SOLAR: New Mexico’s largest electricity provider announces four solar-plus-storage projects to replace the generation capacity that will be lost following the closure of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station. (PV Magazine)

ALSO:
• A planned community outside Albuquerque could be the site for as much as 800 MW of new, utility-scale solar-generating facilities. (Albuquerque Journal)
• Arizona is set to see an increase in massive land deals for solar development projects. (Phoenix Business Journal)

HYDROPOWER: Stanford University facilitates an agreement that aims to break the current deadlock over hydropower between environmentalists and the hydropower industry. (New York Times)

CALIFORNIA:
• California investigators are looking at the possibility a destructive Los Angeles-area wildfire was caused by tree branches hitting Southern California Edison equipment. (Associated Press)
• The judge overseeing PG&E’s criminal probation demands the utility explain its “role in the ignition” of the deadly Zogg wildfire that killed four people last month. (Bloomberg)
• PG&E warns that ratepayers in 43 Northern California counties need to prepare for possible public safety power shutoffs this week due to extreme heat and high winds. (Los Angeles Times)

OIL & GAS: A new profile looks at the self-described humanitarian, entrepreneur, and author from Myanmar buying up oil and gas leases in Utah and other Western states. (Salt Lake Tribune)

BIOFUELS: California’s aggressive approach to carbon fuel standards is changing the oil market, particularly with the use of alternative fuel sources. (Quartz)

FOSSIL FUELS: New data shows Wyoming’s fossil fuel sectors have been hit hard by the pandemic — with price, production, and employment indexes trailing far behind last year. (Casper Star-Tribune)

GRID: A University of California, Davis study looking at the distance alternative energy providers go to bring electrical power to ratepayers finds that consuming electricity closer to its source can reduce greenhouse gases. (Woodland Daily Democrat)

NUCLEAR: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is under pressure to create a government agency that would keep the state from becoming a permanent dumping ground for spent nuclear fuel and other waste. (Associated Press)

STORAGE: A Native American-owned firm is awarded $1.2 million by California’s Energy Commission for a non-lithium ion, long-duration energy storage solution. (Environment + Energy Leader)

WIND: Four Colorado wind technology factories will be kept busy making wind turbines for delivery next year and beyond thanks to orders for U.S. wind farm projects. (Denver Business Journal)

COMMENTARY:
• The chairman of two Southern California utilities and past chair of two California trade associations say the state needs a cleaner, safer, more reliable, and affordable energy system. (Cal Matters)
• A Wyoming journalist says the state needs to stop its dark-money contributions to a coal advocacy group. (WyoFile)

Lisa Ellwood

Lisa is a Lenape and Nanticoke Native American freelance journalist, editor and writer currently based in the U.K. She has more than two decades’ experience working in corporate communications and print and digital media. She compiles the Western Energy News daily email digest. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple University; her specializations include data journalism and visualization. She is a member of the Native American Journalists Association, Investigative Reporters & Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, and the National Union of Journalists (U.K.).