Huge solar project planned for Washington nuclear reservation

SOLAR: 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)

ALSO:

• A California clean energy provider and a developer team up to build up to 20,000 MW of solar-plus-storage capacity on 130,000 acres of water-challenged or drainage-impaired farmland in the central part of the state. (Solar Industry)
• Conservation groups call on the federal Bureau of Land Management to protect a swath of southern Nevada desert from a slew of proposed solar installations, saying it is home to rare plants and the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise. (E&E News, subscription)
• A developer brings a 200 MW solar installation online in south-central Arizona to help power a Meta data center in the Phoenix area. (news release)
• A developer brings a 40 MW solar installation in Utah online that will provide power to 17 health care facilities. (news release)
• A Colorado firm and university partner to study agrivoltaics’ feasibility and to prove that farm crops can thrive amid solar installations. (Coloradoan, subscription)

CLEAN ENERGY: Data show the California grid met 100% of its electricity demand with renewable energy during 5- to 10-minute periods on 100 of the last 144 days. (news release)

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)

ELECTRIFICATION: The U.S. EPA awards Alaska organizations nearly $39 million to replace households’ fossil fuel based heating systems with electric heat pumps. (KTOO)

BATTERIES: A developer and a Colorado electric cooperative bring a 78.3 MW battery energy storage system online. (news release)

CLIMATE:

• Washington state begins offering a $200 utility bill credit to income-qualified households as part of a program funded by the state’s climate law and cap-and-invest initiative. (KUOW)
• The Biden administration awards 17 Native Hawaiian organizations $20 million for programs aimed at enhancing climate resilience such as restoring native ecosystems and plants. (Star-Advertiser, subscription)

UTILITIES: Tucson, Arizona’s city council considers establishing a municipal utility as part of its goal to achieve community-wide carbon-neutrality by 2045. (Cronkite News)

HYDROPOWER: A firm deploys a 1.25 MW wave-energy generator at a U.S. Navy testing site off Hawaii’s coast. (Marine Technology)

HYDROGEN: California environmental justice advocates worry a public-private effort to establish a hydrogen production and distribution hub in the state could increase pollution if strict guidelines aren’t followed. (Grist)

OIL & GAS: Oregon advocates continue to protest a natural gas pipeline expansion even though developers began construction earlier this month. (KTVZ)

COAL: Wyoming officials predict a 25% dip in coal production from the Powder River Basin and weak natural gas prices could diminish mineral tax revenues and strain the state budget. (Cowboy State Daily)