CLEAN ENERGY: Data centers and companies are increasingly targeting Charlotte, North Carolina, for development as the metro region shifts to a relatively lower-carbon energy mix. (WFAE)

GRID:
• Texas’ grid manager asked state residents to conserve power for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday to reduce demand on the electric grid during peak use hours during the summer’s hottest weather. (Texas Tribune, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
• The growth of renewables, existing fossil fuel plants and a dash of luck enabled power grids in Texas and elsewhere to withstand high summer temperatures and record-breaking demand this summer, but climate change will soon heighten that challenge. (E&E News)

SOLAR:
• A solar company builds ​​three solar arrays totaling 6.5 MW in one Arkansas city and four arrays totaling 7 MW in another for several public entities who will share the power. (Arkansas Business)
• A Virginia county drafts proposed solar rules including an acreage cap after a company asked to build a 5 MW solar facility near an elementary school. (Roanoke Times)

OIL & GAS:
• Louisiana’s attorney general teams up with Chevron and an oil-and-gas lobbying firm to sue the Biden administration, saying its Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale should be larger. (NOLA.com)
• Florida officials warn of “potentially widespread fuel contamination” at more than two dozen gas stations, which could affect generators and residents trying to evacuate before Tropical Storm Idalia arrives. (Tampa Bay Times)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Fewer than a dozen Tennessee locations offer electric vehicle fast chargers through a state program, but three more will open in the next month and 53 sites are developing locations over the next year. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

STORAGE: Texas regulators announce two Tesla virtual power plants that bundle devices, batteries and electric-vehicle chargers are available for customers in Dallas and Houston. (KEYE)

BUILDINGS: New materials and equipment can lower a home’s cooling costs and effects on climate change, but Florida homebuilders concerned about profit margins don’t usually use them. (Miami Herald)

COAL:
• Data shows a disproportionately high prevalence of miner lung disease in Appalachia, which advocates say underscores the need for more federal regulation of silica dust. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A federal proposal to tighten rules around silica dust limits in coal mines could affect workers outside the coal industry too, but advocates worry the changes rely too much on companies to self-report. (NPR)

PIPELINES: Mountain Valley Pipeline opponents gather in West Virginia to organize for another push against the long-delayed project. (WDBJ) 

UTILITIES:
• A North Carolina lawmaker introduces legislation to ease development of nuclear power plants and to extend the deadline for Duke Energy to clean up coal ash. (WFAE)
• A Duke Energy official discusses the utility’s updated carbon reduction plan in North Carolina, which includes the construction of new gas plants to replace coal retirements. (Carolina Journal)

CLIMATE: A city report finds amounts of green space and shade vary across Tampa, Florida, and lower-income neighborhoods tend to have the least. (Tampa Bay Times)

EMISSIONS: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin moves to withdraw from a regional carbon market despite environmentalists’ protests that doing so would cost the state a significant source of flood reduction funding. (Grist)

COMMENTARY: North Carolina’s home building lobby shows its influence over state lawmakers by successfully pressing to block energy efficient building code changes, writes an editor. (Raleigh News & Observer)

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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.