SOLAR: A startup opens the nation’s first utility-scale solar panel recycling plant in Yuma, Arizona, to address a “tsunami” of waste. (Associated Press)
ALSO: A New Mexico city in the San Juan Basin oil and gas fields plans to develop a 4 MW solar-plus-storage system to offset all of its daytime power use. (Solar Power World)
TRANSMISSION:
• Audubon calls for accelerated transmission and clean energy infrastructure buildout, saying climate change is more harmful to birds than power lines and wind turbines. (Los Angeles Times)
• Idaho researchers find gunshots kill more birds along power line corridors than electrocution. (Idaho Capital Sun)
CLEAN ENERGY:
• An Arizona university’s environmental justice program looks to leverage a federal grant to help low-income communities access funding for solar panels, efficiency upgrades and other clean energy projects. (Arizona Daily Star)
• A climate advocacy group finds Arizona added nearly 13,000 clean energy-related jobs over the past year, mostly in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing. (Cronkite News, news release)
STORAGE:
• Developers complete construction of the third phase of a battery storage system in California, bringing the total capacity to 750 MW. (E&E News, subscription)
• California’s grid operator brings a 6 MW battery storage system online in the southern part of the state to provide grid stabilizing services. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Tesla seeks $97 million in federal funding to build an electric truck charging network between northern California and Texas. (elektrek)
TRANSPORTATION:
• Federal prosecutors fine a California firm $1 million for making and selling devices designed to bypass diesel trucks’ emission controls. (Associated Press)
• Arizona environmentalists blast a legislative provision blocking state or local governments from restricting or banning the sale or use of gasoline-powered cars. (Arizona Daily Star)
• An Alaska shipping company converts its diesel-fueled fleet to run on liquefied natural gas. (Alaska Public Media)
HYDROGEN: California firms say their hydrogen fuel cell powered aircraft will be ready to fly commercially by 2025. (Canary Media)
OIL & GAS:
• The U.S. EPA rejects a Colorado petroleum refinery’s air quality permit and orders state regulators to revisit portions concerning dust and carbon monoxide releases. (CPR)
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom appoints the state’s first director tasked with monitoring and investigating potential petroleum industry price-gouging. (Bakersfield Californian)
CLIMATE: Phoenix, Arizona, posts an average July temperature of 102.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest month ever recorded in a U.S. city. (Washington Post)
UTILITIES: Arizona utility Salt River Project attributes July’s record high power demand streak to heat and a growing customer base. (news release)
NUCLEAR: The U.S. Energy Department releases its final environmental impact statement for a proposed molten chloride nuclear reactor experiment at the Idaho National Laboratory. (Idaho Business Review)
COMMENTARY: California business developers say the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians’ solar-powered microgrid should be a model for improving tribal nations’ energy access and security nationwide. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
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