SOLAR: A new study shows utility-scale solar generation has doubled across the Southeast, with Florida surpassing North Carolina as the region’s leader while Tennessee and Alabama still lag behind. (WJCT, Charlotte Business Journal, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

ALSO:
• Amazon announces plans for new renewable energy projects that include a 175 MW solar farm in Mississippi and facilities in at least 10 other states. (Associated Press)
• South Carolina utility Santee Cooper and its largest customer come to terms to buy power from 425 MW of new utility-scale solar set to become operational in 2023. (PV Magazine, WCBD)
• Arkansas officials celebrate a new 850 kW solar array that will help power a wastewater utility. (KUAR)
• A Texas school district board approves tax abatements for a 200 MW solar project with 80 MW of battery storage. (The Texan)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors and a Shell-owned power company announce a partnership to offer customers fixed electricity rates from renewable sources that are structured to allow free overnight charging for electric vehicles. (Axios)
• A manufacturing company that makes batteries and materials used in electric vehicle batteries announces plans to expand operations in Tennessee. (WBIR)

PIPELINES:
• West Virginia regulators hear public comment on permitting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline to cross state waterways, including criticism over water quality violations and erosion control problems. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A court ruling overturning federal regulators’ approval of the Spire STL pipeline could affect other natural gas projects being challenged in court, such as the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (E&E News)

CLIMATE: A winter storm and spring flooding leave low-income Gulf Coast residents exhausted and cash strapped before hurricane season, with no significant aid in sight. (Southerly/Texas Observer)

GRID:
• Texas’ grid operator still hasn’t explained why it asked state residents to turn down their thermostats last week to reduce electricity demand. (Texas Tribune)
• Analysts and elected officials disagree over whether Texas’ summer grid strains are happening because legislative reforms haven’t yet taken effect or because those reforms don’t do enough to address problems. (The Hill, KSAT)
• Appalachian Power plans to build 18 miles of transmission line and three new substations to harden the grid in a West Virginia county. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• After blackouts in February and a more recent energy conservation alert, Houston’s newspaper launches a Texas outage tracker. (Houston Chronicle)

COAL: Coal-producing counties in southwestern Virginia struggle to maintain their infrastructure as coal severance tax revenues decline. (Kingsport Times News)

WIND: Dominion Energy’s 472-foot, $500 million wind turbine installation ship  being built in Texas will support the construction of offshore wind farms near New England before beginning work off the coast of Virginia. (Virginian Pilot)

UTILITIES: The departure of three lawyers from San Antonio’s city-owned utility came amid internal disputes as it wages a massive legal battle against 17 natural gas suppliers and Texas’ grid operator over February’s winter storm — about which a pending report is due. (San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio Report)

COAL ASH: As much as 5,000 tons of coal ash remain unaccounted for after the recovery of a capsized barge carrying over 14,000 tons of coal ash off the coast of Florida. (Vice)

COMMENTARY: Two opponents of the now-cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline revisit the fight in a conversation for StoryCorps. (WMRA)

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Mason Adams

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.