WIND: Duke Energy and TotalEnergies win two lease auctions to develop wind energy off the North Carolina and South Carolina coast, with winning bids totalling $315 million. (Winston-Salem Journal, Coastal Review)

ALSO: The fishing industry frets over wind energy development off the Carolinas, as some targeted areas are home to species popular with recreational anglers. (Wall Street Journal)

OIL & GAS: Federal officials cancel two planned sales of offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico due to “conflicting court rulings.” (Reuters)

PIPELINES: A gas company invested in the Mountain Valley Pipeline reports a nearly $30 million impairment charge that represents a write-down of the project’s value as it faces delays and regulatory obstacles. (Roanoke Times; Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)

SOLAR:
• Operations begin at a 68 MW solar farm in Georgia. (WMAZ)
• An energy company announces it will partner with a Caterpillar dealer to build a 500 kW solar project in Kentucky. (PV Magazine)
• Officials at a West Virginia college announce the installation of a solar array that will provide 11% of its campus’s power. (My Buckhannon)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Electric vehicle maker Rivian’s CEO says the company is moving past supply chain issues and will meet its current production goals as it prepares to build a factory in Georgia. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Electric vehicle manufacturer Canoo warns it’s struggling to make enough money to stay in business, threatening its plans to build a plant in Oklahoma and move its headquarters to Arkansas. (CNHI, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

COAL: A coal company sees a surge in its first-quarter income due to higher prices and demand for steel-making coal, but also reports nearly $10 million in costs from an ongoing strike in Alabama. (AL.com)

STORAGE: A recycling company announces plans to build in Texas what will be North America’s largest emissions-free and sustainable battery recycling plant. (Houston Chronicle)

NUCLEAR: The U.S. Department of Energy will fund a direct air capture study at an Alabama nuclear plant. (Power Engineering)

UTILITIES:
• Dominion Energy shareholders vote for the utility to detail how it’s responding to the risk of stranded natural gas assets amid a shift from fossil fuels. (Virginia Mercury)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority pledges to help customers reduce their energy burden after finding they pay a larger-than-average share of their income for power. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

CRYPTOCURRENCY: Residents and elected officials raise objections over eight cryptocurrency mines in eastern Tennessee and another in southern Kentucky as the industry arrives in Appalachia. (WBIR)

GRID:
• Dominion Energy plans to rebuild a Northern Virginia substation as part of a transmission project. (ARLnow.com)
• Texas’ power grid management agency extends its warning of possible emergency conditions as surging temperatures push power demand and the state’s capital experiences partial power loss. (Newsweek)

COMMENTARY:
• Virginia’s solar explosion and the challenges that come with it should push localities to develop comprehensive policies governing construction, writes an editorial board. (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)
• The 2019 mailing of refund checks to South Carolina ratepayers for two abandoned nuclear reactors came off as a farce, and a new round of refunds now would be best applied as bill credits instead, writes an editorial board. (Post and Courier)

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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.