Can a state board resolve Virginia’s solar divide?

SOLAR: As Virginia lawmakers consider whether localities or the state should regulate solar farms, a legislative panel recommends a bill to create an 11-member state board to review proposals and recommend local government action on such projects. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Cardinal News)

ALSO: The booming U.S. solar industry considers whether it will be able to maintain its recent momentum under an unfriendly Trump administration. (E&E News)

GRID:

• Texas’ grid operator says the power grid is in ​“good shape this week with the adequate supply” of energy as a winter storm hits the state, though the weather brings back residents’ bad memories of a 2021 storm that knocked out power across the state. (Dallas Morning News, Daily Mail)
• No companies have responded to San Antonio, Texas’ request for proposals to build new power generation to replace aging gas-powered plants, which could leave its municipal utility negotiating with Houston utility CenterPoint Energy to use its portable generators. (Houston Chronicle)

CLEAN ENERGY: The Southeast leads the way in developing federally incentivized solar and battery manufacturing facilities that are jumpstarting a domestic cleantech manufacturing revolution that could persist through the Trump presidency. (Canary Media)

TRANSITION: Kentucky regulators sign off on an electric cooperative’s plans to build 745 MW and 214 MW gas-fired power plants, convert about 1,700 MW of existing coal-based units to co-fire with natural gas, and add 757 MW of renewables by 2031. (Power Engineering)

OIL & GAS:

• A Virginia county planning commission considers a company’s revamped application that shrinks the acreage of its proposed data center complex while retaining an accompanying 3,500 MW gas-fired power plant. (Cardinal News)
• North Carolina residents are upset at state regulators’ approval of air permits for two Duke Energy gas-fired power plants, saying the projects will hurt their communities’ health. (WRAL)
• President-elect Trump pledges to undo President Biden’s last-minute ban on offshore drilling along much of the U.S. coast, but doing so will likely require an act of Congress and cooperation by coastal lawmakers who oppose local offshore drilling. (E&E News)
• President Biden’s offshore drilling ban doesn’t affect oil and gas drilling off the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts, where most production takes place, but Republicans push back against its restrictions in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. (Houston Chronicle)

NUCLEAR: Texas, Utah and a nuclear technology company file a lawsuit asserting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is exceeding its authority with a rule they say creates an unreasonable burden for building microreactors. (Utility Dive)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Volkswagen aims to restart production of an electric vehicle at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory after all 200 employees who were previously furloughed return to work. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Florida Power & Light adds new electric vehicle chargers in two Florida counties as EV registration there jumps 30% from last year. (Naples Daily News)

CLIMATE: Today is the deadline for Florida residents who were affected by 2024’s succession of destructive hurricanes to apply for federal disaster relief loans. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

COMMENTARY: A Texas city that wants to avoid increasing property taxes is using higher electric rates to pay for city services, angering some residents and leaving an energy columnist wondering about what’s the best way to pay for municipal operations. (Houston Chronicle)