Oregon wildfire victims sue PacifiCorp for $30 billion

UTILITIES: Oregon residents file a $30 billion lawsuit against PacifiCorp over damages related to the deadly and destructive 2020 Labor Day fires blamed on the utility’s equipment. (KGW)

ALSO: Pacific Gas & Electric proposes selling a minority stake of its power-generation business to a global infrastructure firm, saying it will stabilize rates and expedite wildfire risk mitigation efforts. (New York Times)

WIND:

• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has until late June to approve or deny the proposed Horse Heaven wind project after a siting council recommended greenlighting a scaled-back version. (Washington State Standard)
• The Biden administration proposes auctioning offshore wind leases on 195,000 acres along Oregon’s southern coast, drawing pushback from tribal nations and some residents. (OPB)

MICROGRIDS: An all-electric, net-zero-carbon public elementary school under construction in Oregon will be equipped with a solar-powered microgrid. (Design & Construction)

SOLAR: Developers bring a 150 MW solar installation in Wyoming online to power a data center. (Renewables Now)

HYDROPOWER: PacifiCorp backs off from its proposed pumped hydropower energy storage facility on the Bear River in southeastern Idaho. (Leader)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The developers of an electric truck charging corridor across the Southwest struggle to site remote chargers where they can connect to the grid. (E&E News)

STORAGE: A 2,000 MW battery storage system under construction in southern California is expected to be one of the world’s largest such facilities when completed next year. (Whittier Daily News)

GRID:

• Colorado lawmakers introduce legislation that would require Xcel Energy to develop immediate and long-term grid upgrade plans aimed at easing interconnection backlogs. (Colorado Sun)
• Arizona utilities urge federal regulators to approve the Southwest Power Pool’s proposed Western day-ahead power market and transmission coordination model, but advocates call for refinements to the plan. (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS: Washington state officials and advocates worry a projected increase in oil tanker traffic resulting from a major pipeline expansion in Canada will heighten the risk of spills. (Washington State Standard)

MINING:

• The Navajo Nation calls on the Biden administration to block a mining company from crossing tribal land to ship uranium from an Arizona mine to a Utah mill. (Fronteras)
• A company proposes a large-scale direct lithium extraction and carbon dioxide storage project in southwestern Wyoming. (news release)
• A battery manufacturer agrees to purchase lithium from a direct extraction project under development in Utah. (news release)

CARBON CAPTURE: A California company plans to use carbon captured from a Permian Basin natural gas facility as feedstock to produce hydrogen ​“electrofuels.” (Biofuels Digest)