UTILITIES: Orlando’s municipal utility announces that it will stop burning coal by 2027 and switch to solar and natural gas as it charts a course toward eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. (Orlando Sentinel)
TRANSPORTATION:
• As leaders from a dozen states, including Virginia, discuss equity issues around a regional transportation emissions pact, environmental justice advocates say they need to involve more people of color in the process. (Energy News Network)
• Kentucky announces $8.5 million in funding from its Volkswagen settlement fund to replace about 170 buses with cleaner, more efficient vehicles. (WMKY)
PIPELINES:
• A malicious prosecution lawsuit claims that a security firm conspired to have three Mountain Valley Pipeline opponents arrested based in part on a false accusation that they were “affiliated with Antifa.” (Roanoke Times)
• Three environmental groups file a motion with a federal appeals court supporting North Carolina regulators’ denial of a key water permit for the MVP Southgate pipeline. (news release)
• South Carolina residents are concerned about the impact on property values and the environment from a planned Duke Energy gas pipeline. (WYFF)
SOLAR:
• In rural central Virginia, solar-powered internet hotspots help families navigate remote schooling during the pandemic. (Daily Yonder)
• An Oklahoma utility announces the completion of two 5 MW solar farms for the Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation. (news release/Solar Power World)
• An Arkansas school district holds a “flip the switch” event for its new 1,140-panel solar array before a school board meeting. (KARK)
COAL:
• Kentucky went a year with no coal mining deaths but now has two in less than a week after a miner was killed Tuesday at an underground mine. (Lexington Herald Leader)
• As Kentucky’s once-powerful coal industry buckles, its political prominence has also tumbled to a back-burner issue. (Courier Journal, subscription)
• A Kentucky community reacts to Vistra Energy’s plan to close its coal-fired power plants. (Metropolis Planet)
COAL ASH: Duke Energy will host a virtual town hall tonight on its plan to clean up a coal ash landfill in Crystal River, Florida. (Bay News 9)
STORAGE: A battery energy storage system is expected to reduce a Virginia city’s peak demand by about 9 MW and save $1 million per year in transmission and capacity costs. (PV Magazine)
OFFSHORE WIND: Dominion Energy says its two-turbine offshore wind pilot has completed final testing and is ready to enter into commercial operation soon. (WAVY)
COMMENTARY: Florida regulators rely on outdated analyses in setting energy efficiency goals that ignore the savings they produce for customers, a clean energy advocate writes. (Charlotte Sun)