N.C. solar farms could get new lives with 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.

SOLAR

• As a wave of North Carolina solar farms approach the end of their initial agreements with Duke Energy, regulators consider the utility’s proposal to allow such aging projects to lock in favorable long-term renewals if they add battery storage. (Canary Media)

WIND

• Dominion Energy reaches a milestone at its offshore wind farm off Virginia as crews install the first turbine tower. (Virginian-Pilot)

• Two congressional Republicans from Virginia press the Trump administration for more information about its stop work order that temporarily paused construction on Dominion’s offshore wind farm. (Virginia Mercury)

WINTER STORM

• This weekend’s winter storm and bitter cold are testing Southeast utilities as natural gas facilities struggle to continue producing fuel. (New York Times, E&E News)

• PJM Interconnection predicts a deep freeze following this past weekend’s winter storm could drive the grid region to a new power demand peak. (E&E News)

• Nationwide, the U.S. oil industry lost roughly 15% of production over the weekend amid extreme temperatures, with the Permian Basin likely seeing the biggest dropoff. (Reuters)

• Experts say a combination of new battery storage projects, weatherization requirements for power plants and transmission systems, and luck kept the Texas power grid stable through the weekend storm, although there were localized outages. (Inside Climate News, Houston Chronicle)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• South Carolina is $150 million over-budget in its efforts to attract EV maker Scout Motors to build a factory in the state, largely because of tight deadlines the automaker set so it could be producing vehicles by 2027. (South Carolina Daily Gazette)

GRID

• Rural Texas residents organize to fight a proposed 765 kV power line that followed a state directive to address growing electricity demand in the Permian Basin, raising questions about rising power demand for data centers and the oil and gas industry. (Daily Yonder)

OVERSIGHT

• A Republican Georgia energy regulator who was defeated in last year’s elections discusses rising power bills, climate change, and the transition to clean energy. (Grist)

DATA CENTERS

• Virginia lawmakers consider legislation to restrict future data centers to industrially zoned areas away from commercial and residential communities. (Virginia Mercury)

COMMENTARY

• Local Virginia ordinances to limit solar development are blocking small farmers from a compatible source of revenue and threatening their livelihood, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)

NEW FROM CANARY

• EV charging has kept growing despite the Trump administration — Jeff St. John

• US solar manufacturing in 2026: What the heck to expect — Julian Spector

• New Hampshire Republicans want to raise taxes on homes with solar — Sarah Shemkus

• Wisconsin debates how to pay for the power-hungry AI boom — Kari Lydersen

• It takes two aluminum firms to build one power-hungry smelter, apparently — Maria Gallucci