GRID: A federal memo reveals Northwest utilities reported physical attacks on power grid equipment in November similar to the ones in North Carolina that left tens of thousands of households without power. (KOIN)

ALSO:
• A clean energy advocacy group finds joining a regional transmission organization would save New Mexican ratepayers $114 million in power costs annually. (Santa Fe New Mexican)   
• PacifiCorp officials credit its participation in the regional energy imbalance market for the nation’s lowest electricity rates in Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. (Center Square) 

WIND: A federal auction for five offshore wind lease parcels off California’s coast nets more than $400 million in bids during the first of the sale’s two days.  (CalMatters)

SOLAR:
• A California lawmaker introduces a bill that would incentivize solar canopy installations over large parking lots. (news release)
• Salt River Project’s board approves plans for a 55 MW solar installation, the Arizona utility’s first owned and operated utility-scale solar project. (news release) 

NATURAL GAS: A catalytic reduction system installed on natural gas peaker generators in California reportedly cut nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide emissions by 90%. (POWER)

OIL & GAS:
• A federal judge orders the Bureau of Land Management to suspend oil and gas leasing on 725,500 acres of public lands in central and northern California while it reworks a 2019 drilling plan. (news release)
• Western petroleum industry groups sue the Biden administration, saying it violated federal law by not holding four oil and gas lease sales this year. (Wyoming Public Radio)

EFFICIENCY: California’s focus on equity and emissions reduction earns it the top-of-the-nation ranking for energy efficiency on a nonprofit’s scorecard while Wyoming is again dead last. (Utility Dive)

UTILITIES: New Mexico clean energy advocates urge lawmakers to introduce community choice aggregation legislation that would open power markets to competition. (Source NM) 

NUCLEAR: Federal regulators plan to meet Dec. 8 to consider Pacific Gas & Electric’s proposal to extend the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant’s operating license for 20 years. (Exchange Monitor)  

STORAGE: Inflation and supply chain constraints delay and increase construction costs for Pacific Gas & Electric’s planned battery storage projects totaling 2 GWh. (Energy Storage News) 

BATTERIES: An Arizona county approves a lease-purchase agreement allowing a Utah startup to construct a $1 billion battery manufacturing facility near Tucson. (Arizona Daily Star)  

HYDROGEN: A private Oregon company competes with Oregon and Washington state governments for federal funding to establish a green hydrogen hub in the region. (News from the States)

GEOTHERMAL: The federal Bureau of Land Management plans to offer two geothermal leases totaling 3,045 acres in western Utah in January. (news release)

COMMENTARY: A California columnist says keeping the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant operating amounts to subsidizing an unreliable facility that has experienced hundreds of days of outages over the past three years. (California Focus)

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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.