SOLAR: Nearly 70% of solar farms overseen by Virginia regulators had erosion control and stormwater management problems, according to a recent review, and about a third had pending violations or consent orders. (Roanoke Times)
ALSO:
- A solar manufacturer launches operations at a Texas factory with an annual production capacity of 2 GW. (PV Tech)
- Texas and Florida rank just behind California for the number of households that installed rooftop solar using federal tax credits. (E&E News)
- A West Virginia land use lawyer and Ohio State professor will present a webinar about solar development on farms. (news release)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The market slowdown around electric vehicles causes concern about the sector’s leading role in Georgia’s manufacturing renaissance, which one state official has called the state’s second industrial revolution. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
RENEWABLES: Wind and solar are booming in Texas, but the state’s standalone power grid means it’s not sharing its renewable power surplus with the rest of the U.S., and can’t ask for outside help when there are blackouts. (CleanTechnica)
GRID:
- Analysts and consumer advocates grow increasingly skeptical about major utilities’ projections of growing power demand from data centers, which are being used to justify new generation, continued reliance on fossil fuels and higher bills. (E&E News)
- A Texas energy company announces it’s received 80 GW of new service requests, with three-quarters coming from planned data centers. (Utility Dive)
- Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility holds a public meeting to answer questions about development of the “world’s largest supercomputer” and its power needs and environmental impacts. (Commercial Appeal)
- The Tennessee Valley Authority unveils a new, $300 million system operations center in Tennessee that’s designed to withstand severe natural disasters, an electromagnetic pulse or even a direct ballistic attack. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
BIOFUELS: A new Texas company wants to replace 130 million gallons of petroleum diesel and jet fuel by 2030 with biofuel made from camelina, an oilseed crop. (KCBD)
EMISSIONS:
- West Virginia’s attorney general requests an emergency stay from the U.S. Supreme Court to block the U.S. EPA’s proposed new rules to reduce emissions from coal-fired and new gas-fired power plants. (WV News)
- A West Virginia resident sues Union Carbide and other companies in the state, alleging their ethylene oxide emissions caused cancer she’s been treating since it was first diagnosed in 2018. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
CLIMATE:
- Researchers say water temperatures around Tampa Bay and its estuaries are warming 500% faster than the world’s oceans. (St. Pete Catalyst)
- Critics say there’s a bias against poor rural communities built into a federal risk index that could confuse emergency managers and result in officials overlooking these areas for infrastructure spending to reduce flooding threats. (Daily Yonder/Climate Central)
- Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas cities rank just behind Las Vegas for increases in both population and abnormally warm night temperatures. (New York Times)
COMMENTARY: Orlando, Florida’s renewable energy goals could be undercut by its municipal utility’s plan to replace net metering with a program that imposes new fees on residential solar while decreasing credits for energy production, warns a climate activist. (Invading Sea/Orlando Sentinel)
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