Groundbreaking planned on huge Wyoming wind farm

WIND: The developer of a 3,000 MW wind project in southern Wyoming tells regulators it plans to begin construction this year. (Rawlins Times)

GRID:
• Another ​“bomb cyclone” slams northern and central California utility lines, leaving more than 100,000 households without power. (Record Searchlight, Associated Press)
• Heavy winds and high rains in Washington state damage utility equipment and leave more than 18,000 households without power. (MyNorthwest)

STORAGE: Pacific Gas & Electric proposes constructing a grid-scale battery and green hydrogen energy storage system to provide backup power to a northern California city during outages. (Energy Storage News)

UTILITIES: Alaska clean energy advocates criticize Anchorage’s electricity utility for lack of transparency and for appearing to favor hydropower and natural gas generation over solar and wind. (Alaska Beacon)

OIL & GAS:
• An oil and gas wastewater underground injection disposal facility opens in the Permian Basin, even though the practice is blamed for two large earthquakes late last year. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Colorado researchers find leaky oil and gas wells, not natural gas stray migration, bear the most responsibility for contaminating groundwater in the northwestern part of the state. (news release)

ELECTRIFICATION: Colorado climate activists urge Denver’s city council to ban natural gas hookups in new construction and otherwise alter the building code to encourage electrification. (Newsbreak)

CLIMATE: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis proposes reducing greenhouse gas emissions by limiting sprawl and encouraging high-density development and walkable, transit-friendly homes. (CPR)

COAL: A Montana coal mine’s former safety manager admits to concealing a 2018 accident that injured a worker from federal regulators. (Billings Gazette)

TRANSITION: Fossil fuel-reliant northwestern New Mexico communities look to pumped hydropower storage projects and hydrogen reactor construction to diversify the economy. (The Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Wyoming businesses install electric vehicle charging stations in an effort to lure more tourists. (Cowboy State Daily)

SOLAR:
• California environmentalists push back against utility-scale solar development on federal lands, equating its impacts with the logging and mining rushes of the 1800s. (KCRW)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management begins public hearings on its proposal to expedite solar permitting on public land in 10 Western states. (RFDTV)
• The Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on the 600 MW Jove solar project proposed for southwestern Arizona. (news release)

NUCLEAR: Pacific Gas & Electric officials say they have repaired a leak in the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant’s reactor cooling system detected in October. (news release)