Battery manufacturing surges in Southeast, U.S.

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BATTERIES

• General Motors and LG Energy Solution Vertech’s plans to retool an electric vehicle factory in Tennessee to make grid batteries is part of a surge that’s establishing a domestic battery manufacturing industry to meet booming demand for storage on the U.S. grid. (Canary Media)

SOLAR

• Texas sets a new solar generation record with 33 GW, after rising power demand led to the installation of 11 GW last year and brought the state’s total installed capacity to 52 GW. (Texas Public Radio)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Oil and gas drillers in the Permian Basin remain cautious about expanding production despite surging prices due to the war in Iran because the process of drilling new wells is slow and expensive and because the Trump administration has promised to push down prices. (New York Times, E&E News)

• Oil and gas companies that own refineries in Corpus Christi, Texas, look for alternative water sources so they can continue operating and prevent gasoline and fuel shortages in Texas as the city barrels toward a water emergency. (Texas Tribune)

• A Virginia county board votes 4-1 to approve a permit for Tenaska to build a 1,540 MW gas-fired power plant despite opposition from residents and the planning commission’s recommendation against the project. (Inside Climate News, Virginia Mercury)

• The Trump administration allows Alabama regulators to relax their scrutiny of coal mines’ methane monitoring despite a 2024 explosion above an expanding mine. (Inside Climate News)

• The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports 16% of coal miners are affected by black lung, and that rate continues to grow. (WVNS)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Uber announces a $1.25 billion investment in Rivian to buy at least 10,000 autonomous versions of the company’s R2 EV, with Miami and San Francisco identified as the first cities for their rollout. (CNBC)

NUCLEAR

• President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announce GE Vernova and Hitachi will build as much as $40 billion worth of advanced nuclear reactors in Tennessee and Alabama. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, Bloomberg)

• Residents of a historic small town in Tennessee are rattled by BWXT’s $1.6 billion contract to expand a munitions plant to refine depleted uranium for nuclear weapons. (NPR)

GRID

• Google will integrate 1 GW of demand response into its utility contracts in the South and Midwest to help balance its data centers’ power usage. (E&E News)

• A Virginia city council considers a resolution to authorize its municipal utility director to take action to reduce the risk of energy supply congestion. (Cardinal News)

CARBON CAPTURE

• A proposed $1 billion carbon capture project in Louisiana and a $500 million project in Texas have languished due to uncertainty of funding awarded to the projects under the Biden administration that’s now under review by the Trump administration. (E&E News)

• Texas regulators assume control of permitting for carbon capture projects after federal officials shifted authority to the state, which experts say will make it easier for companies to apply and receive permits. (Texas Tribune)

DATA CENTERS

• A company that seeks to build a large power plant to power a West Virginia data center complex has hired the speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates to represent it, which a watchdog group flags as ​“an obvious conflict of interest.” (Country Roads News)

POLITICS

• Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is reportedly considering oil and gas executive Alan Armstrong to fill Markwayne Mullin’s seat in the U.S. Senate if Mullin is confirmed as the new U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. (NOTUS)

• A bill to restore Georgia’s consumer utility advocate failed in the state legislature, leaving the state as one of only four without such a position. (Inside Climate News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Ann Arbor, Michigan, prepares to launch its own clean energy utility — Carey L. Biron

• Trump’s latest attempt to derail EV-charger construction — Kathryn Krawczyk