Montana Supreme Court sides with wind developer in connection fee case

WIND: Montana’s Supreme Court rules against state regulators and NorthWestern Energy for requiring a wind farm developer to pay $267 million to connect to the utility’s grid. (Billings Gazette)

UTILITIES:
• Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico utilities agree to partial memberships with power wholesaler Tri-State Generation and Transmission, allowing them to acquire up to 50% of their electricity from outside sources. (BizWest)
• Oregon advocates argue ratepayers should not have to pay for a utility’s initiative distributing booklets portraying natural gas as a clean fuel to school children. (DeSmog)

GRID: California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to shore up the state’s grid includes about $5.2 billion for natural gas generation that would be used only as a last resort. (Canary Media)

OIL & GAS:
• The U.S. Interior Department distributes $33 million for plugging and cleaning up orphaned oil and gas wells on public lands in California, Utah and other states. (E&E News)
• An environmental group sues the federal government to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard from oil and gas development in the Permian Basin. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• A Los Angeles advocate receives the Goldman Environmental Prize — or ​“Green Nobel” — for her decade-long fight against urban oil and gas development. (Business Insider)
• The Biden administration says its cancellation of an Alaska offshore oil lease sale was unrelated to its 2021 leasing pause, and therefore did not violate a related court order. (E&E News, subscription) 

SOLAR:
• California is set to launch a pilot project to build solar arrays over irrigation canals to generate power and slow evaporation, with the possibility of expanding statewide. (E&E News, subscription)
• Los Angeles County receives a $1 million state grant to install solar arrays on multifamily affordable housing developments. (My News LA)
• Global supply chain constraints and inflation test Hawaii’s energy transition by delaying and causing the cancelation of solar and energy storage contracts. (S&P Global)
• Oregon renewable energy officials say a federal probe of Asian solar imports is hampering rooftop installations and utility-scale development. (Jefferson Public Radio)
• Xcel Energy chooses a company to develop 41 MW of community solar in Colorado for lower-income households. (Renewable Energy World) 

CLEAN ENERGY: A majority of a Utah city’s residents are willing to pay nearly 10% above their current energy costs for renewable power, a survey finds. (Ogden Standard-Examiner)

TRANSPORTATION: Oregon adds electric bike chargers to the 44 EV charging stations on its portion of the West Coast Electric Highway. (BikePortland)

MICROGRIDS: The Port of Alaska and Sandia National Laboratories partner to develop a carbon-free microgrid at the Anchorage port. (Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman)

CLIMATE: U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm commits $38 million to convert national laboratories to net zero carbon emissions during a Colorado visit. (The Denver Channel)

COMMENTARY: A Navajo Nation chapter official says hydrogen development will exacerbate the climate crisis and distract from efforts to decarbonize the economy and ensure a just transition. (Santa Fe New Mexican)