Texas ramps up clean energy attacks

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

SOLAR

• Renewable energy developers and advocates lobby Texas lawmakers against bills to restrict the booming industry, which faces growing headwinds and a potential $50 billion loss in solar investment as the federal government considers repealing clean energy tax credits. (Houston Chronicle)

• South Korean company OCI Holdings announces plans to build a $265 million, 2 GW solar-cell production plant in Texas, with hopes of beginning operations next year. (Bloomberg, Business Korea)

• Tampa, Florida, partners with Solar United Neighbors to help residents receive a discounted rate when purchasing solar panels as part of a larger group. (WTVT)

• A North Carolina utility begins accepting applications for a community solar program powered by a 500 kW facility. (WITN)

• North Carolina farmers who were awarded a 2024 federal grant to install a solar array are stuck in limbo after Trump froze federal clean energy funds. (Blue Ridge Public Radio/​Grist)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• New studies find Trump’s plan to roll back electric vehicle tax credits would stifle an EV manufacturing boom in the largely Republican-led Southeast and Midwest. (E&E News)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration approves an export authorization for a liquified natural gas terminal in Louisiana, expanding its ability to send LNG to customers beyond the 20 countries the U.S. has free trade agreements with. (NOLA.com)

• Trump meets with oil executives and lobbyists concerned about his tariffs, which they say will raise energy prices and erode the industry’s competitiveness. (Houston Chronicle)

• Speakers at a Virginia county board meeting weigh in on a 750-acre data center campus and 3,500 MW gas-fired power plant. (Danville Register & Bee)

PIPELINES

• An investment firm seems to have emerged as the leading candidate to purchase the Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline system in the U.S. (Bloomberg)

• Federal regulators conclude a public comment period on the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s proposed spur into North Carolina, fielding more than 25,000 comments with roughly 80% opposed to the extension. (Chatham Star-Tribune)

• A federal judge in Virginia declines to dismiss the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s lawsuits against protestors who the pipeline says blocked construction by chaining themselves to equipment. (Bloomberg)

GRID

• Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin considers signing a bill establishing ​“virtual power plants” that pull energy from multiple sources. (WVTF)

WIND

• Offshore wind proponents make their case to Louisiana lawmakers, emphasizing economic benefits as Trump tries to strangle the burgeoning industry. (Louisiana Illuminator)

HYDROGEN

• Louisiana Tech University researchers receive $275,000 in state funding to investigate using robots to monitor carbon-dioxide levels and to develop a new way to make clean hydrogen. (news release)

COMMENTARY

• Louisiana state lawmakers’ discussion about building an offshore wind industry is a hopeful sign for renewables and utility customers in a state with escalating power bills and lower reliability from fossil fuels, writes a journalist. (Louisiana Illuminator)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Jeff St. John breaks down a new report warning that Americans will suffer higher energy bills if Inflation Reduction Act incentives are repealed.

• Michael Grunwald’s Eating the Earth column returns with an examination of how climate progress within the food system may still be possible over the next four years.