SOLAR: Critics ding North Carolina regulators’ approval of Duke Energy’s plan to add just 3.1 GW of solar over three years as insufficient to reach the state’s first emissions reduction goal in 2030. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:
• A Virginia planning commission approves a siting agreement for an 80 MW solar farm after previously approving a permit for the project. (South Boston News & Record)
• A northern Virginia planning commission votes unanimously to reject plans for a 149 MW solar farm, blocking developers’ third attempt in three years to win approval for the project. (Fox News)
• A Texas municipal utility sees a surge in the number of customers purchasing rooftop solar systems as it moves to join the state power grid. (KAMC)

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GRID:
• Texas grid regulators approve a controversial market overhaul based around awarding potentially lucrative credits to power plants that produce electricity when demand is high and reserves are scarce. (Dallas Morning News)
• Former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker is named to lead an independent panel to review how the Tennessee Valley Authority prepared and acted during last month’s winter storm that resulted in rolling blackouts across its service territory. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• An Oklahoma lawmaker files legislation to force utilities to harden their infrastructure after several purchased high-cost energy during the 2021 winter storm and then passed the expense to ratepayers. (Stillwater News Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Ford officials dispute a news report that the auto company had selected Virginia to build an electric vehicle battery before Gov. Glenn Youngkin nixed the deal because of the involvement of a Chinese company. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

COAL: Environmental groups announce a settlement with a coal company owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family to reclaim three mines that comprise more than 3,300 acres in southwestern Virginia. (Virginia Mercury)

STORAGE: A Texas county commission approves economic development incentives for a 200 MW lithium-ion battery energy storage facility. (Herald-Zeitung)

OIL & GAS:
• A liquified natural gas export terminal that was closed for months last year after a June fire resumed service last weekend, data shows. (Reuters)
• Environmental groups sue to overturn federal approval of a deepwater oil-export facility off the Texas coast. (Reuters)
• Texas regulators investigate why three crude oil pits caught fire in Texas this week. (KOSA)

UTILITIES: Duke Energy asks North Carolina regulators for a 15.7% rate increase over three years in the central and western parts of the state. (WHQR)

COMMENTARY:
• Virginia is running out of time in a race against other states to attract lucrative electric vehicle battery factories, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)
• A pastor endorses efforts in the Virginia legislature to reduce the threat of utility shut-offs and codify more protections to ensure residents’ access to gas, water and electricity. (Virginia Mercury)
• Virginia’s law tying the state to California’s vehicle emissions rules will hurt gas station and convenience store owners who could face unprecedented demand for expensive electric charging stations instead of existing gas pumps, writes the head of a merchant’s association. (Daily Press)

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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.