How the IRA helps put solar on apartment buildings

SOLAR: A set of projects across Washington, D.C., and California mark the first time a company sold its Inflation Reduction Act solar tax credits to another company, a key tool to help encourage solar in new construction. (Canary Media)

ALSO:

• Texas surpassed California as the nation’s leader in solar installations last year, but a professor explains that has less to do with the state’s commitment to fighting climate change and is more about making infrastructure projects easy to permit and build. (The Atlantic)
• The U.S. Energy Department plans a 1,000 MW solar installation on about 8,000 acres of the Hanford nuclear weapons production site in south-central Washington. (Canary Media)

OIL & GAS: Analysts predict Biden administration rules that curbed new and existing drilling could be taken even further under Vice President Kamala Harris. (E&E News)

CLEAN ENERGY: Solar and HVAC companies, advocacy groups, and other entities with a stake in the clean energy transition sign on to an initiative meant to spread the word about available Inflation Reduction Act incentives. (Axios)

GRID:

• DTE Energy’s CEO says on an investor call that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer supports a bill to provide tax incentives for data centers, which critics say could prolong fossil fuels to meet grid demand. (Planet Detroit)
• A new tool developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory helps utilities determine cybersecurity risks that could come with energy system upgrades. (Utility Dive)

TRANSPORTATION:

• Maine says a proposed bypass outside Portland will reduce emissions by alleviating gridlock, but advocates say this claim has been frequently disproven by the outcomes of similar projects elsewhere. (Energy News Network)
• Congestion pricing rules like New York City’s paused regulation often face opposition when they’re first introduced, but gain popularity as they reduce traffic and drive transit expansion. (Grist)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• A southern California city becomes the nation’s first to replace its entire fleet of gasoline-powered police patrol cars with electric vehicles. (Associated Press)
• An electric school bus manufacturing plant in Illinois is operating significantly below capacity as company executives wait on U.S. and Canadian subsidy programs. (Chicago Tribune, subscription)
• The CEO of electric vehicle company Lucid says it has no plans to build an electric pickup truck, saying the ​“only viable solution for an affordable, usable pickup truck today is internal combustion.” (Axios)

POLITICS: Federal prosecutors argue that a corruption trial involving former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and alleged gifts from ComEd over several years should proceed despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. (Chicago Sun-Times)