UTILITIES: NextEra Energy and its subsidiary Florida Power & Light unveil plans to eliminate carbon emissions by 2045 by shifting to wind, solar, battery storage, nuclear, green hydrogen and other renewables. (Tampa Bay Times)
ALSO:
• A Sierra Club-commissioned study shows the Tennessee Valley Authority could save nearly $10 billion by shifting to solar and wind instead of natural gas. (Tennessee Lookout)
• Tennessee elected officials, advocacy groups and utilities oppose the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to transition a coal-fired plant to natural gas. (Nashville Post)
• Environmental groups press Memphis, Tennessee, to provide more transparency about its consideration of leaving the Tennessee Valley Authority. (WATN)
• A Tennessee businessman who once pitched Memphis on nuclear power now is bidding to replace the Tennessee Valley Authority as the city’s power provider by selling solar and natural gas energy. (Commercial Appeal)
COAL ASH: A document reveals the U.S. EPA is considering closing more than 160 unlined ponds filled with coal ash, including 13 Tennessee Valley Authority sites in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. (E&E News)
GRID: The Tennessee Valley Authority and other power companies across the Southeast ask people to conserve power amid a sweltering heat wave. (WPLN, WSMV, WAAY)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A Texas expert says switching entirely to electric vehicles would cause 30% more grid demand, but will be manageable so long as everyone doesn’t charge their vehicles at the same time. (KIIV)
• A new report finds that driving an electric vehicle in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia costs 15% to 20% less than a gas-powered car. (CleanTechnica)
SOLAR:
• A Kentucky county holds a public hearing today on a proposed 1,100-acre solar farm. (WKYU)
• A Florida city considers installing floating solar plants on lakes to power municipal facilities. (Miami Today)
• Kentucky county officials approve a 175 MW solar farm to provide power to the Tennessee Valley Authority. (WKDZ)
NUCLEAR: The AFL-CIO urges President Joe Biden to allow the Tennessee Valley Authority to qualify for federal grants to develop small modular nuclear reactors it wants to build in eastern Tennessee. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
COAL: Environmentalists call for the federal government to appoint a new director for the agency that oversees surface coal mine reclamation, noting the job has been vacant for 17 months. (Inside Climate News, West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
FINANCING: A bank based in San Antonio, Texas, approves financing for a $300 million green loan program and $156 million in wastewater management, mobility and renewable energy projects. (San Antonio Express-News)
BIOMASS:
• A Texas company that makes renewable gasoline and green hydrogen from wood waste plans an $800 million factory with carbon capture for Louisiana. (news release)
• Louisiana lawmakers pass legislation to grow its biomass industry at a time when European countries that have been export markets are shifting away from it. (Louisiana Illuminator)
COMMENTARY:
• An environmental activist applauds New Orleans for prohibiting carbon capture storage and infrastructure to protect vulnerable Black communities from fossil fuel expansion. (The Advocate)
• South Carolina should build on its experience in the global automotive market to court companies in the wind energy supply chain, writes the CEO of a power company. (Post and Courier)
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