GRID: California grid operators urge regulators to authorize immediate power capacity procurements to address rapidly increasing loads even though the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant may remain open until 2030. (Utility Dive)

ALSO: Wyoming researchers receive $500,000 in federal funds to explore using machine learning to optimize energy storage systems connected to wind and solar power installations. (Casper Star-Tribune)  

STORAGE:
• An energy storage firm brings two lithium-ion battery installations online in California with a total capacity of 908 MWh.  
• An Arizona data center plans to back up a solar-powered microgrid with a 1.3 MWh long-duration, heat-tolerant vanadium flow battery system. (Energy Storage News)

ELECTRIFICATION: A northern California public power provider says its new all-electric headquarters with a solar-powered microgrid demonstrates the feasibility and practicality of zero-emissions buildings. (Building Design + Construction)

EFFICIENCY: Denver’s international airport begins work on an $83 million efficiency project expected to reduce energy use by 20% and avoid 30,278 metric tons of annual carbon emissions. (Denver Gazette)

OIL & GAS: The Biden administration releases proposed alternative plans for dismantling and cleaning up 23 offshore oil and gas platforms and associated infrastructure off California’s coast. (E&E News, subscription)

POLITICS: The New Mexico land commissioner’s race has become a debate over how much of the state’s land should be turned over to oil and gas development as opposed to renewable energy and other uses. (Source NM)

GEOTHERMAL: A southern California clean power agency agrees to purchase 33 MW of geothermal power from a southwestern Utah facility. (news release)

SOLAR:
• Developers break ground on a 42 MW solar-plus-storage installation on 131 acres of federal land in Hawaii. (Electrek)
• Solar advocates gather at the California Capitol and call on regulators to keep net metering payments for rooftop solar intact. (ABC10) 

CLEAN ENERGY: Provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act could ease tensions between clean energy advocates and labor by employing union members to build federally supported utility scale solar and wind installations. (Capital & Main) 

HYDROPOWER:
• A remote Alaska community and the U.S. Forest Service plan to develop a hydroelectricity project that would replace diesel generators and power the community. (KINY)  
• A 900 MW hydroelectric dam in California that was taken offline last year due to low reservoir levels is expected to operate through 2022 even as the state’s drought continues. (Enterprise-Record)

CRITICAL METALS: Nevada researchers estimate that existing U.S. and Canada mining operations could annually produce up to 260 tons of tellurium — a mineral used in photovoltaic panels. (Phys.org)

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Jonathan hails from southwestern Colorado and has been writing about the land, cultures, and communities of the Western United States for more than two decades. He compiles the Western Energy News digest. He is the author of three books, a contributing editor at High Country News, and the editor of the Land Desk, an e-newsletter that provides coverage and context on issues critical to the West.