UTILITIES: A new Virginia law prohibits reviews of and freezes Dominion Virginia Power’s rates until 2020 but fuel and other charges for new or existing power plants could rise and significantly and drive up bills. (The Virginia Gazette).
NUCLEAR: The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy wants approval withheld for America’s first new commercial nuclear reactor in two decades — at TVA in Tennessee — until risks are better assessed. (Times-Free Press)
CLIMATE: Here’s what happens if a Florida state worker mentions “climate change” or “global warming.” (Miami Herald)
SOLAR:
• Markets for solar energy in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Louisiana are showing signs of life in the face of dominant investor owned utilities and very few incentives. (Climate Wire)
• Pee Dee Electric Membership Cooperative became the first electric cooperative in North Carolina to begin using solar power with its Community Solar Farm in Wadesboro. (Anson Record)
• The University of Virginia has formed a $4 billion collaboration with Germany’s Max Planck Society to develop clean and distributed energy sources. (WTOP radio)
COAL:
• “Citizen lobbyists” in Kentucky have begun pitching the job-creating benefits of a renewable and efficiency portfolio standard — in the heart of coal country. (EnergyWire)
• Two Southeastern Kentucky men are working to re-frame the region’s view on solar energy hoping to put some laid-off coal miners back to work and by appealing to “tomorrow’s leaders. (Hazard Herald)
COMMENTARY: The crazy logic behind Florida’s ban on state employees using “climate change” or “global warming.” (Triple Pundit)