Can Texas keep the grid stable while accommodating data centers?

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

GRID

• Texas lawmakers advance a bill directing state regulators to study how to protect residents and small businesses from rate hikes as utilities move to add more generation and transmission to accommodate massive new power demand from data centers and other facilities. (Houston Chronicle)

NUCLEAR

• Tennessee company Type One Energy publishes papers arguing there’s ​“no scientific barriers” to commercial nuclear fusion as it plans to build such a project next year at a closed Tennessee Valley Authority coal plant. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

• West Virginia lawmakers debate the construction of small nuclear reactors in the state, with some arguing they could detract from coal power. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

• Federal officials flag an Entergy nuclear plant in Arkansas for safety violations, but decline to penalize it. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

SOLAR

• Texas lawmakers approve a bill to allow third parties to review and inspect home solar and storage systems in an effort to speed the permitting process. (PV Magazine)

• Dominion Energy assures Virginia residents it’s taking action to fix the runoff of red clay from a solar facility construction site into a nearby lake. (WRIC)

• Boviet Solar announces the grand opening of its new, 2 GW solar module manufacturing plant in North Carolina. (news release)

STORAGE

• A Virginia city approves construction of a battery storage facility by its municipal utility. (WSET)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Data shows a bump in oil and gas activity in Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas during the first part of the year, though a survey finds producers are worried about geopolitical risk and trade policy. (Dallas Morning News)

• West Virginia lawmakers pass a bill to require utilities to run their coal plants at a higher capacity, which proponents argue will create a ​“coal renaissance” and lower energy bills. (WOWK)

• The Trump administration rolls back coal plant regulations as utilities move to extend the life of facilities to meet an anticipated spike in power demand from tech companies, though critics warn hopes of a coal comeback are ​“wishful thinking.” (Washington Post)

• West Virginia natural gas producers gather at the state capitol and pitch the fuel as a fix for the grid as more coal plants close. (Exponent Telegram)

• A Georgia Power executive is named as president and CEO of Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas, which like Georgia Power are subsidiaries of the Southern Company. (Daily Energy Insider)

PIPELINES

• A Dallas-based pipeline company sues the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, arguing the agency’s enforcement system is ​“unconstitutional” and that cases should be heard in jury trials in federal court, which an expert says ​“would grind enforcement down to a halt.” (E&E News)

MANUFACTURING

• Schneider Electric, which makes energy management and automation components, announces it will invest more than $700 million to expand its U.S. operations, including a robotics center in North Carolina. (WRAL)

FINANCE

• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development withdraws its request that the Justice Department take up a civil rights case alleging that Texas discriminated against some Houston residents when giving out Hurricane Harvey recovery funds. (Houston Chronicle)

• The Appalachia-based Green Bank for Rural America reports the Trump administration’s cancellation and attempt to claw back clean energy grants mean it could lose $300 million set aside for local community financial institutions. (Blue Ridge Public Radio/​Grist)

CLIMATE

• Damage from Hurricane Helene complicates firefighters’ efforts to combat wildfires in western North Carolina. (Blue Ridge Public Radio)

• A federal judge rules that housing Texas prisoners in facilities without air conditioning during extreme heat is ​“plainly unconstitutional,” but declines to order state facilities to install air conditioning and instead writes the case will move toward a bench trial. (Texas Tribune)

COMMENTARY

• Congress should move to preserve electric vehicle manufacturing and tax credits to ensure automakers build vehicles and batteries in Georgia and other states instead of overseas, writes an EV advocate. (Savannah Morning News)