Editor’s note: Southeast Energy News will not publish on Monday for the Juneteenth holiday. We’ll be back on Tuesday.

SOLAR: A regional clean energy group finds the Southeast solar industry has emerged from pandemic-driven supply chain troubles to resume its steady growth, with Florida, North Carolina and Georgia leading the way, even while policy obstacles remain. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Recorder, news release)

ALSO:
• A judge orders a solar company and North Carolina county to enter mediation after the company sues over the denial of a permit for its planned 200 MW solar farm. (Port City Daily)
• A company says it plans to resubmit a permit request for a Virginia solar farm after previously withdrawing it amid negative feedback. (Roanoke Times)

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PIPELINES:
• Buoyed by a congressional act that grants it long-delayed permits, the Mountain Valley Pipeline moves to revive an extension into North Carolina previously rejected by state officials. (NC Newsline, Raleigh News & Observer)
• North Carolina officials approve a gas company’s plan to treat contaminated groundwater at the site of a 2020 gasoline spill and release it into a nearby creek. (WFAE)

EMISSIONS:
• A U.S. Marine Corps base in rural Georgia uses biomass, solar and air chilled underground to become the first in the military to reach its net-zero carbon goal. (Washington Post)
• The University of Texas joins eight other universities to research ways to reduce carbon emissions from manufacturing. (Daily Texan)

OIL & GAS:
• Environmental groups sue the Tennessee Valley Authority, claiming it merely went through the motions of exploring options to replace a coal-fired power plant while always intending to choose natural gas — even going so far as to secure a deal with a pipeline company. (Tennessee Lookout)
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Cabinet members approve a new natural gas-fired unit at a Tampa Electric Co. power plant. (Orlando Weekly)

STORAGE:
• Tesla officials confirm plans to aggregate fleets of the company’s Powerwall battery packs to form “virtual power plants” in Texas and Puerto Rico. (Electrek)
• An iron-air battery startup secures a deal to sell Georgia Power a 15 MW project as it builds a factory in West Virginia. (Canary Media)

GRID:
• Texas regulators meet but delay action on a grid redesign passed by state lawmakers to pay natural gas and coal power plants a credit for being available during times of high power demand. (Houston Chronicle)
• North Carolina will host a congressional field hearing today on grid security after gunfire at two substations last year knocked out power for more than 45,000 residents. (WRAL)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Georgia moves to become an electric vehicle hub with factories and charging infrastructure, while its Republican leaders carefully avoid any mention of climate change as motivating the transition. (WABE)

HYDROGEN: A company secures a feasibility study contract as it looks to build an Oklahoma oxygen and hydrogen refinery powered by solar, wind, waste heat and geothermal energy. (news release)

CLIMATE:
• The 2023 hurricane season dawns as federal officials begin using a new, more accurate hurricane model to forecast storms in the Atlantic. (Miami Herald)
• A North Carolina university unveils a new wave flume that lets researchers study how storm surge and constant battering by waves affect coastal structures. (Wilmington StarNews)
• Waves of dead fish wash up in Texas, likely from a rise in water temperatures and related drop in oxygen levels. (KUT)

COMMENTARY: Federal officials should offer financial aid to fossil fuel-fired power plants in Appalachia to pay for the purchase of emissions reduction technology instead of forcing them to shut down, writes an editorial board. (Weirton Daily Times)

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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.