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A bulldozer moves coal that will be burned to generate electricity at the American Electric Power coal-fired power plant in Winfield, West Virginia.

Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The planned restart of Three Mile Island is a step forward for nuclear power, but the U.S. needs to deploy new plants to keep up with rising electricity demand, one of the nation’s top nuclear officials said this week.

The U.S. needs to at least triple its nuclear fleet to keep pace with demand, slash carbon-dioxide emissions and ensure the nation’s energy security, said Mike Goff, acting assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy.

The U.S. currently maintains the largest nuclear fleet in the world with 94 operational reactors totaling about 100 gigawatts of power. The fleet supplied more than 18% of the nation’s electricity consumption in 2023.

The U.S. needs to add 200 gigawatts of nuclear, Goff told CNBC in an interview. This is roughly equivalent to building 200 new plants, based on the current average reactor size in the U.S. fleet of about a gigawatt.

“It’s a huge undertaking,” Goff said. The U.S. led a global coalition in December that formally pledged to meet this goal by 2050. Financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America endorsed the target at a climate conference in New York City this week.

Constellation Energy‘s plan to restart Three Mile Island by 2028 is a step in the right direction, Goff said. The plant operated safely and efficiently, only shutting down in 2019 for economic reasons, he said.

The reactor that Constellation plans to re-open, Unit 1, is not the one the partially melted down in 1979.

Microsoft will purchase electricity from the plant to help power its data centers. Goff said the advent of large data centers that consume up to a gigawatt of electricity only reinforces the need for new reactors.

“A lot of the data centers are coming in and saying they do need firm, 24/7, baseload clean electricity,” Goff said. “Nuclear is obviously a perfect match for that,” he said.

But restarting reactors in the U.S. will only provide a small fraction of the nuclear power that is needed, he said. There are only a handful of shuttered plants that are potential candidates for restarts, according to Goff.

“It’s not a huge number,” Goff said of potential restarts. “We need to really be moving forward also on deploying plants,” he said.

From coal to nuclear

Coal communities across the U.S. could provide a runway to build out a large number of new nuclear plants. Utilities in many parts of the U.S. are phasing out coal as part of the clean energy transition, creating a supply gap in some regions because new generation is not being built fast enough.

Recently shuttered coal plants, those expected to retire, and currently operating plants with no estimated shutdown date yet could provide space for up to 174 gigawatts of new nuclear across 36 states, according to a Department of Energy study published earlier this month.

Coal plants already have transmission lines in place, allowing reactors at those sites to avoid the long process of siting new grid connections, Goff said. The plants also have people experienced in the energy industry who could transition to working at a nuclear facility, he said.

“We can actually get a significant cost reduction by building at a coal plant,” Goff said. “We can maybe get a 30% cost reduction compared to just going on a greenfield site.”

Cost overruns and long timelines are major hurdles for building new nuclear plants. The expansion of the Vogtle plant in Georgia with two new reactors, for example, cost more than $30 billion and took around seven years longer than expected.

Expanding operational nuclear plants and building at retired sites in the U.S. could create a pathway for up to 95 gigawatts worth of new reactors, according to the DOE study. Between coal and nuclear sites, the U.S. potentially has space for up to 269 gigawatts of additional nuclear power.

The potential capacity would depend on whether advanced, smaller reactors are built at the sites, or larger reactors with a gigawatt or more of power.

More electricity could potentially be generated if the smaller reactors were rolled out on a large scale because there is space for more them, according to the DOE study. Some of these smaller advanced designs, however, are still years away from commercialization.

But rising electricity demand from data centers, manufacturing and the electrification of the economy could provide a catalyst to build the larger plants as well, according to Goff. The Three Mile Island restart, for example, would bring back just under a gigawatt of power to meet Microsoft’s needs.

“That increased power demand, that will lead toward an additional push toward those gigawatt size reactors as well,” he said.

Restarts likely to secure greenlight

While reactor restarts aren’t a silver bullet, shoring up and maintaining the existing fleet is crucial, Goff said. The U.S. went through a decade-long period in which reactors were shutting down because they could not compete with cheap, abundant natural gas.

The economics are changing, however, with tax support from the Inflation Reduction Act and nuclear increasingly valued for its carbon-free attributes, Goff said.

“One of the issues with the economics, especially in the non-regulated utilities, was there was no value necessarily for clean, baseload electricity,” he said. “There is a lot more recognition of the need for that clean, firm, reliable baseload for nuclear”

Constellation’s decision to restart Three Mile Island follows in the footsteps of the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. The private owner, Holtec International, plants to restart Palisades in 2025. The two restarts are subject to review and approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“They are an independent agency, but I expect if the safety cases are presented, they’re going to approve it,” Goff said of those potential restarts.

“Constellation obviously operated the Three Mile Island plant for years, and has a very large fleet of reactors that they’ve operated safely and efficiently,” he said. “They will continue to have a great expertise in moving those plants to continue their safe operation.”

But finding additional plants to restart could prove difficult, said Doug True, chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

“It gets harder and harder,” True previously told CNBC. “A lot of these plants have already started the deconstruction process that goes with decommissioning and the facility wasn’t as thoroughly laid up in a way that was intended to restart in any way.”

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U.S. crude oil prices fall more than 4% after OPEC+ agrees to surge production in June

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May 4, 2025

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U.S. crude oil prices fall more than 4% after OPEC+ agrees to surge production in June

Logo of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty Images

U.S. crude oil futures fell more than 4% on Sunday, after OPEC+ agreed to surge production for a second month.

U.S. crude was down $2.49, or 4.27%, to $55.80 a barrel shortly after trading opened. Global benchmark Brent fell $2.39, or 3.9%, to $58.90 per barrel. Oil prices have fallen more than 20% this year.

The eight producers in the group, led by Saudi Arabia, agreed on Saturday to increase output by another 411,000 barrels per day in June. The decision comes a month after OPEC+ surprised the market by agreeing to surge production in May by the same amount.

The June production hike is nearly triple the 140,000 bpd that Goldman Sachs had originally forecast. OPEC+ is bringing more than 800,000 bpd of additional supply to the market over the course of two months.

Oil prices in April posted the biggest monthly loss since 2021, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have raised fears of a recession that will slow demand at the same time that OPEC+ is quickly increasing supply.

Oilfield service firms such as Baker Hughes and SLB are expecting investment in exploration and production to decline this year due to the weak price environment.

“The prospects of an oversupplied oil market, rising tariffs, uncertainty in Mexico and activity weakness in Saudi Arabia are collectively constraining international upstream spending levels,” Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call on April 25.

Oil majors Chevron and Exxon reported first-quarter earnings last week that fell compared to the same period in 2024 due to lower oil prices.

Goldman is forecasting that U.S. crude and Brent prices will average $59 and $63 per barrel, respectively, this year.

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Chicago plans more, and more equitable public charging as EV sales climb

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8 hours ago

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May 4, 2025

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Chicago plans more, and more equitable public charging as EV sales climb

More public EV charging, including curbside, envisioned in Chicago plan
DC fast charging stations in Chicago; via EVgo.

Electric vehicles’ share of the market continues to climb in America’s second city, with BEV registrations up more than 50% in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the same period last year. Great news, but charging hasn’t up – but a new plan from Chicago Department of Transportation aims to build up enough infrastructure for the city to keep up.

In a bid to keep up with the rapid growth of EVs, Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT is currently seeking public feedback on a plan called “Chicago Moves Electric Framework.” The city’s first such plan, it outlines initiatives that include a curbside charging pilot through the city’s utility, ComEd, and expanded charging access in key areas throughout the city.

Unlike other such plans, however, the new plan aims to focus on bringing electric vehicle charging to EIEC and low income communities, too.

“Through this framework, we are setting clear goals and identifying solutions that reflect the voices of our residents, communities, and regional partners,” said CDOT Commissioner Tom Carney. “By prioritizing equity and public input, we’re creating a roadmap for electric transportation that serves every neighborhood and helps drive down emissions across Chicago.”

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Neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Chicago experience a disproportionate amount of air pollution and diesel emissions, largely due to vehicle emissions according to CDOT. Despite that, most of Chicago’s public charging stations are clustered in higher-income areas while just 7.8% are in environmental justice neighborhoods that face higher environmental burdens.

“Too often, communities facing the greatest economic and transportation barriers also experience the most air pollution,” explains Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. “By prioritizing investments in historically underserved areas and making clean transportation options more affordable and accessible, we can improve both mobility and public health.”

The Framework identifies other near-term policy objectives, as well – such as streamlining the EV charger installation process for businesses and residents and implementing “Low-Emission Zones” in areas disproportionately impacted by air pollution by limiting, or even restricting, access to conventional medium- and heavy-duty vehicles during peak hours.

The Chicago Moves Electric Framework includes the installation of Level 2 and DC fast charging stations in public locations such as libraries and Chicago’s Midway Airport, “supporting not only personal EVs but also electric taxis, ride-hail and commercial fleets.”

Chicago has a goal of installing 2,500 public passenger EV charging stations and electrifying the city’s entire municipal vehicle fleet by 2035.

Electrek’s Take

Chicago Drives Electric | ComEd Press Conference
ComEd press conference at Chicago Drives Electric, 2024; by the author.

I hate to sound like a bed-wetting liberal here, guys, but Chicago is getting EVs absolutely right with big utility incentives on both vehicles and infrastructure, a governor willing to stand behind smart environmental policy, and a solid push for more and better infrastructure in the areas where they’ll do the most good. They’re even thinking of the children.

Here’s hoping more cities follow suit.

SOURCE: ComEd, via Smart Cities Dive; featured image by EVgo.

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Meet Bodo – the 35 mph electric golf cart that thinks it’s a G-Wagen

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12 hours ago

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May 4, 2025

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Meet Bodo – the 35 mph electric golf cart that thinks it's a G-Wagen

Bodo G-Wagon electric golf cart; via Mecum Auctions.

With a fully-enclosed, G-Wagen-inspired body and an 80 mile electric range, the Bodo G-Wagon golf cart is the NEV you need when you decide it’s time to get serous one-upping the rest of the Palm Beach country clubbers.

If you love the look of the $230,000 Mercedes-Benz G580 off-roader, but think the 579 hp, 6,800 lb. electric 4×4 is probably overkill for occasional trips to the golf course and country club, this G-Wagen-inspired golf cart might be just what you’re looking for.

The shiny black 2024 Bodo G-Wagon sold at Mecum Auctions last month for $31,900, which seems like it might not be a lot of money to the sort of person who decides to take a flyer on a goofy, limited-use EV that ships with real, metal doors, power windows, heating and air conditioning, fully digital instrument cluster and infotainment, and a “posh,” caramel leather interior.

It even has windshield wipers, power steering, and a rear-seat entertainment system that’s built into the front headrests!

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It’s really nice in there

Under the hood, the Bodo packs a 15 kW (20 hp) electric motor drawing power from a 10 kWh li-ion battery that won’t deliver a scorching 0-60 mph time (it only goes 35), but will deliver you and your buddies from one end of any golf course in North America and back several times over, thanks to the G-Wagon’s 80 mile range.

The official Mecum Auctions listing goes into a bit more detail, and I’ve included it here, in case it gets deleted after a while and you’re just finding this for the first time in 2027:

Be the envy of any country club or golf community showing up with this 2024 Bodo G-Wagon Golf Cart. Perhaps more appropriately known as an E-Wagon, this baby G-Wagon is powered by a 15kW motor with a 10kWh lithium battery. Boasting an 80-mile range and a 35 MPH top speed, the Bodo is an enclosed, luxury golf cart that pampers occupants with heating and air conditioning, rear-seat entertainment, power windows, power locks and a posh, caramel-colored interior. With the Bodo fitted with power steering and 4-wheel power disc brakes with brake boost, drivers will think they’re in a full-size G-Wagon, thanks to the multiscreen entertainment cluster, the rearview camera, windshield wipers, turn signals, running lights and so much more.

Finished in black with the right amount of brightwork, the overall vibe is one of jaw-dropping, smile-inducing fun. While the Bodo would be an excellent choice for any golf community, it should also prove to be hugely popular around a race track or car condo community as well, or maybe even a neighborhood with its own airplane runways. Over the past decade in particular, the demand for unique, luxury golf carts has been on the rise, and understandably so. The number of luxury communities with specific interests in sports, aero and auto has also been on the rise, with people buying homes in these exclusive locations to better engage with like-minded people. All too often a golf cart is the perfect way to get around these gated neighborhoods, and this one is enclosed, comes with the amenities of a full-size car and is infinitely more stylish.

MECUM AUCTIONS

You can check out a few more photos of the 2024 Bodo G-Wagon golf cart that sold at Mecum, below – and if you want one for yourself, you’re in luck! I found this brand-new 2025 “G600 E-Wagon” (in white) for $23,900 at Gulf Carts in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Head on down to the comments and let us know if you buy it.

SOURCE | LOTS MORE PHOTOS: Mecum Auctions.

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