STORAGE: A small Kentucky town with 2,200 residents braces for its population to potentially grow 10 times over as the world’s largest electric-vehicle battery plant is built nearby. (Hoptown Chronicle)

GRID:
• Texas’ grid manager calls on residents to reduce energy usage as high temperatures and a dip in wind power generation threaten to destabilize the grid with power demand again expected to break the all-time record. (Houston Chronicle, Texas Tribune)
• Prices on Texas’ power market jump 6,000% to about $4,750 a megawatt-hour as the state’s power supplies are squeezed. (Bloomberg)
• A power company will add two new transformers in a Texas town to accommodate “extreme growth.” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

TRANSITION: A West Virginia coal county that will be home to the world’s largest clean ammonia production facility marks an example of how a federal climate package is fueling clean energy projects in economically struggling places. (CNN)

NUCLEAR: Georgia Power begins loading fuel into the second of two new reactors at a Georgia nuclear plant, marking another step toward completing the long-delayed project. (Associated Press)

SOLAR:
• Two FirstEnergy subsidiaries in West Virginia propose decreasing what they pay rooftop solar customers to a lower “wholesale” price. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• A Virginia county planning commission recommends approval for its first solar farm despite opposition from some residents. (Martinsville Bulletin)
• A Virginia town will begin considering regulations for solar farms even though no arrays have been proposed yet. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)

COAL:
• Coal companies owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice could face $1.2 billion in fines in Virginia for violating a cleanup deal over oil spills at eight mining sites. (WRIC)
• Appalachian Power settles lawsuits against a supplier whose alleged failure to deliver coal contributed to a shortage at three West Virginia power plants. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

HYDROPOWER: Alabama Power drops plans for a planned 1,600 MW pumped storage hydroelectric facility after opposition from residents and environmentalists. (Gadsden Times)

UTILITIES:
• West Virginia regulators move forward with an audit into lobbying expenses and activities of two FirstEnergy subsidiaries. (West Virginia Watch)
• Environmentalists argue Dominion Energy’s long-range plan with Virginia regulators doesn’t aggressively pursue wind and solar, and bases its power demand forecast on an unrealistic view of how many data centers will be built. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Duke Energy tries to forecast the shift to renewables and electric vehicles into its long-range plans. (WCNC)
• American Electric Power sells off a renewable energy portfolio that includes 1,200 MW of wind and 165 MW of solar power in 11 states. (Utility Dive)

EMISSIONS: Texas exempts agricultural operations from greenhouse gas tracking, which means it’s missing a significant source of methane emissions from its rapidly growing dairy industry. (Inside Climate News)

CLIMATE: Kentuckians who were displaced by last year’s flooding question whether they’ll return, especially those who already had to rebuild multiple times. (Kentucky Lantern)

COMMENTARY: This week’s announcements of a $1.1 billion solar panel factory and $600 in federal funding for a carbon capture hub signal Louisiana’s spot on the crest of the global energy transition, with more to come, 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.