ALSO: 

• A federal oil and gas lease auction in Wyoming nets just $27,000 in bids, prompting industry officials to accuse the Biden administration of trying to indirectly halt drilling through higher fees and tighter regulations. (E&E News) 
• U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett, a Colorado Democrat, introduces legislation that would block new oil and gas drilling on 74,000 acres in the western part of the state. (Vail Daily)
• Environmental and Indigenous advocates file a lawsuit over federal regulators’ failure to require firms to update their oil drilling plans for installations off California’s coast. (news release)
• California lawmakers advance legislation that would direct regulators to set minimum fuel storage requirements for refiners in an effort to avoid price spikes. (KCRA)

SOLAR: 

• A California judge temporarily halts implementation of a new state rule prohibiting solar contractors from installing or maintaining battery storage systems, pending resolution of a lawsuit. (E&E News, subscription, news release)
• An Arizona city opposes a proposed zoning change that would clear the way for a utility-scale solar installation on private land, saying it would prevent future residential development. (In Maricopa)
• A developer brings Utah’s first floating solar installation online to power a water treatment plant. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY: 

• A study finds Washington and Idaho are among the nation’s top states for their share of clean energy-generated electricity, while Utah and Alaska are near the bottom of the list. (Reuters) 
• A report finds Wyoming lags behind other states in clean energy job creation, prompting advocates to urge policymakers to shift their focus from fossil fuels and carbon capture to solar and wind development. (Inside Climate News) 

GRID: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a law aimed at encouraging utilities to adopt grid-enhancing technologies to reduce transmission congestion. (Electrek)

ELECTRIFICATION: 

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a law clearing the way for utilities to launch pilot projects to electrify entire neighborhoods instead of replacing aging natural gas infrastructure. (E&E News, subscription; news release)
• The Biden administration awards nine tribal nations in Western states nearly $42 million to electrify homes with clean energy. (news release)

UTILITIES: Hawaiian Electric assures customers it will pay incentives owed them by the now-shuttered company that operated the utility’s home battery virtual power plant program. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

NUCLEAR: The Idaho National Laboratory prepares to install and test the nation’s first transportable nuclear reactor. (Boise State Public Radio)

CARBON CAPTURE: U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, introduces a bill that would increase subsidies for using captured carbon dioxide to stimulate oil and gas production from aging wells. (E&E News, subscription; news release)

COMMENTARY: California equity advocates urge companies and policymakers to ensure Imperial County communities benefit directly from an imminent lithium boom around the Salton Sea. (Los Angeles Times)

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Probe: Industry shapes laws criminalizing anti-fossil fuel protests is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

ALSO: Grid operator MISO advances plans for a $21.8 billion portfolio of transmission projects that analysts say could produce up to $23.1 billion in net benefits, partly by limiting the need for new generation. (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS: 

• An investigation finds fossil fuel industry lobbyists coordinated with lawmakers in multiple U.S. states to shape laws cracking down on peaceful protests against oil and gas development. (The Guardian)
• A federal oil and gas lease auction in Wyoming nets just $27,000 in bids, prompting industry officials to accuse the Biden administration of trying to indirectly halt drilling through higher fees and tighter regulations. (E&E News) 

CARBON CAPTURE: U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, introduces a bill that would increase subsidies for using captured carbon dioxide to stimulate oil and gas production from aging wells. (E&E News, subscription; news release)

CLEAN ENERGY: 

• A review of federal data finds clean energy sources provided a quarter of U.S. electricity during the first seven months of 2024. (Solar Power World)
• Amazon’s CEO says the company expects to be the world’s largest buyer of clean energy for “several years to come.” (Axios)

WIND: The state of Iowa sues a Washington-state company for allegedly dumping tons of old wind turbine blades around the state, in violation of solid waste laws. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

SOLAR: University of Pittsburgh researchers interview four dozen rural people, including many farmers, about their views on rural solar development and find that smaller projects that work with the landscape would be more readily embraced. (Inside Climate News)

NUCLEAR: 

• The Tennessee Valley Authority considers how to pay for development of small modular nuclear reactors, after it already budgeted $350 million for initial design and permitting. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• The Idaho National Laboratory prepares to install and test the nation’s first transportable nuclear reactor. (Boise State Public Radio)

POLITICS: 

• Energy and climate are key issues in four races that could determine control of the U.S. Senate. (E&E News)
• A new poll finds 58% of Black voters in battleground states view climate change as a major priority, and messaging on clean energy and climate change increased voting motivation for 33% of Black voters. (Michigan Advance)
• The Biden administration’s policies on electric vehicles is a key issue among voters leading up to the November election in a Republican-leaning metro Detroit congressional district. (Bridge)

ELECTRIFICATION: The Biden administration awards nine tribal nations in Western states nearly $42 million to electrify homes with clean energy. (news release)

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PJM executive concerned about pace of new capacity is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

ALSO: Environmental groups and some lawmakers oppose the decision, saying it goes against the intent of the 2023 law. (Sahan Journal)

FOSSIL FUELS: Lobbyists working for major North American oil and gas companies helped lawmakers in several states, including Ohio, craft legislation to increase legal penalties for climate activists. (The Guardian)

GRID: 

• Grid operator MISO advances plans for a $21.8 billion portfolio of transmission projects that analysts say could produce up to $23.1 billion in net benefits, partly by limiting the need for new generation. (Utility Dive)
• Five-year grid investment plans by Michigan’s two large investor-owned utilities to reach or slightly exceed industry averages for reliability could have “significant impacts on electricity prices,” an auditor says. (E&E News, subscription)
• Kansas regulators approve plans for two transmission lines that would collect power from wind and solar projects for the Grain Belt Express project. (KSNT)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• The Biden administration’s policies on electric vehicles is a key issue among voters leading up to the November election in a Republican-leaning metro Detroit congressional district. (Bridge)
• Geologists are searching Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for nickel deposits that could provide key materials for electric vehicle batteries. (E&E News, subscription)

CLIMATE: A new poll finds 58% of Black voters in battleground states view climate change as a major priority, and messaging on clean energy and climate change increased voting motivation for 33% of Black voters. (Michigan Advance)

CLEAN ENERGY: A Nebraska startup that uses clean energy to split natural gas into carbon and hydrogen to make industrial products is running short on cash and faces delays after securing a $1 billion government loan. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)

SOLAR: 

• Ohio legislation to create a statewide community solar program stalls amid opposition from large utilities. (WCMH)
• Southern Indiana residents remain divided over a proposed 2,050-acre solar project as leaseholders say it’s their decision how to use their land and neighbors claim it would devalue their property. (WHAS)
• DTE Energy has broken ground on three solar projects across Michigan in recent months to meet demand for its voluntary customer renewable energy program. (Solar Power World)

WIND: The state of Iowa sues a Washington-state company for allegedly dumping tons of old wind turbine blades around the state, in violation of solid waste laws. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

ELECTRIFICATION: The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is awarded $11.8 million in federal funding to electrify and retrofit homes on the tribe’s reservation. (South Dakota Searchlight)

RENEWABLES: Rural opposition to wind and solar power goes back roughly 20 years in Michigan when the state first adopted a renewable energy standard, and the disputes continue today as utilities ramp up their clean energy portfolios. (Michigan Public)

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Trash, wood burning could be considered ‘carbon-free’ in Minnesota is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

ALSO: 

• An insurance broker projects Hurricane Helene could cause $3 billion to $6 billion or more in losses, posing a major test for a battered Florida insurance market that had previously teetered on collapse but recently shown signs of stabilizing. (Politico)
• Hurricane Helene generates record storm surge that flooded St. Petersburg and other Florida cities. (New York Times, Tampa Bay Times)

SOLAR: 

• First Solar opens a $1.1 billion Alabama factory to make sheets of glass into thin-film solar panels. (Business Alabama)
• A Texas cotton farmer responds to a multi-decade drought and growing debt by shifting to grazing sheep and leasing space for solar generation, demonstrating a new business model the agriculture and clean energy industries are beginning to embrace. (Washington Post)
• A Virginia county board rejects a 72 MW solar farm. (VPM)

OIL & GAS: 

• Texas regulators approve a plan to expand grid infrastructure in the Permian Basin to accommodate a significant increase in electric load demand from the oil and gas industry. (Reuters)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority’s new long-term resources plan generates criticism from environmental groups frustrated that every scenario envisioned by the utility involves construction of new gas plants to meet escalating power demand. (Nashville Scene)
• Texas scientists use some of the $20 billion from BP’s settlement over the Deepwater oil spill to grow and perhaps restore the 12 different coral species affected by the disaster. (Houston Landing)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• Florida officials urge residents to move their electric vehicles to higher ground to avoid exposure to saltwater from hurricane storm surge, which could elevate the risk of fire. (Tallahassee Democrat)
• Austin, Texas’ transit agency delays plans to launch high-frequency routes with electric buses because of a lack of charging infrastructure, and instead will move forward with two new routes that will use diesel buses and offer slightly slower service. (Austin Monitor)

NUCLEAR: The Tennessee Valley Authority considers how to pay for development of small modular nuclear reactors, after it already budgeted $350 million for initial design and permitting. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

COAL: An Indiana bank that sued one of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies for more than $4.5 million signals it’s in talks with the company about an out-of-court settlement. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

GRID: Google announces a new $2 billion data center and a $1.3 billion expansion of an existing center in South Carolina, charging state lawmakers’ debate about the sector’s growing power demand and utilities’ push for new power plants to meet it. (South Carolina Daily Gazette)

POLITICS: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announces the launch of a green bank with $10 million to accelerate the deployment of clean generation and energy infrastructure, prompting skepticism because he previously vetoed Democratic legislation to establish a similar program. (Virginia Scope)

COMMENTARY: Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm and other clean energy projects in Virginia should benefit coastal communities that are most threatened by rising seas and climate change, writes the Virginia director of Conservatives for Clean Energy. (Virginian-Pilot)

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Hurricane Helene slams the Southeast, testing its grid & insurance markets is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

SOLAR:

• A PJM Interconnection executive says under 2 GW of almost entirely solar power was added to its territory this year, down from almost 5 GW in 2023, a capacity addition he says “is nowhere near where we need to be.” (Utility Dive)
• University of Pittsburgh researchers interview four dozen rural people, including many farmers, about their views on rural solar development and find that smaller projects that work with the landscape would be more readily embraced. (Inside Climate News)
• Maryland utility officials host a public meeting that sees much turnout from residents opposed to a solar project on Sykesville farmland. (Baltimore Sun)
• Maine is one of the states whose solar growth rates are helping to boost the overall national increase in new solar installations. (PV Magazine)
• A new pilot program aims to help finance solar and battery system leases for 100 low-to-moderate-income families across southwestern Pennsylvania. (news release)

AGRIVOLTAICS: At an orchard at its Hudson Valley research campus, Cornell University plans to experiment with raised solar panels that can be adjusted to shade apple trees during hot weather. (Cornell Chronicle)

TRANSPORTATION: Oral arguments begin today on two lawsuits aiming to restart momentum on the Manhattan traffic congestion tolling program, with one of the involved attorneys saying it’ll be difficult to reduce transportation emissions in New York City without it. (The City)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Revel opens its first 24/7 public electric vehicle charging station in Manhattan, with 10 fast chargers offering charge rates up to 320 kW. (electrek)

WORKFORCE: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey discusses growing the climate workforce in her state, quipping that “whoever figures out this workforce component first, wins.” (Boston.com)

PIPELINES: In Connecticut, environmental activists call on the state’s governor to block a proposed upgrade to a 1,100-mile natural gas pipeline while the expansion plan is still in its early stages. (Fox 61)

FOSSIL FUELS: Stakeholders at a Northeast fuels conference offered differing views of the future role of natural gas, with some claiming it will be “here for the long-term” and others predicting “a future where we are less reliant” on it. (RTO Insider, subscription)

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NH regulators won’t allow consumer advocate input on $385M power line project is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.