SOLAR: A BP-backed solar developer says all utility-scale solar bids placed west of Colorado should include storage, as states like California and Arizona start to worry about surplus on the grid at midday. (Greentech Media)
ALSO:
• California energy regulators vote this week on whether to require solar panels on new homes starting in 2020. (Orange County Register)
• The future of residential solar in Michigan is uncertain ahead of a new program that will replace net metering. (Midwest Energy News)
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WIND: About $1 trillion needs to be invested in offshore wind by 2040 to meet the goals of the Paris climate deal, according to a sustainability model from the International Energy Agency. (Axios)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Chicago startup looks to use blockchain software to reduce the time and transaction cost associated with the sale of clean energy. (Midwest Energy News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: FirstEnergy offers customers several new discounts toward the purchase of electric vehicles. (Daily Energy Insider)
EFFICIENCY: Critics say a new law in Iowa will “eviscerate” the state’s energy efficiency programs. (Midwest Energy News)
OIL AND GAS:
• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduces legislation prohibiting leases for underwater drilling within three miles of New York’s coastline. (Associated Press)
• An unapologetically political outdoor retail company tangles with the Trump administration over its decision to shrink a national monument in Utah to aid energy development. (New York Times)
PIPELINES:
• Enbridge is fined $1.8 million for failing to adequately inspect its Midwest pipelines for weaknesses under a 2016 agreement with federal agencies. (InsideClimate News)
• Two Virginia women end a tree-sitting protest against the Mountain Valley Pipeline after a court order. (Associated Press)
POWER PLANTS: Entergy denies a report by The Lens that local actors were paid to attend New Orleans City Council meetings last fall and support a natural gas-fired power plant proposal. (Times-Picayune, The Lens)
NUCLEAR: Government scientists successfully test a “space-qualified nuclear reactor” in Nevada that could provide a reliable source of electricity for future space missions. (Associated Press)
GRID:
• New England will have enough energy resources to meet consumer demands for electricity this summer, partly thanks to the proliferation of distributed energy, says ISO-New England. (Associated Press, Utility Dive)
• A series of decisions by federal and Puerto Rican authorities hampered efforts to reconstruct the island’s power grid after Hurricane Maria, according to a new examination. (New York Times)
EPA:
• Sources say EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt compiled a list of countries he hoped to visit and asked aides to find official reasons for him to travel. (The Hill)
• EPA aides are delaying the release of documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act by screening records related to Pruitt using “the most burdensome review process.” (Politico)
• The EPA confirms another media aide is leaving the agency, marking the fourth Pruitt aide to resign in five days. (The Hill)
CLIMATE:
• A group of young Alaskans is launching a climate change lawsuit against the state and calling for a goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. (InsideClimate News)
• The EPA is still “updating” its climate change webpage, following its removal from the agency’s website last April. (Washington Post)
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POLITICS: An influential Republican climate advocate has been sending environmental leaders to meet with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and other members of the Trump administration. (E&E News)
COMMENTARY:
• The U.S. Energy Information Administration is routinely off the mark in projecting the decline of the coal industry, clean energy analysts say. (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis)
• A carbon tax is “a tax on virtually everything we do,” and the costs would be crippling, says the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity and a policy analyst with the Armstrong Center for Energy & the Environment. (The Hill)