Bipartisan N.C. lawmakers look askance at bill allowing utilities to charge for power plant construction

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UTILITIES

• North Carolina lawmakers consider legislation to allow utilities to bill customers for power plants during construction, sparking concern after a similar law left ratepayers in neighboring South Carolina on the hook for $9 billion for a still-incomplete nuclear plant. (Canary Media)

• Protestors interrupt the monthly board meeting of San Antonio, Texas’ municipal utility to denounce disconnections for nonpayment. (Houston Chronicle)

WIND

• Dominion Energy’s massive offshore wind farm near Virginia is more than halfway complete as it resumes construction after a federally mandated seasonal hiatus, keeping the dream of offshore wind alive as Trump moves to block other projects. (Canary Media)

• German electricity giant RWE says it’s pausing U.S. offshore wind developments, including the sole project in the Gulf of Mexico, due to the Trump administration’s attacks on the industry. (Workboat)

SOLAR

• Electrical contracting company Rosendin Electric shows off a robot that installs solar panels with a demonstration at Enbridge’s planned 815 MW solar farm in Texas. (Longview News-Journal)

• An Oklahoma school board approves a 598-panel solar system for a middle school. (OU Daily)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Trump’s tariffs and surging production by OPEC+ are causing concern about a likely decrease in production by Permian Basin drillers as the price of oil teeters near their break-even price. (Dallas Morning News, Marketplace)

• West Virginia leads a coalition of 24 red states challenging Vemont’s climate change superfund law in federal court, contending that the effort to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate damages caused by their products is an unconstitutional ​“shakedown of the companies who built America.” (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

• A company developing a Louisiana liquefied natural gas export terminal announces a 20-year deal with an Asian buyer for 1 million tons of gas annually. (news release)

STORAGE

• Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoes a bill to raise the targets for how much battery storage Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power must add in coming decades. (Cardinal News)

• Georgia battery company Stryten Energy partners with Georgia Tech to develop a lead battery storage system for bi-directional electric vehicle charging and load shifting of peak solar power generation. (PV Magazine)

GRID

• A Tennessee county board calls for an update from the Tennessee Valley Authority and Memphis’ municipal utility on connecting Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer to the grid to end its need for temporary gas-fired turbines. (WATN)

NUCLEAR

• Texas lawmakers advance bills to support and regulate the development of nuclear power facilities. (Houston Chronicle)

OVERSIGHT

• Conservative North Carolina lawmakers move to slash environmental justice, education, and clean energy programs while boosting funding for a Republican-held state board. (Inside Climate News)

COMMENTARY

• Texas braces for the economic impact of falling oil and gas prices, which could lead to layoffs and lower revenue for local and state governments, writes a columnist. (Houston Chronicle)

• The difference between a Louisiana parish that’s pushing back on solar development versus one that’s embraced it seems to be the increased industrial activity in the parish that’s resisted it, writes a reporter. (Plaquemine Post South)

• Tennessee leaders should approve gas turbines as a temporary power solution to facilitate the development of Elon Musk’s xAI’s Colossus supercomputer project in Memphis, Tennessee, and spur an economic revival in the area, writes a state lawmaker. (Commercial Appeal)