Texas grid operator warns against energy market interference

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

GRID

• Texas grid operator ERCOT warns lawmakers that interfering with the state’s energy market could disrupt the grid’s ability to meet growing demand from residents and businesses, possibly referring to bills to require more gas, coal, and nuclear power, and to more tightly restrict renewables. (Texas Tribune)

• Puerto Rico’s utility begins installing ​“smart” meters as part of an island-wide push to modernize its grid. (Utility Dive)

EFFICIENCY

• Advocates scramble to respond as the Louisiana Public Service Commission abruptly considers eliminating a statewide energy efficiency program that would require utilities to meet a certain savings target each year. (Louisiana Illuminator, WVLA)

STORAGE

• Microporous affirms its plans to build a Virginia factory to make lithium-ion battery separators for electric vehicles despite questions about whether it will still receive a $100 million federal grant. (Cardinal News)

• A newly appointed member of a Virginia county board calls for changes to its zoning ordinance to regulate battery storage facilities after the county made similar changes two years ago to set out requirements for solar farms. (Smithfield Times)

SOLAR

• North Carolina lawmakers advance legislation that would require solar power companies to pay property taxes on nearly $6 billion in equipment around the state. (NC Newsroom)

• Residents urge a North Carolina county board to extend a moratorium on solar farms set to expire this summer and to add new regulations to control their development. (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald)

• Tampa Bay Solar moves to install an estimated 3,000 solar panels on seven buildings at a Florida art school. (Business Observer)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration grants at least 66 coal-fired power plants operated by Dominion Energy, Southern Co., the Tennessee Valley Authority, and other utilities a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic chemicals. (Associated Press)

BIOMASS

• Mississippi’s Environmental Quality Permit Board denies a request from biomass manufacturer Drax to scale up its production and increase the threshold for toxic emissions after local residents complain about its air pollution violations. (Mississippi Free Press)

WIND

• Scientists attribute the growing number of whale deaths off North Carolina and the Mid-Atlantic to ship strikes, but commercial fisherman who want to avoid stricter regulations argue the cause is construction of offshore wind farms. (Coastal Review)

CLIMATE

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency cancels a grant program to protect against climate change, resulting in the termination of funding for projects in coastal Virginia and elsewhere. (Virginian-Pilot)

• Virginia officials say FEMA’s new ​“manual review processes” have delayed federal funding for recovery from Hurricane Helene. (Cardinal News)

POLITICS

• Records show a Democratic candidate for Georgia’s Public Service Commission changed his residency to a different district just before filing to run for the utility regulatory board, but says the decision was ​“not solely a political move.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)