Former utility CEO sentenced in Florida privatization scheme

UTILITIES: The former CEO of Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility is sentenced to four years in prison on wire fraud and conspiracy charges in an alleged scheme to receive tens of millions in bonuses while privatizing the utility. (Florida Times-Union)

ALSO:

• CenterPoint Energy officials say they’ll ask Texas regulators to approve up to $1.7 billion in bonds to recover the cost of its response to severe storms in May and Hurricane Beryl earlier this month, but Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick instead wants it to repay $800 million for generators that went unused during outages. (Houston Chronicle, KXAN)
• Georgia Power customers are shocked by unexpectedly high power bills due to rate increases, including to pay for expansion of nuclear Plant Vogtle. (WXIA)
• Savannah, Georgia, urges older residents to enroll in Georgia Power’s income-qualified senior discount program, which drops $33.50 from monthly bills. (Savannah Tribune)

TRANSITION: Kentucky is building seven new high-ground neighborhoods mostly on former coal mines as part of its response to devastating floods, but advocates worry they may not be affordable and attractive enough for residents to move there. (WKYU)

SOLAR:

• A North Carolina egg farm with a 2 MW solar system and 2.2 MW battery storage has one of the state’s largest microgrids. (WSOC)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority collects public input on its plan to purchase power from a proposed Mississippi solar farm. (Monroe Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Hyundai wants to amend its permits to allow for gasoline storage and fuel filling equipment at its Georgia ​“metaplant,” suggesting the automaker intends to produce hybrid as well as electric vehicles. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

NUCLEAR: A company begins construction of a low-level demonstration nuclear reactor in eastern Tennessee, the first non-light-water reactor to be permitted in the U.S. in more than 50 years. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

CLIMATE:

• Texas’ insurer-of-last-resort considers a 10% rate increase as climate change increases the chances of more extreme, costlier storms. (Texas Tribune)
• A Florida resident’s experience after 2022’s Hurricane Ian illustrates researchers’ warnings that renters are especially vulnerable to climate disasters because they’re less likely to have insurance or qualify for government programs. (NPR)
• Despite its climate risk and high electric rates, Florida is missing out on millions in federal funding because it turned down the U.S. EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants. (WUSF)

OIL & GAS: Key pipelines linking the Permian Basin to a Texas port are more than 90% full, threatening to bottleneck oil and gas exports. (Bloomberg)

GEOTHERMAL: A $100 million U.S. EPA grant will fund energy projects in Arkansas, including drilling of geothermal wells to replace natural gas at an airport in Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, subscription)

EFFICIENCY: Eleven rural Kentucky businesses receive a total of $670,000 in federal grants to boost their energy efficiency, with most of that going to solar installation. (WEKU)

GRID:

• The Tennessee Valley Authority saw record high power demand from cold weather in January and heat in June, but managed to prevent widespread blackouts during both. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Environmental groups send a letter opposing Elon Musk’s supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, over concerns about its demand for power and effects on grid reliability. (WMC)
• Virginia’s largest local government is developing plans to regulate data centers, which consume massive amounts of energy and have become a problem for other counties in the area. (Washington Post)