SOLAR: Florida lawmakers advance a utility-backed bill to require future rooftop solar panel customers to pay higher rates as solar workers rally against the legislation. (Florida Politics, Electrek)

ALSO:
• A renewables developer announces its 20th South Carolina project: a 75 MW solar farm scheduled to begin delivering power in March. (Index-Journal)
• A Florida solar startup launches with operations in six states and plans to expand quickly. (West Volusia Beacon)
• A Spanish renewables company acquires a 350 MW Texas solar plant expected to be completed in 2024. (Renewables Now)

OIL & GAS:
• Louisiana awards a $15 million grant to a biodiesel plant under construction at the Port of Columbia. (KTVE)
• A natural gas company seeks to certify it’s producing low-emissions gas in Louisiana’s Haynesville shale field, in addition to ongoing certification of its holdings in Appalachia. (S&P Global)
• Federal regulators inspect an oil company’s semi-submersible floating oil and gas production system in the Gulf of Mexico. (Offshore Energy)

STORAGE: Georgia Power announces plans to install and test a novel iron-air battery to provide long-duration energy storage and maybe become part of its shift to clean energy. (Canary Media)

PIPELINES: Atlanta Gas Light pipeline construction nears its end as crews repave roads and repair broken sidewalks and gutters. (Rome News-Tribune)

CLIMATE:
• Virginia Tech will launch a new laboratory on Virginia’s coast to help address sea level rise and other climate issues. (WAVY, news release)
• A North Carolina environmental group launches a campaign to promote the state’s climb to 100% renewable energy. (Carteret County News-Times)

NUCLEAR: A U.S. Senate committee considers legislation around nuclear energy, including a bill carried by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the day after her home West Virginia lifted restrictions on nuclear plant construction. (WV Metro News)

GRID: An Austin, Texas, utility official says the state grid functions better now than it did during 2021’s massive winter storm, but warns that the possibility of blackouts remains. (KVUE)

COMMENTARY:
• Louisiana can’t steadily contribute to America’s energy future if policymakers can’t find a consistent position on fossil fuel drilling and the White House slow-walks offshore lease sales, writes an editorial board. (The Advocate)
• An editorial board hails North Carolina’s advances in clean energy, from a mountain town succeeding in its 100% renewable energy goal to offshore wind development. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• A Virginia school district’s decision to purchase 10 electric buses with help from a state grant is a sound one, writes an editorial board. (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

Mason has worked as a journalist since 2001, covering Appalachian communities and the issues that affect them. He compiles the Southeast Energy News digest. Mason previously worked as a wildlife biologist before moving into journalism by freelancing at Coast Weekly in Monterey, California, before taking an internship in 2001 at High Country News. He wrote for the Enterprise Mountaineer in western North Carolina and the Roanoke Times in western Virginia before going freelance in 2012. His work has appeared in Southerly, Daily Yonder, Mother Jones, Huffington Post, WVPB’s Inside Appalachia and elsewhere. Mason was born and raised in Clifton Forge, Virginia, and now lives with his family and a small herd of goats in Floyd County, Virginia.