Can Georgia solve the clean energy-data center conundrum?

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CLEAN ENERGY

• Georgia regulators, Georgia Power, and others craft a program to let tech companies find and pay for new solar, batteries, and other clean energy to get data centers online faster, potentially reducing the need for a massive buildout of gas-fired plants. (Canary Media)

STORAGE

• Texas’ rapid buildout of battery energy has made it a model for how the storage influx has boosted grid reliability while lowering costs. (Canary Media)

SOLAR

• The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cites and fines a contractor for safety violations — including ​“asphyxiation hazards” from nitrogen gas exposure — after a worker died at the construction site of Qcells’ second Georgia solar factory. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

• A Virginia commission recommends more than a dozen bills to state lawmakers, including legislation to allow residents to generate their own energy using plug-in ​“balcony solar” systems. (Cardinal News)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Virginia regulators’ approval of Dominion Energy’s request to build a $1.47 billion, 944 MW gas plant marks their first such approval since state lawmakers passed landmark legislation requiring a shift from fossil fuels by mid-century. (Inside Climate News)

HYDROGEN

• The future of the once-touted Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub is in question after the Trump administration cuts off new funding and considers canceling existing grants for it and other hydrogen hubs. (Mountain State Spotlight)

NUCLEAR

• The U.S. Department of Energy awards a $400 million grant to the Tennessee Valley Authority to speed development of a small modular nuclear reactor in East Tennessee. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

GRID

• Texas grid operator ERCOT has 226 GW of large-load customers in its interconnection queue as of November, nearly quadruple what it had at the end of 2024, largely thanks to an uptick in data center requests. (Latitude Media)

UTILTIES

• Democrat and Republican Congress members from Tennessee reintroduce legislation to require more public feedback in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s planning process. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• Alabama regulators approve billing changes that will keep Alabama Power’s rates level for two years after an analysis finds its customers pay the highest electricity bills in the country, and OK 80 MW and 180 MW solar farms through an agreement with Meta. (Inside Climate News)

• Arkansas residents complain to state regulators about a proposed rate increase for Southwestern Electric Power Co., citing costs and environmental concerns. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

DATA CENTERS

• An oversight group for PJM Interconnection calls on the grid operator to stop approving data centers until it has enough power plants and transmission lines to accommodate their demand for power. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Ohio Capital Journal)

• As metro Georgia localities move to restrict or block data centers, tech companies increasingly turn to rural farmland because of cheap land prices and a friendly regulatory regime. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

• West Virginia residents and environmental groups protest state regulators’ award of an air quality permit to a gas- and diesel-powered data center. (WV Metro News)

AFFORDABILITY

• Virginia’s lieutenant governor-elect joins advocates from the National Resource Defense Council and Evergreen Collaborative to discuss policy proposals to keep energy costs low for ratepayers. (Virginia Mercury)

CLIMATE

• North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein and the state’s insurance commissioner urge Congress to advance legislation allowing federal flood insurance to pay for relocating or demolishing condemned coastal structures rather than allowing them to collapse into the sea. (WHRO)

• An analysis shows at least 90 local Texas governments have turned down state grants and loans for projects to reduce flooding risk, largely because they paid for so little of the total project costs that they could not move forward. (Texas Tribune/​ProPublica)

COMMENTARY

• Georgia officials should provide more information about the Trump administration’s raid on Hyundai’s electric vehicle and battery plant that saw 475 mostly Korean workers detained in September, writes an immigration lawyer. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Chart: Hungary is leading the world in solar adoption — Dan McCarthy

• In a geothermal milestone, Zanskar claims major discovery in Nevada — Alexander C. Kaufman