Metals Ltd 0.046 0% 0% 21% 59% 35% $ 12,588,795.36 YAL Yancoal Aust Ltd 6.56 7% 12% 4% -5% 1% $ 8,688,491,495.46 NHC New Hope Corporation 4.36 7% 12% -12% -7% -12% $ 3,702,569,332.32 TIG Tigers Realm Coal 0.003 0% 0% 0% -14% 0% $ 39,200,107.10 SMR Stanmore Resources 2.45 16% 30% -14% -34% -19% $ 2,226,437,335.98 WHC Whitehaven Coal 7.03 15% 26% 10% -11% 13% $ 5,976,802,934.26 BRL Bathurst Res Ltd. 0.84 6% 8% 14% 4% 12% $ 199,179,312.25 CRN Coronado Global Res 0.195 22% 44% -73% -85% -75% $ 318,526,208.70 JAL Jameson Resources 0.085 49% 81% 143% 42% 113% $ 59,564,847.05 TER Terracom Ltd 0.085 8% 1% -53% -58% -53% $ 68,082,129.98 MCM Mc Mining Ltd 0.11 -12% 20% -8% -21% -4% $ 70,806,140.13 DBI Dalrymple Bay 4.57 1% 15% 25% 51% 27% $ 2,235,885,118.17 AQC Auspaccoal Ltd 0.017 -6% -69% -77% -81% -83% $ 11,207,481.46 Iron ore price in action Coal may be in the doldrums right now. But iron ore is making a roaring comeback, escaping months of mid-90s purgatory to sail to US$105/t in Singapore yesterday. Some of the positive momentum was sapped by a strong quarter from Vale, which shipped 83.6Mt in June for its strongest second quarter since 2021. The Brazilian miner's output has been key to the supply-demand balance in the global iron ore market, after the last boom was set off by the closure of a number of its mines for safety checks following the January 2019 Brumadinho disaster. But any news about new supply, including incremental growth from the three Pilbara majors, Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) and the impending opening of Guinea's massive Simandou operation in November, has faded into the background against Chinese demand signals. The start of work on a US$124 billion hydroelectric dam called Yarlung Tsangpo has driven sentiment higher. It's a controversial project as it is being built in Tibetan territory in a river that runs into neighbouring Bangladesh. But it has awakened positive sentiment in China, where steel prices have also recently been rising also due to efforts to close down idle or outdated capacity to improve the profitability of the long-struggling sector. Iron ore major Fortescue (ASX:FMG) delivered its June quarter numbers on Thursday, revealing a record 55.2Mt of shipments, powering a record FY25 performance of 198.4Mt, up 4% on FY24. Iron Bridge, FMG's new magnetite mine, delivered 2.4Mt to hit 7.1Mt for the full year, with hematite C1 costs of US$16.29/wmt in Q4 and US$17.99/wmt in FY25, 1% down on FY24 and the Andrew Forrest-led miner's first annual cost drop since FY2020. FMG has guided 195-205Mt of shipments for FY26 at a C1 hematite cost of US$17.5-18.5/wmt. Iron Bridge is expected to deliver 10-12Mt and hit its 22Mtpa nameplate by FY28. Meanwhile, FMG has dumped two early green energy projects, in music to the ears of investors and sell-side analysts concerned about its green hydrogen capex bills, with Arizona Hydrogen and the PEM50 project in Gladstone now off the table. The miner, which was up over 4% on Thursday, will write down an anticipated US$150m pre-tax on PEM50 and Arizona Hydrogen investments, with FY26 capex and opex guidance for the energy division of US$300m and US$400m respectively. The metals business will receive US$3.3-4bn in capex, including US$900m-1.2bn on decarbonisation and US$300-400m for exploration and studies. ASX iron ore stocks ACS Accent Resources NL 0.008 0% 0% 33% 14% 33% $ 3,916,298.26 ADY Admiralty Resources. 0.006 0% 50% 0% -45% 0% $ 15,776,876.39 AKO Akora Resources 0.11 -4% 25% 0% -27% 10% $ 13,739,463.40 BCK Brockman Mining Ltd 0.017 21% 21% 21% -11% 6% $ 157,763,946.23 BHP BHP Group Limited 41.6 6% 17% 6% 0% 5% $ 212,430,275,034.75 CIA Champion Iron Ltd 5.26 17% 33% -7% -12% -9% $ 2,751,575,165.16 CZR CZR Resources Ltd 0.25 14% 9% 39% -6% 19% $ 54,516,615.95 DRE Dreadnought Resources Ltd 0.011 0% 10% -8% -52% -8% $ 55,874,500.00 EFE Eastern Resources 0.031 -3% 0% -3% -38% 11% $ 3,908,788.36 CUF Cufe Ltd 0.01 25% 67% 18% -17% 0% $ 12,119,173.79 FEX Fenix Resources Ltd 0.305 5% 9% 13% -22% 15% $ 237,166,250.88 FMG Fortescue Ltd 19 13% 31% 2% -10% 4% $ 56,067,951,156.78 GEN Genmin 0.025 -11% -4% -26% -81% -38% $ 23,956,724.75 GRR Grange Resources. 0.185 0% 6% -8% -46% -16% $ 214,107,659.13 HAV Havilah Resources 0.19 6% 9% -14% -7% -16% $ 66,154,977.72 HAW Hawthorn Resources 0.054 0% -7% 17% -22% 32% $ 18,425,858.72 HIO Hawsons Iron Ltd 0.018 -10% -5% 20% -31% 0% $ 19,189,891.30 IRD Iron Road Ltd 0.03 20% -9% -43% -60% -49% $ 24,920,783.25 JNO Juno 0.026 -7% -4% 4% -16% 4% $ 5,649,400.32 LCY Legacy Iron Ore 0.009 -10% 0% 0% -48% -10% $ 87,858,383.26 MAG Magmatic Resrce Ltd 0.05 -15% 19% -4% -19% 67% $ 22,554,786.41 MDX Mindax Limited 0.059 -2% 5% 48% 13% 48% $ 140,920,372.08 MGT Magnetite Mines 0.085 4% -9% -26% -71% -29% $ 10,677,240.02 MGU Magnum Mining & Exp 0.007 -7% 133% -23% -23% 11% $ 16,226,260.04 MGX Mount Gibson Iron 0.38 15% 46% 15% 1% 29% $ 442,660,775.63 MIN Mineral Resources. 32.1 17% 57% -9% -41% -6% $ 6,025,260,398.64 MIO Macarthur Minerals 0.025 0% 39% -49% -61% -46% $ 4,991,637.75 PFE Pantera Lithium 0.019 3% 58% 12% -36% 6% $ 8,764,998.23 PLG Pearlgullironlimited 0.015 36% 88% 25% -12% -6% $ 3,068,126.85 RHI Red Hill Minerals 3.5 6% 19% -14% -32% -15% $ 227,653,068.75 RIO Rio Tinto Limited 119.86 8% 18% 2% 5% 2% $ 44,349,201,086.58 RLC Reedy Lagoon Corp. 0.002 33% 33% -33% -33% 0% $ 1,553,413.35 CTN Catalina Resources 0.005 25% 67% 52% 113% 33% $ 10,917,085.65 SRK Strike Resources 0.035 6% 0% 17% 0% 30% $ 9,931,250.00 SRN Surefire Rescs NL 0.002 0% 0% -40% -66% -32% $ 6,457,218.50 TI1 Tombador Iron 0.35 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% $ 30,213,639.40 TLM Talisman Mining 0.145 4% 12% -29% -44% -29% $ 29,189,654.10 EQN Equinoxresources 0.083 2% 14% -31% -73% -21% $ 13,211,460.84 AMD Arrow Minerals 0.02 0% 0% -55% -67% -50% $ 17,555,331.82 CTM Centaurus Metals Ltd 0.395 13% 20% -2% 10% 11% $ 191,229,967.01 LM1 Leeuwin Metals Ltd 0.14 0% 8% 17% 71% 0% $ 15,120,957.60
Scotsman
07-07-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
WoodMac seals deal for 30,000-square-foot HQ in landmark Edinburgh building
'As staff continue to return to the office, the ongoing leasing momentum at Waverley Gate demonstrates the demand for prime office space in Edinburgh' – Matthew Milroy, Kennedy Wilson Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie is taking space in a landmark Edinburgh building for its headquarters in a boost for the city's office market. Property investment firm Kennedy Wilson said it had signed a 15-year unbroken lease commitment with the consultancy - popularly known as WoodMac - for 30,000 square feet at Waverley Gate, which previously housed the capital's central post office. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Confirmation of the leasing deal follows a total of 113,000 sq ft of lettings to five occupiers at Waverley Gate, bringing the newly refurbished 200,000-square-foot prime office building to 95 per cent occupancy. An external view of the historic building - now known as Waverley Gate - at the east end of Edinburgh's Princes Street. Life and pensions firm Royal London has taken 25,000 sq ft on a 15-year lease and Gallagher, the global insurance, risk management and consulting services provider, has relocated its Edinburgh operations to Waverley Gate, occupying 6,500 square feet on a ten-year lease. Software company Forrit and the Scottish Government have signed new ten-year leases for 10,000 sq ft of office space each. Additionally, Amazon has agreed to renew its lease at the historic building, occupying a total of 60,000 sq ft. Kennedy Wilson said that since acquiring the building in 2022, it has invested in the property to provide 'first class amenities and excellent sustainability credentials'. The building includes four large roof terraces, shower facilities, a café and basement level gym. Matthew Milroy, managing director at Kennedy Wilson Europe, said: 'As staff continue to return to the office, the ongoing leasing momentum at Waverley Gate demonstrates the demand for prime office space in Edinburgh, where supply remains extremely constrained. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We identified an opportunity to invest in the property, repositioning it further to improve its sustainability credentials and attractiveness to occupiers. As a result, we've maintained very high occupancy and grown income, whilst also setting a record rent for Edinburgh at the end of 2024.' Kennedy Wilson was advised by JLL and Cushman & Wakefield. Recently it emerged that Edinburgh's office market was showing 'signs of optimism' amid a string of letting deals. Significant recommitments from some of the city's largest employers have been complemented by increased activity from smaller businesses securing office space, the latest snapshot from property consultancy JLL noted. Companies were said to be increasingly planning well ahead of lease expirations to secure suitable space, taking advantage of pre-let opportunities and making early strategic decisions amid a constrained market. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Angus Fitzpatrick, a surveyor at JLL in Edinburgh, said: 'Despite the shortage of new prime office developments in Edinburgh, we are still seeing positive trends in some areas of the market which is helping to drive activity. Edinburgh's growing reputation as a place for emerging energy firms to thrive has contributed to several notable deals taking place this year in the city.
News.com.au
09-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Monsters of Rock: We have a tightening copper market … but it's all a little knotty
Copper prices remain strong amid tightness in physical markets US could rely on copper imports even if it encourages new mine builds Lithium surplus to run longer without curtailments: WoodMac It was once a paint by numbers exercise to read the copper market, an economic bellwether known as Dr Copper for its ability to project and diagnose shifts in the wider global economy. That comes down to its fairly obvious industrial uses. Poles and wires carry copper for its conductivity. Cabling is used in housing, infrastructure, cars – EVs especially, train lines, power plants. You get the gist. Growth is good for the commodity, recession is bad. But the current copper market has become mosaic-like in its complexity. The A-to-B plot line of a Home and Away episode has been replaced with the density of Infinite Jest. Copper prices are broadly stable and at historically strong levels amid threats to global economic growth, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence tells us in their weekly note. Three month LME copper is clocking in at US$9431/t at the moment. But prices are uneven, driven by stockpile purchases in the US where tariffs on copper imports are being feared, while stockpile draws in China also point to market tightness, curious given the broader economic environment generally and in China specifically. A 3.7% collapse on Wednesday last week from US$9440/t on the LME rebounded from US$9093/t to US$9395/t by Friday, indicating the fragility of any particular market theme right now. COMEX purchasing by US buyers has not helped the volatility. "Copper prices continue to be elevated by severe market tightness resultant from tariff induced front-loading at the COMEX, leading to backwardation at both the SHFE and LME," Benchmark says. Chinese and US economic indicators have been pointing down, normally a negative for copper. But the rush to move material to the States and strong demand for concentrate and metal in physical markets has kept a floor under prices. "As stock draw-downs in China have begun to spread to LME warehouse systems, the extent to which this supply crunch continues will be closely watched," Benchmark noted. "Although the Fed's decision on interest rates would normally be in-focus, a projected high probability (>95%) of holding rates stable mean markets will likely look more closely at alternative signals this week - such as firm commitments on US-China de-escalation." US mining Copper buyers in the United States are reliant on imports from overseas, which has led to a rush in copper demand and a major push from the US Government under Donald Trump to refire domestic production, which has slid over the past 27 years from ~1.9Mt to ~1.1Mt. This could be great news, especially with regards to permitting, for US based miners and explorers like New World Resources (ASX:NWC), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Golden Mile Resources (ASX:G88). But Benchmark warns tariffs and Executive Orders won't be able to bring the whole supply chain to the States in the near term, even if the development of large mines like Rio's Resolution and Teck's NewRange go ahead. "This could go a long way to lower the net imports of copper to US, which last year totaled well over 700,000t," Benchmark said. "Yet, an important bottleneck isn't mining or refining—it's smelting. The US currently has just 590,000tpa of smelting capacity, with only one potential project in development: the Hayden Restart, which could add 200,000tpa. In 2024, exports of copper contained in concentrate reached 325,000t, accounting for 48% of the year's total concentrate production of 674,000t. "Currently, even if the US chose to process all of its copper concentrate domestically, the existing smelting capacity would be insufficient. Without a rapid expansion of smelting infrastructure, accelerating copper concentrate projects alone won't address the gap. As a result, the US will continue exporting concentrate—only to reimport it later as finished cathode." Lithium recovery As investors continue to wait for the lithium market to rebound, one of its most bearish forecasters says curtailments will be needed to bring the market into balance. The issue is the high cost mines that need to come out of the supply chain are in China, also the market's biggest customer. That means any mine or refinery closure would be a delicate manoeuvre to pull off. WoodMac continues to see the lithium market surplus holding into the early 2030s, according to a deck prepared by its lithium research director Allan Pedersen for a forum in late April. "In our view, curtailments should predominantly come from China, which is the largest producer and where most production is suffering from low or negative margins in the current price environment," Pedersen said in a note. "However, China is also the world's biggest consumer, which presents a challenge to curtailments. What's more, increasing production can lead to lower unit costs, which incentivises producing higher volumes rather than cutting supply. "The big question for the sector is, will sufficient capital be available to survive the downturn until demand growth catches up?" It should be noted, other analysts see small deficits returning as soon as next year, including Argonaut and Fastmarkets. They think demand is growing quicker than the market realises, with EV sales growth especially in China remaining strong and battery energy storage systems grabbing a rising market share for lithium. This week, WA's newest lithium producer Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) picked up a $15m interest free loan from the WA State Government along with a waiver of port fees and mining tenement rental rebates related to its Kathleen Valley mine until the spodumene spot price hits US$1100/t for two consecutive quarters. Miners and explorers keep on waiting. The ASX 300 Metals and Mining index rose 0.96% over the past week. Which ASX 300 Resources stocks have impressed and depressed? Making gains Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) (gold) +18% Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) (lithium) +16% Pantoro (ASX:PNR) (gold) +13.2% Emerald Resources (ASX:EMR) (gold) +12.6% Eating losses Patriot Battery Metals (ASX:PMT) (lithium) -7.6% Lynas (ASX:LYC) (rare earths) -6.9% Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN) (coal) -5.7% Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) (silver) -5.4% At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While New World Resources and Golden Mile Resources are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Soaring U.S. Power Demand Will Need All Energy Sources
AI data centers and the reshoring of some manufacturing will drive U.S. electricity demand growth over the coming decade. The world's biggest economy will need all energy sources to ensure power demand is met. Natural gas is the biggest near-term winner of AI advancements, but renewables will also play a key role in powering the data centers of next-generation computing, analysts say. The U.S. has seen a surge in proposed data centers over the past year. As of July 2024, Wood Mackenzie had identified about 50 gigawatts (GW) of proposed data centers in America. This figure had doubled in a few months, and the proposed data centers were nearly 100 GW by January 1, 2025, according to WoodMac's estimates. Policy and regulation 'will need to reflect the reality that there is a need for all generation technologies,' according to Wood Mackenzie's analysts, as the natural gas boom alone cannot meet the soaring electricity data centers are set to account for almost half of U.S. power demand growth by the end of the decade, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its Energy and AI report last week. Driven by AI use, America will consume more electricity for data centers than for the production of aluminum, steel, cement, chemicals, and all other energy-intensive goods combined, according to the agency. The U.S. and other key power markets will tap a diverse range of energy sources to meet rising electricity needs from data centers. But renewables and natural gas are set to take the lead due to their cost-competitiveness and availability in key markets, including the U.S., the IEA said. By 2035, data centers are set to account for 8.6% of all U.S. electricity demand, more than double their 3.5% share today, BloombergNEF said in a new report this week. U.S. data-center power demand will more than double over the next decade, rising to 78 GW in 2035 from nearly 35 GW in Sachs, for its part, sees U.S. electrical power demand rising by 2.4% each year through the end of the decade, with AI-related demand accounting for about two-thirds of the incremental power demand in the country. 'The US is reaching a power demand inflection point due to the rise of energy-intensive artificial intelligence (AI), the need for more AI-ready data center capacity, and the reshoring of manufacturing,' Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a report earlier this year. The higher power demand will be met by a diverse mix of energy sources. While renewable energy is growing in the mix of power generation sources, natural gas is best positioned to capture the majority of incremental capacity growth, while nuclear energy's impact is unlikely to be felt this decade, according to Goldman gas is set to provide 60% of the incremental generation capacity related to data center demand, while renewables are expected to provide the remaining 40%, the investment bank's analysts said. Renewable investments could drop by 30% or more in the coming years if the Trump Administration axes key incentive provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), WoodMac says. 'But despite these concerns, buyers are showing a willingness to pay a premium for renewable energy,' WoodMac's analysts noted. Natural gas is winning big from the Trump pro-fossil fuel policies and the U.S. power demand surge, and gas is leading the efforts to power a large part of the extra electricity demand. Gas capacity orders jumped by 146% in North America last year—the most in nearly a decade, and gas turbine orders increased by 36% year-on-year in 2024, said WoodMac. 'But gas alone cannot meet the rising electricity demand,' it added. Demand is rising, but there are uncertainties about how high the growth would be and how fast the data centers will be built. BloombergNEF (BNEF) has a relatively conservative forecast about U.S. data center buildout. This is not due to skepticism about AI's market potential 'but acknowledges real-world deployment challenges such as securing key elements (land, power, permits) and navigating the complex construction process,' said BNEF's Helen Kou, Head of US Power, and Nathalie Limandibhratha, Senior Associate US Power. The research firm has estimated that the development of a data center in the United States would typically take about 7 years—from initial planning to full operation. This timeframe includes 4.8 years in pre-construction and 2.4 years for construction. Still, the U.S. will be the world's most important market in power demand growth for data centers, BNEF said in a separate report this week. 'Over the next five years, demand from US data centers could outpace even electric vehicles' incremental demand, driven by the surge in AI training workloads that require significant compute capacity and highly energy-dense infrastructure,' according to BNEF. Amid surging power demand, natural gas will play a crucial role in meeting incremental U.S. electricity consumption. Renewables and potentially nuclear in the longer term will also provide the additional power needs. By Tsvetana Paraskova for More Top Reads From this article on
