N.C. cooperatives turn to batteries

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

BATTERIES

• North Carolina electric cooperatives increasingly turn to aggregated battery systems to shore up the grid and protect their customers against outages and skyrocketing demand from data centers. (Canary Media)

• Battery storage is progressing in Oklahoma, where regulators recently approved a utility’s purchase of three projects and where another 2.3 GW of storage is under development. (Latitude Media)

SOLAR

• Virginia startup MSolar Manufacturing announces it will invest $24 million to establish a factory that will make high-efficiency solar modules for large-scale energy facilities. (Virginia Business, Augusta Free Press)

COAL

• President Trump will soon announce a plan to use the wartime Defense Production Act to inject $700 million into the coal industry, with $425 million going toward upgrading 13 existing coal plants in 10 states and another $185 million for new coal facilities in Alaska, Maryland, and West Virginia. (Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Reuters)

• A federal court rebukes the Trump administration’s attempt to shift endangered species protections to state regulators to boost coal mines. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

GRID

• Texas’ grid operator says it expects a low risk of blackouts this summer despite anticipated power demand of 92 GW, which would shatter its previous record of 85.5 GW. (Houston Chronicle)

METALS

• Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) sues to block the construction of what would be the country’s largest aluminum smelter, in part due to the facility’s massive energy needs. (Oklahoman)

MANUFACTURING

• USA Rare Earth, Inc. announces it will invest $1.2 billion to open a South Carolina factory to make magnets for electric vehicles, semiconductors, and more. (South Carolina Daily Gazette)

DATA CENTERS

• The North Carolina House passes a Republican-led bill aimed at reining in data centers’ impact on residential utility bills, though Democrats argued against provisions that would keep coal- and gas-fired plants running until the state can replace them with nuclear generation. (NC Newsroom)

• An analysis shows nearly half of the 248 data centers planned for Texas are to be built in unincorporated areas where local officials have little power to regulate them. (Texas Tribune)

• Texas’ grid operator approves new regulations that will set a higher bar for data centers and other large-load customers to meet when applying to receive power from the grid. (Houston Chronicle)

• Texas Republicans are splintering over a growing number of data centers that want to build in rural counties. (Daily Yonder)

UTILITIES

• Georgia regulators approve Georgia Power’s proposal to recover costs related to operation and maintenance, which will temporarily lower customers’ rates but which critics say will allow it to pass along climate-related expenses while still generating returns for shareholders. (Inside Climate News)

• North Carolina’s attorney general challenges Duke Energy’s proposal for a rate hike, saying it seeks too high a rate of equity and would cost ratepayers nearly $1.4 billion in unnecessary charges in coming years. (WFAE)

POLITICS

• A political action committee funded by renewable energy companies spent $1.7 million to defeat Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy in a party primary, and says its supporters have pledged another $15 million for the midterm elections. (E&E News)

COMMENTARY

• The Mountain Valley Pipeline’s proposal to build a new compressor station in Virginia as part of its project to boost its capacity by 30% threatens public health and the area’s rural character, write an activist and a resident who lives near the planned site. (Cardinal News)

• Data centers and utility-scale solar arrive in a Virginia county, stirring opposition that often runs counter to its history and politically conservative inclinations, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

• Kentucky should address concern over its growing data center sector by leaning into local-level planning, as it did with mega-landfills in the 1990s, writes a retired environmental lawyer. (Kentucky Lantern)