Batteries boost the Texas grid, but cities remain doubtful

STORAGE: A growing number of battery storage projects have helped stabilize Texas’ wobbly power grid, but local boards have wavered on some projects because residents fear facilities could overheat and catch fire. (Houston Chronicle)

ALSO: An Alabama public-private partnership invests $1 million into an inventor’s company to research all-solid-state batteries. (AL.com)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A clean energy group releases a report that finds the Southeast leads the U.S. for jobs and private investment in electric vehicle and battery-related manufacturing projects. (news release)

GRID:

• Georgia utilities receive $257 million to test new transmission technologies and infrastructure as federal officials look to build a more resilient grid that can better incorporate renewables. (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
• A University of Tennessee professor sues the Tennessee Valley Authority to gain access to information about the utility’s secretive economic development grants for cryptocurrency mining operations and their consumption of electricity. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• A West Virginia mayor thanks American Electric Power for abandoning its plan to build nearly 20 miles of transmission line through a popular trail system. (WV Metro News)
• A company that wants to build a massive gas-fired power plant and data center complex in southern Virginia meets with the public in a standing-room only meeting. (Cardinal News)
• Experts point to damage from Hurricanes Beryl, Helene and Milton as evidence of the need for better grid resilience planning. (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS:

• The head of the Texas regulatory commission that oversees the oil and gas industry predicts new recommendations for changes to water injection rules to reduce earthquakes and other seismic activity that have been linked to the practice. (Houston Chronicle)
• Pipeline company Kinder Morgan says it will take steps to cap and remediate a Texas oil well that spewed a geyser of saltwater and hydrogen sulfide gas for nearly three weeks. (Houston Chronicle)
• Texas-based oil refiner Valero Energy sees its quarterly profits plunge from $2.6 billion a year ago to $364 million now as declining global demand squeezes its margins. (Houston Chronicle)
• West Virginia regulators approve a gas utility’s request to raise rates to replace and upgrade part of its pipeline network. (WCHS)

TRANSITION: Federal money pays for West Virginians to train to install solar panels as the industry gains a foothold in the coal-heavy state. (WLIW)

CLEAN ENERGY: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announces the state will receive up to $1.4 billion for clean energy projects, including $670 million for an electric cooperative to build 757 MW of renewable energy in rural areas. (Kentucky Lantern, WKYT)

CARBON CAPTURE: Occidental Energy has already invested $1 billion in a direct air capture pilot project in Texas in hopes of eventually increasing its oil production. (Houston Chronicle)

POLITICS: Attorney general elections in North Carolina, West Virginia and other states could affect how those states respond to the federal government’s environmental regulations and attempts to hold the oil industry accountable for climate change. (E&E News)