NuScale, utilities cancel Idaho small modular reactor project

NUCLEAR: A coalition of Utah utilities and an Oregon startup cancel their proposed small modular nuclear reactor power plant in Idaho after failing to gain enough subscribers to make the increasingly expensive project financially viable. (Deseret News)

ALSO: Pacific Gas & Electric applies to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant running for up to 20 years after its scheduled 2025 retirement. (KCBX)

OIL & GAS: 

• Satellite data show oil and gas fields on the Texas side of the Permian Basin emit methane at higher rates than their more regulated New Mexico counterparts, prompting calls for a federal crackdown on ​“super emitters” of the greenhouse gas. (Guardian)
• Chevron agrees to pay a California county $1.25 million for removing oil that leaked from a ruptured pipeline last year. (Los Angeles Times)
• A New Mexico county votes to issue a $500 industrial revenue bond to finance a proposed natural gas processing plant in the Permian Basin. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Research indicates a 5.3 magnitude earthquake that shook the Permian Basin Wednesday could be tied to underground oil and gas wastewater injection. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Oil companies begin exploration work on state land on Alaska’s North Slope after conservationists push back on federal land drilling. (Alaska Beacon)

SOLAR:

• The federal Bureau of Land Management sets aside more than 4,000 acres in Nevada while it reviews a proposed 400 MW solar installation. (Renewables Now)
• A solar generator startup plans to establish a manufacturing facility in a western Colorado city. (Business Times)
• A California residential solar installer shuts down after the state implements rules slashing compensation for rooftop solar. (Visalia Times-Delta)
• A California diocese offsets 95% of its electricity use with solar after installing arrays at 14 of its churches across the state. (news release)

ELECTRIFICATION: A Washington nonprofit uses innovative financing to help lower-income households install heat pumps, possibly serving as a model for larger cities. (Bloomberg)

BATTERIES: A Nevada company signs on to decommission and recycle an aging battery energy storage facility in Hawaii. (Energy Storage News)

CLIMATE: An analysis finds Colorado must speed up climate policies to meet its 2030 carbon emissions reduction goals. (Colorado Sun)

UTILITIES: High fire hazard and Santa Ana winds prompt southern California utilities to warn customers of potential public safety power shutoffs. (Los Angeles Times)

COMMENTARY: A California energy journalist says U.S. Republican Party-pushed disinformation on climate change and clean energy is a significant obstacle to cutting carbon pollution. (Los Angeles Times)