California greenlights massive solar-plus-storage project

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

SOLAR

• California regulators approve Intersect Power’s proposed 1,150 MW Darden solar-plus-storage project in the Central Valley under the state’s new opt-in streamlined permitting process. (E&E News)

• Hawaii advocates urge Gov. Josh Green to veto legislation that would sunset state tax incentives for rooftop solar and other distributed generation. (Hawaii Public Radio)

• Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signs legislation aimed at enabling affordable housing developers to install rooftop solar on multifamily units to benefit tenants. (KSNV)

• Avangrid brings online its 57 MW Camino solar project in Kern County, California. (news release)

• DESRI begins construction on its 205 MW Catclaw solar-plus-storage project in central Arizona. (PVTech)

PUBLIC LANDS

• U.S. Sen Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, proposes selling up to 3.2 million acres of federal land in Western states to facilitate housing and energy development. (Public Domain)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Hawaii Gov. Josh Green plans to veto legislation that would regulate electric bicycle use for safety reasons, saying it could affect electric cars and hamper efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Honolulu Civil Beat)

EMISSIONS

• Oregon lawmakers pass legislation that would require a methane-leaking landfill to expand its greenhouse gas emissions monitoring system. (OPB)

DATA CENTERS

• Pima County, Arizona’s supervisors consider a proposed multi-billion-dollar data center that would eventually become Tucson Electric Power’s largest electricity users. (Arizona Daily Star)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Wyoming elected officials celebrate the Trump administration’s plans to repeal greenhouse gas, mercury, and other toxic pollutant regulations for power plants, calling it a lifeline for the state’s flagging coal industry. (WyoFile)

• Santa Barbara County’s supervisors vote to reaffirm a resolution opposing offshore oil and gas drilling along California’s Central Coast. (Santa Maria Times)

BATTERIES

• Fresno County, California’s fire district begins requiring grid-scale battery energy storage developers to pay an upfront ​“health and safety” risk mitigation fee. (Energy Storage News)

GEOTHERMAL

• Fervo Energy secures an additional $206 million in financing for its Cape Station enhanced geothermal facility in southwest Utah. (Heatmap)

GRID

• Xcel Energy says the cause of an outage that left about 12,000 Denver-area customers without power remains unknown. (KDVR)

NUCLEAR

• Utah Gov. Spencer Cox steps up efforts to lure small modular reactor developers to the state, saying he’s betting on an impending ​“nuclear renaissance.” (Utah News Dispatch)

• Utah advocates urge Congress to revive a federal program that offered payments to sick former uranium workers and nuclear weapons testing ​“downwinders.” (Utah News Dispatch)

• The U.S. Defense Department is poised to award California startup Oklo a contract to deploy its Aurora nuclear microreactor at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. (news release)

CLIMATE

• A Portland, Oregon, Clean Energy Fund program looks to distribute 10,000 free air conditioning units to low-income households to ward off climate change-exacerbated extreme heat. (OPB)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Some solar developers say they will stop doing business in Maine if lawmakers pass legislation imposing fees on existing community solar installations, while bill supporters say the measures will save consumers money, Sarah Shemkus reports.

• A bill in the North Carolina Senate that aims to change how Duke Energy distributes electricity purchasing costs could end up costing ratepayers $87 million more every year, Elizabeth Ouzts reports.

• Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter discusses Hyundai’s EV factory, nuclear development, and his vote on the ​“big, beautiful bill” with Julian Spector.