New Orleans backs backup 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.

STORAGE

• The New Orleans City Council moves to help residents purchase backup batteries by ordering Entergy to design a $28 million battery incentive program, funded by a settlement between the city and utility over problems at one of its nuclear power plants. (Canary Media)

WIND

• Dominion Energy tells shareholders the Trump administration’s failed attempt to block construction of its Virginia offshore wind farm cost it $228 million and tariffs cost another $137 million, but the project is 70% complete and should begin sending power to the grid next month. (WHRO)

GRID

• A Texas court orders electric utility Xcel to replace power poles in wildfire-prone areas as part of a settlement with Attorney General Ken Paxton over 2024 wildfires that scorched a million acres. (Texas Tribune)

• PJM Interconnection asks federal regulators to allow it to revamp its retail behind-the-meter generation rules to facilitate colocating power generation facilities with data centers. (Utility Dive)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Environmental groups say they’ll appeal Virginia regulators’ approval of a Dominion Energy gas plant in a first-of-its-kind challenge under the Virginia Environmental Justice Act. (Inside Climate News)

• Environmental groups challenge a Virginia agency’s award of a water permit to the Mountain Valley Pipeline for a spur into North Carolina. (E&E News)

• Entergy announces a request for proposals to build 1 GW of new gas-fired power generation in Texas by 2032 to meet growing industrial and residential demand. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR

• Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is the only one of at least nine congressional Republicans with solar panels on their homes who voted against a budget plan that eliminated a key solar subsidy. (E&E News)

• Georgia residents push back against Silicon Ranch’s proposed solar farm, complaining that county officials weren’t transparent about its approval. (WJCL)

• A Virginia school system receives a $450,000 state grant to build a solar-with-battery microgrid at its two high schools to enhance their use as emergency shelters. (news release)

EMISSIONS

• Thunderhead Energy Solutions requested exemptions from federal air pollution rules for a gas power plant in Texas and 11 data centers across three states, which were among hundreds of requests the EPA received last year from coal plant operators, refineries, data center developers, and other interests. (Grist)

DATA CENTERS

• Virginia lawmakers advance budget legislation to end a key tax exemption for data centers next year, although a competing proposal would allow it to continue but tie it to clean energy requirements. (Inside Climate News)

• A Virginia county is proposing a fast-track application for data centers to allow them to avoid public hearings. (Virginian-Pilot)

• Dominion Energy saw data centers request an additional 1,400 MW of power during the final months of 2025, as that sector’s developers now seek a total of 48,500 MW from the utility. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Utility Dive)

• A developer announces plans to build a data center complex at a Virginia industrial park, powered by on-site natural gas power generation. (Cardinal News)

UTILITIES

• An analysis finds an 87% spike in utility disconnections across Kentucky in fiscal 2025, in part because federal funding to prevent disconnections fell far short of residents’ financial need. (Kentucky Lantern)

• Even after President Trump replaced its board and pushed the Tennessee Valley Authority to keep its coal-fired power plants open longer, the federal utility is planning for a future in which the current administration’s dismantling of climate policy could be reversed. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• The board of directors at Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility grants its CEO a 6-1 vote of confidence despite allegations of a toxic workplace. (Jax Today, WJXT)

• A Tennessee county board passes a resolution calling on state lawmakers to give counties more oversight over the Nashville Electric Service board due to frustration over power outages during a recent ice storm. (WTVF)

• The Southern Company increases its five-year spending plan from $76 billion to $81 billion to meet growing data center demand. (Utility Dive)