Texas grid changes could hurt battery boom

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.

STORAGE

• Texas’ grid operator implements new rules to co-optimize the state’s energy market, but a major storage developer warns they could cause battery owners to face unpredictable penalties, injecting new uncertainty that could destabilize the rapidly expanding industry. (Canary Media)

• Ford announces plans to lay off about 1,500 workers at its Kentucky factories as it cancels plans to make electric vehicles and instead shift to making batteries for a new energy storage business. (Kentucky Lantern, E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Ford also drops its plans for a new electric truck it planned to build at the BlueOval EV factory under construction in Tennessee, opting instead to build gas-powered trucks. (Commercial Appeal)

SOLAR

• North Carolina State University launches one of the Southeast’s first training facilities for agrivoltaics, pairing sheep and solar panels together to teach farmers, engineering students, and solar professionals how they interact. (Canary Media)

EMISSIONS

• The Memphis and Shelby County Air Pollution Control Board votes 6-1 to dismiss environmental and civic groups’ appeal of xAI’s air permit to operate 15 gas-fired turbines to power the company’s supercomputer in Tennessee. (Commercial Appeal)

• Virginia regulators consider expanding the cases in which data centers can use backup diesel generators to include planned outages by grid operators, fueling concern by environmental groups about air pollution. (Inside Climate News)

NUCLEAR

• The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to extend the life of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama for another 20 years, allowing it to operate until the 2050s. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

GRID

• Workers at Hitachi Energy’s plant in Virginia require years to train and then four to six weeks to build an electrical transformer, with the manual precision and specialty materials required for the job slowing production at a time when such equipment is in high demand. (Wall Street Journal)

• Texas residents oppose a plan to build power lines that would partially encircle Dinosaur Valley State Park to fortify the electrical grid, reduce power outages, and help electrify oil and gas drilling operations in the Permian Basin. (Texas Tribune)

• Virginia residents testify to state regulators against Dominion Energy’s plans to build a high-voltage power line through their neighborhood to energize dozens of data centers. (Virginia Mercury)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Oil executives praise President Trump for slashing environmental regulations and expanding drilling opportunities despite low oil prices, the cost of tariffs, and the administration’s wild policy swings. (E&E News)

• Kentucky Power asks state regulators to approve upgrades to a coal-fired power plant so it can operate beyond 2028, but the utility won’t share the projected cost of fixing structural problems at a cooling tower. (WEKU)

• Congress members introduce legislation to lower barriers for coal miners to access workers’ compensation and benefits through the federal Black Lung Benefits Program. (news release)

UTILITIES

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announces a lawsuit against Xcel Energy over an aging utility pole that’s been blamed for starting the largest wildfire in recorded state history. (Amarillo Globe-News, Texas Tribune)

POLITICS

• As Democratic Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger calls for more renewables, former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe — now a part of a pro-natural gas group — calls on the state to build more gas-fired generation as a short-term fix. (WHRO)

OVERSIGHT

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission plans to issue a decision this week on PJM Interconnection’s rules for colocating large loads, with analysts suggesting the ruling likely will help nuclear and gas-fired power plant owners that want to sell electricity to colocated data centers. (Utility Dive)

• A Democratic West Virginia lawmaker argues the chair of the state’s regulatory commission should learn more about renewables and recuse herself from debates about the future closure of coal-fired power plants after she testified that she would not vote to approve any such closures. (WV Metro News)

• A federal judge orders the Trump administration to reinstate grants to help states prepare for disasters, including $200 million for North Carolina and $21 million for Kentucky. (Asheville Citizen-Times, Kentucky Lantern)

COMMENTARY

• Democratic Virginia lawmakers are moving to re-introduce energy-related bills that previously were vetoed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, but they should be more aggressive about taking on energy affordability and making tech companies pay to power data centers, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)

NEW FROM CANARY

• California’s plan to boost plug-in heat pumps and induction stoves — Alison F. Takemura

• Nippon Steel’s U.S. investments​‘at a crossroads’ — Alexander C. Kaufman

• Climate group files complaint against global steel giant ArcelorMittal — Maria Gallucci