GRID:
• A cyber weapon developed by hackers allied with the Russian government could be deployed against U.S. electric transmission and distribution systems, according to a new report. (Washington Post)
• A look at ways to reduce the cost of connecting distributed resources to the grid. (Greentech Media)
UTILITIES: Utilities must prepare for the rise of wind and solar power as coal and nuclear plants retire from the grid, according to a new report. (Greentech Media)
SOLAR: A French company will build the largest solar project in Washington state, totaling 20 megawatts. (Associated Press)
STORAGE: Energy storage installations grew 945 percent in the first quarter of 2017, but customer-sited storage was down 28 percent compared to last year. (Greentech Media)
FINANCE: Advocates are hopeful that Illinois will become the 20th state with Property Assessed Clean Energy financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects after receiving strong support in the legislature. (Midwest Energy News)
OIL & GAS:
• Large oil companies could transfer at least a fifth of their drilling investments into renewable energy resources over the next two decades, according to a new report. (Houston Chronicle)
• General Electric wins approval to merge Baker Hughes with its oil and gas business, creating a company with $23 billion in annual revenue. (Reuters)
• Siemens Energy is building a new, advanced gas combustion turbine for a proposed expansion at a Duke Energy plant in South Carolina. (Charlotte Business Journal)
PIPELINES: Trump administration lawyers say environmentalists can’t use the federal court system to block the president’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, because the State Department has the right to approve cross-border pipelines under the constitution. (The Hill)
POLLUTION: A Washington-based environmental group is expanding a national effort to help people living near oil and gas development file pollution complaints against companies and state environmental regulators. (E&E News)
COAL ASH: As utility groups challenge EPA coal ash rules, activists worry about the implications for long-term monitoring of landfills. (Southeast Energy News)
CLIMATE:
• A major climate change lawsuit brought against the federal government by a group of young people is moving closer to trial. (Washington Post)
• The U.S. refuses to subscribe fully to a G7 statement that called the Paris climate agreement “irreversible” and key for the “security and prosperity of our planet.” (Reuters)
EMISSIONS: The Trump administration is expected to make the legal argument that the U.S. EPA under President Obama went too far in setting carbon reduction goals by focusing on the broader power system instead of solely on improvements at coal plants. (E&E News)
NUCLEAR: The head of Georgia Power says new agreements with Westinghouse and Toshiba will allow work at its Vogtle nuclear expansion project to continue. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
EPA: The Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal would cut the EPA’s scientific research programs by nearly half, according to a newly formed coalition of retired agency staffers. (Mother Jones)
COMMENTARY:
• Solar technology has been shown to follow Moore’s Law, which means prices will continue to drop, says a columnist for Bloomberg.
• Utilities in North Carolina are trying to hobble a federal law that is important to North Carolina’s solar industry. (Nexus Media)
• A coal-miner’s son and newspaper editor says the narrative around saving the coal industry is “pretty demeaning, as the coal miner is used as a political pawn and an excuse to trash the planet.” (Indiana Gazette)