WIND: Federal officials prepare for today’s first ever auction of offshore wind development rights in the Gulf of Mexico, with an area off Louisiana and two off Texas up for bid. (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Existing energy infrastructure is helping make offshore wind attractive in the Gulf Coast despite its lower wind speeds and destructive hurricane season, with some developers wanting to pair offshore wind with hydrogen to tap into federal clean energy subsidies. (Washington Examiner)
• Survey crews begin work determining the best place to moor research buoys as the first step toward construction of two offshore wind farms off North Carolina’s coast. (Wilmington StarNews)
• A Black-owned company secures a contract to build a deep-water facility off Texas that will support the Gulf Coast’s wind energy industry. (KBMT)

CLEAN ENERGY: Tennessee secured $7 billion in planned investments in electric vehicle, energy storage and solar panel materials over the last year, representing nearly 80% of its economic development in that time. (WPLN)

CLIMATE:
• Duke Energy, Tampa Electric and electric cooperatives stage thousands of utility workers to respond to expected power outages as Hurricane Idalia nears Florida. (WOFL, WFLA)
• Scientists say “ridiculously warm” water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from climate change and this summer’s heat waves could rapidly intensify hurricanes and storms as they approach the coast. (NOLA.com)
• Research shows climate change is pushing hurricanes north and further inland, battering places like North Carolina and the Mid-Atlantic that have been traditionally safe from strong hurricanes. (Wilmington StarNews)
• Atlanta’s unhoused people are especially vulnerable to dangerous heat waves, and often have trouble getting to a patchwork of cooling centers, libraries and community centers when they’re open. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast now ranks behind Tesla and Toyota as the world’s third-largest automaker by market capitalization after debuting on Wall Street, as it gears up to build a North Carolina factory. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• Struggling electric vehicle maker Canoo names a new chief financial officer as it gears up operations in Oklahoma to produce 20,000 vehicles annually. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• Mercedes-Benz prepares to open its first fast-charging hubs in Atlanta as part of a push that will continue through 2030. (TechCrunch)

OIL & GAS: A new report finds 22 natural gas-producing counties in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio have lost jobs and residents relative to other counties in the region since the fracking boom began in 2008. (Times Observer)

GRID:
• Federal and state officials press utilities to use more “grid-enhancing” technology that better delivers real-time weather data and makes the grid more resilient, especially in places like the Gulf Coast that routinely need repairs and updates. (Louisiana Illuminator)
• A Louisiana parish will receive $19 million for grid improvements as part of $200 million in federal climate resiliency funding. (WGNO)
• After a summer of intense heat, high power demand and close calls for the state power grid, Texas voters will decide in November whether the state government should set up a multi-billion dollar program to incentivize construction of more natural gas-fired power plants. (KXAS)

COMMENTARY: Developing an offshore wind industry will juice the Gulf Coast’s economy while also strengthening the reliability of its power grid, writes the head of a public policy school. (Energy News Network)

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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.