How a rural Colorado county became a clean energy powerhouse

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

CLEAN ENERGY

• Colorado observers say Xcel Energy’s $1.7 billion Power Pathway high-voltage transmission project and favorable state policies have sparked a wind and solar power boom in the rural eastern part of the state. (Colorado Sun)

• Utah regulators approve the state’s Renewable Communities initiative created by a 2019 law to foster Rocky Mountain Power’s partnership with cities and towns to promote clean energy. (KSL)

• California lawmakers launch an audit of state regulators’ efforts to hold Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison accountable for sluggish solar interconnections. (Bakersfield Californian)

ELECTRIFICATION

• California community choice aggregator Peninsula Clean Energy finds many homes can be electrified without expensive panel or other equipment upgrades, allowing customers with limited funding to realize cost savings and other benefits. (Canary Media)

OIL & GAS

• The federal Bureau of Land Management proposes opening about 700,000 acres in California to oil and gas leasing, sparking advocates’ and residents’ concerns. (Mercury News)

• A tanker truck overturns in southwestern Colorado, spilling more than 100 barrels of drilling fluids. (Durango Herald)

• Observers say a successful federal oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska and expanded exploration in the western Arctic could lead to a bonanza for the state’s petroleum industry. (Northern Journal)

DATA CENTERS

• A New Mexico judge allows a lawsuit to go forward challenging Doña Ana County’s approval of $165 billion in industrial bonds for the Project Jupiter data center complex. (Albuquerque Journal)

TRANSPORTATION

• California awards the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System $60 million to enhance electric bus and light rail service in the region. (Times of San Diego)

CRITICAL MINERALS

• Advocates push back on a proposed rare earths mine near Joshua Tree National Park in southern California, saying it could harm endangered desert tortoise habitat and deplete water supplies. (Los Angeles Times)

• A Canada mining company proposes exploratory drilling for uranium in the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. (Source NM)

GRID

• California community choice aggregator Marin Clean Energy prepares to launch an expanded virtual power plant program to ​“treat these distributed assets like power plants.” (Quitting Carbon)

UTILITIES

• Nevada advocates say NV Energy’s proposed peak demand charge would discriminate against rooftop solar customers by effectively lowering rewards for efficiency and conservation. (PV Magazine)

NUCLEAR

• A California lawmaker introduces legislation that would exempt federally licensed nuclear technology from a 1976 moratorium on new reactors in the state. (Politico)

• Utah Gov. Spencer Cox proposes a ​“nuclear lifecycle innovation campus” in Tooele County that could include fuel fabrication and enrichment, waste disposal, and reactor deployment. (Utah News Dispatch)

COMMENTARY

• A Utah advocate says state leaders are risking residents’ safety and health by relying on questionable firms to lead the so-called ​“nuclear awakening.” (Utah News Dispatch)

NEW FROM CANARY

• My city’s two wind turbines are shutting down. Here’s what we’re losing. — Sarah Shemkus

• The Iran war is driving a clean energy wake-up call — Kathryn Krawczyk