UTILITIES:
• Florida Power & Light received approval to buy a coal-fired power plant near Jacksonville and then shut it down. (Palm Beach Post)
• Florida Power & Light customers have paid $4.2 billion more for natural gas in the last 13 years because it buys most of the fuel through hedging, rather than on the open market. (Palm Beach Post)
• The electric utility serving Jonesboro, Arkansas said the planned phase-out of a coal-fired plant near Pine Bluff will save it $50 million. (Associated Press)
WASTE-TO-ENERGY: Eight landfill gas projects in North Carolina are producing enough electricity to power 5,000 homes. (Renewable Energy World)
SOLAR: Florida-based NextEra Energy is looking to get into the solar power business in North Carolina with its proposed purchase of the five solar farms totaling 22 megawatts of capacity. (Charlotte Business Journal)
DISTRIBUTED ENERGY: The U.S. Dept. of Energy is opening its loan guarantees to projects that aggregate distributed energy resources. (Greentech Media)
WATER POLLUTION: After a federal judge in West Virginia declined to act, a federal judge in North Dakota blocked a controversial federal water pollution rule hours before it was due to take effect. (The Hill; Associated Press)
OIL & GAS:
• Environmental groups and a New Orleans energy company have reached a settlement agreement in a lawsuit stemming from the company’s failed efforts to stop a slow, decade-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. (Associated Press)
• Two people were injured Wednesday when a natural gas pipeline ruptured off the coast of Louisiana. (WDSU-TV, New Orleans)
COAL:
• A West Virginia county struggles as coal’s decline generates less tax revenue to pay for county services. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• Alabama-based Walter Energy is pursuing labor cost cuts and a $1.9 billion debt for equity swap to continue operating during its bankruptcy filing. (Platts)
GRID:
• Rejecting arguments by Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources, the FERC backed rules by the operator of the PJM grid which includes Virginia for buying wholesale power from 2016 to 2018. (Utility Dive)
• Staffers of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator power grid are revising their assessment of the Clean Power Plan’s impact on wholesale power flows for Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky and other member states. (Platts)
COMMENTARY: The EPA’s huge water pollution decision and why it needs to get it right. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy blog)