Here come the hydrogen hubs

HYDROGEN: The U.S. Energy Department names seven proposals that will receive a combined $7 billion to build clean hydrogen hubs spanning 16 states. (E&E News)

BUILDINGS:

• The Biden administration announces a goal of cutting the cost of home decarbonization in half and reducing household energy costs at least 20% by 2030. (Grist)
• Installing and maintaining solar panels, heat pumps and battery storage systems in new and existing buildings could create as many as 2 million jobs across the U.S. and Europe, researchers find. (Utility Dive)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• UAW president Sean Fain says General Motors’ decision to include electric vehicle battery plants under a union master agreement proves the EV transition doesn’t have to jeopardize good-paying jobs: ​“We’ve called their bluff.” (The Hill)
• Ford’s hesitation to pay top union wages at planned electric vehicle battery plants in union-hostile Kentucky and Tennessee looms over the United Auto Workers’ expanding strike, even as the automaker announces it will give raises to workers at those plants. (Associated Press, TechCrunch)

OFFSHORE WIND:

• Rising interest rates, supply chain bottlenecks, and other challenges are jeopardizing the East Coast’s offshore wind buildout. (E&E News)
• New York regulators deny a request by several dozen energy developers for $12 billion in new subsidies for wind projects already in the pipeline, leading observers to question if the state can hit its climate goals. (New York Times)
• Ørsted makes a $100 million guarantee with New Jersey regulators that it will build the state’s first offshore wind farm — and have it be operational by the end of 2025. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS:

• Memphis, Tennessee, residents speak out against the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to build new natural gas facilities in a part of the city long subject to environmental racism. (WPLN)
• New Mexico researchers detect suspended solids, salts, microorganisms and radioactive material in oil and gas wastewater. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

SOLAR:

• Concerns about solar panel waste often lack context, a Michigan State professor says, as the expected waste stream is tiny compared to what’s projected from plastics, electronics, and coal plants. (Inside Climate News)
• Solar manufacturer Suniva announces it will use federal clean energy tax incentives to reopen a Georgia solar panel factory that closed in 2017 amid Chinese competition. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

GRID: After years of debate, Missouri regulators approve the Grain Belt Express high-voltage power line, which is expected to deliver wind power from Kansas to customers in Missouri and Illinois. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES: Michigan environmental advocates worry that political spending by DTE Energy could water down pending clean energy legislation. (Planet Detroit)

COMMENTARY: A researcher contemplates whether the 1909 kidnapping of a solar panel pioneer, with a ransom of shutting down his company, thwarted the earlier development of renewable energy. (The Conversation)