O2 Energies gets new partner, new focus

O2 Energies founder Joel Olsen has taken on a new partner and plans to refocus his company’s solar efforts on electric cooperatives and municipal power companies. A new name, O2 Energies EMC, reflects the change in focus.

Charlotte native and lawyer Adam Foodman has become Olsen’s partner in the revamped company. Foodman has concentrated on commercial real estate and renewable energy at Foodman, Hunter and Karres and has been external counsel for Cornelius-based O2 Energies for years.

Olsen says…

Duke Energy slows spending on S.C. nuke plant

Duke Energy spent $23.2 million from July through December on planning and preconstruction work for its proposed $11 billion Lee Nuclear Station near Gaffney, S.C. That brings Duke’s investment for 2014 to nearly $45 million. That’s the least Duke has spent on the project in a year since it began reporting totals to the N.C. Utilities Commission.

Since proposing the project in 2007, Duke has spent $426.6 million on the planned 2,234-megawatt plant, according to a filing.

Financing expenses totaled…

Texas Legislature: Bill would allow power generators to grow

With Energy Future Holdings in bankruptcy court, the future ownership of Luminant’s power plants remains very much up in the air.

But a bill filed in the Texas Legislature could make it easier for other Texas power producers to buy-in.

As part of the restructuring, creditors will likely end up owning Luminant’s mix of coal, natural gas and nuclear plants. But power generators such as NRG Energy and Calpine, both based in Houston, could swoop in to ultimately own them.

There’s just one problem:…

Oil slump hits Houston hard and fast

With oil prices down 50 percent since last summer, energy companies have rapidly begun to cut spending and jobs, including in Houston. Here’s a look at some of the cutbacks key oil and gas players have announced thus far.

Rig counts

Drilling and production rigs saw their biggest U.S. and Texas declines since the 1980s in the week that ended Jan. 30, according to Baker Hughes rig counts.

7.7% How much active Texas rigs declined last week, from 7,530 to 695

5.5% How much active U.S. rigs fell in…

Mad Fox’s new D.C. location brings more history than the brewery bargained for

When Mad Fox Brewing Co. opened its Falls Church brewpub in 2011, owners Bill Madden and Rick Garvin spent considerable time with designers trying to make their sleek, glass-fronted space feel like an old-fashioned pub.

That’s not an issue for their second location in Glover Park.

That site has presented quite the opposite challenge: The building is sold old and has had so many tenants, the owners keep stumbling into surprises — good and bad — that have delayed the brewpub’s opening by more…