SOLAR: A Virginia planning board recommends approval of an 800 MW solar farm despite zoning concerns raised by its consultants. (News & Record)
ALSO:
• Protesters and stakeholders grill Duke Energy on its plans to add a $10 monthly charge for North Carolina customers with solar panels and reduce what they are paid for extra electricity sent to the grid. (WFAE)
• A Danish company building a Texas wind and solar farm discovers it owes $328,000 in extra taxes because its solar panels violate a county’s agriculture exemption. (KIII)
POLITICS: Dominion Energy asks Virginia regulators to remove a monthly charge for its participation in a regional carbon market that the governor has announced the state will leave. (Virginia Mercury)
WIND: A newly formed company plans a $100 million redevelopment project to turn a 111-acre property next to a coastal Virginia coal terminal into a hub for offshore wind and the defense industry. (Virginian-Pilot)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Chinese company that’s the world’s largest battery maker considers building factories in South Carolina and Kentucky to support BMW and Ford. (Reuters)
OIL & GAS:
• Permian Basin drillers face long delays and steep competition as the industry runs out of the workers, cash and equipment needed to produce more oil. (Wall Street Journal)
• A Southeast shale gas producer will try to expand its exports of liquified natural gas by developing more contracts with overseas customers and maybe taking a stake in an LNG terminal. (S&P Global)
UTILITIES:
• Kentucky regulators approve the sale of Kentucky Power from American Electric Power to Liberty Utilities, with lingering conditions requiring additional approvals regarding a West Virginia power plant. (WSAZ, Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority sets a goal to develop 2.8 GW of solar by 2024 and 10 GW by 2035, but currently only has 1 MW in operation. (PV Magazine)
• Duke Energy brags it has surpassed 10 GW of owned, operated or purchased renewables on its system and is on track to reach 16 GW of renewables by 2025 and 24 GW by 2030. (MarketWatch)
STORAGE: A small battery startup announces a deal with a Texas-based homebuilder to demonstrate its new zinc-ion batteries in hopes of installing them in more than 200,000 homes over the next decade. (Vox)
COAL ASH: A utility trade group asks a federal appeals court to review whether federal regulators improperly changed coal ash rules in a case watched closely by Georgia Power, which is dealing with the issue as it seeks to transition from coal. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription)
GRID:
• Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy reach an agreement on a 176-mile transmission line to connect FPL’s energy grid to Northwest Florida. (Capitolist)
• Texas’ grid manager warns extreme heat this weekend will produce tight grid conditions into next week. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
COMMENTARY:
• Texas should aim to replace Russian oil on the global market by differentiating itself with the lowest possible emissions, writes a principal at a sustainability organization. (Houston Chronicle)
• Driving an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E from North Carolina to Mississippi was slightly more stressful than driving a gasoline-powered vehicle, but those problems could be alleviated with more charging stations, writes the editor-in-chief of an EV publication. (Electrek)
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