GRID: Xcel Energy revises the route of a proposed 650-mile high-voltage transmission line so that it will not infringe on Colorado’s Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. (Colorado Sun)
ALSO:
• California grid operators extend wheel-through rules giving native load precedence over power transfers that run through the grid to outside utilities. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Colorado Springs’ municipal utility considers burying power lines in the wake of a December wind storm that left thousands without power for up to six days. (Colorado Springs Independent)
OIL & GAS: Los Angeles’ city council considers banning new oil and gas drilling and phasing out existing wells. (Los Angeles Daily News)
HYDROGEN: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has yet to garner fellow state Democrats’ support for her plan to make the state a hydrogen hub. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
TRANSPORTATION:
• As state legislatures nationwide push bills promoting electric vehicle deployment, Western states lead the way in EV adoption. (Pew)
• Public Service Company of New Mexico begins offering up to $2,000 to help customers install electric vehicle chargers. (KOB4)
• California regulators approve a $120,000 incentive for purchasers of Arizona-based Nikola’s electric semi-trucks. (ABC15)
• Teenage activists lead a campaign to ban new gas stations in their northern California community. (North Bay Business Journal)
SOLAR: The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on four solar-plus-storage projects with a total of 2,300 MW generating capacity proposed for western Arizona. (news release)
HYDROPOWER:
• Developers proposing pumped hydropower storage projects in Western states predict the long-dormant technology will be revived to back up growing amounts of wind and solar. (Canary Media)
• The U.S. Department of Energy awards $25 million to eight wave power research and development projects at Oregon’s PacWave South test site. (news release)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Republican Washington state lawmaker introduces a bill that would delay the state’s decisions on approving wind and solar projects so officials can address the mismatch between power’s production in rural areas and consumption in cities. (Tri-City Herald)
CLIMATE: Santa Fe County, New Mexico, adopts a six-phase plan to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
BIOFUELS:
• The operator of a Hawaii biomass power plant asks the state Supreme Court to overrule regulators’ 2020 rejection of an operating permit. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
• Clean Energy Fuels plans to install a 5 million-gallon-per-year methane capture digester at one of the nation’s largest dairies in Idaho. (news release)