SOLAR: Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce an order for millions of Georgia-made solar panels during a visit to one of two Qcells plants in the state. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

ALSO:
• Georgia advocates hope state lawmakers will reconsider legislation next year that could rapidly expand the state’s rooftop solar market. (Georgia Recorder)
• A Virginia county lifts a moratorium on solar development after a lawyer warns that state courts typically invalidate moratoriums related to land use. (Mecklenburg Sun)
• A Virginia county planning commission recommends capping the total amount of land used for solar farms at 2,300 acres. (Mecklenburg Sun)
• Toyota and an Alabama utility announce a planned 30 MW solar farm that will help the automaker achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. (Madison Record)
• A solar battery company fixes a Tennessee couple’s solar system installed by another company that’s drawn numerous complaints in the region. (WATE)
• A Virginia county considers approving a 138 MW solar farm. (WCAV)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Electric vehicle maker Canoo missed a deadline that cost it $10 million in incentives from Oklahoma and is at risk of losing millions more if it doesn’t finalize the purchase of a state manufacturing facility this year. (The Frontier)
• Automaker Kia announces it will begin production of a new electric vehicle at its Georgia factory. (Atlanta Business Chronicle, subscription)

UTILITIES: Florida Power & Light tells state regulators it will produce more than half of its power from emissions-free sources within a decade, but the cost of building more than 20,000 megawatts of solar power will likely fall to ratepayers. (Palm Beach Post)

GRID:
• Texas lawmakers advance two bills to incentivize construction of natural gas power plants despite critics’ warnings that the legislation could add billions in ratepayer costs with minimal benefits. (Texas Tribune)
• A Virginia agency’s proposal to allow the regional grid operator to request the state’s booming data centers use emergency generators in times of high power demand has provoked pushback from local officials and a data center trade group. (Loudoun Times-Mirror)

WIND: A Louisiana shipbuilder that’s long specialized in vessels for offshore oil and gas builds its first ship for the offshore wind industry, with the expectation of many more contracts to come. (NOLA.com)

EMISSIONS: A federal court dismisses a challenge by Louisiana and other states to figures used by the Biden administration to calculate damage from greenhouse gasses. (Associated Press)

COAL: Subsidiaries of Ohio-based FirstEnergy consider purchasing a coal-fired power plant in West Virginia, despite the prospect of wrecking its emission-reduction goals and the fact the utility previously offloaded the plant as part of a bribery scandal. (Ohio Capital Journal)

HYDROGEN: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin announces an ammonia production facility will be built in West Virginia beginning later this year. (news release)

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CLIMATE: Residents defy climate change and rebuild homes and businesses on southwest Florida’s barrier islands after they were ravaged by Hurricane Ian last year. (Miami Herald)

COMMENTARY: Federal, state and local governments must act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or even mountain communities far from the coastline will see the harsh effects of climate change, writes an environmental advocate. (Roanoke 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.