TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY: President Trump signs an executive order forbidding federal agencies from moving jobs overseas in response to TVA outsourcing at least 120 information technology jobs. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
ALSO:
• Trump also fired TVA’s board chair and another board member and urged the board to replace its CEO with a lower-paid executive. (Associated Press)
• Trump nominated a longtime telecommunications executive to the TVA board hours after firing two members. (E&E News, subscription)
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UTILITIES:
• NRDC policy director Walton Shepherd says Dominion Energy over-relies on blockbuster projects that do more for its image and bottom line than for customers. (Energy News Network)
• South Carolina utility Santee Cooper will freeze its electric rates for four years as part of a $522 million settlement agreement from a lawsuit over a failed nuclear project. (The State)
• The executive director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority resigns after running the company since Hurricane Maria. (E&E News, subscription)
• Southern states and utilities end their moratoriums on power disconnectios, putting hundreds of thousands of customers at risk of losing power during the heat of summer if they can’t pay their bills. (Southerly)
OIL & GAS: A wool insulation plant slated to open in West Virginia next year decides to power operations with natural gas instead of coal, but critics of the project remain frustrated about environmental risks. (WV Metro News, WDVM)
SOLAR:
• Florida Power & Light pays nearly $18 million for 969 acres in Palm Beach County for a solar project. (South Florida Business Journal, subscription)
• A Spanish solar company wants to build a solar project in Kentucky that would create 300 jobs at its peak during construction. (Richmond Register)
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NUCLEAR: About 35,000 MW of nuclear plant capacity and tens of millions of electric utility customers from South Carolina to Maine are in the path of Tropical Storm Isaias. (S&P Global)
COMMENTARY: Solar advocacy groups say Florida utilities are not doing enough to install solar over the next decade, instead relying too much on natural gas. (PV Magazine)