Georgia data centers abandon solar

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

GRID

• Tech companies that once funded solar farms across Georgia to power data centers are now turning back to fossil fuels as AI raises their projected electricity demand. (WABE/​Grist)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Residents who live near the nation’s most polluting coal plants, many of them in the Southeast, won’t see a reprieve as the Trump administration rolls back key Biden-era pollution rules. (USA Today)

• The Kentucky Public Service Commission grants the East Kentucky Power Cooperative permission to build a 214 MW natural gas plant in Casey County. (Kentucky Today)

SOLAR

• Pope Francis’ environmental doctrine encourages a Catholic church in the heart of Kentucky coal country to pursue installing solar panels on its roof, and its diocese is the first in the nation to launch a net-zero carbon plan. (National Catholic Reporter)

• Meta agrees to buy 650 MW of solar generation that AES plans to bring online in Kansas and Texas. (Power Magazine)

UTILITIES

• Two reporters covering the Georgia Public Service Commission discuss why the regulators approved Georgia Power’s integrated resources plan despite public comments that denounced the utility’s continued commitment to fossil fuels. (Georgia Public Broadcasting)

• Entergy Texas partners with United Utility on a multiyear, $137 million program to improve the southeast Texas power grid. (T&D World)

COMMENTARY

• A North Carolina editor presses lawmakers to protect consumers from paying for utilities’ power plant projects upfront, warning that unfinished projects like a 2017 nuclear plant can leave ratepayers stuck with the bill. (News & Observer)

NEW FROM CANARY

• A Maine community college’s heat pump lab is training workers to install and repair the electric appliances, which have become a central piece of the state’s climate plan, Kristen Moravec reports.

• A geothermal project in northern California is among a growing contingent of clean energy projects looking to hire local employees, and workforce and education officials are ramping up programs to train them, Aly Brown reports.

• As global EV adoption continues to soar, battery-powered cars are on track to make up a quarter of global vehicle sales this year, Dan McCarthy reports.