EMISSIONS: The Virginia Clean Economy Act will force Virginia regulators to factor in the social cost of carbon — indirect costs associated with emissions — when building fossil fuel-fired power plants, which could push utilities toward renewables. (Energy News Network)
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SOLAR:
• A U.K. solar developer secures a power purchase agreement for a 132 MW solar project in Arkansas that would nearly double the state’s utility-scale capacity. (Greentech Media)
• Ikea’s parent company buy a 49% stake in a large Texas solar project to support its goal of all-renewable power by 2025. (Renewables Now)
UTILITIES:
• Gov. Ralph Northam signs into law a bill that requires state regulators to scrutinize utility requests before passing on the costs of new natural gas pipelines to ratepayers. (S&P Global)
• Florida utility regulators will hold a special meeting at the end of April to discuss four utilities’ requests to pass along savings from low fuel prices to customers. (WOGX)
• The coronavirus pandemic is shedding more light on how many people live with energy insecurity and can’t afford utility bills. (Mother Jones)
POWER PLANTS: Work continues at the Bull Run coal-fired power plant in Tennessee, and TVA representatives say the utility is still testing for coal ash contamination. (Columbia Herald)
OIL & GAS:
• After significantly cutting production, some U.S. oil refineries may have to shut down operations because of low prices during the pandemic. (Bloomberg)
• The largest oilfield trade group in Houma, Louisiana, joins the industry’s call for the federal government to temporarily cut costs for companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. (Houma Today)
NUCLEAR: Three more COVID-19 cases are confirmed at the Plant Vogtle nuclear site in Georgia this week. (Aiken Standard)
COMMENTARY:
• An environmental hydrologist says FERC has a pipeline problem, approving far too many projects that will cause outsized damage. (Virginia Mercury)
• A decade after the Upper Big Branch mine disaster that killed 29 men, not much has changed in coal mining safety, an author writes. (Washington Post)