SOLAR: Mississippi regulators adopt a new rule to incentivize rooftop solar for residents and schools, despite the objections of the state’s Republican governor and large utilities. (Associated Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Hyundai announces plans for a $1.3 billion electric vehicle parts plant in the U.S., with Georgia as a likely destination because it’s already working on another plant there. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
• Georgia hosts a regional automotive conference with electric vehicles at the forefront as the state positions itself as a hub for EV manufacturing. (WABE)
• A Louisiana parish develops a local plan to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure in hopes of winning a greater share of federal funding. (Greater Baton Rouge Business Report)

CLIMATE:
• Experts say massive storms like Hurricane Ian will become more common as climate change warms ocean waters, triggering the need for grid hardening and solar power. (Energy News Network)
• President Biden says one thing Hurricane Ian “has finally ended is a discussion about whether or not there’s climate change” as he visits Florida and appears with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Guardian)
• A Louisiana fisheries official says the state’s flounder and oyster harvest is already being hurt by climate change, and continued inaction could further damage the state’s fishing and seafood culture and its economic benefits. (NOLA.com)

COAL: Two Virginia electric cooperatives say they hope to keep drawing power from an 877 MW coal-fired plant they share with Dominion Energy, despite federal incentives to speed its closure. (Mecklenburg Sun)

UTILITIES: Southeastern utilities such as Duke Energy, Southern Co. and the Tennessee Valley Authority earn low grades in a new Sierra Club report dinging utilities for making net-zero pledges without following through. (S&P Global)

OVERSIGHT: A U.S. Senate panel advances the nomination of a former Kentucky county executive to join the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority. (Herald-Ledger)

EMISSIONS: A Houston nonprofit conducts research at its “energy palace,” which in 2019 became Texas’ first “net zero” certified commercial office building. (KHOU)

POLITICS: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin says OPEC’s decision to cut oil production should accelerate the United States’ progress toward energy independence as he pushes for completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)

GRID:
• Federal regulators’ proposal to adjust grid planning to jumpstart long-distance power lines receives mixed response in the Southeast, where utilities deride it as unnecessary and environmentalists say transmission hasn’t kept up with solar development. (E&E News)
• Florida Power & Light says it’s moving faster than expected as an “army” of workers helps restore power after Hurricane Ian, although many residents still don’t have power or water. (NPR, CNN)

COMMENTARY: Restoring natural coastal habitats will provide a buffer to mitigate the effects of climate change and increasingly destructive hurricanes that punish the Southeast, writes a former geology professor. (Charleston City Paper)

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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.