Big gas plant slated for Texas

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Energy investments unfold: Japan’s promised $550 billion in U.S. energy investments are starting to take shape. NextEra Energy has announced plans to build a 5.2-GW gas power plant in Anderson County, Texas, and GE Vernova Hitachi says it will build 3 GW of small nuclear reactors in Alabama and Tennessee, both funded in part by Japan. (Utility Dive)

NextEra goes backward: An analysis finds that Florida-based NextEra Energy has slashed its clean energy commitments and tweaked language to downplay renewables across its public communications since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The utility faces increasing scrutiny as it looks to merge with Dominion Energy. (Inside Climate News, Post and Courier)

Qcells keeps building: U.S. solar panel manufacturer Qcells got a major boost from the Biden administration’s clean energy incentives. Now, after bringing the entire solar panel production process into its Georgia factory, it could benefit from the Trump administration’s latest round of tariffs on polysilicon imports. (Grist)

Solar rising: Two solar manufacturing facilities in the Southeast are advancing. Tesla has filed for tax incentives to build a $10.1 billion solar cell factory in Texas, and Translucent Solar says it will soon begin production at its South Carolina panel assembly site. (Electrek, Solar Power World)

Powering the friendly skies: Little Rock, Arkansas’ airport has finished digging hundreds of wells for a geothermal system that will eventually heat and cool the facility without the need for natural gas. (Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

Black lung demands action: The United Mine Workers of America is calling on the federal government to step up enforcement of policies meant to protect coal miners from black lung disease. The demand comes after new research shows the incurable illness is making a comeback among Appalachian miners. (West Virginia Watch)

Computing cutoff: Texas grid officials say they’ll need to evaluate between 250 and 300 projects, most of them data centers, after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered an audit of all major facilities looking to connect to ERCOT. It’ll take them ​“several months,” the officials said, delaying the interconnection of data centers for at least that long. (Texas Tribune)

Keeping the lights on: Memphis, Tennessee, has among the highest utility disconnection rates in the country, with nearly one in five households seeing their power cut off last year. Experts say utility Memphis Light, Gas, and Water needs to reduce late fees and other penalties to help low-income families avoid disconnections. (MLK50)

Another battery factory: South Korean grid-battery company DeltaX announces plans to construct a $141 million manufacturing headquarters outside of Atlanta. They’ll join the Southeast’s battery belt that began expanding under the Biden administration. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Data center delay: In Georgia, public utility regulators told Georgia Power and ChatGPT that they would reject the utility’s 25-year power supply agreement with the AI company. The rejection pushed Georgia Power to delay the start of its contract. (E&E News)