Clean energy jobs are surging

CLEAN ENERGY: The Department of Energy says clean energy jobs last year grew at twice the rate of other sectors, with unionization rates higher than in the broader energy industry. (Reuters)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Biden administration announces $521 million in grants for electric vehicle charging, and says the number of publicly available chargers has doubled since 2021. (Utility Dive)

GRID:

• A flood of new solar and battery capacity have kept Texas’ independent state power grid afloat as it sets a new record for peak demand, experts say, though state lawmakers also credit a new conservation alert system. (Canary Media, KIII)
• Renewable energy groups issue a report calling for interconnection reforms ahead of a two-day FERC workshop next month. (Utility Dive)
• Georgia Power plans to install 500 MW of battery energy storage at four locations around the state to help meet a projected spike in power demand. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

OIL & GAS:

• A coalition of 23 state attorneys general petitions the Supreme Court to block EPA rules requiring oil and gas wells to control leaks of methane, a significant contributor to global warming. (The Hill)
• The U.S. Interior Department finalizes prohibitions on new mining, drilling and other development on 28 million acres of federal land in Alaska, reversing a Trump-era policy. (Alaska Beacon)
• As oil exports reach record levels, four U.S. senators and 18 Congress members call for a pause on the permitting of liquified natural gas export projects and want to revisit regulators’ decision to approve a terminal 30 miles off the Texas coast. (Houston Chronicle)

UTILITIES: Illinois ratepayers have paid an extra $1.8 billion since 2015 by choosing alternative energy suppliers over traditional utilities like ComEd and Ameren, according to a consumer advocate’s analysis. (Daily Herald)

SOLAR: Opponents of a proposed 800 MW Ohio solar project may turn to the state Supreme Court to block the project after regulators denied repeated challenges. (WCMH)

COMMENTARY:

• A business writer says automakers’ whiplash on electric vehicles repeats a familiar pattern when legacy companies overreact to startups willing to endure heavy initial losses. (Washington Post)
• In New Jersey, the Garden State Institute’s president describes the financial and planning lessons that the state’s offshore wind projects can learn from the recent Nantucket turbine failure. (Daily Record)