SOLAR: Nevada lawmakers pass a bill to restore net metering for residential solar in hopes of reviving the state’s struggling rooftop solar market. (Greentech Media)
ALSO:
• Tesla and Sunrun say they will resume selling rooftop solar panels in Nevada after legislators passed legislation to restore net metering. (Reuters)
• California-based Sunrun will begin offering residential solar packages in Texas. (Houston Chronicle)
• North Carolina solar workers worry about their jobs following the announcement of the U.S. exit from the Paris climate pact. (Washington Post)
RENEWABLES: The Nevada legislature passes a bill to increase the state’s renewable energy target to 40 percent by 2030, despite pushback from casinos. (Greentech Media)
CLIMATE: Local officials, state governments and hundreds of U.S. businesses are joining an initiative to “pursue ambitious climate goals” in response to President Trump’s withdraw from the Paris climate accord. (Washington Post)
CLEANTECH: A report finds venture capitalists are losing interest in clean energy, apart from software development, and much of their investment is focused outside the Midwest. (Midwest Energy News)
HYDRO: The managing editor of Hydro Review explains how the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord could affect hydropower. (HydroWorld)
SMART GRID: Renewable energy developer Invenergy is launching a 10-year venture fund aimed at startups that want to help digitize the electric grid. (Greentech Media)
UTILITIES: The CEO of the country’s top coal-burning utility, American Electric Power, says the company is moving toward a “cleaner energy economy” and plans to increase its wind and solar portfolio. (Greentech Media)
EMISSIONS:
• Environmental groups are suing to reverse an EPA decision to freeze a rule requiring oil and gas companies to fix methane leaks, saying the agency didn’t follow proper procedures under the Clean Air Act. (Reuters)
• An Alabama coal plant is the nation’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but for many the plant’s economic importance overshadows the impact. (Center for Public Integrity)
OIL & GAS:
• The Trump administration is seeking permits for five companies to use seismic air guns to find oil and gas beneath the Atlantic Ocean, which experts say could harm thousands of animals. (Associated Press, Huffington Post)
• MISO plans to share information on gas usage by power plants with pipeline operators as part of a reliability pilot program. (RTO Insider)
COAL:
• EPA administrator Scott Pruitt tells media outlets the U.S. coal industry has added 50,000 jobs in recent months, but the real number is closer to 586. (ThinkProgress)
• Mississippi Power says it expects its Kemper coal plant to be fully operational by the end of the month, but the company is delaying proposals for how customers should pay for the $7.5 billion project. (Associated Press)
• A Missouri utility announces it will retire six coal units by the end of 2019. (Power Engineering)
POLLUTION: Analysts say replacing coal with solar energy would prevent 52,000 pollution-related deaths in the U.S. every year. (Daily Climate)
NUCLEAR:
• Disappointing prices in the PJM Interconnection’s capacity auction last month could intensify efforts to create nuclear subsidies. (Utility Dive)
• Efforts are underway for Georgia Power to assume control of daily operations at the troubled Vogtle plant, though paperwork has not been filed with bankruptcy courts or federal regulators. (Aiken Standard)
• Westinghouse Co. has agreed for a new contract with employees who make nuclear components at a New Hampshire plant, ending a two-week lockout. (Associated Press)
• President Trump’s withdraw from the Paris climate agreement is unlikely to help the nuclear industry, but one analyst says it “will embolden state actions to reduce carbon, which may help some nuclear plants.” (CBS)
COMMENTARY:
• President Trump missed an opportunity to use the Paris climate accord as the linchpin of an “America First” clean energy strategy, says the senior vice president at Greentech Media.
• The Trump administration’s 2018 budget places polluters’ profits over people’s health and puts millions of Americans at increased risk, says former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy. (The Hill)