SE utilities struggle with economics of rooftop solar, EVs

UTILITIES: The Southeast lags in the clean energy transition as its utilities struggle to squeeze rooftop solar and electric vehicles into a business model that’s traditionally been focused on investing in new assets and then passing the costs on to customers. (E&E News)

ALSO: Georgia regulators consider Georgia Power’s proposed long-term plan, which critics say doesn’t include enough renewables, doesn’t close enough coal-fired plants and leaves too much toxic coal ash sitting in groundwater. (Georgia Recorder)

POLITICS: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia effectively kills Democrats’ last hopes of passing a climate package when he tells party leaders he won’t support new spending on climate change. (Washington Post)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Auto manufacturer Ford and Korean battery maker SK finalize plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to Ford’s electric truck factory in Tennessee. (Commercial Appeal)
• Electric vehicle maker Canoo’s deal to supply vehicles to Walmart for a delivery service prohibits it from doing business with Amazon. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• EV maker Canoo says it’s sending one of its electric vehicles to the U.S. Army for analysis and demonstration. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• Democratic Oklahoma lawmakers call for $700 million meant to be used to attract an EV battery factory to instead be spent on education and inflation relief. (KOCO)

COAL: Coal miner health advocates cheer proposed legislation from five U.S. Senate Democrats to streamline the notoriously arduous benefits process for black lung-afflicted miners and their survivors. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)

GRID:
• Many Texans respond to the state grid manager’s repeated requests to conserve energy, but some blame state leaders and call for more reform. (Texas Tribune)
• Texas’ grid manager pays crypto mining firms and other energy-intensive businesses to power down amid a summer heat wave. (Business Insider)
• A Texas city is still adjusting to its relatively new experience of life on the state power grid after joining several years ago. (Texas Tribune)

NUCLEAR:
• A Mississippi nuclear plant that supplies a third of Entergy New Orleans’ power goes offline again after being down for much of the spring, and utility officials say the closures play a role in high power bills. (WWL-TV, WVUE)
• Work crews prepare nuclear reactors used in research for demolition in eastern Tennessee. (WATE)

PIPELINES: Texas landowners gear up to fight construction of a planned 490-mile natural gas pipeline. (KTBC)

OIL & GAS:
• Developers accelerate efforts to build new liquified natural gas terminals on the U.S. Gulf Coast to take advantage of the closure of a facility that had accounted for a fifth of exports. (Engineering News-Record)
• Three natural gas producers with operations in the Permian Basin join an international methane emissions reporting program that until now had been largely based in Europe. (S&P Global)

MINERALS: A Texas company launches around a new way to refine lithium that separates it from brine rather than using chemical extraction. (KVUE)

CLIMATE: The last of 44 people reported missing after heavy flooding in southwestern Virginia has been accounted for, but damage to communities is reported to be ​“apocalyptic.” (Cardinal News)

RENEWABLES: A Texas-based renewable energy project developer uses his experiences in the clean energy transition for cartoons he posts on social media. (Canary Media)