POLITICS: The Biden administration is bypassing Republican state administrations unwilling to accept federal climate funding by sending it to their biggest cities instead. (E&E News)

ALSO: Fossil fuel executives who were once top donors to former President Donald Trump are shifting their spending to his 2024 primary competitors. (Politico)

SOLAR: Solar contracts saw their first quarterly price drop in three years between the first and second quarters of 2023, signaling some market stability even though the tiny 1% drop still leaves prices far higher than they were a year ago. (Utility Dive)

CLIMATE:
• Unprecedented heat and flooding around the world has former Vice President Al Gore more worried than ever about climate change, though he’s also hopeful about surging clean energy and electric vehicle deployment. (New York Times)
• Many House Republicans refuse to tie climate change with extreme weather even as their constituents struggle with heat waves and flooding. (E&E News)

HYDROGEN:
• As the U.S. Treasury Department prepares to issue guidance on applying for hydrogen funding, climate advocates want to ensure it doesn’t let the industry reap benefits for making hydrogen with fossil fuels. (The Hill)
• A West Virginia county official says a company has signed a purchase agreement to acquire a coal-fired power plant slated for closure and convert it into a hydrogen facility. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

GRID:
• General Motors, Meta, Walmart and other major corporations partner with think tank RMI on an effort to accelerate clean electricity deployment through transmission, virtual power plants and other methods. (Canary Media)
• PJM Interconnection says 70% of unplanned outages during December 2022’s Winter Storm Elliott stemmed from gas-fired power plants. (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS:
• An Ohio court is set to rule on whether lawmakers violated the state constitution with amendments to a poultry bill that labeled natural gas as “green energy” and changed an existing law to accelerate oil and gas drilling from public lands. (Energy News Network)
• California regulators plan to begin capping 5,300 orphaned oil and gas wells across the state, including some in urban Los Angeles that have spurred health complaints for years. (Los Angeles Times)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Volkswagen investigates wireless car charging at its Tennessee research facility. (Green Car Reports) 

CARBON CAPTURE: Energy analysts say it makes no sense to equip a large, aging North Dakota coal plant with carbon capture technology, which will be expensive and fail to curb near-term carbon emissions. (Inforum)

OFFSHORE WIND: Rhode Island Energy rejects the sole bid in the state’s most recent offshore wind energy solicitation — the 884 MW Revolution Wind 2 — over high costs and noncompliance with state law. (RTO Insider, subscription; WPRI)

GEOTHERMAL: Researchers in Utah and Nevada look to use advanced hydraulic fracturing techniques to tap geothermal energy deep underground. (Wired)

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Kathryn brings her extensive editorial background to the Energy News Network team, where she oversees the early-morning production of ENN’s five email digest newsletters as well as distribution of ENN’s original journalism with other media outlets. From documenting chronic illness’ effect on college students to following the inner workings of Congress, Kathryn has built a broad experience in her more than five years working at major publications including The Week Magazine. Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Science in magazine journalism and information management and technology from Syracuse University.