Nevada EV battery recycler moves into grid-scale storage

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BATTERIES

• Nevada electric vehicle battery recycler Redwood Materials moves into the grid-scale energy storage business after repurposing 792 used EV battery packs to store solar power and run a small data center. (Canary Media)

GRID

• Public Service Company of New Mexico doubles down on its decision to join the California grid operator’s day-ahead regional power market, but says it may reconsider if the governance structure changes. (NewsData)

• The Sierra Club comes out in support of the California grid operator’s day-ahead power market and West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative, saying it will ​“advance clean energy through regional cooperation.” (news release)

COAL

• Xcel Energy proposes cleaning up and removing 1.6 million tons of coal ash from a defunct power facility near Boulder, Colorado, and repurposing it as a cement additive. (Denver Post)

• The developer of a contentious proposed coal export terminal in Oakland, California, vows to move forward after a court rejects the city’s attempt to block construction. (Oaklandside)

• Arizona utility Salt River Project awards two communities $50,000 to help them weather coal plant closures. (news release)

OIL & GAS

• The Trump administration rescinds a 2012 agreement with California giving the state more say over federal oil and gas permitting after Republican state lawmakers claimed it stifled energy production. (The Sun)

• U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse, both Colorado Democrats, criticize the federal Bureau of Land Management for fast-tracking permitting for a proposed truck-to-train oil-loadout facility in Utah expected to boost Uinta Basin crude production. (Summit Daily)

• Indigenous and environmental advocates ask New Mexico’s Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s dismissal of their lawsuit accusing the state’s oil and gas-friendly policies of violating their right to a healthy environment. (Santa Fe Reporter)

• Wyoming’s petroleum industry pushes back on the state’s plan to designate the Path of the Pronghorn designed to protect wildlife migration corridors from oil and gas drilling and other development. (WyoFile)

HYDROPOWER

• An Oregon wave-energy startup shuts down after the Trump administration withdraws federal funding approved under the Biden administration. (OPB)

TRANSPORTATION

• Colorado’s transportation department plans to launch passenger rail service between Denver and mountain communities in the western part of the state next year. (Aspen Times)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Oregon utility Portland General Electric proposes building a 385 MW solar installation at its troubled Biglow Canyon wind facility rather than replacing old, failing turbines. (Oregonian)

• Some eastern Wyoming residents push back against NextEra Energy’s proposed 450 MW wind, solar, and battery storage facility, saying they’d prefer a new coal or natural gas plant. (Cowboy State Daily)

CLIMATE

• The Trump administration proposes slashing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget and shuttering four climate research labs in Boulder, Colorado. (CPR)

• Colorado utilities and electric cooperatives push back on Gov. Jared Polis’ plans to accelerate greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal timelines, saying it would drive up energy prices and harm reliability. (Big Pivots)

• A survey finds 86% of Wyoming residents ​“believe that climate change is happening,” which is substantially higher than a 2014 poll’s findings. (WyoFile)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Senate’s​‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ would be a disaster for clean energy — Kathryn Krawczyk

• Dominion Energy’s latest plan sidesteps Virginia’s 2045 clean power goal — Elizabeth Ouzts