Solar, batteries prop up Texas grid this winter

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

GRID

• The CEO of Texas’ grid operator credits the addition of 11 GW of generation capacity — mostly from solar and batteries — for reducing the risk of outages from high power demand, even as it’s seen 225 interconnection applications totaling 233 GW from data centers and other large-load customers. (Houston Chronicle, KHOU)

NUCLEAR

• South Carolina-owned utility Santee Cooper unanimously passes an agreement to sell two partially built nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant to a New York investment firm that wants to complete the work, potentially removing $2.7 billion of debt from customers’ power bills. (South Carolina Daily Gazette, S.C. Daily Gazette)

• The Tennessee Valley Authority granted a Youtube streamer rare access to film at an operating Alabama nuclear power plant during an outage. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allows the developer of the Calcasieu Pass liquefied-natural-gas terminal in Louisiana to begin construction of a gas-fired compressor station. (E&E News)

• Houston-based Exxon Mobil announces it will increase oil and gas production with the goal of attaining $25 billion in earnings growth from 2024 to 2030. (Reuters)

• The chair of West Virginia’s Public Service Commission tells lawmakers the board will not approve the closure of any coal-fired power plants in the state during a briefing about how power plants will be affected by data center demand and new state rules. (WV Metro News, Intelligencer/​Wheeling News-Register)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Developers have canceled nearly 266 GW of largely clean energy generation in the U.S. so far this year, including 6.7 GW of projects in Virginia that were blocked due to local opposition. (Latitude Media)

• The college town of Fayetteville, Arkansas, uses solar and batteries as part of its clean energy and sustainability projects, saving money and cutting emissions despite pushback from the Trump administration and Republican-controlled state legislature. (New York Times)

• With Democratic Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger set to take office, Democratic state lawmakers move to refile bills to allow localities to require developers build solar canopies over parking lots and to strengthen the offshore wind workforce — both of which were previously passed but vetoed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. (Virginia Mercury)

GEOTHERMAL

• Some Texas oil and gas workers and executives are pivoting to apply their skills to startups in the state’s burgeoning geothermal energy sector, though they deliberately avoid discussing climate change or categorizing geothermal as ​“renewable” power. (New York Times)

DATA CENTERS

• NextEra Energy eyes a $1.2 GW gas-fired power plant with Exxon Mobil in the Southeast as the renewables developer partners with Google, Meta, and several other companies as it looks to build at least 15 GW of new, largely gas generation to power data centers. (E&E News)

• West Virginia residents have until noon today to submit comments to help shape regulators’ development of rules governing how data centers and their connected microgrids will operate in the state. (West Virginia Watch)

AFFORDABILITY

• Florida lawmakers advance a bill requiring state regulators to consider affordability and to provide more justification when approving rate increases for investor-owned utilities. (Florida Phoenix)

• Alabama regulators press Alabama Power officials about the utility’s agreement to freeze its rates for two years after its bills became some of the highest in the U.S. (AL.com)

UTILITIES

• The Georgia Public Service Commission will hold its final hearings this week on Georgia Power’s request for nearly 10 GW of new energy capacity, including two proposed gas-fired power plants, largely to meet anticipated demand from data centers. (Georgia Recorder)

• Kentuckians for Energy Democracy leads a coalition of advocacy groups urging Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to issue a moratorium on utility disconnections until March. (Kentucky Lantern)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Judge strikes down Trump’s order blocking wind farm approvals — Clare Fieseler

• New York’s public utility approves plan to build 5.5GW of renewables — Alexander C. Kaufman

• Europe’s world-first carbon tariff is coming. Here’s what to know. — Maria Gallucci

• Fervo nabs $462M to complete massive next-gen geothermal project — Maria Gallucci

• Cornell’s deep-down and rocky quest to unlock geothermal for New York — Maria Gallucci

• New Jersey’s latest plan for 100% clean power comes at a tricky time — Rambo Talabong