Costs of two new nuclear reactors in South Carolina rise $700 million

NOTE TO READERS: Southeast Energy News is taking a break for Labor Day. The email digest will return on Tuesday, September 8.

NUCLEAR: Construction costs for two new nuclear reactors in South Carolina will go up almost $700 million and completion has been delayed until 2019 and 2020. (Reuters)

CLIMATE: Environmentalists dominated a Miami-Dade budget hearing urging Mayor Carlos Gimenez to dedicate more tax dollars to deal with climate change. (Miami Herald)

SOLAR:
• Murky data gathering about net metering limits in Virginia and other states undermine markets for solar energy. (Greentech Media)
• A utility-backed group opposing a Florida constitutional amendment to enable third-parties to sell electricity with solar systems has released an online ad attacking the amendment’s supporters. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Four solar panels atop a high school in Carrboro, North Carolina have begun generating electricity for the community while helping students learn about the technology. (WTVD-TV, Raleigh)

WIND: The wind power industry aims to avoid killing thousands of bats by lowering turbine speeds during the peak migration seasons. (National Geographic)

COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS: Piedmont Natural Gas opened its 10th location in the Carolinas to sell compressed gas, this one at a convenience store. (Charlotte Business Journal)

VIRGINIA:
• Virginia ranks 30th among the states in solar-energy capacity and should do more to promote clean energy, an environmental group says in a new report. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Dominion Virginia Power said it will no longer bill customers for charitable contributions. (Associated Press)

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: Three people were charged Thursday with running a $54 million Ponzi scheme designed to turn trash into fuel for ​“carbon-negative” housing developments in Tennessee. (Associated Press)

COAL ASH: Duke Energy says tests of groundwater at all but one of its 14 current or former coal plants in North Carolina should not be a threat to drinking water supplies. (Charlotte Business Journal)

OIL & GAS: Authorities closed part of the Mississippi River after two barges collide, spilling oil. (Associated Press)

FRACKING: An Oscar-nominated documentary that showed homeowners near hydraulic fracturing sites setting fire to their tap water may have helped trigger public opposition to fracking, according to a study due out next month. (The Guardian)

COAL:
• Mississippi Power said it will spend at least another $25 million to finish the Kemper coal gasification power plant, pushing total costs to nearly $6.3 billion. (Associated Press)
• The United Mine Workers negotiators have reached what it called ​“prospective collective bargaining agreements” with the leading contenders to buy the operations of bankrupt Patriot Coal. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• U.S. coal exports in July declined 11.6% from the prior month and were down 28.8% compared with the year-ago period. (Platts)

2010 BP OIL SPILL: BP asked a federal court Thursday to force some Gulf Coast businesses to return the money they received in a settlement. (The Hill)

COMMENTARY: A Virginia lawmaker hopes a test of community solar systems by Dominion Virginia Power will help pry open its power monopoly. (The Connection newspapers)