RENEWABLES:
• Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam opens a virtual clean energy summit with a pledge to get the state’s power grid to 30% renewable energy by 2030. (WVTF)
• Alabama Power seeks proposals for renewable energy projects by December 1. (Alabama Newscenter)
COAL ASH:
• Alabama regulators seek public input on utilities’ plans to bury coal ash in place rather than move it to a lined landfill. (AL.com)
• The EPA issues a revised rule that expands options for utilities storing coal ash, prompted by high-profile spills in North Carolina and Tennessee but softened by the Trump administration. (Utility Dive)
COAL:
• Donald Trump ran in 2016 on promises of bringing coal back in Appalachia, but the industry has further deteriorated since his election. (Columbus Dispatch)
• A fire erupts during demolition of a prep plant on the retired Hobet coal mine in southern West Virginia. (Coal Valley News)
UTILITIES: Jacksonville city council members subpoena a Florida Power & Light lobbyist as part of their investigation into a failed sale of the city’s utility. (Jacksonville Daily Record)
SOLAR:
• A North Carolina county places a moratorium on solar projects until it can review its zoning ordinance. (Roanoke Chowan News-Herald)
• A Dallas power company plans to build a 200 MW solar farm on the site of a retired coal mine in eastern Texas. (Panola Watchman)
• A Canadian company signs agreements to buy power from three Duke Energy solar farms planned for North Carolina. (Kallanish Energy)
PIPELINES:
• A judge fines a pipeline protester $1,000 after a February scuffle with Mountain Valley Pipeline workers at a tree-sit in Virginia. (Roanoke Times)
• Virginia’s environmental regulatory agency will hire a director of environmental justice in the wake of discontent over its approval of a pipeline compressor station in a historic Black community. (Kallanish Energy)
• Federal regulators approve a 134-mile pipeline in the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico. (Kallanish Energy)
WIND: A 162 MW Texas wind farm, an expansion of a 192 MW wind farm built in 2017, begins commercial operation. (Renewables Now)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors shares details of its $2 billion plan to convert a Tennessee auto plant for building electric vehicles. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• A bus company will expand in central Virginia to build a charging station as part of its role in the growing use of electric buses across the state. (WXFR)
STORAGE: A southern Virginia city prepares for the construction of a commercial battery facility that’s expected to reduce costs for electric customers. (Martinsville Bulletin)
CLIMATE: Charlottesville, Virginia’s city council receives a report on its progress toward reducing emissions 45% by 2030. (Daily Progress)
COMMENTARY:
• A resident of central Virginia calls for the state to slow approval of solar farms on undisturbed land in rural parts of the state. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• A clean energy advocate says Florida should invest more in engaging utilities to further grow the state’s burgeoning electric vehicle industry. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)