DOE announces historic $3.5B grid investment

GRID: The U.S. Department of Energy announces $3.5 billion in electric grid infrastructure grants to 58 projects across 44 states — the largest-ever investment in the country’s electric grid. (Canary Media)

ALSO:

• Federal officials say wind and solar projects are outpacing the buildout of grid transmission capacity and storage, likely resulting in the growing curtailment of renewables in Texas and elsewhere. (Reuters)
• Industry experts say artificial intelligence is likely to lead to a major increase in U.S. power consumption and could account for up to 4% of global power demand by the end of the decade. (S&P Global)
• The International Energy Agency says about 50 million miles of new or replacement power lines will be needed by 2040 if the world is going to meet its goals under the Paris climate accord. (Utility Dive)

POWER PLANTS: A group of Republican-led states, utilities, and fossil fuel industry groups files an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court to block implementation of the Biden administration’s ​“good neighbor” rule to reduce air pollution that drifts across state lines. (CNN)

OIL & GAS: Ohio regulators annually log hundreds of chemical spills from oil and gas drilling, raising concerns among critics about plans to allow drilling for oil and gas under state park land. (Energy News Network)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Striking UAW workers in Chicago at Ford’s longest-running manufacturing plant wonder if they will maintain job security if the plant does not take on electric vehicle assembly. (Washington Post)
• An ongoing debate about utilities’ role in building and operating electric vehicle chargers threatens to slow EV deployment and transportation emission-reduction targets. (Utility Dive)
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk warns the company could face ​“enormous challenges” in ramping up production of its Cybertruck, including price cuts on other models that decreased revenue by 44% last quarter. (Reuters, Associated Press)

EFFICIENCY: The Biden administration announces $100 million in funding for an effort to create 1,500 super-efficient, low-income homes that produce enough renewable energy to offset all or most of their annual energy use. (The Verge)

SOLAR: South Korean company Qcells launches production at a Georgia complex that it says will build enough solar panels to generate 5.1 gigawatts of power yearly — almost 40% of existing U.S. solar panel capacity. (ABC News)

HYDROGEN:

• Pennsylvania’s governor says a new hydrogen hub could make the Philadelphia region ​“the center of the clean energy universe” and create 20,000 union jobs. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Wyoming and New Mexico officials say they will continue to work together to establish a regional hydrogen hub even though the proposal was not selected for federal funding. (Casper Star-Tribune, Carlsbad Current-Argus)

CLIMATE:

• Developing nations oppose a U.S. proposal to put the World Bank in charge of a proposed climate ​“loss and damage” fund, saying that the program should instead be under the United Nations. (Politico)
• Worker advocates push for more protection against increasingly hotter temperatures even as they see setbacks, such as a Texas law that overruled local ordinances mandating water breaks for workers. (Grist/​Guardian)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: The U.S. EPA raises concerns about a proposed waste-to-energy plant’s pollution impacts on communities of color in Youngstown, Ohio. (WFMJ)

COMMENTARY: The reaction to a climate protester being hit in the face after disrupting an event featuring Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggests people don’t understand the rationale for non-violent civil disobedience, journalist Emily Atkin writes. (Heated)