Nuclear, gas-powered data center proposed for New Mexico

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

• New Era Energy & Digital proposes a data center campus in Lea County, New Mexico, that would include more than 2,000 MW of new gas generation and 5,000 MW of nuclear power. (POWER)

NUCLEAR

• California regulators hold off on approving Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan to continue operating its Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, saying the utility must first dedicate thousands of acres of land to conservation to mitigate its cooling system’s impacts on the ocean. (Tribune, E&E News)

• California advocates and academics debate whether the state should fund nuclear fusion research and development after a study finds the technology could inject as much as $125 billion into the economy. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

• Anfield Resources breaks ground on its Velvet-Wood uranium mine in southeastern Utah, even though it has not yet received all of the state permits required to begin mining. (Times-Independent)

• EnergySolutions proposes transporting low-level nuclear waste from Ontario, Canada, to its repository in Utah. (Utah News Dispatch)

HYDROPOWER

• Indigenous advocates and officials push back on U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s bid to revoke a 2024 federal policy giving tribal nations veto power over proposed hydropower projects on their land. (E&E News)

CLEAN ENERGY

• A Republican Wyoming lawmaker introduces legislation that would require wind and solar facilities to compensate the state for potential damage to wildlife. (Cowboy State Daily)

• Western Colorado voters recall a Republican Montrose County commissioner over his support for prohibitive land-use restrictions for proposed utility-scale solar projects. (Big Pivots)

• A California solar installer says it has had to bolster its staff to meet surging demand for rooftop arrays before federal clean energy tax credits expire. (KRCR)

• BrightNight secures financing for its 300 MW Pioneer solar-plus-storage project under construction in Yuma County, Arizona. (Renewables Now)

UTILITIES

• Pacific Power and Portland General Electric halt service disconnections for low-income and medically vulnerable Oregon customers until the end of the year amid federal funding cuts for energy assistance programs. (Oregonian)

• Xcel Energy says it has reached settlements with more than 2,000 plaintiffs to settle lawsuits alleging the utility’s equipment sparked the 2021 Marshall Fire near Boulder. (Boulder Reporting Lab)

GRID

• A solar-plus-storage-powered microgrid comes online at a community center and resilience hub on Orcas Island, Washington. (Microgrid Knowledge)

• A substation malfunction leaves over 18,000 utility customers without power in Salt Lake County, Utah. (ABC4)

OIL & GAS

• California advocates celebrate the planned decommissioning of an offshore oil rig along the Orange County coast. (KQED)

• Los Angeles-area officials and residents debate the fate of the Inglewood Oil Field after its expected shutdown by the end of this decade. (Los Angeles Times)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• This startup wants to build pumped hydro storage in the ocean — Julian Spector

• Xcel doubles down on plan to swap coal for clean power in Minnesota — Brian Martucci

• Virginia scored the election’s biggest climate win — Kathryn Krawczyk

• Inside the data-center energy race with Google and Microsoft — Maria Gallucci