Arizona’s largest battery energy storage system goes online

SOLAR: An Arizona utility brings a 260 MW solar project and the state’s largest battery energy storage installation online to power a Phoenix-area Google data center. (Energy Storage News)

ALSO:

• Conservation groups urge the federal Bureau of Land Management to reject a proposed 400 MW solar installation in southern Nevada, saying it would destroy Mojave desert tortoise habitat. (E&E News, subscription)
• The Biden administration launches a pilot program in New Mexico and two other states aiming to expand community solar access to low-income households. (news release)

UTILITIES:

• California lawmakers look to repeal or alter a 2022 law requiring utilities to create income-based fixed charge rate structures, saying current proposals would raise electricity costs for all income levels and discourage electrification. (Utility Dive)
• New Mexico’s Supreme Court annuls a $10,000 penalty regulators levied against the state’s largest utility for failing to disclose information on a proposed merger. (NM Political Report)

CLIMATE:

• Washington environmental justice advocates push back on a proposal to link the state’s carbon cap-and-trade program with California’s and Quebec’s, saying it could benefit polluters more than at-risk communities. (High Country News)
• Montana regulators seek public input on a proposed rule that would require them to consider climate change’s health and environmental impacts in their decisions. (Montana Daily Standard)

ELECTRIFICATION: A southern Nevada county seeks a $500 million federal grant to support heat pump installations, efficiency upgrades and other climate-friendly improvements for low-income households. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

OIL & GAS: 

• New Mexico regulators fine an oil and gas company more than $2 million for failing to report and clean up wastewater spills at two Permian Basin well sites. (NM Political Report)
• Wyoming regulators find two creeks polluted by decades of oilfield discharges are ​“impaired” and unable to sustain aquatic life, but have no plans to address the contamination. (WyoFile)
• Four Western states join 16 others seeking to defend the U.S. EPA’s new oil and gas methane rule against a lawsuit brought by Republican-led states. (news release)
• California’s oil and gas industry urges regulators to delay implementation of new petroleum market reporting requirements aimed at tackling price gouging, claiming they could raise gasoline prices. (E&E News, subscription) 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Automaker Stellantis agrees to comply with California’s strict auto emissions standards requiring that 68% of light-duty vehicle sales be zero-emission or plug-in hybrid by 2030. (Associated Press)

COAL: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signs legislation directing state and federal funds toward cleaning up abandoned coal mines. (Wyoming Public Radio)

CARBON CAPTURE: A startup announces plans to build a direct air carbon capture facility in Wyoming using its relatively-low cost technology. (Heatmap)

GEOTHERMAL: Bipartisan U.S. lawmakers from Nevada, Idaho and Utah introduce federal legislation aimed at encouraging geothermal energy development by streamlining the permitting process. (news release)

LITHIUM: A company proposing a direct-lithium extraction project in southeastern Utah expects its pilot processing facility to come online this spring. (Moab Times-Independent)