COAL: More than 80 percent of power plants that were retired last year burned coal. (Columbus Business First)

ALSO:
• The Energy Information Administration projects for the first time that natural gas generation will surpass coal on an annual basis. (Platts)
• Wind and solar accounted for all new U.S. generating capacity in January. (Utility Dive)

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POLITICS:
• Conservative activist Jay Faison is launching a $1 million campaign to encourage Republicans to support clean energy. (McClatchy)
• A Republican congressman from Nebraska describes his transition to generating renewable energy at his home. (EnergyWire)
• 88 Republican-controlled House districts now have utility scale solar projects; 67 have wind farms. (Morning Consult)

RENEWABLES: Bills in the Connecticut legislature would prompt significant increases in clean energy capacity. (Hartford Business Journal)

SOLAR:
• A report projects the U.S. solar market will grow 119 percent this year. (Greentech Media)
• California utilities push state regulators to reconsider a decision that preserved net metering in the state. (Los Angeles Times)
• Maine’s governor opposes a plan, backed by both utilities and solar installers, to advance solar power in the state. (Portland Press Herald)
• A report commissioned by an Arizona utility finds solar providers “have headroom to adjust” to changes in net metering. (Greentech Media)
• Whole Foods announces a deal with SolarCity and NRG Energy to install rooftop solar panels at up to 100 store locations. (ABC News)

CLEAN POWER PLAN: Arkansas officially stops work on compliance plans. (KUAR)

OIL AND GAS:
• Why government predictions of shale production came up short. (Bloomberg)
• Billions of dollars are at stake in a Texas Supreme Court case over whether some equipment used in extraction is exempt from sales taxes. (Texas Tribune)
• Idaho lawmakers advance a bill to speed drilling approvals. (KBOI)
• Opponents and proponents crowd a public hearing on fracking in Colorado. (CBS4)
• A 75-year-old crude oil pipeline in New England is shut down. (Associated Press)

MINING: Democrats in Congress seek an independent review of a federal program that could leave taxpayers on the hook for coal mine cleanup costs. (Reuters)

GRID:
• A microgrid project in Denver will help Xcel Energy study the feasibility of battery-backed solar power. (Denver Post)
• Extending the federal Investment Tax Credit for solar will also provide a boost to the storage industry. (Utility Dive)
• New Mexico’s largest utility submits a plan to install smart meters for all of its customers. (Albuquerque Journal)

CLIMATE:
• The Department of Defense updates its official “Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms” to include climate change. (Greenwire)
• A new report says roughly one-third of congressional lawmakers are climate deniers. (Grist)

NUCLEAR: New York regulators will discuss subsidies for nuclear power today. (Albany Times Union)

BIOENERGY: A Pennsylvania renewable energy supplier offers credits for landfill gas as an alternative to fracking, believed to be the first system of its kind in the country. (NPR)

COMMENTARY: SunEdison’s failure in a booming solar market “takes a very special type of ineptitude.” (Greentech Media)