Bill Gates-backed TerraPower searches Utah for reactor sites

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

NUCLEAR

• Bill Gates-backed TerraPower considers building a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast nuclear reactor with molten salt storage on a yet-to-be-determined site in Utah. (Reuters, Interesting Engineering)

• Local Utah officials raise concerns over a proposal to establish nuclear equipment manufacturing and uranium enrichment facilities south of Salt Lake City. (KUTV)

OIL & GAS

• Enterprise Products finds its pipeline in southwestern Colorado spilled about 97,000 gallons of gasoline — four times the original estimate — last December, making it the state’s largest refined petroleum spill on record. (Colorado Sun, news release)

• California’s senate passes a resolution calling on the state to phase out oil imports from the Amazon rainforest, saying the purchases drive deforestation and violate Indigenous rights. (Associated Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Greenlane proposes another electric long-haul truck charging corridor between southern California and Phoenix, the second segment in its planned network for medium and heavy-duty fleets. (Utility Dive)

GEOTHERMAL

• A federal Bureau of Land Management geothermal lease auction brings in about $2.75 million for California parcels, indicating renewed interest in the technology. (Los Angeles Times)

• California lawmakers advance legislation aimed at streamlining proposed geothermal project permitting by exempting qualifying projects from the state’s banner environmental law. (Bay City News)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson delays a decision on the proposed Carriger Solar project and orders the Energy Facility Evaluation Council to reconsider the project and add conditions that address the Yakama Nation’s concerns. (Washington State Standard)

• A New Mexico county approves the contested Rancho Viejo solar-plus-storage project near Santa Fe. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

• Experts say the Trump administration’s Interior Department is using environmentalists’ legal playbook to hamper solar and wind development on federal land. (Grist)

• The Port of Oakland approves a 20-year, $19.3 million deal to purchase solar for the facility and its tenants. (news release)

DATA CENTERS

• Chaves County, New Mexico’s commission approves Zenith Volts’ proposed 1,240 MW data center that would be powered by on-site solar, geothermal, natural gas generators, and battery and solar-thermal storage. (Data Center Dynamics)

STORAGE

• Public Service Company of New Mexico proposes installing 6 MW battery energy storage systems at five of its solar installations across the state. (Energy Storage News)

• New Mexico State University launches a feasibility study of a proposed pumped hydropower storage project on the Navajo Nation. (Water Power)

• Solano County, California’s supervisors vote to allow battery energy storage systems in industrial and manufacturing zones but maintain a moratorium on the facilities in other zones. (The Reporter)

UTILITIES

• Idaho Power proposes a 13% rate hike to help it meet projected peak energy load increases driven by data centers and population growth. (Idaho Capital Sun)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• How affordable housing can still go solar, despite Trump turbulence — Jeff St. John

• Nippon Steel to begin relining Indiana blast furnace next year — Maria Gallucci

• New Hampshire, never big on offshore wind, steps back further — Sarah Shemkus

• North Carolina ditched its 2030 climate goal. Now what? — Elizabeth Ouzts