North Carolina’s data center demand pushback

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.

DATA CENTERS

• North Carolina clean energy and consumer advocates argue for the creation of a new class of ​“large load” customers that would require data centers to pay fees to support infrastructure and allow them to bring their own power, rather than hiking rates for Duke Energy’s residential customers. (Canary Media)

• The Trump administration urges a federal court to dismiss the NAACP’s lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI for allegedly building and expanding a gas plant near the Tennessee-Mississippi border without required permits or pollution controls. (E&E News)

• Texas’ grid operator considers a new process for vetting energization requests from data centers and other large customers that would move to separate ​“mature” proposals from speculative ones. (Texas Tribune)

FOSSIL FUELS

• South Carolina regulators approve Dominion Energy and state-owned utility Santee Cooper’s proposal to build a $5 billion, 2,180-MW gas-fired power plant without a cost cap or other ratepayer protections advocated for by environmental groups. (Post and Courier, Utility Dive)

• The Trump administration plans to weaken restrictions on oil and gas wells that release large amounts of methane but produce little energy, which would boost profits for a Texas oil billionaire and Trump donor who has specialized in buying up that kind of well. (ProPublica)

• Appalachian Power plans to upgrade three of its coal-fired power plants in West Virginia with federal grants announced as part of the Trump administration’s $700 million investment in coal. (WV Metro News)

GRID

• Forty-three Texas lawmakers sign a legal brief calling on state regulators to slow down and take a closer look at large transmission line projects, including a nearly 200-mile project. (KCEN)

• West Virginia Democrats and Republicans both object to NextEra Energy’s proposed 107-mile transmission line connecting Pennsylvania and Virginia that includes 60 miles running through West Virginia. (WOWK)

OVERSIGHT

• An engineer and self-described ​“nerd” wins a runoff election to secure the Republican nomination for a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission. (WABE)

• A hard-right cultural conservative is running as the Republican nominee against a Democratic longtime oil field engineer in the race for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry. (Texas Tribune)

• A former Southern Environmental Law Center lawyer is taking on a new cabinet post created by Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger to manage energy policy and keep costs down despite growing power demand. (Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism)

• Attorneys general across the country are stepping into rate fights, but Florida’s current and past attorneys general have taken a hands-off approach despite more-than-40% rate hikes at state utilities. (Florida Phoenix)

WIND

• Dominion Energy secures a deal that will allow it to buy 30 acres at a Virginia business park in the next five years to use for an onshore substation and grid interconnection for a future offshore wind project near North Carolina’s Outer Banks. (WHRO)

SOLAR

• A new program in Louisville, Kentucky, is trying to reduce vandalism and copper thefts by replacing older light poles along the interstate with solar-powered lights. (WLKY)

UTILITIES

• Virginia regulators compile a long list of questions as they scrutinize NextEra Energy’s proposed merger with Dominion Energy. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

COMMENTARY

• Some Virginia lawmakers are trying to pass off decision-making about data centers, their energy requirements, and their use of a key tax break to a commission in a way that actually goes backward on regulating the industry, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)