Sunnova’s lessons for the solar industry

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.

SOLAR

• Bankrupt Texas solar company Sunnova Energy becomes a case study for the U.S. residential solar industry, which has struggled due to consumer complaints and some companies’ misleading sales tactics even as utility-scale solar farms have boomed across the state and nation. (Houston Chronicle)

• Canadian energy infrastructure company Enbridge announces it will invest $900 million to build a 600 MW solar farm in Texas to supply tech company Meta. (Reuters)

• A Virginia county board adopts an ordinance to exempt ​“accessory” solar and battery storage systems from having to obtain supervisors’ permission. (C-Ville Weekly)

OVERSIGHT

• Texas lawmakers largely ignored suggested legislation and projects in a state flood plan developed after Hurricane Harvey — opting instead to focus on school vouchers and property tax cuts. (Texas Tribune/​ProPublica)

• The U.S. Commerce Department’s Inspector General launches an investigation into whether the Trump administration’s staffing cuts at the National Weather Service affected the agency’s forecasting of this month’s fatal flooding in the Texas Hill Country. (Houston Chronicle)

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Urban Search and Rescue chief resigns due to criticism over its delayed response to Texas flooding and Trump’s push to dismantle the agency. (Houston Chronicle, CNN)

• As part of FEMA’s Review Council, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin mostly endorses Trump’s push to shift more responsibility for disaster relief to the states and to downsize or even eliminate the agency. (WHRO)

COAL ASH

• The Trump administration proposes extending deadlines for reporting and groundwater monitoring at coal ash landfills and dumps as part of what critics say is a likely push to delay or eliminate such rules altogether. (Canary Media)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Port of Corpus Christi moved a record 102.4 million tons in crude oil, liquified natural gas, and bulk material exports for the first six months of 2025. (Houston Chronicle)

• The administrator of the estate of a man who was killed by a West Virginia gas explosion sues the gas company, a city government, and two contractors for compensatory and punitive damages. (WBOY)

PIPELINES

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife touts its delisting of the Roanoke logperch from the Endangered Species Act, after the species was previously part of numerous delays to construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Roanoke Times, E&E News)

• North Carolina regulators set a public hearing on Mountain Valley Pipeline’s application for a water quality certification for a natural gas transmission pipeline. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Mercedes-Benz will pause production and close domestic orders for its EQ EVs at its Alabama factory. (Inside EVs)

GRID

• Florida regulators approve a 26.5-mile, 230 kV transmission line through four counties in the central part of the state. (WFTV)

• The Southern Company plans to use unmanned helicopters for grid monitoring and inspecting, becoming the first utility in the U.S. to secure an exemption from ​“visual line of sight” drone regulations. (Utility Dive)

EMISSIONS

• Several Georgia medical sterilization plants that have been the subject of protests and lawsuits because of their carcinogenic emissions are included in Trump’s order extending the deadline for such facilities to meet new emission rules for ethylene oxide. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

COMMENTARY

• Northern Virginia’s push to focus on AI and other tech-related sectors to diversify from its reliance on the federal government has ramifications for the entire state, including likely pressure to rework the state’s climate goals and build more solar in rural areas, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Can cutting rooftop solar costs make up for losing tax credits? — Jeff St. John

• In Ohio, oil and gas industry is steering new carbon capture bill — Kathiann M. Kowalski

• New Hampshire raids clean energy fund, jeopardizing solar program — Sarah Shemkus

• New York to scale back key energy efficiency program — Colin Kinniburgh