CLEAN ENERGY:
• Clean-energy jobs in North Carolina grew 12% in 2014 and revenue jumped 37% to to $6.6 billion, says a new report. (Triad Business Journal)
• Advocates for solar and other clean power sources in North Carolina are bracing for tough battles in the 2016 legislature. (Charlotte Business Journal)
SOLAR:
• As solar and wind energy costs continue to decline, lawmakers challenge incentives needed to boost sales. (Miami Herald)
• The University of Georgia increases the number of solar-powered waste-reduction stations from 30 to 70. (The Red & Black)
• Solar farm or new homes? Elon, North Carolina gets ready to decide. (Burlington Times News)
WIND: Five energy companies voice interest in building wind turbines off the North Carolina coast. (Wilmington Star News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A team from Huntsville, Alabama is headed to England for the “Greenpower” electric car race finals. (Alabama Media Group)
ENERGY STORAGE: A new study finds 13 separate ways that batteries could help the electric grid and electricity consumers. (The Washington Post)
BLANKENSHIP TRIAL:
• “Breaking safety laws wasn’t just permitted, it was expected,” a federal prosecutor says in his opening statement in the criminal trial of coal baron Don Blankenship. (The Wall Street Journal)
• All government exhibits admitted into evidence and published to the jury are to be made available to the public by 9 a.m ET the next day. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
COAL:
• Alpha Natural Resources notifies 92 workers in southern West Virginia they will be let go and two mines will be idled. (The Register-Herald)
• The tally of Patriot Coal’s layoffs unveiled this week in West Virginia now totals about 2,000. (St. Louis Business Journal)
• An unhappy group of Patriot Coal’s lenders urge a bankruptcy judge to deny the West Virginia coal miner’s sale and debt-payment plan. (The Wall Street Journal)
• A closely-watched contract for central Appalachian coal drops to its lowest price in almost nine years. (Platts)
FRACKING: Drilling in the Marcellus shale formation contributed significantly to a 9.5% increase in economic growth in the Wheeling, West Virginia region in 2014. (Pittsburgh Business Times)
WEST VIRGINIA:
• Coal’s decline is injecting urgency into the state’s economic development plans. ( The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register)
• West Virginia’s budget gap tops $60 million as low energy prices continue to dampen tax collections. (Associated Press)
UTILITIES: The parent company of Tampa Electric played hardball before agreeing to be bought by Canada-based Emera. (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
NUCLEAR:
• Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good signaled the company is far from committing to build another nuclear reactor. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• A court awards the family of a late Alabama woman $3.5 million after it determined her death was caused by laundering clothes exposed to asbestos at the TVA’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. (Alabama Media Group)
• A key Senator wants to reduce the fees utilities with nuclear plants pay to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (Platts)
POWER TRANSMISSION: Power suppliers in the PJM power grid, which includes West Virginia and parts of Virginia and North Carolina, ask for lower under-performance penalties. (RTO Insider)
VOLKSWAGEN: The head of VW’s U.S. operations said it is withholding several 2016 models, including the Passatts made at its Chattanooga plant, from sale to fix the device that cheats emissions tests. (Associated Press)
POWER GENERATION: The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is withholding some performance payments to a contractor for a faulty biomass plant. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
OIL & GAS: Louisiana oil companies want some of the BP settlement payment due the state to make a state highway more resilient to rising sea levels. (WVUE-TV, New Orleans)
COMMENTARY: America’s leading energy companies are more focused on fighting domestic efforts to reduce carbon emissions than on gaining the freedom to compete abroad. (The New York Times)