SOLAR: Solar investors attracted to North Carolina by its renewable energy tax credit complain aggressive auditing is damaging the state’s reputation as a welcoming destination for investment. (Raleigh News & Observer)

ALSO:
• A Houston firm seeks tax incentives to expand a 150 MW solar farm under construction by another 80 MW. (Houston Business Journal)
• A Kentucky city ends its contract to buy power from a solar farm scheduled to go online in 2022 because of concerns about transmission fees. (Messenger Inquirer)

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TRANSMISSION: Gulf Power will pull transmission lines across a Florida interstate this weekend as part of its conversion of Plant Crist from coal to natural gas. (NorthEscambia.com)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: British electric vehicle maker Arrival, which already announced a microfactory in South Carolina, will locate its North American headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Charlotte Business Journal)

UTILITIES:
• South Carolina regulators unanimously reject Dominion Energy’s three-year resource plan because it doesn’t include enough renewables, energy efficiency and battery storage. (Statehouse Report)
• In Virginia, Dominion Energy dives into wind and solar, seeking a vessel to install offshore wind turbines while offering a program for low-income residents to install solar panels. (Daily Press)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority contracts with tech company Emerson to upgrade software and automated systems at its Magnolia natural gas plant in Mississippi. (PowerTechnology)
• Duke Energy’s CEO discusses the utility’s carbon reduction plans for the next two years. (Bloomberg)

OIL & GAS:
• A Texas judge orders state regulators to stop granting waivers allowing oil and gas companies to sidestep legal requirements to cap unplugged wells and clean up waste pits. (Bloomberg)
• Jobs in the oilfield sector grew slightly in November, but analysts worry about a generational turnover, as baby boomers laid off during the pandemic choose to retire instead of return to work. (Natural Gas Intelligence)
• A Texas manufacturing company says outdoor gear maker North Face declined to fulfill an order of jackets bearing the firm’s logo because it supplies the oil and gas industry. (KOSA)

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COAL: West Virginia officials and business leaders discuss alternative uses for coal, including turning it into fertilizer. (WVNS)

COMMENTARY: A longtime Virginia energy activist calls for more agrivoltaics, in which land is simultaneously used for farming and solar energy generation. (Virginia Mercury)

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.