Could Tennessee lead a nuclear power revival?

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

NUCLEAR

• Two projects in East Tennessee could lead a wave of proposed ​“small nuclear reactors,” but the revival of nuclear power projects still faces skepticism after Georgia Power’s expansion of Plant Vogtle took 15 years and went far over budget. (Canary Media)

COAL ASH

• New data reveals a Tennessee Valley Authority plant in Alabama contains 21 million cubic yards of coal ash in six ponds, and if all of its sites are in contact with groundwater, it could be ​“the dirtiest in the nation.” (AL.com)

SOLAR

• Solar installers in West Virginia and around the country prepare for the phaseout of investment and production tax credits, and push to complete projects before their expiration at the end of the year. (WV News, Canary Media)

• Primergy Solar begins operation of a 408 MW solar farm to power Microsoft facilities. (PV Magazine)

• A Virginia county board considers a solar company’s request to amend its permit to add more panels and acreage to its conditional use permit after temporarily withdrawing and then reapplying to be linked to a Dominion Energy transmission line. (Charlotte Gazette)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• EV startup Rivian signs a lease for land to build its East Coast headquarters in Atlanta ahead of plans to break ground on a factory in Georgia next year. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Analysis shows West Virginia stands to lose nearly 10,500 clean energy-related jobs by 2030 due to the repeal of federal tax credits in the Republican budget bill just as developers started building solar fields, wind farms, and battery storage facilities in the state. (Mountain State Spotlight)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Louisiana residents organize against a company’s plan for extensive digging to build a facility beneath a recreational lake to store carbon emissions from a hydrogen and ammonia plant. (Times-Picayune)

GRID

• Georgia lawmakers have largely failed to pass any legislation regulating data centers despite residents’ complaints, opting instead to rely on state regulators’ decisions. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

PIPELINES

• Federal regulators are hesitant to address claims in a lawsuit alleging that they were alerted about an illegal weld in the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

OVERSIGHT

• A new chief utility regulator takes the helm in Alabama for the first time since 2012. (Inside Climate News)

UTILITIES

• Republican officials aligned with President Trump discuss the idea of privatizing federal utility the Tennessee Valley Authority. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• Texas regulators consider Texas Gas Service’s third rate hike in a year in the Austin metro area. (Austin Monitor)

EMISSIONS

• Environmentalists launch a campaign to pressure Dallas to use amortization to shut down two roofing factories they say release harmful emissions that affect nearby residents. (Dallas Morning News)

CLIMATE

• Experts say the shocking flooding in Texas this month is an ​“extreme example of what’s happening everywhere” as the climate changes and people continue to build in areas prone to flooding. (Grist)

COMMENTARY

• Virginia regulators’ halfhearted approval of Dominion Energy’s long-range plan leaves clean energy advocates wanting more discussion and analysis of whether the utility’s plans to meet the state’s climate goals are realistic, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)

• The CEO of a fuel company and the CEO of a hydrogen trade association praise Congress for preserving a hydrogen production tax credit that could encourage further investment in proposed hydrogen and ammonia projects in Louisiana. (The Advocate)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Will the AI boom be powered by big, slow energy projects? — Julian Spector and Dan McCarthy