Latest news with #powerGrid
CNN
07-08-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Neo-Nazi group leader sentenced to 20 years in prison for planned Maryland power grid attack
The founder of a Florida-based neo-Nazi group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring with his girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland's power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs. Brandon Russell, 30, was convicted by a jury earlier this year. Prosecutors presented evidence detailing his longstanding affiliation with white supremacist causes and his recent efforts to organize 'sniper attacks' on electrical substations around Baltimore. During a sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon in federal court in Baltimore, U.S. District Judge James Bredar excoriated the defendant for his reprehensible views, saying Russell was clearly the brains behind the operation, which sought to precipitate societal collapse by targeting the energy infrastructure of a majority-Black city. In the aftermath of the planned attacks, Russell and his co-defendant, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, intended to 'create their own bizarre utopia populated by people who only look and think like they do,' Bredar said. 'Well, that's not how it works,' the judge continued. 'The law doesn't permit that. We don't change course in this country via violent overthrow.' Bredar imposed the maximum sentence allowed for Russell's conviction of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. The judge also ordered a lifetime of supervised release, including close monitoring of Russell's electronic devices. Bredar previously sentenced Clendaniel to 18 years behind bars after she pleaded guilty to her role in the plot. He said Russell should receive a longer sentence because he was more culpable and contributed the 'intellectual horsepower' that propelled the plot closer to fruition. The two were arrested in February 2023 — before their plans were executed. Russell's attorney, Ian Goldstein, has argued that Clendaniel posed a greater threat because she was taking steps to obtain a firearm and shoot up electrical substations. Meanwhile, Russell was living in Florida with absolutely no plans to travel to Maryland, according to his attorney. 'For Mr. Russell, everything was talk,' Goldstein told the court. He also pointed to Russell's supportive family. Court papers filed ahead of sentencing included a letter from his mother, who said she believes he's been trying to fill the void left by a largely absent father. She said some challenges arose with her son after she moved them back to the Bahamas, where she has relatives. 'Brandon Russell is an educated young man who has served this country's military,' his attorney wrote, connecting his descent into Naziism with longstanding mental health challenges. 'His family relationships speak volumes of the person he can be.' The judge wasn't persuaded, but he noted Russell's 'somewhat complicated psycho-social history' and recommended mental health treatment during his time in prison. Russell declined to address the judge directly. He appeared in court wearing maroon prison attire and showed no obvious signs of emotion during the hearing. Several years ago, Russell co-founded the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, which is German for 'atomic weapon.' This wasn't his first run-in with law enforcement. In 2017, police responded to a 2017 double homicide at a Tampa apartment building and found Russell outside crying, dressed in military fatigues. One of his roommates had killed the other two, officials said. During a search of the house, police found a stash of highly explosive materials and a cache of neo-Nazi signs, posters, books and flags. Russell pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device and improper storage of explosives.
Associated Press
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Neo-Nazi group leader sentenced to 20 years in prison for planned Maryland power grid attack
BALTIMORE (AP) — The founder of a Florida-based neo-Nazi group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring with his girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland's power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs. Brandon Russell, 30, was convicted by a jury earlier this year. Prosecutors presented evidence detailing his longstanding affiliation with white supremacist causes and his recent efforts to organize 'sniper attacks' on electrical substations around Baltimore. During a sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon in federal court in Baltimore, U.S. District Judge James Bredar excoriated the defendant for his reprehensible views, saying Russell was clearly the brains behind the operation, which sought to precipitate societal collapse by targeting the energy infrastructure of a majority-Black city. In the aftermath of the planned attacks, Russell and his co-defendant, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, intended to 'create their own bizarre utopia populated by people who only look and think like they do,' Bredar said. 'Well, that's not how it works,' the judge continued. 'The law doesn't permit that. We don't change course in this country via violent overthrow.' Bredar imposed the maximum sentence allowed for Russell's conviction of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. The judge also ordered a lifetime of supervised release, including close monitoring of Russell's electronic devices. Bredar previously sentenced Clendaniel to 18 years behind bars after she pleaded guilty to her role in the plot. He said Russell should receive a longer sentence because he was more culpable and contributed the 'intellectual horsepower' that propelled the plot closer to fruition. The two were arrested in February 2023 — before their plans were executed. Russell's attorney, Ian Goldstein, has argued that Clendaniel posed a greater threat because she was taking steps to obtain a firearm and shoot up electrical substations. Meanwhile, Russell was living in Florida with absolutely no plans to travel to Maryland, according to his attorney. 'For Mr. Russell, everything was talk,' Goldstein told the court. ' Goldstein also pointed to Russell's supportive family. Court papers filed ahead of sentencing included a letter from his mother, who said she believes he's been trying to fill the void left by a largely absent father. She said some challenges arose with her son after she moved them back to the Bahamas, where she has relatives. 'Brandon Russell is an educated young man who has served this country's military,' his attorney wrote, connecting his descent into Naziism with longstanding mental health challenges. 'His family relationships speak volumes of the person he can be.' The judge wasn't persuaded, but he noted Russell's 'somewhat complicated psycho-social history' and recommended mental health treatment during his time in prison. Russell declined to address the judge directly. He appeared in court wearing maroon prison attire and showed no obvious signs of emotion during the hearing. Several years ago, Russell co-founded the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, which is German for 'atomic weapon.' This wasn't his first run-in with law enforcement. In 2017, police responded to a 2017 double homicide at a Tampa apartment building and found Russell outside crying, dressed in military fatigues. One of his roommates had killed the other two, officials said. During a search of the house, police found a stash of highly explosive materials and a cache of neo-Nazi signs, posters, books and flags. Russell pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device and improper storage of explosives.
Bloomberg
18-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Big Tech Is Green Power's Best Defense Against the GOP
Under attack from President Donald Trump, the cause of greening America's power grid now relies to a large degree on some of his most recent converts in Silicon Valley. This has nothing to do with politics; rather wealth, scale and urgent need are working together to advance both renewable energy and nuclear power, albeit in different ways. The Trump tax bill working its way through Congress is a huge blow to renewables. Senate Republicans were expected to dilute the zealous anti-greenery in the House version of the bill, but the latest language out of the Senate Finance Committee, is only a little less harsh. Tax credits supporting wind and solar projects will phase down to zero by the end of 2027. That might pull forward some projects, but it will ultimately bump renewable energy costs up considerably. For example, removing the investment tax credit raises a typical solar project's electricity price by around 40%, according to Lazard Inc. Together with regulatory efforts to boost the fortunes of coal and gas-fired electricity, this would ultimately suppress appetite for new renewables projects.
Forbes
13-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
In The Race To Power Data Centers, Which Fuel Will Win Is The Wrong Question
Greg Robinson is the cofounder and CEO of Aston , a company building a clean, firm power network to serve the world's largest energy users. getty Having spent my career in clean energy, I have had the opportunity to talk to a range of energy experts. From leaders at utilities and independent power producers to regulatory decision makers, we nerd out on topics ranging from whether the future of power is on-grid or off-grid to how we'll meet surging energy demand and what the optimal fuel mix is to do this. Lately, the thing I'm asked about most is which fuel I think will win the race to power the data centers that power AI. It's a fair question, but in a shifting energy landscape, it's one with a complicated answer. The U.S. power market is a very complex business model, and the grid itself is a convoluted web of old tech like coal plants and new tech like solar and wind, making and transferring power to keep the proverbial lights on for individuals and businesses alike. In my view, the idea that one fuel will 'win' is the wrong way of looking at it. The current landscape consists of a shrinking coal footprint; growing natural gas and renewables like wind, solar and batteries; and blossoming nuclear. Below, I share the context that gets us closer to understanding what the future holds. The Flaws And Faults Of Our Options At the risk of stating the obvious, the energy industry can only consider the technologies that are available today. For this reason, there's often a 'use what you have' mentality. For example, there's a lot of talk about the potential of nuclear power to solve the surging energy demand, and small modular reactors (SMRs) will play a large role, but experts say that technology is still years away. As a result, utilities and data center builders have been looking to gas, but a bottleneck in the production of turbines is slowing procurement until at least 2029. That, combined with the rising cost of building new plants, upgrading the pipeline network to provide enough gas is making gas less available and affordable. Where in 2022, it costs roughly $800/kWh to build a gas plant, projections are now that it will cost $2,400/kWh. But even if building more gas plants were a timely and affordable solution, it is still a dangerous premise. Assets like gas and coal plants are 30-plus-year assets. So building new gas plants now means that once viable nuclear power arrives and the cost of solar and batteries continues to drop, we run the risk of doing to gas plants what we have been doing to coal plants: turning them off because we overbuilt the network and there are better options available. The Rush To Zero Marginal Costs Businesses across various industries try to innovate their way toward zero marginal cost. They would rather pay larger capital costs upfront one time and then use that asset for a long time. AWS is a good example. During the rise of cloud computing, AWS had the innovative idea that rather than build and sell servers to companies, it would develop servers in the cloud and then rent that space to those who need it. Netflix is similar. Pay for the content once and then rent it out to millions of users. Fossil fuel-based energy will never reach zero marginal cost because you need to process resources to use them. Nuclear also has a fuel but seldom needs to be refueled. Solar and wind backed by batteries are pushing the closest to zero marginal cost. The price of solar and batteries has come down nearly 100% and will keep getting less expensive. This brings me to the real factor that will determine which fuel will win: It's the fuel with the most contracts. Which Fuel Will Win? The energy market is contract-driven. Specifically, contracts that are known as 'take or pay.' This means when suppliers (like a natural gas producer) make a deal with buyers (like a utility or power plant), the contracts are long-term (usually 15 years at minimum), and the buyer agrees to take a predetermined amount of energy at a fixed price. If they don't take the energy, the buyer pays anyway. So it's really 'pay or pay' contacts. This structure leaves little incentive for buyers locked into contracts to make any moves until the contract ends. If we build more gas plants, that will effectively make those operational long after less expensive modes of energy become available. How we structure contracts needs to change. Long-term contracts made sense during the decades of relatively steady power demand, but they don't work in this era of surging power demand. Leaders in the energy industry and the large customers who depend on their power need to reconsider a new approach to energy contracts, or we'll find ourselves trapped in the past, which will ultimately impact our future. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Revealed: China has secretly installed kill switches in solar panels sold to the West - which could see Beijing plunge its enemies into darkness in the event of WW3
Engineers have discovered 'kill switches' embedded within Chinese-manufactured parts in US solar farms, raising fears that Beijing could manipulate America's power supplies or even 'physically destroy' the grid. Energy officials are now assessing the risks posed by small communication devices discovered inside power inverters - an integral component of renewable energy systems that connects them to the power grid. While inverters are built to allow remote access for updates and maintenance, the utility companies that use them typically install firewalls to prevent direct communication back to China. But rogue communication devices not listed in product documents have been found in some solar power inverters by US experts who strip down equipment hooked up to grids to check for security issues, two sources told Reuters. Over the past nine months, undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, have also been found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers, one of them said. Using the rogue communication devices to skirt firewalls and switch off inverters remotely, or change their settings, could destabilise power grids, damage energy infrastructure and trigger widespread blackouts, experts said. 'That effectively means there is a built-in way to physically destroy the grid,' one of the sources declared. 'We know that China believes there is value in placing at least some elements of our core infrastructure at risk of destruction or disruption,' said Mike Rogers, a former director of the US National Security Agency. 'I think that the Chinese are, in part, hoping that the widespread use of inverters limits the options that the West has to deal with the security issue.' The two sources declined to name the Chinese manufacturers of the inverters and batteries with extra communication devices, nor say how many they had found in total. But the existence of the rogue devices had not previously been reported, and the US government has not publicly acknowledged the discoveries. Asked for comment, the US Department of Energy (DOE) said it continually assesses risk associated with emerging technologies and that there were significant challenges with manufacturers disclosing and documenting functionalities. 'While this functionality may not have malicious intent, it is critical for those procuring to have a full understanding of the capabilities of the products received,' a spokesperson said. Work is ongoing to address any gaps in disclosures through 'Software Bill of Materials' - or inventories of all the components that make up a software application - and other contractual requirements, the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington told Reuters: 'We oppose the generalisation of the concept of national security, distorting and smearing China's infrastructure achievements.' Meanwhile, in the UK, shadow energy minister Andrew Bowie called on Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband to carry out an 'immediate pause and review' of its efforts to transition to green power. British solar panels use parts manufactured in a variety of countries and it is not known whether the Chinese 'killswitches' are present in any power converters installed in wind or solar farms in the UK. The Government is currently conducting a review of Chinese renewable energy technology in the energy system, but is still pressing ahead with its efforts to transition away from fossil fuels. Bowie told The Telegraph yesterday: 'We were already aware of concerns being raised by the Ministry of Defence and the security and intelligence services surrounding possible monitoring technology on Chinese-built wind turbines. 'Ed Miliband's Made in China transition – clean power at the expense of everything else – is a threat to our national security and makes a mockery of his claims on energy security. 'It is essential that an immediate pause and review is carried out to ensure the safety and security of our energy system.' It comes as an energy minister pledged earlier this week to put solar panels on 'every possible rooftop right across the country'. Chinese soldiers carry the flags of (L to R) the Communist Party, the state, and the People's Liberation Army during a military parade at the Zhurihe training base 'If there is a rooftop that we can put solar panels on, we are keen to do so,' Michael Shanks told the Commons, as he claimed the public are in support of solar. The Government announced plans to create 'solar carports' earlier this month, with supermarkets, offices and shopping centres required to install solar panels over their car parks. Housebuilders will also be forced to fit solar panels to all new properties by 2027, under Government plans. Chinese dominance in the manufacture of renewable energy technology - particularly power inverters - is stark. Huawei is the world's largest supplier of inverters, accounting for 29% of shipments globally in 2022, followed by Chinese peers Sungrow and Ginlong Solis, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Huawei and Sungrow together were reportedly responsible for manufacturing more than half of the world's power inverters in 2023. Since 2019, the US has restricted Huawei's access to technology, accusing the company of activities contrary to national security, which Huawei denies. But, while Huawei decided to leave the US inverter market in 2019 - the year its 5G telecoms equipment was banned - it remains a dominant supplier elsewhere. Philipp Schroeder, CEO of German solar company 1Komma5, said that Chinese influence over Europe's energy network was now a serious security concern. 'Ten years ago, if you switched off the Chinese inverters, it would not have caused a dramatic thing to happen to European grids, but now the critical mass is much larger. 'China's dominance is becoming a bigger issue because of the growing renewables capacity on Western grids and the increased likelihood of a prolonged and serious confrontation between China and the West,' he told Reuters.
