N.C. approves Duke green tariff after change to speed solar farms

SOLAR: North Carolina regulators approve a controversial green tariff for Duke Energy after the utility revises its proposal to allow large customers to pay extra to accelerate solar projects that were already mandated by state law. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:

• A developer cancels a planned 12 MW Virginia solar farm after learning a nearby substation can’t accommodate a project that size, months after the same company nixed a 13 MW project elsewhere in the same county. (Cardinal News)
• A Texas county is in talks with an energy company considering applying for a tax abatement to build solar panels at a port. (Victoria Advocate)

OIL & GAS:

• Foul water erupts from another orphan oil well in Texas as part of a series of recent blowouts that researchers have linked to the injection of wastewater as part of the fracking process. (Houston Chronicle)
• Ohio officials select a Texas energy company to lease a wildlife area for fracking. (Ohio Capital Journal)
• An Oklahoma-based oil billionaire played a key role in mobilizing other oil executives to back Donald Trump, opening the door for a flood of campaign donations and possibly influencing the Republican’s presidential agenda if elected. (Washington Post)

CLEAN ENERGY: A Georgia official credits the state’s ascendance as the nation’s leader in clean energy technology manufacturing not just to federal climate funding but to forward thinking from state officials and needs of companies already operating there. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

GRID: Some energy experts question the Texas’ state grid operator’s projection of a 75% increase in power demand by 2030, suggesting the figure is a ploy to attract more funding. (Houston Chronicle)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Eight Tennessee counties will receive a collective $12 million to purchase electric school buses. (WKRN)

WIND: Dominion Energy says it’s still on schedule building its offshore wind farm near Virginia as crews install its 50th monopile foundation. (WVEC)

COAL:

• West Virginia residents struggle with complications related to an eruption of polluted water from a nearby coal mining complex. (Charleston Gazette–Mail)
• Wind and solar outpaced power generation from coal through July, building on last year when renewables led coal until May before power demand surged in the summer. (E&E News)

FUELS: An Australian company purchases a clean ammonia project in Texas for $2.35 billion as it aims to export to markets in Asia and Europe. (Houston Chronicle)

CLIMATE: Conservationists try to protect an ecologically rich Alabama delta that drains into the Gulf of Mexico from development, pollution and the effects of climate change. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES:

• Texas’ attorney general announces an investigation of CenterPoint Energy over ​“allegations of fraud” and improper use of public money involved in its response to Hurricane Beryl. (Houston Chronicle)
• West Virginia regulators consider a $20.4 million rate increase for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power under a program that would allow them to be reimbursed dollar-for-dollar for coal and natural gas purchases. (WV Metro News)

COMMENTARY: The widespread outages caused by Hurricane Beryl stemmed largely from an inadequate state grid that badly needs transmission and distribution line upgrades, writes an economics professor. (Austin American-Statesman)