PJM’s first big battery

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STORAGE

• Developer Elevate Renewables announces it has acquired a 150 MW battery project near northern Virginia’s ​“Data Center Alley” and will complete construction by the middle of the year, adding a large battery to the PJM grid. (Canary Media)

• Duke Energy brings a 50 MW battery online near a former coal plant in North Carolina as a step toward its plan to add 6,550 MW of battery storage across the Carolinas by 2035. (WFAE)

HYDROPOWER

• Duke Energy backs away from a long-held plan to double the size of its largest pumped storage hydropower plant in North Carolina, surprising activists at its retreat from a clean energy project even as it seeks to build more gas plants to address rising power demand from data centers. (Canary Media)

STEEL

• Hyundai Motor Group says it will build a facility to test its technology to make direct reduced iron at an existing steel plant in South Korea before moving ahead with its debut steel plant in Louisiana. (Canary Media)

TRANSITION

• Solar booms in Texas, overtaking coal as it grew from just 2% of the state’s energy mix in 2020 to nearly 14% in 2025. (Canary Media)

WIND

• PJM Interconnection moves to support Dominion Energy in its suit against the Trump administration, saying a potential cancellation of the Virginia offshore wind project would cause ​“irreparable harm” to electricity supply in the region. (Heatmap, lawsuit)

GRID

• Grid operator PJM Interconnection estimates summer peak demand will grow at an annual rate of 3.6% over the next 10 years, a decrease from its estimate made last year, but still a major jump from the 0.3% annualized rate it projected in 2021. (E&E News)

• A federal appeals court orders the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revisit its decision regarding capacity prices for the Delmarva Power & Light Co. South zone, which covers parts of Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland. (Utility Dive)

PIPELINES

• Louisiana residents in a heavily industrialized community in ​“Cancer Alley” worry about a company’s plans to build a pipeline to the world’s largest carbon sequestration and storage project. (WWNO)

• Environmental groups petition a federal appeals court to review North Carolina regulators’ approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s planned Southgate extension from Virginia into North Carolina. (Bloomberg)

FOSSIL FUELS

• U.S. refining companies like Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum are set to benefit even more from a potential Venezuelan oil resurgence than drillers, as they have the equipment to process the country’s viscous crude. (New York Times)

DATA CENTERS

• A Virginia county board moves to roll back its decision last month exempting some data centers from the county’s special-use permitting process so long as they meet certain development standards. (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

• A Texas city council considers a 936-acre ​“major hyperscale data center” that received some opposition during a previous zoning commission hearing. (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

• Logistic Land Investment will request rezoning for an additional 900 acres of land in Alabama for a $14.5 billion proposed data center project. (Inside Climate News)

OVERSIGHT

• Employees who were previously terminated by the Trump administration’s job cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health return to work in West Virginia. (Dominion Post)

• Florida lawmakers introduce legislation to revisit a law passed last year that blocked local sustainability and resilience efforts. (Inside Climate News)

• West Virginia’s governor discusses energy policy and flooding preparation during his State of the State speech, but doesn’t mention how to address rising power bills. (West Virginia Watch)

COMMENTARY

• Virginia falls behind California as the nation’s largest energy importer, spotlighting its growth in generation from independent power producers, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• 22GW of renewables thwarted or in limbo under Trump​‘blockade’ — Maria Gallucci

• Disputes over clean energy may doom Wisconsin data center bills — Kari Lydersen

• Want to plug more EVs into the grid? Don’t charge them all at once. — Jeff St. John