Frustration, heat set in while millions of Texans still don’t have power

GRID: Millions of Houston residents still don’t have power after Hurricane Beryl hit and as temperatures rise, growing frustrated after the city’s electric grid buckled under a storm less powerful than previous ones. (Texas Tribune, Associated Press)

ALSO:

• CenterPoint Energy expects to restore power to a million customers today, but hundreds of thousands of others could remain without power for some time. (Houston Chronicle, Utility Dive)
• Virginia and Texas become test cases for how the power grid will hold up under the growing pressure of data centers used for artificial intelligence and mining cryptocurrency. (E&E News)
• A Florida town votes to approve nearly $11.8 million in contracts to bury electric and utility lines as part of a larger, $128 million project. (Palm Beach Daily News)
• The head of Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility says a company owned by Elon Musk will build a 150 MW substation to help power a new supercomputer. (WATN)

WIND:

• A U.S. subsidiary of a South Korean cable manufacturer announces plans to build a factory in coastal Virginia to make high-voltage, direct-current submarine cables for offshore wind farms. (Virginia Business)
• Dominion Energy expands its offshore wind plans near Virginia by acquiring another lease in the mid-Atlantic, helping attract other wind-related companies to locate in the region. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

SOLAR:

• A 20-acre solar farm in Mississippi progresses toward construction, with the goal of providing 23% of the power for a city’s municipal operations. (WCBI)
• A West Virginia church considers installing solar panels to allow it to act as a microgrid residents can use during power outages. (WCHS)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• A Congress member announces $26.8 million in federal funding for transit systems in two North Carolina cities to purchase electric and hybrid buses. (WXII)
• A Florida transit authority will receive $27.8 million in federal funds to purchase 12 electric buses, four hybrid buses, 12 charging stations, 12 depot chargers and additional equipment. (WUSF)
• A company announces it will begin testing the use of self-driving light electric vehicles in Houston for use in deliveries. (news release)
• A longtime North Carolina auto mechanics teacher and proponent of electric vehicles discusses his career and advocacy efforts that led him to be dubbed as ​“The Godfather of EV.” (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald)

EFFICIENCY: A Florida county board approves a deal for a company led by one of its board members that provides financing options for homeowners to install energy efficiency-related improvements, even as the program has been opposed by some state tax collectors. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

CLIMATE: Researchers find Black people in Richmond, Virginia, experience a disproportionately high number of heat-related illnesses, while their neighborhoods receive fewer resources to keep them cool. (Virginia Mercury)

COMMENTARY: Two Mississippi state lawmakers discuss how their visit to an ExxonMobil-sponsored STEM summer camp relates to the development of carbon capture technology in the region. (Magnolia Tribune)