CLIMATE: Hurricane season arrives in the Southeast as insurance companies pull back or increase premiums and a federal disaster agency forecasts a funding shortfall. (E&E News)
ALSO:
• Southeastern farmers try new agricultural techniques, new crop varieties and even products that weren’t previously grown in the region to adapt to warming winters driven by climate change. (Associated Press)
• Dominion Energy crews double-check grid infrastructure as hurricane season arrives in the Atlantic. (WVEC)
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GRID:
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law a program to incentivize construction and use of new gas-fired power plants to provide on-demand power when the state grid is stretched. (KENS)
• A Louisiana parish board approves an ordinance to create disaster hubs with solar power, backup battery capacity and an emergency water supply for residents to use during blackouts. (KSLA)
STORAGE:
• Texas’ battery storage capacity has grown tenfold in the last two years to complement the state’s booming solar and wind development. (Marketplace)
• Toyota announces a battery research and development facility in Michigan to boost its electric vehicle and battery plants in Kentucky and North Carolina. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• A Georgia company shreds electric vehicle batteries and other scrap to recycle them into materials needed for a new battery’s cathodes and anodes. (Canary Media)
SOLAR:
• An energy company builds an 80 MW solar farm in Alabama with plans to sell electricity to Alabama Power. (WALA)
• A large Danish renewables firm signs a deal with a Texas recycling company to recycle all of its solar panels as they reach the end of their lives. (Electrek)
OIL & GAS: The Permian Basin is home to a new oil boom, but unlike in years past, the industry is moderating its approach to hiring and drilling to avoid a price crash. (NPR)
PIPELINES: Mountain Valley Pipeline opponents look for new ways to block the long-delayed project, even after passage of a deal to raise the debt ceiling that directs federal agencies to approve its permits. (Virginia Mercury)
WORKFORCE:
• Georgia’s state-funded cleantech workforce training program is credited in part for its success in attracting large solar, battery and electric vehicle factories. (Canary Media)
• A Kentucky regulator tells state lawmakers the commission is struggling to manage a larger, more complex workload regulating state utilities while employing a smaller, less experienced staff. (Kentucky Lantern)
CARBON CAPTURE: A Louisiana steel plant signs a deal to have ExxonMobil capture and store up to 800,000 metric tons of carbon per year. (WSOC)
BIOMASS: Georgia regulators unanimously vote to reverse a previous decision to allow the biomass industry to burn scrap tires. (Georgia Recorder)
UTILITIES: Kentucky Power asks state regulators for a rate increase even while acknowledging their customers already pay some of the highest prices in the state. (Louisville Public Media)
EMISSIONS: West Virginia U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito calls for hearings on the EPA’s proposed rules for power plant emissions that experts say could close coal- and gas-fired plants. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)
COMMENTARY: Louisiana should require oil and gas producers to capture and use excess methane instead of venting and flaring, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also bringing more tax revenue to the state, write two budget hawks. (The Advocate)
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