Gas shortage spurs Alaska utility to keep burning coal

COAL: An Alaska utility scraps plans to shutter a troubled coal plant, saying it needs the facility’s generation to offset a looming natural gas shortage in the Cook Inlet. (Alaska Beacon)

SOLAR:

• Washington’s largest utility plans to install a 142 MW solar array and a 200 MW battery energy storage system at separate sites to comply with the state’s clean energy law. (Seattle Times)
• An Arizona Catholic diocese works to install solar arrays on all 77 of its parishes in Tucson, saying it makes moral and economic sense. (National Catholic Reporter)

WIND:

• A developer proposes a 400-450 MW offshore wind power facility between Oahu and Molakai in Hawaii. (West Hawaii Today)
• A company begins manufacturing wind turbines at its newly expanded facilities in eastern Colorado. (Big Pivots)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• A report finds the Inflation Reduction Act has spurred $11.8 billion in clean energy-related investment and created 18,000 new jobs in Arizona. (Cronkite News)
• Governors of 22 states, including seven in the Western U.S., look to create 1 million apprenticeships in clean energy and climate-resiliency industries. (The Hill)
• A nonprofit looks to raise $100 million to expedite tribal clean energy development. (news release)

HYDROPOWER: The U.S. Energy Department awards Pacific Gas & Electric $34.5 million to fund 19 hydropower projects in northern California. (Power)

GRID: California’s grid operator says new data center interconnections have led them to increase demand forecasts for the San Jose area by 60%. (RTO Insider, subscription)

MINING:

• The San Carlos Apache Tribe accuses the federal Bureau of Land Management of failing to consult with it regarding a proposed copper mine in southern Arizona. (E&E News, subscription)
• Industry observers say a firm’s $175 million acquisition of a processing plant in Wyoming heralds the return of domestic uranium mining. (Cowboy State Daily)

ELECTRIFICATION: Washington state’s building industry and conservative advocates push a ballot measure that would prohibit local and state governments from banning natural gas hookups. (Crosscut)

EMISSIONS: Colorado advocates say a newly launched state initiative using cutting-edge technologies to monitor landfill methane pollution could be a model for slashing emissions of the potent greenhouse gas. (Canary Media)

PUBLIC LANDS: A federal court begins hearing a Utah lawsuit seeking to revoke presidents’ authority to establish landscape-scale national monuments that block mining and oil and gas drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres of public land. (Bloomberg Law)

BIOFUELS: A company looks to produce biofuels by injecting molasses into coal seams in Wyoming, extracting the methane and leaving the carbon dioxide underground. (Buffalo Bulletin)