SOLAR:
• Solar advocates in Florida are focusing now on securing a ballot measure in 2018 after a report surfaces about a dispute with a signature-gathering firm garnering support for the 2016 ballot. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Duke Energy tells regulators solar projects it is developing are cost competitive with bids on similar projects by independent developers. (Triad Business Journal)
• Five of the 13 large-scale utility projects in Georgia set for completion by 2016 are at military bases. (Today’s Energy Solutions)
RENEWABLE TAX CREDITS: The House Minority Leader says she may not have enough votes for more than a two-year extension of tax credits for solar and wind energy. (Greentech Media)
***SPONSORED LINK: Rocky Mountain Institute’s e-Lab Accelerator is calling on America’s most innovative teams at the forefront of the electricity transformation looking to take projects to the next level. See if your project is eligible for this invitation-only event April 24—27. ***
WIND: Developers of a proposed wind farm in Arkansas withdraw rezoning request. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A West Virginia state senator who is a car dealer draws scrutiny tied to a bill banning Tesla’s direct-to-consumer retail model there. (The Pew Charitable Trusts)
NET METERING: Mississippi utilities are set to appeal a state commission ruling providing a new bill credit for solar-generated power. (Mississippi Business Journal)
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS: Federal regulators approve the $12 billion Lake Charles, Louisiana LNG export project with changes that may affect its future. (Houston Chronicle)
FRACKING: A natural gas company executive says depressed prices are compelling many producers to delay production. (The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register)
COAL: Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources plans to sell several mines spread across Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia in its bid to reorganize while in bankruptcy. (Bristol Herald Courier)
COAL ASH: Questions surface over whether Duke Energy can dispose of ash at high-priority sites under a new law by the 2019 deadline. (Charlotte Business Journal)
CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• A decision by federal judges preserving a mandate to cut mercury emissions from power plants could undermine defense of the Clean Power Plan, some analysts say. (Greenwire)
• Environmental advocates in North Carolina call on the state’s governor to meet the target set by the EPA for reducing carbon emissions. (WFAE Charlotte)
• The estimated cost for the power grid serving parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee to comply with the Plan ranges between about $6 billion and $104 billion. (Platts)
2010 GULF OIL SPILL: BP asks a judge to dismiss multiple lawsuits seeking damages tied to a drilling moratorium after the spill. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
NUCLEAR: The TVA completes loading fuel assemblies in advance of the 2016 startup of its Watts Bar 2 reactor. (The Advocate & Democrat)
COMMENTARY:
• Dominion Virginia Power is ordered to refund $19 billion to customers but gets to keep a billion in future overcharges. (Power for the People VA blog)
• We need to continue to invest in solar energy. (Palm Beach Post)
• Save Tennessee’s Cumberland Mountains from coal mining. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A record coal pollution settlement in Kentucky puts the newly-elected governor on notice. (Daily Yonder blog)