SOLAR: Florida home insurers turn against solar, with some companies canceling policies when homeowners install solar panels, and others who previously covered solar systems now declining to write new policies. (WTLV)

BIOMASS: The world’s largest wood pellet producer wants to expand production by nearly a third at a North Carolina facility that’s located in one of the state’s poorest counties, whose population is 61% Black and includes members of the Meherrin Tribe. (WFAE)

OIL & GAS: Documents show U.S. regulators questioned Texas-based Cheniere Energy’s decision to install gas-fired turbines at its liquefied natural gas terminals on the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana, which now may require expensive upgrades to meet looming federal emissions limits. (Reuters)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A small Virginia electric cooperative launches a program to discount electric vehicle charging rates during times of low power demand. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

WIND: A Swedish construction firm will redevelop 72 acres of a Virginia marine terminal for an offshore wind staging port. (Offshore Engineer, Offshore Wind)

MINING: The clean energy transition’s need for minerals and rare earth metals is increasing demand for economic geoscience experts. (Lafayette Daily Advertiser)

GRID:
• The wobbliness of Texas’ state power grid this summer raises questions about its ability to support energy-hungry crypto miners. (Slate)
• Researchers at an eastern Tennessee lab use sensors, drones and machine learning technology to try to prevent wildfires and reduce damage to the electric grid by sensing electrical arcing, which can indicate faulty equipment. (WBIR)
• Customers of a central Tennessee power company set an all-time record for electricity consumption in July. (WGNS)
• Dozens of property owners in a Virginia county successfully pushed for it to rezone their shared 801 acres for energy-intensive data center development after seeing a growing number of transmission lines and similar projects around them. (Virginia Mercury)

UTILITIES:
• Some Northwest Florida residents say they’ve seen higher prices and mistakes on their bills since NextEra Energy, the parent firm of Florida Power & Light, purchased Gulf Power in 2019. (WUWF)
• Clean energy advocates urge the Tennessee Valley Authority to take advantage of funding in Democrats’ climate spending package to develop more clean energy generation and energy-efficient options for Tennessee customers. (Tennessee Lookout)

COMMENTARY:
• North Carolina tobacco giant Reynolds American’s recent announcement it would shift to electric vehicles marks a positive step toward addressing the climate crisis, writes an editorial board. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• Provisions in Democrats’ newly passed climate legislation could boost rural Virginia by encouraging clean energy investment in its mountainous southwest and helping a former tobacco county land an electric battery maker, writes the editor of a news site. (Cardinal News)
• A mother whose daughter was diagnosed with cancer describes her fight to make North Carolina acknowledge a cancer cluster in a neighborhood where coal plants dumped toxic ash for decades. (EarthJustice)

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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.