STORAGE: California is expected to add more battery capacity than China this year, making the state a global test case this summer for how effectively grid-scale storage can maintain reliability in extreme conditions. (Bloomberg)

ALSO:
• The company behind a proposed 22-acre, 600 MW battery plant in Central California that would have enough power to supply 450,000 homes says the project would revitalize the area’s existing retired power plant site. (New Times)
• A new study finds that California might need long duration energy storage resources that can dispatch about 12 hours per day, increasing in winter to 14 or 15 hours per day. (Energy Storage News)
• A Texas company is proposing a lithium processing facility in Nevada that it says will use more sustainable technology for extraction. (Pahrump Valley Times)

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NUCLEAR: An agreement signed yesterday could lead to the country’s first commercial advanced modular reactor, an 80 MW facility planned in eastern Washington. (Yakima Herald)

NATURAL GAS:
• The conflict between California regulators and local officials and activists over keeping a beachfront gas-fired power plant open is symbolic of the clean energy challenges confronting the state and the U.S. as a whole. (Los Angeles Times)
• A California-based building decarbonization advocate says the gas industry’s framing of natural gas as a cleaner fossil fuels alternative effectively greenwashes “what is really a dangerous pollutant.” (The Verge)

CLIMATE: A new survey by a California state agency finds the state’s snowpack levels are down nearly 20% from the yearly average, adding to fears of a possible megadrought. (KPIX)

COAL: Montana Dakota Utilities closed down its coal-fired Lewis & Clark Generating Station in eastern Montana this week. (Billings Gazette)

POLICY: A Trump-era order to suspend consultations with tribal governments on Clean Water Act issues is conflicting with the Biden administration’s effort to make policy decisions more inclusive. (E&E News)

SOLAR:
• Renewable energy advocates are urging New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to sign the recently-passed Community Solar Act into law. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• A new report indicates Colorado’s annual solar energy capacity installed is set to more than double this year, ranking it ahead of other states including California. (Axios)

TRANSPORTATION: California’s Air Resources Board issues a draft proposal for a clean miles standard for rideshare companies that would require 90% of rides to be in electric vehicles by 2030. (Freight Waves)

WIND:
• Hawaii’s Supreme Court hears arguments in an appeal about how many endangered Hawaiian hoary bats a wind farm is allowed to kill. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, subscription)
• Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife says the wildlife impacts of a proposed wind farm would be difficult, if not impossible, to avoid because of its large size. (Walla-Walla Union-Bulletin)

POLITICS: Sivuqaq Yupik environmental advocate Vi Waghiyi is named to President Biden’s newly created environmental justice advisory council. (Anchorage Daily News)

COMMENTARY: An Oregon county official says Gov. Kate Brown is choosing litigation over collaboration regarding how the federal government manages hydropower system operations, including the four lower Snake River dams. (La Grande Observer)

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.).