Southeast’s auto industry turns hard to electric vehicles

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The race to produce electric vehicles heats up as Mercedes-Benz staffs up at its Alabama auto production and electric battery plants and General Motors announces it will convert more factories to EV production, including a change at its Tennessee plant. (AL.com, Detroit Free Press)

ALSO:
• A Texas-based startup that makes electric off-road vehicles sees shares soar over its initial public offering just weeks after releasing its first commercial vehicle. (Austin American-Statesman)
• Arkansas researchers receive an $18 million grant to fabricate silicon carbide components that are highly sought after for use in electric vehicles. (Arkansas Times-Gazette)

OIL & GAS:
• As a growing number of climate-driven storms drive residents to leave Louisiana, the oil and gas industry rushes to fill the gap, fueling $100 billion worth of capital investment over the past decade, mostly due to liquefied natural gas. (Bloomberg)
• A Texas company’s plans to drill for oil at two sites in Big Cypress National Preserve in the Florida Everglades runs up against a presidential administration that has taken steps to reduce the use of fossil fuels. (WLRN)
• Surging natural gas prices mean rising electric bills in a Florida city where a utility plans to increase customers’ monthly fuel adjustment charge. (Gainesville Sun)

SOLAR:
• A developer plans a 60 MW solar farm in Kentucky but awaits state and local approval that could come this month. (Paducah Sun)
• Duke Energy builds a new solar farm in North Carolina. (WSOC)

RENEWABLES:
• North Carolina’s top administrative law judge rejects the state revenue department’s attempt to deny an insurance company’s $1.8 million tax credit in 2016 for investments in renewable energy. (Carolina Journal)
• A Louisiana community college receives a $1.5 million grant for renewable energy training. (WGMB)

PIPELINES: A Kentucky judge rules against landowners who wanted him to take a closer look at a proposed natural gas pipeline to a Jim Beam bourbon plant. (WDRB)

NUCLEAR: A judge will decide today whether to approve a 2-year prison sentence for the former CEO of a defunct utility who oversaw a doomed $9 billion plan to build two nuclear reactors in South Carolina. (Associated Press)

GRID:
• New Orleans council members meet with federal lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to discuss climate change, grid hardening, and Hurricane Ida damages that now exceed $4 billion across Louisiana. (WVUE)
• Appalachian Power announces a grid improvement project in southwestern Virginia. (WXFR)

GEOTHERMAL: Workers at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport install what will be the largest geothermal heating and cooling system at any airport in the country. (Spectrum News 1)

WIND: Students at Texas Tech University prepare for the Department of Energy’s annual collegiate wind energy competition. (Daily Toreador)

CLIMATE: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announces the state is joining a United Nations initiative in its effort to attain net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. (KSHV)

COMMENTARY: The widespread damage created by Hurricane Ida demonstrates the need to harden Louisiana’s electrical grid, writes an electrical engineer. (Hammond Star)