Hurricane Helene slams the Southeast, testing its grid & insurance markets

HURRICANE HELENE: More than 1 million people are without power and at least three are dead as Hurricane Helene hits Florida, although it’s weakening into a tropical storm as it moves into Georgia. (Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

ALSO:

• An insurance broker projects Hurricane Helene could cause $3 billion to $6 billion or more in losses, posing a major test for a battered Florida insurance market that had previously teetered on collapse but recently shown signs of stabilizing. (Politico)
• Hurricane Helene generates record storm surge that flooded St. Petersburg and other Florida cities. (New York Times, Tampa Bay Times)

SOLAR:

• First Solar opens a $1.1 billion Alabama factory to make sheets of glass into thin-film solar panels. (Business Alabama)
• A Texas cotton farmer responds to a multi-decade drought and growing debt by shifting to grazing sheep and leasing space for solar generation, demonstrating a new business model the agriculture and clean energy industries are beginning to embrace. (Washington Post)
• A Virginia county board rejects a 72 MW solar farm. (VPM)

OIL & GAS:

• Texas regulators approve a plan to expand grid infrastructure in the Permian Basin to accommodate a significant increase in electric load demand from the oil and gas industry. (Reuters)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority’s new long-term resources plan generates criticism from environmental groups frustrated that every scenario envisioned by the utility involves construction of new gas plants to meet escalating power demand. (Nashville Scene)
• Texas scientists use some of the $20 billion from BP’s settlement over the Deepwater oil spill to grow and perhaps restore the 12 different coral species affected by the disaster. (Houston Landing)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Florida officials urge residents to move their electric vehicles to higher ground to avoid exposure to saltwater from hurricane storm surge, which could elevate the risk of fire. (Tallahassee Democrat)
• Austin, Texas’ transit agency delays plans to launch high-frequency routes with electric buses because of a lack of charging infrastructure, and instead will move forward with two new routes that will use diesel buses and offer slightly slower service. (Austin Monitor)

NUCLEAR: The Tennessee Valley Authority considers how to pay for development of small modular nuclear reactors, after it already budgeted $350 million for initial design and permitting. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

COAL: An Indiana bank that sued one of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies for more than $4.5 million signals it’s in talks with the company about an out-of-court settlement. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

GRID: Google announces a new $2 billion data center and a $1.3 billion expansion of an existing center in South Carolina, charging state lawmakers’ debate about the sector’s growing power demand and utilities’ push for new power plants to meet it. (South Carolina Daily Gazette)

POLITICS: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announces the launch of a green bank with $10 million to accelerate the deployment of clean generation and energy infrastructure, prompting skepticism because he previously vetoed Democratic legislation to establish a similar program. (Virginia Scope)

COMMENTARY: Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm and other clean energy projects in Virginia should benefit coastal communities that are most threatened by rising seas and climate change, writes the Virginia director of Conservatives for Clean Energy. (Virginian-Pilot)