Colorado startup electrifies iron-making

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

ELECTRIFICATION

• Electra plans to establish an electrowinning facility in Colorado to produce iron with renewable-powered electrochemical devices instead of using coal-fueled blast furnaces, and announces purchase agreements with Meta and steel companies Nucor and Toyota Tsusho America. (Canary Media)

UTILITIES

• Idaho Power proposes a 1% rate cut after cutting costs by shutting down a unit at the North Valmy coal plant in Nevada and demolishing another coal plant near Portland. (Latitude Media)

• PacifiCorp agrees to pay $125 million to dozens of Oregon wineries and vineyards to settle smoke damage claims related to the 2020 Labor Day wildfires allegedly sparked by the utility’s equipment. (OPB)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Nevada congressional Democrats call on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to rescind a policy subjecting wind and solar projects on federal land to additional scrutiny, saying it is delaying proposed projects in the state. (KSNV)

• Renewable America brings online the 4.3 MW Dos Palos solar project to power low-income communities in California’s Central Valley. (news release)

• Cypress Creek Renewables secures $190 million in financing for its Sundance solar-plus-storage project under development in Elbert County, Colorado. (Renewables Now)

STORAGE

• Bay Area firm Rondo brings its first 100 MWh solar-charged ​“heat battery” online at an enhanced oil recovery facility in Kern County, California. (Canary Media)

DATA CENTERS

• Advocates accuse NorthWestern Energy of violating Montana law by moving forward on data center power supply agreements without regulators’ approval and call on the utility to create a separate rate class for the facilities to protect other ratepayers. (Daily Montanan, Utility Dive)

• Southern Arizona residents continue to protest the proposed Project Blue data center near Tucson, saying it would use too much water and power. (Arizona Luminaria)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The U.S. Interior Department seeks public and industry feedback on proposed oil and gas leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. (S&P Global, E&E News)

• New Mexico’s and Wyoming’s governors propose establishing pipeline networks to ship Rocky Mountain natural gas to the Northwest and to Mexico to meet growing domestic demand and for export to Asia. (Source NM, Rigzone)

• Phillips 66 and Kinder-Morgan propose a new refined petroleum pipeline from Texas to the West Coast to bolster fuel supplies after the scheduled closures of two California refineries. (Reuters)

• New Mexico regulators begin hearings on a proposal to increase oil and gas operators’ reclamation bonds in an effort to force industry to pay to clean up orphaned and abandoned wells. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

• Data show the federal Bureau of Land Management has issued more than 300 oil and gas drilling permits in western states since the government shutdown began. (news release)

POLLUTION

• An advocacy group files a lawsuit accusing the U.S. EPA of unlawful delays in addressing more than 130 California Clean Air Act cleanup submittals dating as far back as 2018. (E&E News)

LITHIUM

• The U.S. Energy Department cancels a $57.7 million federal grant for American Battery Technology’s proposed lithium mine and refinery in Nevada, but the firm says it will move forward with the project regardless. (Utility Dive)

GRID

• Federal regulators reject NV Energy’s bid to waive penalties for pending interconnection customers withdrawing their requests due to expiring clean energy credits, saying the request wasn’t ​“limited in scope.” (Utility Dive)

• An errant squirrel causes a fault in an electric substation in Idaho, leaving nearly 3,000 utility customers without power. (KTVB)

TRANSPORTATION

• Scale Microgrids breaks ground on a solar-plus-storage project in California to power Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority’s electric bus charging station. (Microgrid Knowledge)

• Arizona’s transportation department seeks bids to construct 34 electric vehicle charging stations along the state’s highways. (KJZZ)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Can cargo shipping stay the course toward cleaner fuels? — Maria Gallucci

• The startup trying to make​‘DIY’ home batteries happen — Jeff St. John