SOLAR: Texas leads the U.S. with 7.7 GW of planned solar expected to come online in 2023, which combined with California accounts for 41% of planned new solar capacity nationally. (S&P Global)

ALSO:
• A Virginia county approves a permit for an 80 MW solar farm. (Gazette-Virginian)
• West Virginia officials hold a public hearing on a 99 MW solar farm. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• Toyota installs five “SmartFlower” solar arrays to power employee services buildings and electric vehicle chargers at its West Virginia plant. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch, subscription)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: An electric vehicle charger manufacturer announces it will build a factory in North Carolina. (Greensboro News & Record)

WIND: Dominion Energy hires a firm to assist with consulting and other services in the construction of its offshore wind farm near Virginia. (Splash Maritime and Offshore News)

GRID:
• Some of the 170,000 utility customers in Austin, Texas, who lost power last week still await restoration as the city cleans up from an ice storm. (Texas Tribune)
• Some Texas residents saw delays in power restoration because smaller rural utilities lack the economies of scale to maintain aging infrastructure in often hard-to-reach areas. (Texas Tribune)
• A Louisiana mayor blames Entergy for maintenance problems after the city lost power for nearly a full day during last month’s winter storm. (The Advocate)
• Arkansas continues to recover from an ice storm last week that temporarily knocked out power for 72,000 people. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• Tennessee lawmakers press the Tennessee Valley Authority to explain widespread rolling blackouts during December’s cold snap. (WTVF)
• Duke Energy installs a 2 MW solar and 4.4 MW storage microgrid that can power an entire North Carolina town during an outage. (news release)

POLITICS:
• Virginia state House and Senate lawmakers pass different versions of legislation to adjust how state regulators set and oversee Dominion Energy’s electric rates and profitability, likely setting up a conference committee to work out the differences. (Associated Press)
• Texas lawmakers set a hearing on proposed changes to the state’s wholesale electric market design and how they will affect power grid reliability. (KXAN)
• Louisiana U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy refiles legislation to lift a cap on money the federal government pays to states for producing offshore oil and gas after the previous version failed to get a vote. (NOLA.com)
• U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz is among the Florida Republicans who have advocated for expansion of offshore drilling nationally while simultaneously pushing to maintain a ban on offshore drilling in his home state. (Texas Monthly)

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PIPELINES: Federal officials extend the comment period for the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s proposed route through a national forest in Virginia. (Roanoke Times)

COMMENTARY: A recent report showing eight Louisiana refineries discharge some of the nation’s highest concentrations of pollutants into waterways shows the need for better monitoring and enforcement of existing laws, writes an editorial board. (NOLA.com)

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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.