Can Duke’s N.C. customer assistance program rebound?

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

UTILITIES

• Duke Energy’s Customer Assistance Program in North Carolina likely reached fewer than half of the people it projected in its first year, but clean energy advocates say it’s a good model. (Canary Media)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Hyundai’s EV ​“metaplant” in Georgia officially opens today, and is still staffing up. (Savannah Morning News)

• A report finds the Southeast leads the U.S. with 31% of announced EV and battery-related jobs and 38% of private-sector investments, with Georgia ranked first and North Carolina second. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

SOLAR

• A solar company announces plans to build a 2 GW solar cell factory in Texas. (PV Magazine)

• A Democratic Virginia lawmaker discusses finding a balance between the state’s clean energy goals and rural opposition to solar development. (Cardinal News)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Federal officials approve the construction and operation of a deepwater liquefied natural gas export facility 40 miles off the U.S. Gulf Coast. (KPLC)

PIPELINES

• The Mountain Valley Pipeline pursues at least seven lawsuits against more than 50 people who sat in trees, chained themselves to construction equipment and otherwise tried to hinder construction of the interstate pipeline project. (Roanoke Times)

• A West Virginia gas company proposes abandoning 1,000 miles of pipeline, worrying gas producers who say they won’t be able to get gas from low-production wells to market. (WCHS)

NUCLEAR

• Texas lawmakers consider legislation to allocate $2 billion to help pay for nuclear construction, provide grants for reactors and fund development research. (Inside Climate News)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Texas lawmakers push the U.S. EPA to approve the state’s two-year-old application to award it the ability to regulate carbon capture injection wells. (Houston Chronicle)

WORKFORCE

• Dominion Energy recruits graduates of a Virginia technical center that can be hired into the utility’s paid training apprenticeship programs. (WTVR)

GRID

• West Virginia lawmakers debate legislation to attract data centers by allowing them to use microgrids for power. (WV Metro News)

POLITICS

• Tennessee U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty call for a new interim CEO at the Tennessee Valley Authority, questioning the federal utility’s ability to construct a small modular nuclear reactor. (Power, Knoxville News Sentinel)

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces the state is returning nearly $1 billion in federal funding to show off its ​“DOGE efforts,” but the money was never requested or was turned down, including $320.4 million in unspent money to reduce transportation emissions. (Orlando Sentinel)

COMMENTARY

• Clean energy tax credits and other incentives included in Biden’s climate package have largely benefitted Republican states that lead the nation in solar and wind energy, writes a former Congress member who advocates for free market solutions to climate change. (C-Change Conversations/​Invading Sea)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Jeff St. John details new smart grid technology from Span: An easy-to-install electric panel that can help utilities better manage EVs, solar panels, and other distributed energy resources.