GRID: North Carolina is poised to become the U.S. hub for large-scale energy storage equipment manufacturing. (Charlotte Business Journal)
SOLAR:
• The utility serving Jacksonville, Florida decides to boost solar power 300 percent by 2017 and offer solar-generated power to customers at a rate higher than its standard residential rate. (WOKV, News4JAX)
• Meanwhile, the Jacksonville utility delays a decision on how to credit owners of rooftop solar owners for excess power they produce. (Florida Times-Union)
• Germany-based Wacker Chemie is looking to add a second solar cell manufacturing facility next to the one it announced this week in Tennessee. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• The University of Richmond unveils a third-party rooftop solar system capable of supplying enough power for a typical college dormitory. (Virginia Business)
• An electric cooperative in Alabama holds a seminar this morning to answers questions and share information about solar energy. (Cullman Times)
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COAL ASH:
• Danville, Virginia is to receive $2.4 million under a settlement with Duke Energy over the utility’s massive 2014 ash spill. (The Register-Bee)
• Duke Energy and environmental groups are far apart in talks over how to rank the riskiness and clean-up deadlines of the utility’s 25 coal ash ponds in North Carolina. (Charlotte Business Journal, WFAE Public Radio)
• North Carolina reportedly has yet to clarify for homeowners how it decides whether water from wells near coal ash ponds is safe to drink. (WRAL)
• Citizen groups demand North Carolina classify all of Duke Energy’s ash pits at “high risk and high priority.” (Southern Environmental Law Center)
COAL:
• Environmental groups petition Louisiana to reverse its approval of a coal export terminal. (New Orleans Advocate)
• Data show coal’s decline in power generation is accelerating. (Washington Post)
• West Virginia labor officials project a 23% decline in non-oil-and-gas mining jobs from 2015 to 2017. (USA Today)
CLIMATE: A recently-formed caucus led by two House members from Florida holds its first meeting today to discuss carbon pricing. (E&E Daily)
OFFSHORE DRILLING: Environmental groups are keeping a watchful eye out for moves to perform seismic tests off North Carolina’s coast. (Coastal Review Online)
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS: The Senate is poised to pass a wide-ranging energy bill that would, among other things, speed approval for more LNG export terminals in Louisiana and elsewhere. (Associated Press)
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POLITICS: Federal filings show North Carolina philanthropist Jay Faison is slow to attract donations to advocate for his pursuit of a cleaner energy future. (Charlotte Business Journal)
COMMENTARY:
• A large wind farm under construction in North Carolina has dubious opponents and deserves to be approved. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• Drilling is safer since the 2010 BP Gulf oil spill, but stakeholders must remain vigilant. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
• The costs and risks of fracking in West Virginia and elsewhere outweigh the benefits. (Opposing Views)
• A University of Tennessee student urges professors and students alike to engage the TVA on its long-range power planning. (The Daily Beacon)