How an offline Texas battery helped its data center neighbor

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

STORAGE

• Storage firm Eolian finds a way to get paid even while it takes a 100 MW Texas battery offline for upgrades: by lending its grid connection to data center developer CyrusOne so that it can bring a facility online ahead of schedule. (Canary Media)

GRID

• As a massive winter storm approaches, experts say the Texas power grid has added so many solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries that it should be able to withstand the spike in power demand. (Texas Tribune)

FOSSIL FUELS

• El Paso Electric seeks regulatory approval for a 366 MW gas-fired power plant to power a Meta data center despite previous rumors the tech company wanted to use solar power, resulting in residents’ concerns about utility rates, pollution, and the transition to renewables. (Inside Climate News)

• Gas and geothermal company Calpine will build a $1 billion, 500 MW gas-fired power plant in West Virginia. (WV Metro News)

• Congress considers a bill to speed up permitting for oil companies to turn their offshore wells into artificial reefs once they stop operating, although some environmentalists worry it would create a loophole for companies to delay the decommissioning of their equipment. (Houston Chronicle)

SOLAR

• Mon Power plans to ask West Virginia regulators for approval to build a 44-acre solar farm on the site of a former strip mine. (Country Roads)

EMISSIONS

• Southeast wood pellet plants are making products for Europe that are considered a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, but their emissions seem to be worsening air quality and affecting the health of their neighbors in Louisiana and Mississippi. (Grist)

• Experts say the Trump administration’s rollback of pollution rules is already affecting Texas’ air quality. (Texas Tribune)

EFFICIENCY

• Virginia lawmakers advance bills to help low-income residents shift from oil and propane to electric heat, and to study how to reduce barriers to energy-efficiency and weatherization programs. (Cardinal News)

DATA CENTERS

• Georgia lawmakers consider legislation to alter data centers’ tax breaks and regulate how they use energy. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Recorder)

UTILITIES

• A bipartisan group of Virginia lawmakers introduce legislation to urge state regulators to review how to calculate profit levels and storm recovery costs for Appalachian Power. (Virginia Mercury, Cardinal News)

• A bipartisan group of West Virginia lawmakers propose legislation to temporarily freeze electricity rate hikes, but Republican leadership has been tight-lipped about whether the bills will be placed on a committee agenda for consideration. (Mountain State Spotlight)

• Kentucky residents complain their power bills have soared, even while Kentucky Power’s parent American Electric Power paid out $1.74 billion in dividends last year. (Mountain Eagle, Mountain Eagle)

COMMENTARY

• Acid mine drainage from abandoned mines in Appalachia could become a source of rare earth elements, but states will first need to determine who owns the mine waste, write West Virginia and Maryland researchers. (The Conversation)

• Virginia’s tax incentive for data centers has ballooned to $1.6 billion annually, raising questions about the tradeoff in state revenue versus economic activity, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Geothermal startup Fervo Energy may finally go public — Maria Gallucci

• Startup Jetson raises $50M to deploy affordable heat pumps — Alison F. Takemura

• Chart: Trump cratered the clean-energy manufacturing boom — Dan McCarthy

• Why automakers are the key to cleaner steelmaking — Alexander C. Kaufman

• America’s offsh ore wind farms get back to work after court victories — Maria Gallucci