SOLAR: North Carolina solar advocates say Duke Energy’s carbon plan needs to be more aggressive with solar or risk missing its first major emissions reduction milestone at the end of this decade. (Energy News Network)
ALSO:
• The city of Houston, Texas, promotes a program to allow people buying solar panels to receive discounts by purchasing them through a cooperative. (KTRK)
• A Virginia town schedules public hearings for a proposed 5 MW solar facility that would sit on either side of a rail crossing. (South Boston News & Record)
• An energy company announces the beginning of operations at a 160 MW solar farm in Texas. (Solar Power World)
• A solar developer installs a 313 kW solar system on a recovery and homeless services facility in Virginia. (Solar Power World)
GRID:
• The attack on two electrical substations that knocked out power and closed schools in North Carolina could leave some residents without power for days and raises larger questions about grid security. (Fayetteville Observer, Associated Press, Raleigh News & Observer)
• A North Carolina state lawmaker calls for increasing the penalties for people who damage or destroy electric utility equipment. (Fayetteville Observer)
• An Alabama utility outlines its security procedures around the grid after the North Carolina attack. (WAAY)
• Kentucky Power plans upgrades to transmission lines and grid infrastructure in two Kentucky counties. (WSAZ)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The groundbreaking Monday in Kentucky for what is expected to be the largest electric vehicle battery plant in the U.S. marked a major step in the partnership between Ford and Korean battery maker SK On. (Korea Herald)
• Tennessee officials propose a $100 annual fee for electric vehicle drivers on top of traditional fees, which would make it one of the highest in the country. (WTVF)
CRYPTOCURRENCY: The flood of crypto mining operations into Texas begins to lose its luster as Bitcoin and other currencies drop in value. (Bloomberg)
EMISSIONS: NextEra Energy, which owns Florida Power & Light and other subsidiaries, announces it will reach “real zero” emissions by 2045 without using carbon offsets, in part because that market has been complicated by inconsistent standards, varying quality and accusations of greenwashing. (S&P Global)
UTILITIES:
• Florida Power & Light prepares for another rate increase, frustrating former customers of Gulf Power who say their rates already spiked when FPL bought it out. (WJHG)
• A Virginia gas company applies to state regulators for a rate increase, saying that inflation is increasing the cost of labor and operations. (Roanoke Times)
OIL & GAS:
• A federal judge halts a landowner lawsuit challenging West Virginia’s law allowing oil and gas companies to drill if most but not all landowners in an area agree until the case can be heard at the state level. (Intelligencer)
• Texas grid regulators tell state lawmakers that a proposed redesign of the state’s energy market would guarantee construction of more natural gas power plants.. (Texas Tribune)
POLITICS:
• Progressive Democrats in the U.S. House threaten to block inclusion of legislation to streamline energy permitting in a budget bill if it weakens environmental protections or forces completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (E&E News)
• Early voting in a Louisiana runoff for a state regulatory commission seat has drawn high numbers in a majority-Black, Democrat district. (Louisiana Illuminator)
COMMENTARY: An editorial board says Texas regulators should embrace a true “all of the above” approach to energy and shun neither the state’s massive wind and solar resources, nor its fossil fuels. (Houston Chronicle)
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