OIL & GAS: Louisiana’s severance taxes and royalties have dropped to half of the $1.3 billion level in its fiscal 2014 year. (Washington Post)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• National Electric Drive Week events in North Carolina find growing interest in rural counties. (Southeast Energy News)
• Researchers at North Carolina State University are developing technology that could extend the range of electric cars. (iTechPost / Science Daily)
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PIPELINES:
• A gasoline pipeline rupture in Alabama now threatens supplies in Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. (Wall Street Journal)
• A Virginia agency recommends routing the Mountain Valley Pipeline around a conservation site. (Roanoke Times)
• Pipeline subsidiaries of Dominion Resources reach an agreement on benefits with workers in Virginia, West Virginia and four other states ending a week-long lockout. (Associated Press)
SOLAR:
• Entergy touts the potential of large-scale solar plants designed with energy storage systems similar to its new pilot project in New Orleans. (New Orleans Advocate)
• The Georgia Public Service Commission clears the way for a 1 megawatt solar system in a median along Interstate 85. (SeeNews)
• A professor at the University of South Florida is to be inducted in the state’s Inventors Hall of Fame for advancing thermal energy storage for solar systems. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Florida Power & Light touts its progress deploying solar energy systems. (SaintPetersBlog)
• Duke Energy spotlights its newest solar farm in Florida, this one the size of 17 football fields producing 5 megawatts of electricity. (Electric Light & Power)
NUCLEAR:
• Dominion Virginia Power’s Surry plant is becoming a test bed for extending plant licenses beyond their original 40-year terms. (Power-Technology.com)
• Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander calls on Congress to end the stalemate over where to dispose of commercial nuclear waste. (WGNS Radio)
• Areva reflects on its decision to locate it North American nuclear services business in Charlotte. (Charlotte Business Journal)
COAL ASH:
• A non-profit unveils its redesigned web site identifying where ash is stored and rates each site for risks to human life and the environment. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
• The TVA steps up its push to improve how ash is stored at a coal-fired power plant near Paducah, Kentucky. (Electric Light & Power)
COAL: A deal in Indiana that protects ratepayers from the financial failure of a coal gasification plant there could become a model for Mississippi regulators in their oversight of the Kemper “clean coal” power plant. (Mississippi Watchdog)
MICROGRIDS: A rural cooperative in North Carolina and its wholesale power supplier are constructing a microgrid to better withstand extreme weather events. (Electric Co-op Today)
UTILITIES:
• The Jacksonville Electric Authority outlines a proposal to share savings with ratepayers due to lower fuel costs. (Florida Times-Union)
• The CEO of Duke Energy says she would like lawmakers to revisit a law limiting protections for lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender people in North Carolina. (Associated Press)
OFFSHORE DRILLING: A business alliance opposed to seismic testing launched in South Carolina expands to Virginia. (Virginian-Pilot)
INTERNATIONAL TRADE: The second Energizing Africa conference Oct. 4-6 in Charlotte is set to identify clean energy and water business opportunities for regional companies. (Charlotte Business Journal)
COMMENTARY:
• Florida’s Amendment 1 on the November 8 ballot raises red flags for solar supporters. (Florida Politics)
• Leading businessmen such as Jim Justice should focus on diversifying West Virginia’s economy and stop pandering to its ever-shrinking coal industry. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)