Georgia Power planning for solar and smarter homes

UTILITIES:
• Southern Co. CEO Tom Fanning outlines Georgia Power’s plans for rooftop solar and smarter homes. (EnergyWire)
• A large pension fund is set to divest its Duke Energy shares over coal. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Clean energy advocates applaud Duke Energy’s switch from coal to solar and natural gas at its Asheville, North Carolina power complex. (Smoky Mountain News)
• A shareholder motion to require Southern Co. to set carbon emission targets fails to pass. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

SOLAR:
• North Carolina State University joins EnergySage to offer an online marketplace for solar energy systems. (Triad Business Journal)
• As the drive for a solar choice Constitutional amendment heats up, Florida utilities boast about their solar energy investments. (Saint Peters Blog)
• Six Virginia schools are deploying solar energy systems under a power purchase agreement. (The Daily Progress, Charlottesville)

NORTH CAROLINA: Apple, Google and Facebook urge state lawmakers not to freeze the state’s renewable energy target. (Greentech Media)

COAL ASH: Residents near another coal ash pit -- this from Duke Energy’s Goldsboro power plant in North Carolina -- are warned not to drink well water. (WTVD-TV, Raleigh-Durham)

COAL:
• West Virginia University researchers project coal production will drop 39% compared to 2008. (Associated Press)
• The operator of four coal mines in Alabama files for bankruptcy. (Platts)
• A judge orders Alpha Natural Resources to pay Don Blankenship’s legal fees in his trial over mine safety violations. (The Charleston Gazette)
• A coalition is seeking a hearing over acid mine drainage near the Kanawha State Forest in West Virginia. (The Charleston Gazette)

POWER LINES: Dominion Virginia Power now asserts there will be 80 days of blackouts per year without its planned power line over the James River. (Daily Press, Newport News)

FRACKING:
• The NAACP is researching how fracking might affect the insurability of North Carolina homes near drilling sites. (WFDD Public Radio)
• A West Virginia county will require permits to dispose of fracking waste by injecting it underground. (The Charleston Gazette)

OIL & GAS: Arkansas water utilities ask the Justice Dept. to withdraw or renegotiate a proposed settlement with Exxon over its 2013 oil spill there. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

COMMENTARY: The Sierra Club’s climate and energy scorecard in Virginia shows how many lawmakers toe the Dominion Virginia Power line. (Power for the People VA blog)