UTILITIES:
• The Chattanooga municipal electric utility achieves a 65 percent increase in reliability with smart-grid investments. (Energy Efficiency Markets)
• A Duke Energy spokesman tries to clear the air about its role in North Carolina’s clean energy future. (North Carolina State Technician)

CLIMATE: A White House adviser urges south Florida business and political leaders to protect the local economy from flooding and climate change. (Miami Herald)

SOLAR:
• Senate Democrats in West Virginia propose reviving a $2,000 tax credit for solar system buyers which expired in 2013. (The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register)
• An entrepreneur repurposes a textile mill in North Carolina with a rooftop solar system and sells the power to Duke Energy. (Charlotte Observer)
• An environmental group appeals to the South Carolina utility commission to order Duke Energy to offset some of the environmental impacts of a new natural gas plant with solar. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
• Duke Energy’s utility and commercial solar operations built almost 300 megawatts worth of new projects in North Carolina last year. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Charlotte-based Entropy Solar Integrators is investing $4.5 million in a solar farm in the North Carolina Triad. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• A medical center in North Carolina cuts nearly 10 percent of its monthly power bill with a solar system. (The Pilot)

HYDROPOWER: A federal agency will let Duke Energy argue for a 10-year extension of its license to manage a power station on the Catawba River. (Charlotte Observer)

NUCLEAR: The 99 nuclear reactors in the U.S. operated a record 91.9 percent of the time throughout 2015, a trade group reports. (Platts)

OFFSHORE DRILLING:
• A South Carolina state senator adds to the growing chorus of policymakers in opposition to drilling off the state’s coast. (The State)
• Celebrities are joining South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford next Tuesday in Washington to protest drilling off the south Atlantic coast. (Roll Call)
• Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter pledges to keep an open mind about drilling off the south Atlantic coast. (Savannah Morning News)

LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS: The operator of a Louisiana liquefaction facility is holding a job fair next Monday and Tuesday to fill 60 positions. (KFDM)

COAL:
• A coal miner in Kentucky dies after being pinned against a wall by a mobile digging machine, the third coal mining casualty nationally this year. (Associated Press)
• Residents of Stokes, North Carolina blame their health problems on a coal-fired power plant nearby run by Duke Energy. (Winston Salem-Journal)
• The cash position of Alabama-based Walter Energy is quickly deteriorating and could force it to wind down operations. (Birmingham Business Journal)

POWER GRID: The operator of the grid that includes small portions of Arkansas and Louisiana says it can handle wind-penetration levels of up to 60 percent. (RTO Insider)

POLICY: The Senate is expected to vote today on whether to override President Obama’s veto of legislation that protects small bodies of water from coal mining and other operations. (The Hill)

2010 GULF OIL SPILL: A new documentary by noted filmmaker Jon Bowermaster reflects on the spill’s aftermath and Louisiana’s life-and-death battle with coastal erosion. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

PIPELINES:
• Opponents of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in Virginia challenge the developers’ job-creation estimates. (The News Virginian)
• Residents of Nelson County, Virginia square off against Dominion Resources over impacts of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (Nelson County Times)

COMMENTARY:
• Bills introduced in Virginia’s General Assembly amount to $25 million in “giveaways” to in-state coal operators. (Power for the People VA blog)
• Florida Power & Light’s proposal to hike its base rate 24 percent by 2020 is a “real jolt.” (Sun Sentinel)
• An advocate for public housing in Virginia calls on the state’s utilities to offer more energy conservation programs. (The Roanoke Times)

CORRECTION: Wednesday’s Southeast Energy News linked to a National Journal report about wealthy donors facing an uphill battle persuading GOP candidates to combat climate change. We mistakenly attributed the story to Politico.