Northwest transmission project dedicated to data center

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

DATA CENTERS

• An Oregon advocate steps up opposition to the B2H transmission project in the Northwest after discovering PacifiCorp plans to sell all of the line’s power to a single industrial user, most likely a data center. (Oregonian)

• New Mexico advocates file lawsuits seeking to block the proposed Project Jupiter data center in the southeast part of the state, saying its planned dedicated gas plant could violate the state’s Energy Transition Act. (Source NM)

HYDROGEN

• Advocates push back against Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s decision to convert two natural gas-fired generators to run on hydrogen, saying it will prolong fossil fuel infrastructure’s life when the city should be investing in solar, wind, and battery storage instead. (Los Angeles Times)

TRANSPORTATION

• Caltrain says its San Francisco-area commuter rail system’s ridership increased by 47% after it replaced diesel trains with electric ones. (Utility Dive)

CLEAN ENERGY

• The University of California Irvine plans to open the nation’s first renewable energy-powered all-electric hospital in the southern part of the state in December. (LAist)

• Colorado State University installs solar panels over its vineyard in the western part of the state and expects the agrivoltaic project to enhance grape growing while generating power. (Colorado Newsline)

• Renewable America brings its 9.4 MW solar-plus-storage projects online in Humboldt County, California. (news release)

GEOTHERMAL

• Mazama Energy says it has developed the world’s hottest engineered geothermal system at its test site near Newberry Volcano in central Oregon. (news release)

FOSSIL FUELS

• U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says demand may outpace the capacity of the proposed Alaska liquefied natural gas pipeline and export terminal after a Japanese utility agrees to buy fuel from the project. (E&E News, Alaska Beacon)

• New Mexico advocates petition state regulators to adopt stricter orphaned and abandoned oil and gas well reclamation, saying industry, not taxpayers, should pay to clean up its mess. (Source NM)

• Xcel Energy’s Comanche coal plant in southern Colorado goes offline for turbine repairs expected to take eight months, raising further questions about the fossil fuel’s reliability. (Colorado Sun)

• Arizona utility Salt River Project’s board considers adding a battery energy storage system to a coal generator it is converting to run on natural gas. (Arizona Republic)

UTILITIES

• The Montana Consumer Counsel urges state utility regulators to reject NorthWestern Energy’s proposed rate increase to pay for nearly $50 million in cost overruns for its new gas plant in Laurel. (Daily Montanan)

CLIMATE

• California’s Air Resources Board begins considering ways to comply with a new law requiring it to reshape its carbon market to force polluters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (E&E News)

MINING

• The U.S. EPA approves an aquifer exemption request allowing the Lisbon Valley copper mine to expand its operations in southeastern Utah over residents’ and advocates’ water concerns. (news release)

• The Navajo Nation invests $3 million to test a new abandoned mine remediation process designed to extract uranium from waste dumps onsite rather than remove the material to a repository. (Albuquerque Journal)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Despite Trump troubles, Hyundai charges ahead with green-steel project — Alexander C. Kaufman

• Connecticut and Maine team up to fast-track renewables — Sarah Shemkus

• Judge orders New York to finally come up with cap-and-invest rules — Colin Kinniburgh

• China moves to supercharge green hydrogen as US pulls back — Alexander C. Kaufman

• Critics decry company created to rush power to Indiana data centers — Kari Lydersen

• Eavor is about to bring its first-of-a-kind geothermal project online — Maria Gallucci