Supply chain and grid disruptions threaten Southeast solar projects

SOLAR: Southern Co. warns that nearly a gigawatt of its planned solar projects could be delayed by a year because of supply chain disruptions and the threat of new U.S. tariffs on panel imports from Southeast Asia. (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Virginia and Appalachian solar developers fret as the nation’s largest grid operator puts a two-year pause on reviewing and approving 1,200 mostly solar projects that are part of a backlog. (Inside Climate News)
• A Virginia county sees three solar facilities under development and a fourth in planning phases after government leaders countered concerns about land use by asking for revenue sharing or upfront fees. (Virginia Business)

OIL & GAS:
• West Texas saw 59 earthquakes in the first three months of 2022, fueling worries that hydraulic fracking has stressed fault lines and is turning America’s oil-drilling capital into its earthquake capital. (Bloomberg)
• An oil company makes 101 job offers at a hiring event as it looks to staff up amid high oil prices. (KETK)

UTILITIES: As Memphis, Tennessee, nears a decision on naming a power provider, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s CEO warns that leaving the utility poses reliability risks that could cost the city beyond mere power rates. (Commercial Appeal)

POLITICS:
• Texas struggles to implement a law to divest from financial firms that shy away from fossil fuels because of loopholes, exceptions and executives who say they plan to ignore ​“politically motivated” letters from the state. (NPR/​Floodlight)
• Oklahoma lawmakers pass a bill to require the state to divest from financial firms that steer investments from fossil fuels and the energy industry. (KFOR)
• Florida’s rooftop solar industry worries that a just-vetoed measure to end net-metering will return in the state’s next legislative session. (Spectrum News)
• A recently rebooted West Virginia energy board hears proposals to invest in carbon capture to extend the life of coal-fired power plants and to implement grid-scale battery storage. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

WIND: Texas county leaders and residents worry a proposed wind farm will affect real estate values between two recently built lakes. (KTRE, North Texas e-News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Hybrid and electric vehicle owners express frustration over 30 states that charge extra annual fees to offset gas taxes, including a Kentucky fee of $70 for hybrids and $150 for electric cars. (WTVR)
• Electric vehicle maker Rivian cuts a deal with a solar company to use 1 MW from a Tennessee solar farm to power its EV chargers in the region. (dot.LA)
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin calls a proposal to expand electric vehicle tax credits ​“ludicrous,” creating a new obstacle in the Biden administration’s climate plans. (Bloomberg)

COAL: A group of 20 South Carolina electric cooperatives decline to help state-owned utility Santee Cooper replace a coal-fired plant with natural gas, saying they want to analyze other power supply options. (Post and Courier)

CARBON CAPTURE: Experts tell Congress that federal regulators must develop liability rules if the carbon capture industry is going to use offshore carbon injection wells. (S&P Global)

GRID:
• A NextEra Energy subsidiary wins a bid to build a nearly 50-mile Oklahoma transmission project, which analysts say might be one of the final competitive processes for such projects given a recent proposal to give utilities the right of first refusal. (Utility Dive)
• A Mississippi official sets a public hearing for Entergy’s proposed grid improvements. (DeSoto Times-Tribune)

BIOGAS: A Texas landfill partners with a waste management agency and energy company to develop a renewable natural gas plant. (KAGS)

COMMENTARY: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was right to veto a bill to end rooftop solar subsidies that would have gutted the state’s rooftop solar industry, writes an editorial board. (Tampa Bay Times)