Oregon utility goes in on East-West grid connection line

GRID: An Oregon utility invests in the proposed $3.2 billion North Plains Connector transmission project in Montana designed to link the Eastern and Western grids. (Montana Standard)

ALSO:

• A new Colorado law requires Xcel Energy to create a virtual power plant program by early next year that includes a performance-based compensation tariff. (Utility Dive)
• A southern California utility’s maps show it undergrounded distribution lines in wealthier neighborhoods before doing so in low-income areas. (Voice of San Diego)

MINING:

• The Navajo Nation plans to regulate a Grand Canyon-area uranium mine’s ore shipments along federal and state highways across its lands, since it can’t ban the transports outright. (KJZZ)
• Alaska advocates raise concerns about a company’s proposed pipeline that would ship 20 billion cubic feet of natural gas annually to fuel a planned gold mine. (KYUK)

SOLAR:

• Southern California residential solar installers launch a skywriting campaign criticizing utilities and regulators for slashing net metering compensation for rooftop arrays. (Fox 5 San Diego)
• A developer brings a 50 MW solar-plus-storage project online in southern California to power Meta data centers. (news release)
• Tesla finishes adding 1 MW of solar capacity to its Nevada gigafactory’s rooftop. (Microgrid Knowledge)

GEOTHERMAL:

• Federal wildlife officials propose protecting the endangered Dixie Valley toad’s critical habitat in the path of a proposed geothermal facility in Nevada. (news release)
• A Utah research center successfully tests its enhanced geothermal well stimulation technology, saying it is a major industry breakthrough. (Renewable Energy Magazine)

POLLUTION: Advocates urge the U.S. EPA to force Wyoming to broaden the scope of and strengthen its regional haze implementation plan aimed at restoring ​“natural visibility” at national parks and wilderness areas. (WyoFile)

OIL & GAS: 

• Northwestern New Mexico advocates and residents call on federal and state regulators to identify, plug and reclaim dozens of abandoned oil and gas wells in the San Juan Basin, and to hold the industry accountable for cleanup. (Albuquerque Journal)
• California plans to use $35 million in federal funds to plug and reclaim more than 200 abandoned oil and gas wells and 40 associated facilities. (Beverly Press)
• An Alaska oilfield accident kills a worker, the industry’s third such fatality on the North Slope in 13 months. (Alaska Journal of Commerce)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management schedules its smallest oil and gas lease sale in years, drawing complaints from industry. (Cowboy State Daily)

TRANSPORTATION: Colorado advocates laud a city’s decision to eliminate minimum parking requirements for new development and replace them with limits, saying it will encourage public transit, walking and biking. (news release)

STORAGE: A Utah battery and flywheel manufacturer signs on to provide energy storage capacity and virtual power plant services to a commercial real estate firm’s properties. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Biden administration awards Western state school districts nearly $170 million to purchase electric buses. (Source NM)