CAP-AND-TRADE: California lawmakers approve a last-minute deal to spend $900 million from the state’s cap-and-trade program to fund programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including measures to help disadvantaged communities. (Los Angeles Times)

NUCLEAR: A fire forces the shutdown of a new Tennessee nuclear reactor, the latest setback for the plant after 42 years of construction. (Bloomberg) 

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SOLAR:
• Nevada regulators refuse to allow SolarCity to participate in a proceeding to decide how customers will be compensated for the excess energy from their rooftop solar panels. (Greentech Media)
• Residents on Hawaii’s Big Island say a local utility shouldn’t have allowed “feed-in tariff” permits to be issued to the developers of a large solar project in their neighborhood. (Pacific Business News)
• Businesses like Kaiser Permanente are using power-purchase agreements, virtual power-purchase agreements and renewable energy credits to scale solar. (GreenBiz)
• The investment bank that advised SolarCity on its $2.6 billion sale to Tesla Motors made an error in its analysis that discounted the value of the solar energy company by $400 million. (Reuters)

TECHNOLOGY: Engineers at MIT create 3D printed structures that may be able to turn solar panels to track the sun. (TreeHugger)

GEOTHERMAL: The University of Utah is one of two final candidates in a nationwide hunt to develop an underground laboratory tapping ways to harness man-made geothermal reservoirs. (Deseret News)

BIOFUELS: The expansion of corn and soybean cropland in the Northern Great Plains could threaten honeybee colonies, according to a new study. (Washington Post)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Utilities in Washington and Kansas are focusing on charger placement to drive electric vehicle adoption. (Utility Dive)
• Facing a severe cash crunch, Tesla Motors plans to raise additional money to help fund its new Model 3 sedan and build out a massive battery factory. (Reuters)
• California is off-track on its clean-car sales goals, with Toyota only selling about 270 hydrogen fuel cell cars in the state. (Reuters)

WIND:
• A major wind project approved in Iowa recently “may be just the first in a series of mega wind projects to advance in the coming months.” (Greentech Media)
• Despite a $40 million federal grant, hurdles remain for a wind farm on Lake Erie. (Great Lakes Echo)

OIL & GAS:
• A propane company quietly ends a five-year contract at a Philadelphia-area crude rail terminal, which would have allowed it to move at least 65,000 barrels of Bakken crude daily through Pennsylvania. (Reuters)
• Colorado’s governor says he wants to “continue the discussions” after anti-fracking measures failed to make the November ballot. (Denver Post)
• Pollution from oil and gas industry activity will trigger hundreds of thousands of asthma and acute respiratory attacks in Texas each year unless methane emissions are reduced, according to a new study. (Star-Telegram)

PIPELINES:
• Activists are arrested in Iowa for disrupting construction on the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. (Des Moines Register)
• Representatives of the United Nations say the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe must have a say on the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which could disturb sacred sites and impact drinking water for 8,000 tribal members. (Associated Press)

COAL:
• Retrofitting Montana’s largest coal-fired power plant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would cost at least $1.2 billion, according to Department of Energy officials. (Associated Press)
• An Oregon coal plant will test running on 100 percent biomass. (Eastern Oregonian)
• Charlotte-based Duke Energy will pay for new water lines or filtration systems for 1,000 households after a coal ash spill contaminated residents’ drinking wells in North Carolina. (WJZY)  

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ENERGY EFFICIENCY: A Virginia business owner is helping residents minimize their energy use through home makeovers. (Southeast Energy News)

COMMENTARY:
• State policies are fundamental for increasing the adoption of renewable energy. (Huffington Post)
• The U.S. has a winning climate model: It’s simultaneously the top producer of oil and natural gas and the world leader in reducing emissions. (Energy Tomorrow)