Solar tops coal on Texas grid for the first time

SOLAR: Texas’ grid operator announces solar supplied more power to the grid in March than coal for the first time, marking an important milestone in the clean energy transition. (Houston Chronicle)

ALSO:

• Texas solar generation fell from 12,000 MW to just over 3,000 MW during the solar eclipse, but quickly rebounded after the event while battery generation grew to fill the gap. (KDFW, Heatmap)
• A Virginia county planning commission delays a second vote on a 50 MW solar farm after voting last month to recommend denial, expressing concerns about its effect on its neighbors’ views. (Lynchburg News & Advance)

OIL & GAS:

• Dozens of abandoned oil wells in the Arkansas River in Oklahoma generate concern about pollution amid new development. (KTUL)
• Two oil and gas companies in the Permian Basin finalize a $4.5 billion merger. (Carlsbad Current Argus)

PIPELINES: A Louisiana State University professor develops a method of fiber-optic leak detection that could supplement or replace pressure gauges as a way of rapidly detecting leaks in oil and gas pipelines. (Reveille)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Republican Kentucky lawmakers drop a budget proposal to prohibit state agencies from purchasing electric vehicles. (E&E News, subscription)
• A few dozen electric vehicles waited in line to recharge at a station with only six charging ports after traveling to Arkansas to view the solar eclipse. (KFSM)

TRANSITION:

• Renewable energy generation breaks records across the U.S., including in Texas, where wind energy produced twice as much power as coal last year. (Scientific American)
• The U.S. Army updates World War II-era facilities at an Tennessee ammunition plant, including the replacement of a coal-fired steam plant with natural gas. (Bristol Herald-Courier)

GRID:

• A South Carolina family sues Duke Energy over the death of a 73-year-old who relied on an oxygen tank that failed during rolling outages in the 2022 Christmas Eve cold snap. (WHNS)
• South Carolinians complain about Duke Energy’s proposal to raise rates to improve the grid to keep up with energy demand. (WYFF)
• Dominion Energy asks Virginia regulators to approve its plan to build nearly 10 miles of transmission lines to connect substations. (Loudoun Times-Mirror)

EMISSIONS: Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin makes line-item changes to the state budget passed by Democrats that would mandate state participation in a regional carbon market. (Virginia Business)

UTILITIES:

• Florida Power & Light asks the Florida Supreme Court to step in to expedite a challenge to state regulators’ approval of a 2021 settlement to increase its base rates, which could affect its plans next year. (CBS News)
• Duke Energy claims its listing of riders on bills aids transparency, but one resident claims they obfuscate the cost of its shift to natural gas. (Asheville Watchdog)

COMMENTARY:

• South Carolina lawmakers have ignored consumer advocates in their rush to pass a utility-friendly bill to speed construction of a natural gas-fired power plant, writes the president of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce. (South Carolina Daily Gazette)
• Struggling small farmers can find a new stream of income by leasing parts of their land for solar energy, but Virginia utilities are blocking them from doing more, writes a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer. (Culpeper Star-Exponent)
• Energy generated from coal is declining every month on the Texas grid, while solar is skyrocketing and natural gas seems likely to increase as well, writes an energy columnist. (Houston Chronicle)