Developer abandons Alaska solar projects

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CLEAN ENERGY

• A developer pulls out of three planned solar installations in Alaska’s Railbelt region even as a natural gas shortage looms, citing high costs and uncertainty around federal incentives. (Anchorage Daily News)
• A New Mexico rural electrical cooperative is confident $231 million in federal funding for its proposed green hydrogen production and energy storage project will come through even though the Trump administration has frozen most clean energy grants and loans. (Taos News)

GRID

• The Trump administration looks to rehire 30 of the more than 400 Bonneville Power Administration workers laid off or fired last week after Northwest elected officials protested the purge. (Washington State Standard)
• California lawmakers introduce legislation that would establish new electricity rate structures and other energy-related rules for data centers. (CalMatters)
• Pacific Gas & Electric says meeting new data centers’ growing power demand will allow it to utilize more of its existing infrastructure and lower customer costs. (Renewable Energy World)

TRANSPORTATION

• Alaska halts a plan to install electric vehicle charging stations in the state’s interior after the Trump administration freezes the federal program’s funding. (KUAC)
• Colorado lawmakers introduce legislation that would require the state’s largest public transportation agency to work to increase transit use, transparency, accountability and worker retention. (CPR)
• California’s administrative law office blocks recently established low carbon fuel standards, sending regulators back to the drawing board. (KCRA)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration continues to tout a proposed liquefied natural gas pipeline and export terminal in Alaska, but observers say the project still faces huge financial hurdles. (Associated Press)
• New Mexico lawmakers advance legislation aimed at repurposing depleted oil and gas wells for energy storage or to tap geothermal power. (New Mexico Political Report)

UTILITIES

• Pacific Gas & Electric urges California officials to expand the state’s public wildfire insurance fund that reimburses utilities for blaze-related payouts, saying the recent Los Angeles fires could drain the program of cash. (Utility Dive)
• California regulators find the state could lower electricity rates by funding rooftop solar incentives, low-income household subsidies and other programs. (Sacramento Bee)

NUCLEAR

Energy Northwest and Amazon ask other utilities to help pay for a $4 billion small modular nuclear reactor cluster proposed in Washington state to power data centers. (Tri-City Herald)

PUBLIC LANDS

Arizona advocates worry the Trump administration will revoke a Biden-era national monument designation and uranium mining ban near the Grand Canyon. (AZ Mirror)