UTILITIES: MGM Resorts is leaving Nevada Power to purchase its own electricity on the wholesale market; the company represented nearly 5 percent of the utility’s load. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
ALSO
• New York regulators approve structural changes aimed at better aligning utility policy with consumer interests. (Greentech Media)
• Utah’s Supreme Court upholds a $134 million fine in a trade secret case involving a new natural gas-fired power plant. (Deseret News)
HYDRO: Climate change and resulting low water levels could spell the end for the southwest’s biggest dams. (New York Times)
SOLAR:
• Solar growth is “rampant” in Utah, with more than 850 MW of new capacity coming online by next year. (Deseret News)
• A West Virginia company joins with online retailer Etsy to sell rooftop solar systems. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A new 52 megawatt solar system under construction for Mississippi Power will double the amount of renewable power on the state’s grid. (PV Tech)
• Proposed legislation to freeze clean-energy standards in Ohio would also shut down competition in the state’s solar industry, advocates say. (Midwest Energy News)
• Minnesota lawmakers advance a potentially first-in-the-nation bill that would permit owners of large, ground-mounted solar sites to publicly declare them beneficial habitat for birds and pollinating insects. (Midwest Energy News)
CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• A new federal analysis shows U.S. electricity demand will decline on average of .61-.31 percent annually under the Clean Power Plan while the renewable generation will continue to grow. (Utility Dive)
• In a commencement speech, EPA administrator Gina McCarthy says the Clean Power Plan “will restore your faith in government.” (Washington Examiner)
• A Pennsylvania coal lobbyist leads the fight against the Clean Power Plan in his state. (ClimateWire)
POLITICS:
• Global warming, which presidential candidate Donald Trump has publicly declared a “total hoax,” is specifically cited in an application to build a wall to protect one of Trump’s golf courses from rising sea levels. (Politico)
• Pennsylvania’s Environment Secretary abruptly resigns in a controversy over emails to environmental groups, which one advocate calls a “witch hunt.” (Bay Journal)
WIND: A planned offshore wind project in Lake Erie near Cleveland receives another $3.7 million in federal funding for additional engineering work. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
NUCLEAR:
• Exelon was on a “full court press” last week lobbying lawmakers in Washington D.C. and Illinois in an effort to save struggling nuclear plants. (EnergyWire)
• A new report from the National Academies of Sciences concludes reactor operators are falling short of guarding spent fuel from releasing radiation. (Bloomberg)
COMMENTARY:
• “There is certainly enough evidence to warrant an investigation into Exxon Mobil.” (Houston Chronicle)
• Why low-income households carry a heavier energy burden. (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy)