CARBON CAPTURE: Oil companies are pinning their decarbonization hopes on carbon capture projects to reduce their emissions, but rising construction costs and the lagging pace of related infrastructure development are cutting into the value of federal tax credits for the technology. (Houston Chronicle)
EFFICIENCY: Critics slam Kentucky Power for its failure to be more ambitious with its energy efficiency programs amid data showing the utility’s poorest ratepayers used more electricity than average. (Kentucky Lantern)
SOLAR:
- Mississippi regulators hear from Mississippi Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority about their plans to massively expand solar generation in the state, while critics worry about the growing sector’s effects on farmland. (Magnolia Tribune)
- Texas and Florida made up 38% of the 12 GW of new U.S. solar capacity that came online in the first half of 2024. (Utility Dive)
- A Tampa, Florida-based company lands a deal with the nation’s biggest homebuilder to provide its solar-powered streetlights to communities in California, Arizona, and across the Southeast. (Tampa Bay Times)
OIL & GAS:
- Environmentalists plead with Georgia regulators to delay approval of Georgia Power’s request to build three new units at a power plant that would mostly run on natural gas but are capable of switching to low-sulfur diesel fuel. (Capitol Beat News Service)
- Critics ping Texas regulators for allowing poorly plugged oil and gas wells now causing a flurry of blow-outs and leaks across West Texas. (Reuters)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle registration in a metro Tennessee county has surged nearly sevenfold since 2019. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, subscription)
GEOTHERMAL: A Houston-based startup announces construction of a 3 MW geothermal energy storage facility on land leased from an electric cooperative at the site of a coal mine and coal-fired power plant. (Houston Chronicle)
GRID: Georgia Power tracks the state’s growing number of data centers and their demand on the power grid, including a company’s proposal to build two more in the Atlanta metro region. (Atlanta Business Chronicle, subscription)
COAL: The family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice files for an injunction to stop the forced auction of a historic state resort that’s become the crown jewel of the coal baron’s business empire. (WV Metro News)
UTILITIES: A judge denies Texas utility CenterPoint Energy’s attempt to withdraw its request for a rate increase after receiving criticism over its response to Hurricane Beryl, prompting hopes by consumer advocates that regulators may order a rate decrease instead. (Houston Chronicle)
POLITICS: Georgia has received outsized benefits and investment under the federal climate package, but those gains could be undone if Donald Trump wins reelection. (Canary Media)
COMMENTARY:
- Duke Energy should invest more in renewables rather than leaning on new natural gas generation, especially since failures at coal and gas plants led to rolling blackouts during 2022’s Winter Storm Elliott, writes a decarbonization advocate. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
- An environmental lawyer argues for legal and regulatory reform to allow Virginia utilities to meet both data center power demand and the state’s clean energy law, while the head of the state’s chamber of commerce wants an “all-of-the-above” energy policy that includes natural gas and nuclear. (Cardinal News)
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